jumps

[boogieman]

does anyone jump with their alpine board
i tried once and i ripped out my rear binding and almoast broke my knee, since that day i never tried it again

[trikerdad]

Used to jump all the time. Loved to sail through the terain park hitting the sides of the kickers and flying 50 to 60 feet down the hill. Then one year, on the last run of the last day, I thought I'd see what happened if I hit the kicker itself. I went back to work 6 months later with nine screws and a plate in my right leg.

[boogieman]

Whats a kicker?

is it ok to do that (jump) for the equipment doesnt it abuse your board since i think they are not made to flex that much as they do when you dont land perfectly in balance

[trikerdad]

Kickers are the turned up lip at the top of a jump meant to 'kick' you up (at low speed) to give you a little extra air. NOT meant to be hit at warp speed! Go off to the side of the kicker at speed and you go out and down, hit the kicker and go straight up!

[Mike T]

I like hitting small ones on my Axis, but that's about it. 12 foot tables are about my speed.

[GeoffV]

I still look for lips and will hit them, but don't get the big air I use to in my college days. I've always hit jumps with an alpine set up. I will hit the smaller table tops on the parks once and a while, but it is difficult to gauge how much air you get because you get launched with the a stiffer alpine board vs. the freestyle boards.

[willywhit]

10 years ago I watched Bud Keene throw a blindside 360 off the Stimilon BIG AIR jump at Stowe at night under the lights on a factory prime. Frickin HUGE and he stuck it. At VAIL there used to be a nice big kicker on the top of a wide carving trail.We'd launch it and land in a heelside carve(toeside for goofys).Not really that hard if you land in some transition.Pretty funny to watch the tourists standing there gaping on the headwall as a bunch of carvers threw tindys and mulekicks and proceeded to lay out some high speed carves.WHOA! Vail Air Farce

[skategoat]

Last big jump I took, I hit it with my weight a little forward and over my toes. In the air, this weight inbalance transitioned into a tumble forward and I landed on my head and shoulder. My friend thought I broke my neck but somehow I just ended up with a big frickin' headache. Now I keep my board firmly planted on the snow.

[D-Sub]

used to spend plenty of time in the air, on rails, etc, on my PJ7...

there was this tiered section at steamboat...pitch then cat then pitch then cat and so forth...I would lay carves and fly off the edge in the middle of a carve and land on edge.

Im far more timid now. Hopin to squash the timidity again

OCD has a few sweet photos of him launchin...

oh..and btw..."kicker" has always just meant "jump" where Im from...

[Tommy D]

I think a lot of people use kicker and jump interchangeably. I always think of a kicker as a man-made ramp used (Mostly in the parks) for tricks, big air, etc, and jumps as natural terrain features used for distance(Such as launching off a cat-track) and clearing obstacles.

[Stan]

I try to avoid hitting kickers straight-on. From the side is where it's at. Transition from one side to the other if the jump is not TOO wide. Basically, I love jumping (no tricks, just air) but I prefer to land (as previously mentioned here) on my heelside and NOT on flat base.

[D-Sub]

hey triker...

whats shasta like? Ive always been curious about it. the pictures remind me of Mt. Baldy here, but...its gotta be better'n that. I mean...the actual peak is HIGH!

[trikerdad]

Shasta is over 14,000 but the ski park isn't a whole lot over 6,000. It's a carving friendly park with mostly intermediate runs, but they tend to be a little short. About the time you get into a rhythm (there's a word I had to look up), you're at the bottom again. Unrestricted season passes are only $199 witch is a big plus.

[lonerider]

Originally posted by Stan
I try to avoid hitting kickers straight-on. From the side is where it's at. Transition from one side to the other if the jump is not TOO wide. Basically, I love jumping (no tricks, just air) but I prefer to land (as previously mentioned here) on my heelside and NOT on flat base.

To me, kickers specifically refer to ramp jumps. A table top (looks like a trapezoid) is not a kicker but is a jump. However, most people don't usually don't know or bother with the differentiation.

I have not taken a medium-sized jumps on my alpine board (only like a few 15-20 footers). Tthe narrow angles and responsive edges make it rather hard to absorb landing and stay on a flat base riding away.

Is everyone talking about going over the side of the jump (like a tabletop) or the angling off the side of the ramp so you don't hit the lip of the jump.

While I still occasionally land on my heelside when I "panic" or feel off-balance in the air, I have found once you learn to be confident in your abilities and commit to the flat base landing, you will be much more solid on the landing, for anything bigger than like 25 feet, landing on your heelside is going to be less effective... not to mention that it really messes up the landing (I always teach people to land on a flat base... ride off the landing... and THEN speed-check).

