Anyone here snowboard? If you do, where(and tell us all about it!)

What is snow?

I did some snowboarding some years ago, but the last years lack of good snow, and a crappy snowboard set have made me not doing anything of that kind on 2 years. Not like I missed anything, I did suck on snowboard hehe. Could jump, but not doing any tricks or such, usually I just enjoyed myself running off the marked course and try not hitting a tree. Proved to be quite interesting, since I seemed to fail a lot on the turns where the heel is behind and your tooes inside.

I started about 1994-5 and have been to a fair number of resorts around the world since then. I spent a month in Whistler years back and it has to be a favourite I would love to go back one day. I now live in NZ and have 5 resorts within 1.5 hours of me. These are small scale compared to the massive fields in US, Canada and Europe and we don't get the same number of big powder days

Powder snow is where snowboarding is really at but you need a certain skill level before you should venture "outback" without the safety a resort offers. A great untouched snow face of deep powder can feel like flying on a magic carpet.

I did a heli-board day a few years back. Being dropped on the top of a mountain is a hell of a feeling

If you don't snowboard yet it will take 1+ week of solid boarding to get to a place where you can get around. The learning curve is fast but the pain gets bigger the faster you go. You do reach a point where you fall less but I did bust a few bones getting to that point. I can now ride in near zero viz by feel but prefer not to. Its a great sport that you get more from the better you get

I always go skiing every year in Austria > Zillertall > Mayrhofen , but one day i rented a snowboard learned it.

I didn't like it very much, its to limited. Skis or snowblades that i have are more practical and fun IMO.

I live in switzerland, do i need to say more?

I snowboard since i'm 15 years old...

Only 1 week of proper snow this winter... had one good snowboarding day...

Nah. You're free to think of me as the most boring person in the world, but I actually prefer skies.

Quote from SidiousX :

Anyone here snowboard? If you do, where(and tell us all about it!)

Good fun, but Scotland is a harsh environment to learn in. We call it iceboarding with good reason.

I gave it up up after two shoulder dislocations in a 6 month spell.

Did go to BC for a 3 week session a few years back, what a difference! That was much more like it. Powder doesn't hurt to fall in at all

i played 1080 on the 64 once. i was mint!

Quote from HVS5b :

Good fun, but Scotland is a harsh environment to learn in. We call it iceboarding with good reason.

I gave it up up after two shoulder dislocations in a 6 month spell.

Did go to BC for a 3 week session a few years back, what a difference! That was much more like it. Powder doesn't hurt to fall in at all

Yep. I lived in Scotland long enough to know exactly what you mean. Ice and rocks is not a fun surface to ride

It may seem weird to you 'youngsters' (lol), but dear old Grandad Bladey was the FIRST person EVER to snowboard at Mt Ventoux (near Avignon) in France.
When I got to the station, nobody even knew what a snowboard was...this was waaaaaayyyyy back in the dark ages of 1985, just after I had my eyeballs candied by the James Bond film "A View to a Kill". At the time I was heavily into skiing, and had 'previous' as a bit of a surfer-dude from the north devon coast. To see the two disciplines entwined like that told me that finally somebody had a good idea...so I went out and found a snowboard...had weird fixings at the time, and you couldn't even wear proper ski boots..was more like a pair of plastic straps that you put you toes in and another strap for your ankle...difficult to explain, but.. they worked, sort of!
Ski lifts of the bum-drag variety were out of the question, and as Mt Ventoux didnt have chair lifts, the only way up was ...WALK!!

Obviously at a later date I got a 'proper' board with real fixings, and had about 5 years of fun before I moved back to the UK. (and got old )

Quote from hyntty :

Nah. You're free to think of me as the most boring person in the world, but I actually prefer skies.

me too, but i have snowblades

Quote from 5haz :

What is snow?

what happens when you Grate elfs.

Quote from G!NhO :

I always go skiing every year in Austria > Zillertall > Mayrhofen , but one day i rented a snowboard learned it.

I didn't like it very much, its to limited. Skis or snowblades that i have are more practical and fun IMO.

Mayrhofen! That's where I go each summer: Jakob Moserstraße

It's a great skiing area, but I've never been there in the winter.

i know this is a bump and all but i wanna brag about my new board


the most beautiful and fun board in the world

Nice board, but one of the best and most fun boards is this here:
http://www.ridehead.com/#boards/1576

Adjusts the stiffness of the board according to terrain and speed. And it works, i have one. Until other board manufacturers adapt to the technology, you won't see me riding anything else than those head boards with the chip.

