Well, it’s time to start looking at the weather for next weekend’s Wasatch Trenchin Convention. If you’re planning to attend, please go to the forum for meeting times and places at respective resorts and don’t be affraid to offer your 2 cents!! This is a community event and really, anything goes. I can’t wait to fill the 4 and 6 packs full of alpiners!! Dave out…
Archive for the ‘Curt / Skully’ Category
The Canyons – And the F2 183…
Sunday, January 31st, 2010Good news! There’s finally enough snow in Utah to make it worth riding!!!
OK, so it hasn’t been absolutely terrible, but it was pretty sketchy up until the snow we’ve had in the last couple of weeks. I haven’t even been up for two weeks, so it’s nice to know that there aren’t any groomers that I need to avoid, everything has good coverage finally, and it snowed all day today…
In other news, I pried the new F2 Speester RS 183 World Cup Edition 
out of Dave’s hands for a few turns. Dave has posted some of his thoughts, and I believe is planning on posting more. My $.02 is: Holy Crap! Extremely damp, holds an edge like no other, and FAST. There aren’t many runs at The Canyons that allow a whimp like me to get a board like this going, but there are a couple. It kinda reminds me of the good old Madd 180, only better. If you like hip-draggin’, cheek flappin’ all out speed, this board is the one for you. A little more work than some of the other new-school metal boards that I’ve ridden, but definitely worth it.
Curt / Skully
F2 Speedster SL Worldcup 163
Monday, January 11th, 2010While Dave, Billy and Will were out riding the GS gear, I was able to mount up a new F2 Speedster 163. This little rocket is built with F2’s “Worldcup” construction, which as far as I can tell, essentially means titanal. A glance at the sidewall shows my uneducated eye what looks like 2 layers of titanal. One layer underneath the topsheet, and one 
layer just above the base / edges. F2 has incorporated a decambered hammer-head style nose, and slightly decambered tail, and a bit of taper, like many other new-school 
boards. I didn’t break out the tape measure to get measurements, but the taper is visibly apparent. I’m not sure of the exact specs as far as sidecut radius, either as it looks like F’2’s website does not have this latest board listed…
The 163 is the shortes metal board I have ever ridden. I basically traded an old Rossi 190 for an old Burner 162 over the spring / summer, and have been riding the Burner a bit this year, so I was ready to try something metal in the same length range. I wasn’t actually able to get on snow until a while after lunch, so the conditions were perfect for trying out a new metal board.
As far as the ride goes… After getting off of the lift, I spotted an opening, pointed it to pick up some speed and pitched it into a heelside, and was in love from the first turn. This little guy holds an edge wonderfully, and is damp enough to eat up all of the afternoon chop as if it were first tracks. I felt confident cranking turns on steeper pitches where there was nothing but afternoon scraped, man-made snow (what we call ice here in UT, but the east-coaster just laugh at.)
This board likes to be ridden centered, like Will has mentioned in some of his posts about the Kesslers. Weighting the nose going into turns doesn’t make a lot of difference, it hooks up great with either riding style. It’s still got some pop off of the tail, though nothing compared to my old glass RS.
All in all, this has got to be the best F2 board I have ever ridden. We’ll have to see wait and see what the reports are from Dave, Billy and Will after they give it a go. I have no desire whatsoever to go back to riding my old glass boards at the moment… 
Curt / Skully
WTC at The Canyons – 2/27
Friday, February 27th, 2009Woohooo! This might be the only day I get to make it to the WTC this year, It’s gonna be nice to ride with some of the crew for a change…
I met Dave in the parking lot and proceeded to mount up a B-Squared. I didn’t bother to bump my angles down, switching from my speedster, and I thought I measured my stance-width correctly (but found out later that I hadn’t.) Once we got things together, we headed up the mountain. There had been a skiff of snow overnight, but quite a bit of the mountain had been groomed. We decided to make our way to the “old” side of the resort to ride the Super Condor lift. After a wrong turn by Dave on the way there we finally made it and hit Apex Ridge. Apex Ridge is one of those “vanity” runs, underneath a lift. I followed Dave down, and it was hilarious watching the folks on the lift rubber-necking on the lift to watch him. As the name states, Apex Ridge is a “ridge” with the potential of dropping off of the sides if you make a mistake. Dave said he liked the run, but I think it may have given him flashbacks to his “Femur Ward” run, so we headed over to Boa for some turns, then headed back to the Sun Peak lift to meet up with Kirk, and some other friends of Dave’s.