[Gecko]

I tend to head down and anything that pops up in front of me, or (my favorite) drops out from under me always ends up as an oppurtunaty to air...usually a simple Indy air as I find the rear hand to the toeside edge to be the most balancing...the longer you spend in the air the more neccessary a grab become if only to control body motion...strangly I land toeside more often than not

[lonerider]

Originally posted by Gecko
I tend to head down and anything that pops up in front of me, or (my favorite) drops out from under me always ends up as an oppurtunaty to air...usually a simple Indy air as I find the rear hand to the toeside edge to be the most balancing...the longer you spend in the air the more neccessary a grab become if only to control body motion...strangly I land toeside more often than not

That's a good point... once you start doing bigger airs, doing a grab actually helps you stay more stable in the air than the "praying mantis" style no-grab airs. Indy is the easiest grab to learn and will help keep you from flapping your arms around in the air.

[Thrillkil]

I once made the stupid mistake of letting my softboot friends talk me into hitting the toolbox at mountain high. The toolbox is a large wooden box that has a small jump up to it, the idea being that you grind the box and hop off the other side. Well, on my attempt, I hit the jump going way too fast, landed on an edge on the box, fell on my back on the wooden box, then bounced off and landed on my back on the snow. I thought I had pulled a Christopher Reeves, but luckily there were some 800mg ibuprofen tablets nearby. In generally, it totally sucked.

[lonerider]

Originally posted by Thrillkil
I once made the stupid mistake of letting my softboot friends talk me into hitting the toolbox at mountain high. The toolbox is a large wooden box that has a small jump up to it, the idea being that you grind the box and hop off the other side. Well, on my attempt, I hit the jump going way too fast, landed on an edge on the box, fell on my back on the wooden box, then bounced off and landed on my back on the snow.

Doh... I think we should have a freestyle clinic for hardbooters... as there a lot of common novice mistakes being made here. The problem being all of you are speed demons and are likely to get carted off the mountain from a stupendous crash before realizing what you are doing wrong and correcting it. :p :p :p

The first thing as I mentioned before... you should land on a FLAT base and ride away. No edging... in this case it's a crutch and a bad one... you might be able to cheat on small jumps, but you will be flirting with disaster if you ever do larger jump with a less than perfect landing or ANY rails/boxes. Thrillkil, your softbooter friends should have warned you to be confidant and stay on the flatbase and lean *forward* towards the nose. When anyone gets nervous, they lean uphill and go on an edge... and on a rail that means you will slip. I had a dog of a time learning blindside boardslides because trouble riding the rail with my back facing downhill, and *then* trying to focus on leaning back downhill to compensate from my natural urge to go onto my toe edge.

The second thing is learning to correctly judge the needed speed through experience and by watching the people going in front of you (counting the number of turns they did before the jump and see if they have enough speed).

[AK in PA]

I've always hit jumps and drops in hard boots. Sometimes drop into the pipe, too, but a stiff board is tough to manage in there.

Last year, I cautiously launched off a 5' jump in the terrain park and landed on the flat instead of the transition. My knees hit my chest and I winded myself. On the next run, I picked up more speed for the jump, flew up much higher, but still came down on the flat and royally winded myself. Determined to get it right, I hit the jump at top speed the third time. I launched straight up to the moon, and came down (you guessed it) square on the flat. I thought I broke my ribs when my knees my chest. It took me three stupid jumps to realize the ramp builder was either an idiot or a sadistic bastard...

[D-Sub]

DOH!

[Gecko]

My favoite park jumps are the drifty fall away's that you have to hit with some speed to get over the flat to the landing that's oh so soft/smooth

[AlpentalRider]

Originally posted by AK in PA

Last year, I cautiously launched off a 5' jump in the terrain park and landed on the flat instead of the transition. My knees hit my chest and I winded myself. On the next run, I picked up more speed for the jump, flew up much higher, but still came down on the flat and royally winded myself. Determined to get it right, I hit the jump at top speed the third time. I launched straight up to the moon, and came down (you guessed it) square on the flat. I thought I broke my ribs when my knees my chest. It took me three stupid jumps to realize the ramp builder was either an idiot or a sadistic bastard...

The ramp builder was an idiot. And don't feel bad, there are ALOT of ramps in terrain parks that are improperly built. It amazes me how many poor ramps are designed by resorts.

[NateW]

Jumps are the main reason I go snowboarding in the first place... I just love flying. I don't really see stiffness being a problem but then again I ride a Coiler AM, not a Factory Prime.

