Board advice

[Mantas 3]

I have spotted this board on E bay that I'm thinkng of buying. It's a 172 Flow Classic made in Austria, not much info other than that. It sounds just what I'm after. A board to carve the rock hard slopes at home here. It's really cheap $150 US.

 

Snowboard Thoughts anyone?

[tsondaboy 0]

How big are you, whats your usual stance on a board?

[Mantas 3]

I'm 6'4". I never ride duckfoot. My back foot is usually angled forward slightly. I've never ridden with a true carve set up. I'm thinking I might even get some hard boots too.

[tsondaboy 0]

Sorry, I meant whats your weight?

[Mantas 3]

Oh, it about 80 kg.

[tsondaboy 0]

If you are not planning to use it for riding powder also, but want a board specifically for hardpack/icy conditions, I would say its a bit too long for you weight.

If you want it for the powder days, go ahead, 150$ sounds like a good deal.

A shorter board, something like 162~165 cm will still hold you on hardpack, plus you will be able to initiate turns much faster and easier.

Also, since you are not that much interested in riding switch, you could also go for a directional board.

 

I am also thinking to go for a board only for groomers/spring conditions next year. I am about 67 kg, riding a 160 wide/tapered board in powder, but want something around 155~158 for hardpack.

 

[Mantas 3]

I have a 62 that I ride for powder. I cant hold an edge that well on the groomers with it, but every time I've ridden a larger board (169) I seem to do better.This board will be exclusivly for groomers

Have you done any riding with hard boots tboy? All the guys I ride with use the old 3 strap bindings.

 

 

 

[tsondaboy 0]

 Originally Posted By: Mantas

Have you done any riding with hard boots tboy?

Not yet but it is on my "things to do list" for next season.

Usually this is how it goes for hardpack, the longer the board the better performance under high speeds (better hold, no trembling) but the harder to turn. A shorter board, long enough to hold your weight but not too short to avoid trembling at speeds, will turn much faster sacrificing a bit of your final speed.
Also a board with much stiffer core than a powder board or a freestyle board performs better on hardpack.

[spook 0]

what's the advantage of hard boots? they look bloody uncomfortable to me.

i like stiff boots, but don't think i'll be going for the hard ones anytime soon.

that is partially due to the fact that i'm a sheep and will just wear the same type of boots as everyone else.

the only people i see wearing hard boots are the carve guys, and that doesn't really appeal to me. do hard boots have any other application?

[Mantas 3]

I think hard boots would offer more control and stability. I don't really know what it would be like to do those low to the ground carving type turns but I'm dying to find out.

 

thanks for the advice tboy

[mrjamie 0]

I finished m'second season with hard boots this year, and I haven't looked back at softies once.

 

Sure, I can't tweak on jumps anymore, but being able to use the same board off and on piste is killer.

 

Personally, I just like the control that I feel when wearing hard boots. Your foot is bolted, more-or-less, to the board, so you really feel the edge in a way I'm not so sure happens with soft boots.

 

There's a wonderful 'pop' you get when you unweight the board between turns, and as it flexes you get a few inches, or maybe a foot, of air before you put down your other edge and lay into another hard carve... it's exhausting, because you're basically doing squats the whole way down, but it's a way to play on the piste that soft-boots don't offer. Not that there aren't plenty of other things to do on softboots...like tweak grabs

 

It's been a few years since I've ridden soft boots on powder, and while I'm only an intermediate rider now, I was horrible back then and don't care to comment on what I thought of things. I put catek olypmic bindings on a burton malolo and rode that and a prior 4WD with hardboots through deep niseko powder, and in the natural halfpipes towards the bottom of annupuri; takes a bit more technique and energy than I remember softies taking, especially on the halfpipe walls, but once you figure things out hard boots ride 100% fine in the powder. You can check hard boots out in annupuri's ozawa bowl here:

-- like I said, I'm intermediate

 

My prior is 164 and I weight 71kg ... the Malolo is 162, I think, and I haven't found either of them too slow to turn, or if they were, I just worked on my technique until I could turn faster. I like to think that it's not the board you ride as much as how you ride it, but having a nice board -- as I learned with the powder intended malolo -- does make a big difference.

 

If you have any other questions about hard boots feel free to ask.

 

_j_

[Mantas 3]

Mate 35 secs! That 's not even a teaser.

Looks like some nice Pow though. My mates that use 3 strap binding rip in Powder too. Hardbooters are a rear breed, they would be out numbered 50 to 1 on most mountains.

[thursday 1]

 Originally Posted By: Mantas

Hardbooters are a rear breed, they would be out numbered 50 to 1 on most mountains.

Well Mantas, if they're that queer, I won't miss them.

[tsondaboy 0]

What kind of boots do you use burndtjamb, ski or telemark?

[Mantas 3]

 Originally Posted By: thursday

 Originally Posted By: Mantas

Hardbooters are a rear breed, they would be out numbered 50 to 1 on most mountains.

Well Mantas, if they're that queer, I won't miss them.

Ha Ha Ha..........so I didn't pay enough attention in English

[Mantas 3]

don't some hard boots come specially for snowboarding?

[mrjamie 0]

Mmm, this season was learning how to use the camera, so next season hopefully there will be more hardbooting footage to share with all, unless people are worried that our hardboots might rub off on them... er?!