We headed back to Super Condor with Kirk, and proceeded to make some ruts on Boa. By this time I’ve finally become somewhat accustomed to the B-Squared. As I mentioned earlier, I kinda screwed up when I first mounted my bindings, and the board did not feel great on the first few runs I took. I could feel the metal in it doing it’s job, but it just wasn’t doing it for me. Toeside turns felt OK, but heelsides for some reason didn’t. Dave told me I needed to be more aggressive (What a surprise for a whimp like me.) So, while we waited for Kirk, I switched my stance up a bit, bumping my angles down to 55 front / 50 rear, and widened the stance about 1/2 inch, moving the front binding forward. So at this point I was about 1/2 inch forward on the insert pack. Holy schmoly what a difference that little change made! Now the board really felt good. With the taper, I still had to work the back foot more than I’m used to, but what a fun ride. The metal ate up bumps and ruts like it’s designed to do, and the board became more fun with each run. Now that I think about it, it kind of reminded me of a Madd, only a whole lot better. Maybe Madd / Prior Metal hybrid – damp, but with more pop than any of the other metal boards I’ve ridden. The more you give / put into it, the more it gives back. It’s
definitely got Billy in it’s blood – you’ve got to be on top of it. I’d say it’s not as easy to ride as some of the other metal boards out there, but it’s also got more pop in it. It’s definitely a “do-anything” board. I’m not a racer, but I’m pretty sure this board would do fine in a GS course, but it’s still short enough to throw around and ride pretty much anywhere. I even took it off-piste for a few yards now and then, and even with the hammer-head nose, it seems to float just fine. Hopefully at some point I’ll get some more time on it to really play… I think Dave has put them on sale, so now is the time to grab one if you can, they might never be this cheap again.
After a few more runs on Boa, Dave had to hit the road, and Skate showed up. We took a few runs with Skate on Super Condor, and Kirk and I swapped boards so he could try out the B-Squared. I wasn’t going to complain about riding Kirks Prior WCRM 187…
We decided to make our way over to the opposite side of the resort and check out things on the Dreamcatcher lift. Dreamcatcher is new as of last year, and even though The Canyons is my home resort, I haven’t had the time to make it all the way over. There was probably 3 times as much snow on the Dreamcatcher side of the resort, as compared to the other side, and the runs that had been groomed were pretty chopped up, but we still enjoyed the exploring. That Dreamcatcher lift would be a dream on a powder day. Tons of open trees to ride everywhere. At that point we decided to make our way off of the hill. A run through the meat-gates on Doc’s Run ended our day. (No complaints, of course.)
I did take my crappy little point-and shoot camera with me, but I absolutely suck at shooting action shots with it. Sorry Kirk and Skate, the only half-way decent shot I got was of Flourescent Dave on Boa
WTC – Saturday at Solitude.
Friday, February 27th, 2009OK, the official verdict is Saturday will be at Solitude.
Sounds like the meeting place is at the west end of the parking lot near the Eagle Express chair. If someone would like to post directions, great, otherwise, just wing-it…
Tailgating? What time does the party start? 
Sunday is still Park City…
WTC Schedule – Saturday at Solitude?
Thursday, February 26th, 2009Sorry for the “loosely” organized WTC this year. Again, as Dave mentioned, the “surprise” with Park City has caused mass confusion! 
Anyway, Saturday, we’re thinking about riding Solitude.
Anyone out there who is planning on riding with us Saturday, please check in with us and let us know what your preferences are. You can leave a comment here, throw a post up on the thread over on BOL, email dave (at) hardbooter.com, or email skully (at) hardbooter.com and let us know. If Solitude is your vote, let us know where a good meeting place is.
Friday is at The Canyons. Again, we’ll meet in the lower parking lot near the Cabriolet lift, roughly between 8:00 and 9:00. Again, we have access to a limmited ammount of 1/2 price tickets, but we need to know if you are planning on using one of those vouchers.
There will be a few select boards in the truck for demo but you’ll have to provide binders and boots. Hardbooter custom shaped Priors and a couple of Virus’s for your enjoyment. We will not let you mount Cateks on HB demo boards so, over the course of the weekend, if you would like to demo a board from us, please provide a different interface or drop us a line and we might be able to arrange something. We’ll have some tools and saw horses for early setup and operate out of a 1963 split window Corvette trunk. Ok, maybe a 1998 Ford Explorer.
At this point, Park City is still the plan on Sunday.
P.S. I’ve got a Rossignol World Cup Race 190 for sale. If anyone is interested and wants to pick it up at the WTC for a good deal, let me know.
The Canyons 2-21-2009 and… A WTC Day at The Canyons?
Saturday, February 21st, 2009No work today. Oh well… I took out the Speedster 177 for the first time. Took runs on Snodancer (not really steep enough for the 177, but still fun), Another World, Cloud Nine, and Doc’s Run. The snow is great right now after last week’s storms. Looks like we’re due for another storm the first part of the week too. Conditions should be excelent for the WTC… Tried out some Titanflex Intec bindinngs for the firts part of the day with the new Fin-tecs, then mounted up the regular race titanium clips. I’ve now had enough time on the Fin-tecs to have an opiniont: The Fin-tecs work great. Seems you have to be a little more precise to get them into the receivers. Hmmm. Fin made something that’s more “precise” than it’s predecessor? What a surprise. No more worrying about plastic heels exploding, that’s a good thing in my book.