IMO a large radius sidecut makes big jumps easier... but maybe it's just me, the pros don't seem to care for it. I sure do like the extra stability at higher speeds though.

When I'm eyeballing a tabletop that I haven't hit recently, or haven't yet tried, I watch a few people hit it, look at where they start from, look at where they land, look at how much skidding they do in between bombing toward the jump and hitting the lip. That all helps me gauge where to to start from in order to land in the right place to get a nice smooth landing. I try to find some landmarks to line up with so I can start from the same spot every time and just bomb straight for the jump - fewer variables that way, so I land in pretty much the same spot every time. When you land on the downhill side of a nice tabletop, you touch down really softly and it just feels great.

But as has been mentioned above, undershooting (landing onthe tabletop) and overshooting (landing BEYOND the landing ramp) really really sucks. To be honest I still undershoot from time to time because I'm utterly paranoid about overshooting. I destroyed a rear binding that way, winded myself, and probably would have busted a leg or something if the binding hadn't absorbed some of the impact for me. Scared the daylights out of me. Never want to do that again. It just sucks.

And I stay away from rails and boxes and such... they do look fun, but a) I don't want to beat up my board; b) I don't want to beat up my body. It's bad enough falling on snow.

They're building a huge new superduperpipe at my home hill this season, with snowmaking stuff. I can't wait. (I broke my collarbone in a pipe mishap a few years ago, but **** happens.)

I used to always prefer launch and land on edge, but when they started building terrain parks I had to change my tune (pun intended). Keeping the base flat is better when conditions allow for it. I use a one degree base bevel to reduce the chance of catching an edge - fear of catching an edge was the main reason I used to avoid riding with the base flat on the snow. It does help to use the edge a little bit if I want to spin though.

You might want to search the archives, a lot of this stuff has been covered before and in more detail.

Bottom line: you can get no less air on an alpine setup than in soft boots. Personally I prefer it.

[skategoat]

The problem in the East is that the landing areas are usually very hard and icey. Very narrow margin of error and if you have your weight even a little bit back, the board will shoot out from under you on landing and the last thing you'll remember is the crack of your coconut hitting the ground.

[thomas_m]

Originally posted by NateW


They're building a huge new superduperpipe at my home hill this season, with snowmaking stuff. I can't wait. (I broke my collarbone in a pipe mishap a few years ago, but **** happens.)



Hi Nate. I assume you're referring to the Summit. That'll be my home hill to this season. Let me know when you're headed up there sometime, I'd like to shoot some pics of somebody in hardboots in the Superpipe of hitting the tabletops down below the Central Express.

We got passes for the whole family so I'll be up there a couple nights after work every week until they close and any weekend I don't go to Crystal/Stevens. Of course, as a beginner, I have a hard enough time keeping my base down on the snow to think about launching it through the air.

Thomas

[lonerider]

Originally posted by skategoat
The problem in the East is that the landing areas are usually very hard and icey. Very narrow margin of error and if you have your weight even a little bit back, the board will shoot out from under you on landing and the last thing you'll remember is the crack of your coconut hitting the ground.

I've ridden several parks all across the US and Canada and the firmness and condition of the landings is not limited to any particular region. Landing areas are almost already firm, what matters more is that you judged the speed correctly and landed in the transition area and NOT the flat, landing in the flat with 1-2 inches of powder is still more jarring and landing on the transition in New England hardpack.

It is sketchy to land on "bulletproof" slick ice (looks like translucent bulletproof glass and you wouldn't even be able to stand on it without sliding off), but that only happen occasionally from my experience. Usually there is a "icy" spot just at the start of the transition that is actually caused by hundreds of would-be freestylers landing on their edges, or landing short on the flat and then "slamming on the brakes" instead of straight-lining it through the rest of the jump. This scraps off the top snow and leaving the hard, hard park beneath. I do agree that it is a bit more difficult to be riding "flat" enough to ride out a jump that is complete ice, but I learned to do it within a season of dedicated park riding... I expect any reasonable competent rider should be able to do the same.

If anything, parks tend to be better in the East - the snow isn't as good so resort have to make better parks to attract people. Poorly designed jumps can be a problem oh here in the west because the snow is so good, resorts don't bother too much with them sometimes. I rode several years a Sunday River, Killington and Loon Mtn and some days, the slopes were just covered in ice... so we would do the (icy) park all day.

The board will never "shoot out" from under you unless you are landing on an edge. You can still pull out a landing if you landing far back on your tail *if* you are on a flat base, if you have an edge in, the tail will squirt in that direction.

