Splitboard.com Forums

Hey Russ, I'm not going to bash you as a person because I don't know you. Your exhuberance for Jones and Karakoram is similar to my own for the swally. So I probably ought to have a bite or two of crow. That being said, we've probably both annoyed people and I for one own my exuberance.

Anyways, what I want to clarify is that UTAH is not an old wanker, nor does he ride a swally. In fact he is a very soft spoken young dude, whom I consider my friend.
I however am an old wanker and I ride a 195 swally. (or as so eloquently put in the climate change thread, "a pussy with a swallowtail up his ass") [paraphrasing]

I take pride in exclusively riding a swally and of course we all get old, so the joke is on anyone who thinks they will forever remain young.
And in terms of a board, I can only sympathize with those that still haven't found what they are looking for.

At any rate, its unfortunate that for all the internet's possibilities, time and distance leave only our words from which to build relationships. And words absent emotion and inflection, or the expression of a face often leave us hurling angry bits of information at one another across wires.

Yup, respect those who have come before, and remember we are all brothers in the pursuit of a great line.
I suspect that summer withdrawals affect us all to some extent, and perhaps we get a little over enthusiastic with our interweb comments due to a lowering of our winter endorphin levels.
I am going to skateboard some roads just to get some turns/balancing in, and then mountain biking tomorrow.
Looking forward to pow turns next season, let's hope for a nice, stable, deep, snowpack!

I was gone for a week to come back to this

I think the rider is as/more important as the gear (while the gear does improve the experience). Last season while I was running around tagging volcanos my gear was falling apart. My board had become a noodle and my bindings were held together by duct tape but that did not stop me from slaying some serious steeps. Looking back at then Yes it was dangerous as hell but my past experiences made all the difference and when riding serious steeps CONFIDENCE MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE.

For years I used the voile slider plates and that was all I knew until I got onto some fuses only 3 months ago. The fuses have finally given me a solid board feel and IN MY OPINION I would never go back to the slider plate. That being said I look forward to getting my hands on some Karakorums.

As for the issue of AT skiers and tele peeps having there gear dialed. They say the same thing about us in variable conditions. The past few weeks I have been doing week long traverses with a certain Hummel you speak of and YES I get insanely jealous seeing him traverse across a huge valley while I have to sidehill for miles at a time but would I change over NO . I love the mountains and more importantly I love snowboarding. People get stoked to see that a snowboarder can get this stuff done because it takes a lot of HARD work.

Sorry for my ramble.

Nice line Russ and I love your comments Ale. (lets get some pizza some time)

Tow-in granted, but still impressive. Machado on the guitar case would have been tops:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCTqA_ov8RA

That perfectly sums up the equipment / rider issue for me.

A good rider can make bad equipment go, but good equipment will help an already good rider achieve a higher level of performance.

Advances in equipment are happening all the time and I am really excited to see new and innovative companies building split equipment. There is tremendous room for improvement. Certainly not all the new stuff will live up to its hype, but some of it will and we will be better off because of it.

Surfing on doors is a fun concept, but is not an example of the rider making all the difference. If they could do well in a pro contest on a door against other surfers on their incredibly refined surfboards, then that would be an example of the rider making the difference.

Well said Snurfer.

I've been reluctant to weigh in, but here are my

In my opinion it's mostly about the will and drive of the rider (i.e. - how bad do they want it and do they have what it takes mentally to tackle the line). Excellent quality gear comes second. I've ridden some pretty nasty steeps with older gear in the past and/or my custom built split w/Voile interface -was it as good of a ride as with my Spark binders? No, but I had the desire and dedication to get it done and truthfully didn't notice nor care about it when I was doing it (years before Sparks or Karakorum).

Having the physical ability, the mental mindset and the desire to take on challenging steep terrain will always be critical. That being said, I too am looking forward to the Jones board coming out (I did reserve one) and hearing other's thoughts about the Karakorum setup. Further progression is always good for the sport.

Congrats on a nice line Russ!