Soft Carving

[glennmorton]

I think I have dialed in, what I think to be, the best soft boot carving set up I have been on in a while. I am using Salomon Malamutes and S5 Bindings, and on 04 NeverSummer Premier T5 165 (I weigh 160, size 10 feet, 5'11).

I have messed around with stance angles, going really forward for a little while, but for this set up, the optimum seems to be a very low 21/9 (thanks Terje). I was able to really lay trench, with the only exception being, with no surprise, at really high speed on a little ice.

I am absolutely floored at the performance of the Neversummer. No comparision what so ever to my Prior 4WD, but enough to get a carving fix, and still be able to hit some rail on the way through the park.

Anyway, the point behind my stoke of the soft carve set up is that my knees were taking a @#$#-kicking at higher angles. I have torn my MCL ligament in my right (back) leg, and for some reason carving stances really seem to but a lot of stress on it. Has anyone else found this?

Glenn

[Tommy D]

I have noticed much less stress on my knees, but I am comparing carving a ski to carving a snowboard. I don't know what it is like to ride a soft setup.

I am eager to hear what people have to say, especially regarding knee safety, etc.

[kjl]

Hi Glenn. I have a Never Summer Premier as well - it's a 161 since I only weigh 135 pounds, but I agree - it is a rock-solid freeride board and I can carve reasonably well on it. I use Malamutes, too, and the Catek Freeride binding. Pretty great setup.

I also have had a torn MCL in my right (back) leg, but I find that the carving stance is easier on it than the soft setup, but it could be any number of things regarding the setup. I know my stance width on my soft board is wide and on my hard setup very narrow (16 inches). If you canted your back foot outwards I bet that would put more strain on your LCL and less on your MCL, or if you have less difference between the front and back foot angles (e.g. 65/60 instead of 65/55) I bet that would help, too.

That's just my experience anyways - when my MCL was weaker a year ago I know more bow-legged was better to avoid strain on the inside of the knee (hence the canting), and it hurt more to use muscles to twist my leg inward than outward (so increase back foot stance angle).

ymmv


Good luck, or just keep getting your fix with the Never Summer.

[stickmansurf]

Glenn

I also tore-up my MCL a couple of years ago. I did it riding a free ride board with plates. I've found that riding a soft set-up was much harder on my knee than riding plates after the injury and rehab. I'm not sure if it's the increase in lateral flexability that a soft binding set-up allows, but plates always feel more comfortable.

good luck,

Stickman