Archive for January, 2009

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January 31, 2009

Saturday, January 31st, 2009

January 31, 2009

Epic bluebird day up at Park City.dsc00103 Sorry it’s been a while since I blogged but I have been pretty busy and not getting the time on snow.  Anyway last week Billy loaned me the Super Good 200cm to try out.  All I can say is hang on! This board is not for weak or timid but I can’t think a more user-friendly board at this length.  Here are my stats so you have something to gauge this board.  I am 5’8” (on a good day), 158lbs, with a stance width of 20.5 inches, 55 front foot and 51 on the back.  I only ride alpine boards and have been riding alpine for the last 20 years (can’t believe I can say that now, getting old I guess haha).  On this board I was riding TD2s with yellow rings, suspension kit, and lexan plates.  Also I was using Deeluxe 700 boots.  dsc00119First run up was on Claimjumper.  Nice easy run to see how this board turns.  While it was ok cruising neither the board nor I were doing what we like to do.  Next was Assessment, not too much steeper but enough to finally get this board up to speed.  Once I stepped on it the thing turned like no tomorrow and plowed though everything.  After this I headed over to Prospector.  Three turns down the headwall without ever crossing the fall-line and huge smile on my face, this is what riding is all about, hauling ass!  To really make this board ride its best I have found that if I really keep my knees apart and stand on that edge I could do any type of turn I wanted and never wash out.  This board is super stable at speed, I hit a run down Widow Maker, which was groomed but had the funky ridges left over from the Cats, going about 65mph and all I could do was smile and laugh.  There was no shaking this board.  I got to ride it switch and like most other alpine boards it just ripped.  Hopefully I will get a few more days on it and try it out in the park to see what its like going off some hits.  Overall if anyone is looking for a real super g board, look no further, this is what you have been wanting.  For me this is an everyday board, don’t know if everyone wants to push around a 200cm board everyday but the benefits of riding this thing far outweigh any negatives.  Speaking of negatives, the only thing negative about this board is all questions you have to answer in the lift line, if you call that a negative.  Well time for me to get ready to watch the UFC fights and then up and at it again all day tomorrow. dsc00113 Hopefully you can get out there and make some turns, Park City is in great carving shape.  Tomorrow’s forecast is sunny and 29 degrees, it gets no better than that!

Posted in Gear Reviews, Park City Mountain Resort, Will Garrow | 1 Comment »

20090130

Friday, January 30th, 2009

Some quick notes about Friday’s conditions at Park Cit Mountain Resort. Spectacular day with near perfect grooming and blue bird skies. The conditions should hold as we have a high pressure system in place for the time being. I rode the Phil Berube Prior Metal shape with UPZ RC-10 Virus edition boots and F2 binders size L. Had a front angle of 47 degrees and 44 in the rear which proved a little to low as I booted out on heelside back foot on around 35 degree pitch. ( Sitka ) I’ll dial them up a bit and give it another go. This is the least angle I’ve ever carried and I just wanted to see what I could get away with the the relatively small footprint of the UPZ boot. Get to Park City now!! The conditions are great with minimal crowds!!

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The Canyons – January 24

Saturday, January 24th, 2009

Rain……..

It was raining in the Salt Lake Valley when I started my trek up to the hills. No biggie, It usually snows at the resorts when it rains in the valley this time of year. The bad news was that it was still raining over the top of Parley’s Canyon, and on hwy. 224 on the way in to Park City. What the Fluff is up with rain in Park City in January?

At least it was snowing at the top of the Gondola. Business is still pretty slow this time of year, so I get the day off, but I have to stick around for some training in the afternoon, and I just threw bindings on a Virus “Dee Scalpell Supercarver” so why not?

After changing to the hardboots, I try out one run on Snowdancer off of the Saddleback chair. It’s quickly apparent that mellow lower-angle runs aren’t going to work today with this wet sticky snow, so It’s over to the Sun Peak chair for a couple of runs. Only problem is, it’s raining at the bottom of the Sun Peak chair. Oh well, let’s see how it goes.

So I finally get to some higher angle slopes, and take off. Visibility is next to nothing in the rain / snow, but I can’t resist making a few turns. I pick up some speed, and the metal in the Virus does it’s job and sucks up a some bumps I didn’t expect and I don’t get bucked off like I probably would have on a regular constuction board. Since I’m riding an “EC” board, I try to lay out an “EC” style carve, which I suck at to begin with, and I immediatly blow out.  So the Euro-Carving isn’t going to work for me today, back to the regular angulated turns.

The snow is actuall kind of fun, and there’s no-one around due to the weather, but after 3 runs on Sun Peak in the rain / snow, my gloves are soaked and the rest of me will be soon, so I pack it in to dry out the clothing before the afternoon training.

One of these days I’ll actually get to spend some quality time with that Virus, but today isn’t the day.

We’re supposed to get up to 30 inches of snow in the next couple of days, let’s hope it cools off so the precipitation falling from above will not be in liquid form…..

Curt/Skully

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January 20th

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

Another great day for making turns at Park City.  I love weekdays; no one there and you can go as fast as you want.  Today rode mostly Silver Queen and Assessment while working with Flavia on her technique.  Near the end of the morning we headed over to check out Billy and the Park City race team.  They were looking good training SL for their upcoming NorAm — good luck everyone!  Watching everyone in the gates made me wish we still had some super g races.  Speaking of big and fast turns Billy loaned me the Prior 200 metal Silly Good board to try out.  After seeing Billy on that monster on Sunday I have been drooling to try it out.  Look for my initial report on Thursday and a full review coming soon after that.  I will try to get some footage too asap.  I think snow is in the forecast.

