nils
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Posts posted by nils
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Hi everyone,
Long time haven't been checking this forum, but i'm pleased to announce our new video from the past season....
For those who wonder what carving is, how low you can carve on the snow? and what minimalist style can look like here it is
we hope you'll all like this
Carving is easy, it just needs good technique and a good alpine board
Merry xmas
Nils
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Goods as board???
The retail price of the Swoard is 790 euros ( around 100.000. Assuming shipping is around 100 euros for japan, total cost would be in the 110.000 range for a Japanese customer (no idea what the japanese VAT is but you're likely to pay it in 80% of the cases (its charged by the shipping company usually).
The price can be compared to what a custom board would cost in Japan for example.. More details on the board on the site
> the topic was not about 'showing off' our board! (its the best carving board ever but shhhhhh).Nils
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Learning curve
If you are already an alpine rider with a average to good level: i'd say around 10 days, more if you don't have the right board which I assume most people don't have (got the list of those who have it
)If you never did alpine and are not use to carve, might take a bit longer but its good to understand that the EC technique is NOT a hard thing to learn or practice, it doesn't requires mach speeds or crazyness.. All you need is stamina, commitment to lay down and timing...
To explain our site in two sentence:
- Learn the rotation turns and use it
- Lay down early and push the board away from you BEFORE the board is down the fallline
when you masterize both things, its time to reach minimal use of movements (especially arms). This is when thinking they are glued to the sides helps ( or use velcro !)
Hope this helps!
nils
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spook,
you might want to wait a bit until the first issue of snowboarder journal is issued in January.
Of course its better to subscribe now if you want to really have the number one in your hand, otherwise its going to be good luck ( only the subscribers at the surfer's journal have the first year issue if i recall ( i got'em all
all info here: http://www.snowboardjournal.com
Addfree mag, soul minded publication supported by the readers...
nils
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Barok:
I'm not sayingthat FS is wrong, am saying that 16 yold marketing targets should not be representatives of a sport /passion that has so many different ways of expressing itself. What i'm saying also by including ski companies in the story is that they have brought marketing as a science within their approach to the sport: marketers have seen that its cool to bet on the "attitude thing" aka youth and rebel attitude which after all is just about wearing brands, bying goggles that cost twice as the regular goggle and "look cool" thing.
And no, i don't believe anymore that the new breed of freestylers is as free as you say when it comes to the independence of mind. They are all trying to get sponsored, get press coverage and pull rodeo 720 instead of riding on their own, freeriding. Personnaly am not against BC kickers, it just allows me to ride more unridden pow when they are spending the day building that kicker, but I prefer to see freeriders on skis or snowboards pull impossible tricks on the move.
Last year at la Grave was funny, we were all there riding swallowtails in that impressive place and there was this swedish group building a kicker in the middle of the only groomed area there, to shoot pics of a skieer doing backloops for a swedish mag... Most guys thought what a waste of time: you're in freeriding heaven and you're like wasting time building a kicker you could have build almost in your backyard!...
My story tried to talk about that spirit 'glide spirit" that isn't there anymore in the FS (which is fun i don't doubt it). This is also why i do believe in the huge sucess of the newly launched snowboardjournal that will show people actually riding snow, not jumping everywhere ( http://www.snowboardjournal.com please DO subscribe to this when its possible online: this is going to be THE ultimate mag that will show ALL aspects of our passion).
So FS is ok, but we are tired of seeing it rule the sport, kill the small industries that are not marketised (can't compete with salomon or rossi ). We want diversity as you mentionned it, and fewer commercial approach... Maybe its a maturity question.. i don"t know..
Nils
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hehe badmigraine you found the great PIF
Pif, for those who might not know him ( he is famous in the cham valley) is a low profile madman, unsponsorred living the crazy spirit. He was the best friend of late marco siffredi and they are more vids on the site that show them riding together!
What pif does on a Monoski (i think a Duret 183)
many pro snowboarders wouldn't even think of doing at those speeds.. I just bought that DVD (popopow its called) and was mouth open for 30 minutes!!!
I'm gonna meet him this winter hehe maybe ride (slowly) with him !
As for the www.tvmountain.com site, it was created by chamonix mountain guides and is supported by the town of cham i think, and various sponsors. The vids are incredible, base jump vids, mountain, snow, monoski everything you could dream of ( last time i stayed there 3 hours hehe)
Nils
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Hi guys,
Well hope this article doesn't turn into a boot discussion (kidding)!