Quote from sk8line69 :

i know this is a bump and all but i wanna brag about my new board


the most beautiful and fun board in the world

I have only been on a carving board once. A full blown race board. OMG fast.

I prefer soft boots myself though

Quote from jibber :

Adjusts the stiffness of the board according to terrain and speed. And it works, i have one.

The strange thing is, my Elan Endless 156 works just fine without adjustable stffness... Don't know why some people need the fancy technology and stuff

Quote from squidhead :

The strange thing is, my Elan Endless 156 works just fine without adjustable stffness... Don't know why some people need the fancy technology and stuff

Trust me, i hear such comments quite often... all by people who've never ridden one before.

A good example is a friend of mine. Since he was a little kid, his father had a sports shop. He could basically have every board he liked from the shop, a new one each year. Later on he had to start paying for them, but still got a great price of course. He still can go to all the snowboard and ski testing days (organized by his fathers shop) for free. He goes there every season, to test the boards and see what he likes best. He is a guy that, you could say: "has no fear". He rides pretty fast and hard on the track, but loves big parks or riding powder aswell. You could say he is a good and experienced rider since many years.

Since he first tested such a board with the chip technology, he never had another board anymore. Every season i ask him, if there is anything new/better. And since four years, the answer is the same: "No, still the best." Thing is, if there would be something that feels better to him, he wouldn't give a sh*t about Head, and switch to whatever brand the better product is from.

If you get the chance, try one of those boards. You'll see what i mean.
Of course, if you drive the learner tracks for kids, going at a lightning speed of 5km/h, you probably won't notice anything (not directed at you, just saying). Basically, on a hard track with maybe icey surface, you'll have a perfectly stiff board which doesn't start to "wobble/vibrate" at high speeds, while in powder (other extreme), you have a wonderfully soft board.

I know i know... it sounds a lot like one of those gimmiks you don't ever need. But in this case, it's not a joke. It's not just like "yeah, it feels nice, like 100 other boards". It's like "Bloody hell! What a difference!".

They didn't pay me to write this by the way. Hehe!

I just started to snowboard and on the second day of snowboarding ever i crashed and broke my shoulder but i should be able to get back snowboarding next monday but its fun and i snowboard at the Whistler/Blackcomb resort. And i rent the equitment but i get a good deal

Also anyone have any tips on how to get better at Toe Edge as i can board fine on Heal edge but i always fall when on toe edge. the reason i crashed was i went to deap in my toe edge and fell backwards and didn't have time to put my hand out to stop myself from crashing.

Quote from G!NhO :

I always go skiing every year in Austria > Zillertall > Mayrhofen , but one day i rented a snowboard learned it.

I didn't like it very much, its to limited. Skis or snowblades that i have are more practical and fun IMO.

You? here in austria? Holy crap, how did they let you in?

Well...snowbording...nah, like skiing more

Quote from swisscosmo :

I just started to snowboard and on the second day of snowboarding ever i crashed and broke my shoulder

Now THAT is what I call DEDICATION!
Salutations!

Quote from jibber :

Basically, on a hard track with maybe icey surface, you'll have a perfectly stiff board which doesn't start to "wobble/vibrate" at high speeds, while in powder (other extreme), you have a wonderfully soft board.

Yes, I see the benefits (even though hard to believe this can be achieved on one board). Mine starts to wobble at high speeds, but I learned to cope with that, ans usually manage to keep up with a friend of mine who has a stiff board. Doesn't feel as good though...
The problem is, I can't try it, if I don't buy it...

Quote from squidhead :

Now THAT is what I call DEDICATION!
Salutations!

Thx and when i am alowed to get back to boarding or an "Crashing sports" as my doc says i'll get back to snowboarding. I would love to go right know as fluffy snow has being falling all day but i'm not alowed and mountain is close's at 3:30pm but you can still go half way up and down but still to late.

Quote from squidhead :

Yes, I see the benefits (even though hard to believe this can be achieved on one board). Mine starts to wobble at high speeds, but I learned to cope with that, ans usually manage to keep up with a friend of mine who has a stiff board. Doesn't feel as good though...
The problem is, I can't try it, if I don't buy it...

Depends. Many sport shops organize testing days, which you usually can join for a small ammount of money, or if there are special offers, even for free sometimes. There you can test plenty of new equipment, without having to buy anything.

I'm not saying you really need such a board/technology by the way. It's just nice to have. Head is saying you can ride about 30% faster before you reach the limits you experience with a normal board. Other than that, it's still just a snowboard.