”You think you know but you have no Idea” I believe that’s the catch phrase on Mtv’s Diary. The show where they follow some celebrity around for a few days of their “difficult” life, usually its some rags to riches story where some rapper with more Ice on thier neck then on a world cup SL course, tries to convince us how hard they truly work for their money.
As a young alpine rider in the early 90’s, my alpine brethren and I would quote the same Catch Phrase to anyone who asked about the “Ski” boots we where using on that funny shaped snowboard. When a pack of us got together to trench the cord the lift line turned into an inquisition. The Temple Mtn. Hardcore Crew (thank you Mt Baker) always had the same answer: ”Follow us we’ll show you!” But I am a skier I don’t want to go around sliding and pushing all the snow off the trail snowboarding is just a fad it will die out; was the most common response. But after any of us made turns, The Catch Phrase held true “they thought they knew but they had no idea”. We would often split up into groups so the skiers who followed us down could get some chair time with one of us on an alpine set up. They always bombarded us with question and most days we laid out all the info, and turns for everyone. We let them make up their own mind about the gear of the time.
Some days we would get swarmed, and have to completely shut down, we would fake the best European accents we could to escape the masses every time we entered the lift lines at many resorts, sharing our precious alpine knowledge with a lucky few who clearly possessed the skills to participate in such a elite sport. As one of the younger guys in the group I always listened to anyone with hardboots on their feet. And when we were lucky enough to meet some one else riding plates we always ended up riding together and sharing info about everything gear related, One cat would feel as though his M8 was the best board ever while his buddy would swear that he needed to move on into the “now” and put a PJ or some other Asymmetrical shape under their feet because symmetrical shapes were old school and it was time to move on. We would talk about boots and bindings even though there where only a few manufactures to compare. Steve “Speed” Sanders had a setup he swore by, while Larry “Earl” Giles swore by a whole different set up. We would swap out every piece of gear with one another limited only by shapes that were stance specific. (Although I am regular, I spent almost a year learning to ride goofy just so I could ride the first Asym on the hill.) I would ride boards that belonged to friends twice my size, and later as I myself grew boards for riders half my size. We would argue about gear for our entire careers, watching one another grow from young hoodlums trying to ride away our growing pains and joys one run at a time; to adults still trying to figure life out one turn at a time. Even when alpine riding started to peek, we were all riding different gear. F2 was the first to give me gear for free and as a young man they quickly became the gear I pimped to anyone who asked. Steve had the local VT company taking care of him so of course in his eyes they where the best gear. For many years I followed what ever path any manufacture told me to. When Rossi said I should try this board boot binding combo, I did, and I had to adjust to the new gear. Then after a few to many broken boards I moved into something else. Then after some European board time and board destruction; I found my self back on Asym, Burton product, again adapting to the gear change, and discovering the joys of board shapes and designs. We would rip apart any board on the hill that had broken, discussing it openly with anyone and everyone wondering why this worked and of course why it did not. As a still developing rider I learned very quickly that much like the evolution I had witnessed as a young snowboarder from straps to highbacks, swallow tails to round tails. Alpine snowboarding was beginning its evolution also. And being a gear-head was beginning to pay off, soon companies were dragging me along to shows and on snow demos to ride with ski designers and other early alpine enthusiast, we would spend months working on gear that worked and some that did not. I would travel from booth to booth looking for any alpine gear to try, and as the years progressed found my self rewarded with new product to ride on and friends to ride with.