Thnx for your reactions! As for Dimitrije, He started making snowboards very similar to those Winterstick swallowtails that are still made today in 1972, almost 5 years before Jack Burton, Tom Sims made boards. Dimitrije's boards had edges even before he thought he wouldn't need them in Powder. He has sold his company in the 80's and after a long court trial lost the Winterstick name too. He now runs a successfull composite material company in Utah. He is a very nice guy actually, we've exchanged many emails within the last 3 years and he is happy to see how big the sport is today.. He rides long swallowtails and is starting himself at carving now!
Nils
ps: EC and getting style isn't really difficult, it just asks you to forget all previously learned counter-rotation techniques that are natural so seem evident. We have written a full explaination on how to learn rotationnal technique and use it in freeride, freestyle even and also of course carving. Just watch the learning videos, and go from there! A nice goal to set for the upcoming season.
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Hi all ,
Wondering how much do boards cost in Japan. Here in France average boards are around 400 euros, good boards around 500 and rip off aka burton T6 is close to 690 euros ( must cost less than 100 to produce)... What are prices like in Japan?? (please try converting to euros or USD am not familiar with Da yen
Nils
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Well definitely www.bomberonline.com
fin is the official distributor for raichle deeluxe in north america, PLUS he makes the best alpine binding on the market so the choice is pretty simple to make
Indeed raichles are the best boots one can find today.. so no hesitation. Btw i'd keep the Axis the way you showed it: clear top sheet is awsome.. We wanted to keep our Swoard clear like that but the resin sticks to the topsheet better when its painted so we had no real choice.
As for the Gentem Swallowtail.. I think the board might suit a small mountain and a small rider, but it cannot compare to a 196 board with a 14-16 meter radius...Swallowtails need length so that the nose can flex and work like a bumper. The tail itself needs to be really long and cut so it does two things: help free the torsion of the board, and make it easy to sink in the pow. Modern ST should be real boards, not freeriders that have had a saw cut the tail in two
.The gentem might be a good board for a 60 kilos rider but not for tall guys in deep powder.
Nils
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Hey its a swellpanil magistral you have in your back there
I'm the lucky owner of that one (185cm) and also of the big brother amok (196cm) which i consider the best ever powder board..Funny cos I would not have thought possible to see kafi's jewels so far from La Grave !
For those who wonder what those boards are:
http://www.swellpanik.com . For more general swallowtails question, i created long time ago the only website on them boards: its here
http://www.swallowtails.org (sorry haven't had the time to update for long, but am rebuilding new php galleries for ease of use)
Nils
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Hi guys,
Thnx for the welcome
donek axis> i've seen the board on donek's site and i can't wait to test it (we think of going to SES/bomberonline meeting in february). It seems the donek specs make it a great allround board. Its hard to say anything before testing it, but i'd say the main difference should be edgegrip. We make a special device in our board that forces the edge to grip and makes the edge arc regulary so both tips grip to their extremities. Its a real improvement to any other board construction which adds carbon ,kevlar or fiber in every direction whereas our system is real carbon machined/molded pieces that are part of the core. This is with the rest of the design the success of the efficiency that has the board (and also this is what makes it more expensive to make than a regular one, shall it be custom or serial).
This said: I think sean martin from Donek really made a freecarve/freeride board that is good and it will be my priority to test it
(and also if i can put my feet on a madd158 Last comparison with a surfer's move it accurate: i am myself an average surfer and a big fan of Curren's and Gerry Lopez's style, and the rotation technique we promote makes powder runs on a long swallowtail board feels like power surfing.
Nils
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Hey bout server stats here is a copy paste of what it looks like(small extract of the top ten referents for sept (btw if some of you speak corean i'm eager to see where those 393 visits from corea came from : help wanted!)
# Hits Référent
1 393 0.16% http://cafe21.daum.net/_c21_/bbs_read
2 224 0.09% http://www.skipass.com/ubbvf/Forum6/HTML/001129.html
3 168 0.07% http://www.bomberonline.com/Forums/Thread.cfm
4 136 0.05% http://cafe14.daum.net/_c21_/bbs_read
5 68 0.03% http://snowboarding.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm
6 64 0.03% http://www.google.fr/search
7 63 0.03% http://www.skijapanguide.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi
8 61 0.02% http://forum.ski.com.au/scripts/ultimatebboard/ultimatebb.cgi
9 53 0.02% http://yahho.selfhost.com/default.asp
10 50 0.02% http://www.alpinecarving.com/
I think I'll make a post that links to my favorite pornographic site...maybe the girls will notice the server stats, and then contact me personally...
hehe good luck
Seriously, I find your website fascinating and I'd love to try your "less is more" philosophy and learn to carve like that. It looks like pure adrenaline.
thnx a lot! and it IS pure adrenaline but also easy to perform once you get the technique
Can you also just ride the rest of the mountain on your Swoard boards? How do they perform in powder, and in bumpy or uneven conditions?
