Forums Splitboard Talk Forum Sweet tele-ing in Sparks Viewing 17 posts - 1 through 17 (of 17 total)Author Posts January 2, 2008 at 10:46 pm #569471 nomad 288 PostsWent for a quick 2400 vf ride up Mt Ellis this morning, then realized that my board was missing pucks! Turns out, I had picked it up yesterday from Will, who had borrowed it a while back and taken them off. He explicitly told me he had done so, advising me to put some other ones on…. so it was really my memory that let me down.Anyway, if I had been on the old Voile binding setup, I would’ve been screwed. Turns out, Will had also lent me Sparks, which saved the day! I was able to easily link tele turns the whole way down. It’s amazing how much of a difference the tight connection to the board makes – it’s one step closer to being able to imitate skis. Thanks Will!!!For Washington folks – I’ll be in the area Friday through ??? and would be down to get out for some riding…. anyone game? Looks like this next storm will be a big one. January 2, 2008 at 10:59 pm #601443 lifelinksplit 282 Postsskiing the toboggan run out would be interesting.nomad- how was ellis? planning on heading there prob sat.(haven’t ridden in a month!! and i figure i’ll take it easy on the shoulder) oh and have fun in wasshington. January 3, 2008 at 12:29 am #601444 nomad 288 PostsLLS – good to hear from you! We need to get out sometime soon – it’s been a while.Ellis was quite good today, but temps were warming above freezing (inversion), and I would expect either a crust or mush by Saturday. Hope you can find some goods when you go!Oh, and the toboggan ride out wasn’t too bad except for those few rocky sections. I definitely wouldn’t recommend following the Northern track out, however (that goes up the ridge). January 3, 2008 at 12:30 am #601445 DentalFlossTycoon 112 PostsHa haI’ve been tele-ing this set up more too on long out tracks etc. due to the increase in stability – perhaps at the scrub fest I’ll drop a full line in tele mode. January 3, 2008 at 12:59 am #601446 lifelinksplit 282 Postsi’ll be happy with halfway decent snow.. like i said it’s been a long frickin month not being able to ride, i messed the shoulder up pretty good coming out of one of the chutes between slushman’s and saddle pk early season. we’ll definitely have to get out sometime.i just might have to pull the trigger on some of will’s binders… the soft boots have been calling me back lately January 3, 2008 at 2:36 am #601447 jack 323 Posts @nomad wrote:For Washington folks – I’ll be in the area Friday through ??? and would be down to get out for some riding…. anyone game? Looks like this next storm will be a big one.hopefully the avy situation will be good so we can really kill it. looking forward to some gnarly shedding!! January 3, 2008 at 5:49 am #601448 mc1212 45 Posts @nomad wrote:For Washington folks – I’ll be in the area Friday through ??? and would be down to get out for some riding…. anyone game? Looks like this next storm will be a big one.Game on neutron. r u gonna be in seattle? Playing it by ear on whether I’m gonna hit it Sat or Sun– depends on conditions. should be able to find some decent lines on westerly slopes in the trees. but that could always change by then.pm me and let me know your steez.ciao, mcp.s. Had a blast this past weekend on the skin back out– totally rocking drop knee turns on the splitty! my stoke was high because that was my first experience doing that. i grew up skiing and also did some x-country skiing as a kid. so it felt totally natural. of course, having the skins on kept the speed manageable.p.p.s. can’t wait for the sparks to fly from my stick too!! January 3, 2008 at 2:21 pm #601449 osubg1 65 PostsWhy is it any easier to do tele turns with sparks vs hardboot bindings, vs just my old bindings on a plate?? I think I’ve missed something here. January 4, 2008 at 5:26 pm #601450 Shep 525 PostsWhy is it any easier to do tele turns with sparks vs hardboot bindings, vs just my old bindings on a plate??Is there more slop side-side w/ slider plates than w/ Will’s binding? January 4, 2008 at 5:43 pm #601451 nomad 288 PostsThere’s much more slop side to side with the regular slider tracks – the connection is much tighter between bindings and brackets with the sparks, which makes the boards that much easier to control. January 4, 2008 at 6:16 pm #601452 Unruly Baker 333 Posts @nomad wrote:There’s much more slop side to side with the regular slider tracks – the connection is much tighter between bindings and brackets with the sparks, which makes the boards that much easier to control.The Sparks also attach outside the touring bracket rather than inside like the Voile sliders. This gives them a bit more leverage when applying edge forces to the ski. With a stiff boot like the Driver X i would imagine a pretty decent performance gain in ski mode. I’ve been using my Sparks with my floppy old boots so I don’t notice a lot of improvement, but there is a little.UB January 4, 2008 at 6:54 pm #601453 karma surf 191 PostsI would agree with Senor Unruly that the wider attachment of the Sparks binding offers more leverage in split mode. I do think it’s funny that so many splitters are trying to tele turn the split rather than make “P” turns. Splitters only get leverage on a pin with the rear foot in a tele turn, while a tele skier gets entire ball of foot + duckbill. Makes balancing a circus trick. The way to ski a split is “P” turning, and the guys who have a lot of experience splitting can ski the split and keep up with skiers on the flats/long traverses without skins. The split can be skied well in everything but firm snow, where holding a strong edge becomes a serious challenge.What do you call a splitter that can’t ski a split?A snowboarder ❗😉 😉 😉 January 4, 2008 at 7:21 pm #601454 dishwasher-dave 460 PostsI haven’t gotten a chance to ride/ski my Sparks yet, but I only try teleturns when I want to give somebody a good laugh. As KS wrote alpine style turns rock.For interested geeks here is something I’ve been rockin and liking…The Spark highback will require some holes added, but I’ve found the Voile strap really stiffens up the boot/binder interface and improves skiing performance. January 5, 2008 at 2:14 am #601455 mc1212 45 Posts@karma surf wrote:The way to ski a split is “P” turning, and the guys who have a lot of experience splitting can ski the split and keep up with skiers on the flats/long traverses without skins. The split can be skied well in everything but firm snow, where holding a strong edge becomes a serious challenge.What do you call a splitter that can’t ski a split?A snowboarder ❗😉 😉 😉isn’t that why we are on splits? 😀what’s a ‘p’ turn? January 6, 2008 at 4:17 am #601456 mc1212 45 Postsduh– ‘p’ = parallel? January 6, 2008 at 5:49 am #601457 Ecobrad 2068 PostsNo, p stands for pussy turns. January 6, 2008 at 6:41 pm #601458 lifelinksplit 282 Postsmade it out to ellis on the new pair of sparks. ironically of eveyone up on ellis there were 3 pr of sparks, 1 set of mtn bindings, 1 tele, and one AT. So obviously the splits were in the majority yesterday. I guess it helps we ran into Will and Pip. anyways it was my first time out in soft boots for quite some time(on the split anyways) and the major difference was in skinning up steeper sections I noticed more flex compared to hardboots. this could also be partly due to my crappy boots which Will informed me are not allowed in his bindings 😉 The ride out was great and reminded me of the doownfall to hardboots. didn’t really get a chance to test out their skiing capabilities, but i suck at skiing anyway Viewing 17 posts - 1 through 17 (of 17 total)You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
