I just spent 10 hours at Paoli.  We took 2 breaks but at least 8 solid hours were riding.  It was pretty busy when we first got there but by 5 there weren't any lift lines.  I haven't done that many runs at Paoli since I was in high school, and I feel broken.

In Paoli terms, conditions were epic.  The snow was actually soft, there was very little ice, the sun was shining, all the terrain parks were open, and all the trails had fun undulations, blind crests and other interesting stuff.  Good times. 

Some pics from this weekend:

Hell yeah.  Fisheye lens.  These are better than the last Logitech QuickCam pictures.

They were actually taken with the same camera.  Shane has one of those Go-Pro cameras and it seems like it really struggles in low light. 

It looks like a super fun time, but as I've heard you mention before, why do all of the cool/fun hobbies have to be so damn expensive?

Idk but the shits fun so I do it.

I'm not quite sure the those conditions will be duplicated again up there this year. But I'd really like to go back up (to Paoli) maybe once more. Three times in one year might be the limit for me up there. I'm looking forward to WV beyond belief. Also, I might be making a jaunt over to Perfect North before the seasons over.

Oah, also, that camera works great during the day but low light or at night it's pretty horrible. Over at Snowshoe I'm going to throw it on my board and do some chasing camera runs during the day. Hopefully it's really nice. I plan to have some good car and bike video with it in the spring and summer this year too. I'll have to post some up.

Can you mount the camera near the bottom of your front bumper somehow? Videos like that are totally awesome. Example

I buyed a new snowboard today! 



Can't wait till it gets here.

Also, I now have a used board for sale if anyone is interested.  It's a 2002 (I think) Forum Peter Line pro model.  159cm long with a 26.5cm waist.  I wear size 12 boots and have no problems with heel/toe overhang.  Also includes Forum ATF bindings.

"Your package has experienced an Exception."

Well damn, paying for next-day shipping sure was worth it.  Fucking UPS.  The lady at the depot couldn't even be bothered to poke her head in the back and look.  The goddamn package is 7 feet tall....it couldn't be that hard to find. 

 

Finally got my new board.  While I had the bindings off I had to get a picture of my generations of boards. 

From left to right they are:

1993 Burton Twin 153cm
2001 Forum Peter Line 159cm Wide
2009 Rome Flag 168cm Wide

I know nothing about snowboards, but wondering why you go with a longer board each time. Is it a size preference for stability vs. agility, or is it just an evolution of board designs over the years?

The new board weighs about the same as the oldest one, even though it's 15cm longer.  Also as I've gotten better I like to be more aggressive and go faster.  The longer board spreads your weight out better and since it has more edge to work with it tends to carve better.  Also, I got that first board when I was 13 and I'm a *bit* bigger now.

Another difference is that the first board was a pure freestyle board, and both ends of the board are constructed exactly the same (hence "Twin").  The Forum board was a directional freestyle board, so the tail was stiffer and a bit wider than the nose.  The new board is a directional all-mountain board, and is about the stiffest one I could find.  One reason being that I weigh a ton, the other reason is that I like to pop off the tail really hard when I come off of jumps.  My old board was just getting too soft and flexy for me, and I wanted to try something bigger.

I wasn't even planning on buying a new board this year but I found it on sale for 25% off online.

I just strapped in and hopped around my living room and it feels pretty good.

Well I got to give the new board a thorough 8-hour test today and I'm really happy with it. I have the bindings centered on the board right now, meaning I'm the same distance from the nose as I am from the tail. I'm not used to having that much real estate behind me so it felt like I was pulling a trailer for the first couple runs. After I got used to it, though, I started really liking the board.

One of the problems I had with my Forum was getting a lot of heelside chatter. I think this was because the board wasn't stiff enough. Tonight I was making long, graceful heelside turns for days on less-than-perfect snow and it just never let go.

After I got comfortable with it I headed over to the "medium" park and started hitting some of the tabletops and kickers. The board feels so damn stable, and I get so much pop coming off the lip. Now I REALLY can't wait to get out to Snowshoe on the 9th.