Sking/Snowboarding 09/10

[Mr.Stu]

Any of you plannings trips/seasons away?

Any new boards/skis in the pipeline. Rocker technology seems to be hitting the mainstream this season, remains to be seen if its going to be a fad though...

Things are hotting up (cooling down?) here and I'm considering shelving my Ride board in favor of a Prior stick, need to demo one as soon as the white stuff starts falling, come on the snow!

 

[Mr.Stu]

http://www.rockertechnology.com/

I.e. no camber on the board.

I road a skate banana for about 6 weeks last year and at first I was really enjoying it, but eventually the fun wore off and I realized it actually sucked for controlled turns and sharp carves. It also got really choppy on messed up groomers. It did however make snowboarding effortless, i.e. you will never catch an edge.

I'm hoping to demo some of the other manufacturers rocker boards, skate banana is at the more extreme end of the rocker scale.

 

[Mr.Stu]

Picked up an 06 hatchet out of the skip at the re-use it center in Function last month, gonna be my rock board when the lifts first open in Novemeber

 

[Mr.Stu]

Regarding gear, I was tempted by a new pair of skis in the sales but spent all the money before I got chance I fancy a new helmet though with headphones built in - have seen a peaked Bern one in the ExtremePie catalogue for £85 which looks nice, but haven't looked properly yet. Anyone got any recommendations?

RED HIFI would be my choice. However I choose not to ride with music on, find it too distracting. Got took out by a guy riding with music in his ears last year too, on the approach to a jump, landed on my head from about 8 foot up - concussion and out for 2 weeks, lucky!

 

[Mr.Stu]

Got fitted up on some new boots (Burton Ruler 2010) yesterday, much better fit than my 09 Anthems. Actually went down 1.5 sizes, looking forward to riding without heel lift....

26 degrees and sunny here in Whistler today, won't be getting any early gifts from nature at this rate!

 

[Mr.Stu]

 

[Mr.Stu]

Nearly a metre of snow predicted in the alpine over the next week, fingers crossed for an early season!

http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Whistler-Blackcomb/6day/top

Picked up some 2008 Burton Ruler boots from the Turkey Sale on Friday, 2 sizes smaller than last years boots, oops.

 

[Mr.Stu]

Still no sign of any snowbase here - deffo not gonna be an early season!

Bought a new board, ordered some outerwear and had confirmation of my winter work schedule that allows for 5 days of riding per week - stoked

 

[Mr.Stu]

What are you working as?

Boring administrator type - thankfully it doesn't involve any phone work, all web based, so I can get the work done out of office hours.

 

[Mr.Stu]

Dumping down here, long range forecast looks great, http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Whistler-Blackcomb/6day/top

Hoping for another season like 06/07!

 

[Mr.Stu]

 

[Mr.Stu]

Mountain set to open Saturday, base at 1m already, crazy snowfall. Checkout the forecast for Sunday & Monday:

Extended forecast for Whistler - Blackcomb.
Saturday.. Cloudy with sunny periods. 60 percent chance of flurries.
Freezing level valley bottom.
Sunday.. Snow. Snowfall accumulation 30 to 50 cm.
Freezing level 1600 metres.
Monday.. Snow. Snowfall accumulation 30 to 50 cm.
Freezing level 1250 metres. ♠

I'm glad I invested in a powder board....

 

[Mr.Stu]

Sure am - custom V rocker goes for $689 + tax at showcase! (ouch) If you can sweet talk any WB employee though they can get you 20% off that price.

 

[Mr.Stu]

Yeah sat at work itching to get out, opening day up there - should be hitting the lift line in an hour or so!

Tax is 12% in BC.

Don't pay the RRP though, at least get a seasons pass holder (pretty much anyone local) to get you 10% off!

 

[Mr.Stu]

Cheers fella.

So $771 CAD, £438. Saves me some money.

I dont suppose you'd be a season pass holder by any chance!??

I could save quite a bit here thinking about it. Becuase my shopping list is

Burton Custom V Rocker 156 - £470
Burton Cartel EST bindings - £210
ThirtyTwo Lashed Fast Track boots - £185

£865, if you get bored, you could have a look how much the other little goodies cost in CAD Whats a WB employee btw?

Sure am, got 2 housemates who work for the mountain too so I'm sure we could work something out when you are over!

Retail on Cartel EST's over here is $309, showcase often do combo deals too, especially on Burton gear.

Cheers S-PW, will try and grab a few eye candy shots if the clouds stay away!

Edit - rrp on boots is $299, all prices +tax

 

[Mr.Stu]

Great conditions up there, lots of fresh snow, groomers got tracked out real fast and it was a gong show due to it being opening day, but wow, the snow was real quality.

Couple of pics:

Checking the conditions from home, looks like a day worth getting out of bed for:

Crowds at the roundhouse lodge:

Really flat light day, I had the wrong lense for it and struggled a bit picking out the bumps:

Trying to show the type of snow conditions, heavy powder, 7th heaven in the background:

Legs feel like they don't belong to me...

 

[Mr.Stu]

More fresh over night, 5 day forecast looks ridiculous.

 

[Mr.Stu]

Awesome Adam mate, so jealous! Looks like seriously outstanding conditions already, get ripping it up!

Mate you should get yourself over here, its gonna be an epic season.

1.45 metres of snow in the past 2 days. Conditions are unreal, I got myself buried in some trees yesterday, took me about 90 minutes to get back to a groomed run after using my board to hike through belly high pow

 

[Mr.Stu]

Still coming down strong here, smashed the record for the most snow ever in November and still 10 days left. Theres been over a foot of pow every morning for the past week.

Keeping the tip up is brutal on the backleg! Buddy got stuck in earlier and did the 'turtle' for a good 5 mins:

 

[Mr.Stu]

The snow has stopped falling here - groomers are hard packed and lots of ice... still, not bad views...

(few pics from a short hike to the peak, not a soul in sight)