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The Canyons

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

So It’s time for me to get off my tukus and give an update about how things are at The Canyons this year.

Things started off this season kind of sparse, like the rest of the resorts in the area. That is, until the storm on 12/24-12/25. After that, things got a lot better. The snow was great during the holidays, and after due to the set of storms that just kept coming. Didn’t get a lot of time to ride ’cause of working too much. A run here and there in the trees. Only a half-day spent one day on the hard gear, teaching, and took two runs on a square-tail, which felt good. Couple of hardbooter sitings at The Canyons over the holidays, but as usual, not a lot.

texmadd

MLK weekend rolls around, and a high pressure system has set in over UT, and even though the groomers are great, we could use some snow, as there are getting to be some sketchy spots on the mountain. Spent Saturday riding on a Texalium Madd 170, with my 8 year old son. Didn’t really get the chance to push it, but definitely got reminded of how much fun those Madd boards are.

MLK day. I acutally don’t have to work! The family is comming up to play in the snow a little, but I’ve actually got a while to put the Madd through it’s paces, so I give it a warm-up run on Snowdancer, dodging the locals. After that I head over to the Sun Peak lift. Sun Peak isn’t always the best for carving, as that’s where the terrain park at The Canyons is located, but today is the first day that it’s been open, and it’s still only about half complete, so the park rats haven’t taken over yet. Runs on Echo, Eclipse and Zap put a big smile on my face. The snow great for carving right now. Zap even has some kinda soft stuff on it, as it’s pretty much always in the shade. Even took a run through the park to leave some ruts for the jibbers. The Madd is still a whole lot of fun. I haven’t ridden a Madd for a while, and had forgoten how much fun they can be. Sure hope Mike keeps making those things.

All for now. Hopefully we’ll get some snow this weekend!

– Curt / Skully

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20090119

Monday, January 19th, 2009

Had a great day as always at Park City Mountain Resort. It was a Monday and crowd were at there minimum as they are in Utah during the week. The grooming was splendid overall and the snow was fast from a Sunday thaw and overnight freeze on the mountain. Conditions were firm with no clouds in site. The valley was socked in with some inversion but I easily escaped the crud immediately upon entering Parley’s Canyon. In the following video, I briefly report on the conditions and present my second installment of the UPZ boot review.

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UPZ RC 10 Alpine Snowboard Boot Review Part 1

Sunday, January 18th, 2009

The first installment of the UPZ video review is finished. These boots are truly amazing but there isn’t much data around on them. As I take them throug the trials, I’ll document, mostly through video I believe, my findings.

-Cheers to Gear!!

Posted in Dave Tille, Gear Reviews, Videos | 2 Comments »

January 18, 2009

Sunday, January 18th, 2009

Wow two days straight on snow.  Yesterday started off with flat light but the snow was real good.  Some from out west might have called a few runs hardpacked but there was no hardpack to be found (at least from a native New Yorker perspective).  After Flavia and I took a few warm-up runs down Claimjumper and Mucker’s we headed over to Assessment.  That run had the best snow early in the morning plus no one was on it.  When we got to the top of Silverlode we met up with Jared and Tiffany and then headed back to Assessment and then to Silver Queen.  The rest of the day we spent hitting those three runs.  For a Saturday the crowds weren’t too bad and by the afternoon the sun was shining.  I am waiting for a picture from Jared of him doing some Eurocarve over on Red Fox, when he gets it to me I will post it.  For now all I have is this one picture of me on Assessment riding the Virus metal.
Will on Assessment
Today we caught up with Jared and Tiffany on the first run but as we were going up Crescent lift Billy called me.  The four of us met Billy and Skate at the bottom of Silverlode.  All six of us rode everything as Park City is in great shape for carving.  The mountain definitely needs some snow (forecasts says snow starting Thursday and going through the weekend) but for ripping turns I think it is great shape!  We rode all over with most of the runs either on Assessment or Silver Queen.  After taking a quick bathroom and drink break we went over to Sitka.  I happen to love the double fall line and the snow over there but some of us didn’t so we headed to Pioneer to check out the Fox.  It was ok but still the best snow was on Assessment and Queen so we stayed on Bonanza and Silverlode until we called it a day and headed to Squatter’s for a beer and some food.  Well two days down and two more to go until work so hopefully we will see you up there.  Come up and take a few runs, the groomers are great!

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20090112

Monday, January 12th, 2009

Adam and I had a steller day at Park City Mountain Resort today.  The light was flat but the snow was epic.  I’ve posted my first Video Log, or VLOG.  Check it out!!

—Dave

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January 11th, 2009

Sunday, January 11th, 2009

Well another day up at Park City.  One thing for sure, never trust the weatherman.  It was suppose to be sunny or partly cloudy and it was anything but that ha.  By the time we got off Bonanza lift we couldn’t see a thing due to ice crusting over my goggles.  We took a run down Claimjumper and met up with Jared and Tiffany. p1110008 Heading back up Flavia and Ryssa wanted to warm-up so they headed into the Summit House for some hot chocolate and a brownie.  While the smart ones warmed up the rest of us took a run down Silver Queen.  The Queen was in real nice shape but you couldn’t see a thing in the flat light.  Taking a run down Silver Queen again we had enough so the five of us headed out.  The rest of the run down Jared and Flavia worked on their switch riding.  I knew this before but now I have proof that Kesslers and GS Nideckers ride very nice switch hahaha.   Hopefully the weather clears up for Tuesday morning.

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