When I barely graduated high school I never saw the possibility of Alpine snowboarding developing into a career. And as an Alpine enthusiast I had maintained good enough grades to stay active in Ski Team and keep my parents happy enough to allow me to continue going to the Hill everyday. But now as my Dad was so kind to put it the free ride (Even though I worked for the resort every season) was over and so was my “Snowboarding obsession”. I however refused to give up and came up with the perfect plan!. The Mountain Infantry. O-Kay so it was only the National Guard and when I went to Basic Training all my friends moved to ski towns out west. But when I returned home that first season Gear was changing again, and this time I found my self at Waterville Valley. I quickly found the heavies at WV and was happy to be back playing with new shapes and sizes and perhaps just as pleased to sit and talk about it. U.S. team member Billy Enos would share stories from the World Cup and we would all sit and listen. But when it came to gear the situation was the same. It works for him but not for some one else. Billy was getting the super long stuff from Rossi and until he had procured a replacement he was the only one riding it. But eventually he got new gear and I got hill time on the old stuff. It was at this point I discovered the true meaning of Alpine riding, After years of different rides and styles I thought for sure at WV I was going to settle on just one, or at least what I thought was the correct “technique” coming from riders with World Cup experience. Instead I discovered diversity, Perhaps it was one too many park sessions with the park rats or maybe days in the pipe. It could have been trying to chase down Kildy; Me on one of his Ride pro shapes and him on one of Chris Priors’ first boards, a 203 with a 16cm waist. Enos soon went to skinny boards also and I begged them both for board time twice a day and some times it worked out. When it did I would mimic the owners style to the best of my ability, It amazed me how different each of thier boards felt and just how differently they had to be ridden. It reminded me of soft-boot boards and their diversity. I had visions while trenching thin pretty lines at WV, I thought for sure the progression of Alpine riding had began, spearheaded by custom board builders providing a “custom” board made just for one athlete with their own style of riding. After all the WV Crew could do it all. Laid out Euro style turns (Pre EC style), crazy fast SL and race style GS turns, Big stylish transitions with several feet of drift and plenty of Air under the board, Switch riding at speed and spinning inverts in the park on hardboots were not uncommon by several talented riders. All of which had the ability to lay lines with style unlike each other. On gear that was as miss matched, Dave ”Marc” Thimmel One of the original Temple Mtn. Hard Core alpine riders now on his 15th board shape with his 10th pair of bindings riding some super stiff ski boots. Still ripping with a smile larger then the first day I watched him link carved turns on a Safari, and killing it in the park, and pipe and trenching the cord he as a groomer shaped into our alpine playground. Guys Like Mike Grasso and Ryan Mullen Arcing stylish turns at speed, style that later earned them slots in World Cups after gate bashing around the pro tour, never on the same gear Two years in a row. Cats like Arvid Swanson and Fellow Mtn. Infantryman Andy Kinney Riding bone stock off the shelf gear from shops they ran always wishing it was better and later making changes in the industry based on what they learned. One of the most memorable trenchers had to have been Rick Reid, he had been dubbed the fun-shaped kid by many of the local rats and spent some time running the snowboard school taking whatever alpine gear he had and using his fun-shape and teaching knowledge to arc hard, style unlike anyone to date. Many of the WV crew went on to jobs with manufactures, Kildy maybe the most influenced board designer of the mid 90’s having worked with Burton to bring the Stat board line and the race plate design, Then changing waist widths to 19cm with the Ride Kildy 59 and 69 boards, Ride all aluminum plate binding and later the liquid boards with the same name and a 49, then Kildy went on to push the design process and shapes of anything with two edges including several new core shapes and 2 piece board design, Kildy also finished 16th ( I believe) in Nagano98. Arvid went to work with Volkl and their race and boarder cross line. Rick found his way to Oxygen and managed their race team. Billy Enos now runs one of the best snowboard teams on the east coast. Dave and Andy still just love to ride. None of them rides the same gear or way as each other but they have all been very successful in their own way!
I rode everything those guys were nice enough to let me try, and when I left to move west I too took a little bit of each of their style with me. When I came to Park City it was the first year they allowed snowboarding and I came with the intention of maintaining the snowboard school director’s position I held at Waterville and Temple. Going pro changed all that. Instead what I found was a hill with out any alpine knowledge and a Ski school full of “Carvers” who had just discovered the shaped ski but had been working at a SKI ONLY hill, and were amazed to even see an alpine rider. I found myself a hardboot friend: Pablo Thomas, former World Cup/ FIS snowboard competitor, technical delegate, and like me coach, and instructor. Pablo and I worked very hard to introduce Alpine riding to Park City. We have had to develop a very large and diversified teaching technique to included all types of alpine enthusiast on various gear, I was forced to think way out side the standard methods and believe as a resort that hosted the SLC02 games we have truly been established as a premier national riding resort, Having been the first Instructor, and first Park City sponsored racer I feel a great deal of pride through out PC’s development, And consider it my alpine home. How ever as with everywhere else in the US including Max’s the local shop I work for, the amount of alpine gear and stoke is only represented online.
I now hope to bring that same experience to Hardbooter.com through a none biased love of sliding. I believe it is in the diversity of Alpine Riding that the sport will continue to grow. We hope to provide any enthusiast with all the necessary equipment to pursue alpine riding to their full potential. We are a small company founded on pure love for the sport. We have a huge amount of first hand knowledge that we have continued to share through out the history of the sport. We may not have the gear you need now but we know about the gear you want. We are happy to discuss what you want your gear to do for you; and when our budget grows we will have the gear even if we have to make some our selves. We know every one rides different and as you read this we are trying to get our hands (and Boots) on as much gear as possible to test in house and help any alpine rider make a great gear selection for great days of riding. We have been sharing the love with everyone we have met since day one. Now with the web page we are hoping to share it with everyone we have not met yet. We are Alpine Experienced!
We are ALPINE DEDICATED!
Billy Bordy
Hardbooter.com