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December 09, 2005

New Board, New Tricks....

I'd like to apologize in advance that this entry contains some sections of geeky stuff - a summary will be provided for those people who wish to skip it

So I spent the 3 days I had off boarding with SK. We decided to change from our usual schedule of hurtling down the piste as fast as possible (which 99% of the time makes us the fastest people on the runs...) and concentrate on "fun" stuff - riding switch (backwards), trying jumps and little tricks.

After 2 days of re-learning how to turn, learning how to land and trying not to catch edges in the snow I decided it was time to try my new board

******* GEEKY BIT *******
Summary: I changed to my new board!

So for the past few weeks I've been riding my rock board which I picked up for $50 in the clearance center.
It's made by "Never Summer", called the "Premiere", is 163cm long and is narrow width. Its a freeride board and as such is quite heavy and stiff. It made it really stable at high speed and wasn't thrown off by lumps and bumps in the snow, which is great for such a scrawny runt as myself :o)

My new/main board is a "Nitro - Atlas 160", this is more of an all mountain board, its much lighter, more flexible and is wider (designed for people with big feet. Ben has been riding one for years and swears by it. However due to my meager stature compared to the Rugby Playing Thai Boxing Welshman I was wondering how it would handle.

I also had a play with my binding settings but thats far too geeky even for this special section - for those that really want to know I changed from 15/-3 to 18/-6. For those who don't understand, its really not that important!

This was also the first day I was using the board since getting it repaired by SKs work. I dented the rail during the first week and needed a small base patch and edge sharpen...

*** END OF GEEKY BIT ***

So armed with my new board I hit the piste, any worries I had were quickly dispelled. The Atlas handles as if on rails :o)
The shorter length and razor sharp edges made it easier to turn and fantastic to ride. Also the extra flex and width meant landing little jumps and doing ollies' was really easy and great fun! Next step is to try the spins...

SK was also trying out some new kit, but I'll leave her to tell that tale.

We came off the mountain at 3pm and met with a work mate of mine in the Village, he had some tokens for free beer so joined him in the bar for a jar or 2.

Rumor has it Whistler mountain opened from top to bottom today, although I'm still waiting for someone to say they have done it.
"Fresh tracks" started today though, $15 buys a ticket for a 7:30am lift up the mountain to the main restaurant where you enjoy an all you can eat breakfast before avalanche/ski patrol give the all clear and allow you first run (or Fresh tracks) down the hill. We're hoping to get a few of these done through the year on good powder days.

Time for dinner, Speak to you all later

Posted by edwardnorthridge at December 9, 2005 08:04 PM

Comments

Posted by: austen at December 12, 2005 02:06 PM