The width of our boards makes it much easier to handle in the flat areas, it is more stable than a race board, and requires less attention. The board is versatile: it means it can cruize slowly, accelerate to a serie of EC carves, cross a field of powder, moguls etc... It is however NOT a freeride board ( the nose is very small) and not a freestyle board (too stiff for jumps and deep moguls) (we will however post new movies during the winter showing what jumps can be made with it ( Jacques will take it to the pipe hehe)).
So i'd say the board is very efficient due to its grip, but also forgiving and knows how to slide when its needed. We're showing it mostly doing EC turns but we sold 3 to women that use it for cruizing and normal carving ( this is where our many flex system helps with the narrower waist on the small model (21cm))
I assume hard boots and plate bindings are required?
For the Swoard yes, for extremcarving to a smaller level , no. Means you can approach the same feelings with a stiff freeride board (or BX) and good bindings (aka flows etc). Linking turns will be hard thu.
On your site you mentioned that flex would better come from a boot flex adjustment system, rather than simple pressure deformation of the boot plastic or shell.
yes its an interesting assertion: it means we believe a good shoe is a shoe that doesn't use plastic to bend, but is stiff around the feet, and above the ankle, the bending managed by external spring system. It has been invented by nortwave but they discontinued the serie
I believe the new raichles/deeluxe have such system that has to be modified (amplified) so it works good.
Hope answers clear a bit things !
Don't hesitate to ask on our forum feedback on the Swoard from people riding them
.Nils
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Hi fellow snow riders from Japan
Its funny how looking at a server stats can take you to other website you would never have seen otherwise ! I have seen many connections on our website coming from this forum and just came to have a look
I would like to give a few answers to the questions / suspicions etc that are posted above, since i am part of the EC story, and believe it is important to clarify a few things.
First of all explain what is extremecarving, then the reason why we promote it, and finally to explain why it is fun.
Extremecarving is a new way of riding a board, derivated from the famous euro-turn of the late 80's. We improved the technique and the boards in order to be able to link laid turns ( and when we say laid, it is laid
. We are here talking about carved turns (no skidding although the boards permits is if we need it) with the whole body touching the snow (not only the hands or the hips). Basically the technique we developped over a ten year period before making it available, permits everyone with a snowboard to carve the board with ease, and to the extreme, making it a really nice experience ( you do really feel the G force there).As mentioned above, there is a whole philosophy behind it and if i was to resume it it would be: less is more, or simple is beautiful. We are trying to make turns look easy and smooth with the best economy of moves available.
We posted a manifesto and our general gesture purity philosophy on our page, as with our technique in order to convince everyone that with proper technique you can ride a snowboard and have fun. We also believe time has come for us that started to ride in the 80's to come back to the groomed areas when the powder is not here, and have fun while riding with our kids, not having to ride a crappy freestyle snowboard with no edge hold.
That was the first step, the second was the creation of Swoard Snowboards, making available to everyone our proto boards which, we believe is the board with the best edge grip available..After a whole season, and worldwide customers trusting us, we go on and continue the story (still a bargain but well..)
Last but not least> The pics sound really fake or strange but watching the last movie we just release will just prove they are real
. The edge grip is unreal even to people with a lot of boarding experience, even competitors are astonished of the easyness the egdes bite the snow, shall it be icy, perfect, soft or hard! The board but also the technique permits this turns with such a fun G' experience. Carving with the face a few cm from the snow is very amazing and also very exciting!Hope you got enough answers by now, i'm ready for more explainations if you want some..just email me or answer here i'll try to look there often
We hope to someday come to Japan and demo our boards, but since we can find the budget, we have to stick to europe and usa
. We know there are many carvers in Japan and if we can explain what we are doing to a few of them we will be glad!Thnx!
Nils / swoard team
ps: here is a backside turn (don't try this at home
) of patrice with our serial board:
Extremecarving video 2004 is ready :)>> swiss style at its best
in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
Posted
hey sorry took long to answer cos did not get an email saying i had answers
Yes i'm making those boards, now in Germany with a German producer called Virus Snowboards. We are selling them online, or through selected shops worldwide we're introducing a simplified version called the 2D.
We have only one japanese Swoard rider for now! But look forward to increase fleet there
Glad you like the movie, and the style, we try to promote alpine snowboarding, since it is a way to have fun that is not that hard!
Nils