 

Anyways, Mantas is right -- I use head stratos pro boots, designed in specific for hardboot snowboarding. Deeluxe makes most boots -- but you can check out all that at bomber-online. One thing to keep in mind is that hardboots, though much more comfortable than they look, are huge. Moonboots. Funky.

[tsondaboy 0]

I am thinking of trying a splitboard with hard boots if my budget permits it next season. It seems that quite a few people prefer it with telemark boots, because they are more comfortable for hiking.

[samurai 0]

Okay, just an observation-

 

Your pro filmers aren NOT on hard boots in pow.

 

Those in the race course ARE riding hard boots.

 

don't mix it up guys; pow and hard snow are two different mediums, requiring two different tools.

 

That's not to say that hard boots won't work in pow, and vice-versa, but note your surroundings guys. There's a reason it's not mainstream. I would hate to see any rider (albeit a snowboarder) waste an entire season trying to convince themselves that hard boots are right for pow.

 

That's like me saying carving skis are right for pow... and that I actually only need one pair of skis.

[mrjamie 0]

I don't mean to troll, samurai, but a lot of what you said has other reasons.

 

For example, a lot of the 'pro-filmers' you talk of are famous for their park riding or the big-air they pull during freerides in back country. For both of these, as I've mentioned and so have you, soft boots are much easier if not the only viable option. It's completely plausible then that when these riders appear in videos, they do so in soft-boots (I'd be surprised if many have even ridden hard boots, and I don't mean this as an insult). Furthermore, if the only 'pro-filmers' are the ones who go big in the park or in back country then it makes sense that they're all soft booters.

 

There are _plenty_ of people who ride powder with hard boots, and even those who ride powder with hard boots and race boards. Many boards, especially the board Mantas is looking to buy, are marketed as 'free-carve/all-mountain' boards instead of 'pure carving' or 'race boards.' Free-carve/all-mountain boards are usually wider and can handle most terrain you throw at them.

 

Also, as I've mentioned of myself a few times, putting hard boots and plate bindings on a powder board is another alternative for riding powder.

 

Yes, there's a reason hardbooting, and especially riding hard boots in powder, isn't mainstream; probably many reasons. Hard boots and plate bindings tend to be a few hundred dollars more expensive than the equivalent soft-gear, and with less riders in the first place, and almost no famous videos/riders with hard boot setups, calling hardbooting 'not mainstream' is like calling an underground band 'underground,' or a minor clothing label 'minor.'

 

Certainly the technique for soft-boots and hard-boots is going to differ. That's a no-brainer. But I wonder, samurai, and again I don't mean to troll, I'm asking out of curiousity: have you ever ridden hard boots on a snowboard yourself, and if you have, have you ridden them in powder?

 

I'll repeat it one more time because this is the internet, but I don't mean to troll. It's just that your argument for people to beware of the hardboots, samurai, is very flimsy, and you seem to be ignorant (i.e. lacking knowledge) of a large hard-booting community that exists in the world. Especially in the USA, the number of hardbooters has been increasing every year as more people realize that something other than a softboot setup actually exists.

 

One last thing: beware of using subjective terms like 'right' and 'wrong' -- what does that even mean, 'like me saying carving skis are right for pow'? What is 'right'? Sure, powder is a lot _easier_ to ride on a burton Malolo, but I get more speed on my Prior 4WD (an 'alpine freeride snowboard'), and I can throw out epic carves because of the 4WDs extra few inches. After riding the malolo for a few days it's wonderful to be back on the 4WD and experience the different, slightly more demanding powder riding.

 

Anyhow, if this sounds like a defense of hardbooting it probably is, because I love hardbooting, and I'd like to see more people give it a try -- it's a lonely mountain out there, unless we're talking about that one mountain in Nagano with more hardbooters than softbooters That said, I tried to keep this messages as on-point and neutral as possible.

 

_j_

 

p.s.

as for telemark boots vs. snowboarding hardboots, I don't know which is more comfortable because I've never tried the former I do get blisters though when I do a lot of hiking in my hardboots, but a little tape under the socks prevents any serious pain. A little tight on my ankles, but otherwise plenty comfortable. In fact, usually I'm more comfortable hiking in hard boots than in soft boots!

[tsondaboy 0]

Guys lets not turn a simple question into flaming...

 

Bjamp, if you check samurai`s profile you will see he is a skier, so he is quite familiar with hard boots.

[samurai 0]

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause an argument.

 

I'm not an avid snowboarder. I used to teach it, but that was like 10 years ago. Perhaps I'm out of the loop now. definitely one of the industry's most ignorant. Forgive me. Carry on...

[tsondaboy 0]

By the way Bjamp, is your Prior ATV a split or you hike up with snowshoes?

 

samurai, someone that spends 30+ days a season in hardboots is a valuable source of info.

[mrjamie 0]

aye, samurai forgive me if I sounded a little argumentative; it was not my intention to start an argument, either. I just wanted to clarify on opinion vs. fact of the matter.

 

My 4WD is a standard, so I hike up with snowshoes: MSR shoes fit fine onto my hardboots (mondo size 31...egads), and I'm sure there are other brands as well. Plate Bindings tend to weigh a bit more (depending on the binding) than softboot bindings, so that extra weight on your back when hiking is something you may want to keep in mind. Not that it's ever been an issue.

[tsondaboy 0]

Your boots dont have touring mode like touring boots or telemark, right?