Dave has mentioned that we may want to try spending a day at The Canyons for the WTC. I’ll be working on Sunday the first of March, and could direct people to the best carving runs, and possibly do some riding with folks also, or we could possibly do a different day. If anyone out there is interested in trying to get together for a ride day at The Canyons, hit me up at: skully (at) hardbooter.com, or post a comment here – I’ll keep an eye on it. We’ll see what the interest is, and go from there, otherwise, we’ll probably spend most days at Park City.
Looking forward to next week…
Curt / Skully
President’s Day Weekend – The Canyons
Monday, February 16th, 2009
Saturday 2/14
Happy Valentines Day… As some of my cohorts at the resort said, it was “puking” all day long: In other words, lots of fresh snow. I glanced at the Tanker at one point, and thought about riding it, but changed my mind. Rode the softies all day, taking numerous tree runs in the AM, enjoying the new snow. About lunch-time I got booked for a 1-hour private lesson. Chatting with the client he said: “I’m from Hawaii, and come from a long line of watermen, so I’ve been surfing my whole life.” Then he asks me if I know who Eddie Aikau is… Turns out this gentleman was ‘nephew. So, “coming from a long line of watermen” was kind of an understatement. It was fun riding with / teaching someone with such rich surfing history in his family. You get to meet some pretty cool people working in the snowsports industry sometimes.
Sunday 2/15
The “puking” was over on Sunday. No snow, bluebird skies, and great groomers. A great day to be out playing in the snow. Took a few runs in the trees again to take advantage of the fresh snow from Saturday, then changed out of the soft gear, and grabbed the Tanker 192 to take advantage of some of the groomers. Spent an hour teaching after switching gear, and after that there was no more work, so the Tanker got put to work on Doc’s run on the way off of the mountain. The tanker just put’s a smile on my face every time I ride it. I guess it’s kind of the “do everything” board….
Monday 2/16
Another day on the hill. The grooming is great, and the the skies aren’t so blue, with a few clouds hanging around, as there is supposed to be a big storm blowing in. Business levels are down in the Ski / Snowboard school, so It’s time to do some training. Our trainer today as one of our long-time instructors from Australia, which is great, cause he won’t be shoving AASI doctrine down our throats the whole time. I like clinics with the “foreigners” because of that. The trainers who have an international view are more open minded that the guys who are totally indoctrinated in to the AASI way of thinking. No-one had a real strong opinion on what to focus on in the clinic, so some old guy (me) suggested carving. So, we spent a couple of hours working on carving drills with 20 instructors in softies, who had nothing better to do, with one double black diamond run thrown in at the end of the clinic for good measure. After the clinic, most of us get released for the day, so I jet home to help my daughter with her science project. Snowboarding in the morning, hanging out with the family in the afternoon… All in all, a great day in my book.
Curt / Skully
Disclamer: Once again, the above photo of the 9990 lift at The Canyons is “borrowed” from their website…
The Canyons 2-7-2009
Saturday, February 7th, 2009Not much to report from the Canyons as far as carving goes. It was raining in the valley again today, but snowing in Park City (Whew!). When I got to the locker room, there was a Kessler GS stick with the full-on Hangl plate sitting against the wall. I wondered what was going on, since I don’t see too many Kesslers at The Canyons, and found out later that there was a USASA race going on down on the lower mountain today.
I thought about riding the Tanker today, but decided on a some tree runs instead when there was no work for me in the morning. The snow was still decent in the trees. I made my way down to see what was up at the race. Of course Billy was there with the Park City Alpine Snowboard Team, so I chatted with him for a few minutes, and then had to check in for work. It was cool to see a decent turn-out chasing sticks.
Ended up working in the PM, so my fre-riding adventures were done for the day.
Curt / Skully
The Canyons – 2-1-2009
Sunday, February 1st, 2009
Finally had the time to put the Virus Scalpell through the paces. Business levels are down at the moment, so a part-time guy like me doesn’t get much work. So I had to check in every once in a while, and ride….
Met up with MJDC25 from the BOL forums, and we proceeded to make a couple of runs on Saddleback / Snowdancer before I had to check in. It was fairly crowded as usual, but the snow is in excellent condition.
Headed on over to the Tombstone lift, and hit up Another world a few times. Again, great snow. On the way to Tombstone on Chicane, I was able to really open it up a few times, and the Scalpell did well on the chopped up stuff, with patches of ice here and there.
To end the day we took a run down Could 9, to show MJDC25 another good carving run. It hadn’t been groomed since the day before, but again, the metal in the Scalpell did it’s job. I have to say, that the Scalpell is my favorite Virus, of the Virii that I have ridden. Keep in mind, I’m not an X world-cup racer like Billy and Will, so I enjoy a board that’s a little easier to turn. The Scalpell isn’t as damp as a Prior or Kessler, but it still holds it’s own on the chopped up stuff where the metal boards excel.
Also chatted with a couple other BOL forum members on the way off the hill. Must have been a record for this year- 4 or 5 hardbooters at the Canyons on the same day… The snow is great for carving right now, if you can get up and play in it, do it!
Disclaimer: the photo was “borrowed” from The Canyons website… I couldn’t help myself…