I still think the problem is that hardbooters have this "ride on an edge" mentality, and for park and rails (it's ok for pipe) you need to learn how to ride a flatboard. You only need to do it for 1-2 seconds at a time, but you just have to commit.

[P06781]

I done a few tabletops with Mike T and Jason at Timberline in the spring but I have always felt a little fearful. About 6 years ago I was jumping a large windlip down one of favorite lines at MtHoodMeadows and overshot on to ice causing a compression facture of my back. I think a park/jump lesson for carvers would be cool. Perhaps Lonerider can come out to Mike's MHES in may a put one on for us. Timberline has there jumps and parks perfect in May while getting ready for camper season. We usaully sneak a few runs in between the park but probably should be jumping them.

[Stan]

Originally posted by lonerider
To me, kickers specifically refer to ramp jumps. A table top (looks like a trapezoid) is not a kicker but is a jump. However, most people don't usually don't know or bother with the differentiation.

I have not taken a medium-sized jumps on my alpine board (only like a few 15-20 footers). Tthe narrow angles and responsive edges make it rather hard to absorb landing and stay on a flat base riding away.

Is everyone talking about going over the side of the jump (like a tabletop) or the angling off the side of the ramp so you don't hit the lip of the jump.

While I still occasionally land on my heelside when I "panic" or feel off-balance in the air, I have found once you learn to be confident in your abilities and commit to the flat base landing, you will be much more solid on the landing, for anything bigger than like 25 feet, landing on your heelside is going to be less effective... not to mention that it really messes up the landing (I always teach people to land on a flat base... ride off the landing... and THEN speed-check).

40-foot table ALMOST cleared is my longest jump that I was able to stick on a FAIRLY FLEXIBLE Oxygen Proton 168 GS. I do know the difference between the table and a kicker and a roller and a lip . . . I was talking about a transfer from SIDE to SIDE (over tables). I also enjoy hiting kickers and go off the side. In terms of "teaching people" - my most valuable advise to new jumpers is "Don't try to speed-check while still in the air . . . " :D

[jason_watkins]

Originally posted by P06781
I done a few tabletops with Mike T and Jason at Timberline in the spring but I have always felt a little fearful. About 6 years ago I was jumping a large windlip down one of favorite lines at MtHoodMeadows and overshot on to ice causing a compression facture of my back. I think a park/jump lesson for carvers would be cool. Perhaps Lonerider can come out to Mike's MHES in may a put one on for us. Timberline has there jumps and parks perfect in May while getting ready for camper season. We usaully sneak a few runs in between the park but probably should be jumping them.

Heh, you always looked confident hitting those to me. :D

I don't know why, but for some reason tables started to scare me last season. I've only hit the wee little ones, and have yet to case it on one... but for whatever reason I was really reluctant to hit them last year. I don't expect to be riding the park a lot, but I would like to get that air confidence. Tips from someone who knows would be cool.

[lonerider]

Originally posted by Stan
40-foot table ALMOST cleared is my longest jump that I was able to stick on a FAIRLY FLEXIBLE Oxygen Proton 168 GS. I do know the difference between the table and a kicker and a roller and a lip . . . I was talking about a transfer from SIDE to SIDE (over tables). I also enjoy hiting kickers and go off the side. In terms of "teaching people" - my most valuable advise to new jumpers is "Don't try to speed-check while still in the air . . . " :D

Yea, I was replying to the other post when I mentioned the difference between tables and kickers. So are you saying the table top was 40 ft long... or wide? Anyways, I really do suggest you try going over a jump straight, it is just *much* easier than going over the sides once you can get over the mental fear of a bigger jump.

You're advice is actually very observant... people land on edge because they panic at their speed and are trying to slow down *immediately* and are too afraid to wait until they ride out the landing because speed-checking... and hence speed-check early... sometimes so early they haven't touched the snow yet.

[klaucke]

Originally posted by GeoffV
I still look for lips and will hit them, but don't get the big air I use to in my college days. I've always hit jumps with an alpine set up.

Geoff, didn't this lead to a broken board a couple seasons back? Just something to note for people that hurting equipment is doable. I saw Geoff land well too, but I'm pretty sure he cracked his board just from the size of the air.

I still do jumps on my alpine setup, but nothing like my freestyle days. Small tables I'll do, but no kickers. Small little stuff like bumps in the trail and steep pitch changes are what I like the most, with a grab or 180 or 360. I think it's best to stick with smooth, low (but not neccessarily short) air and keep it safe. The whole reason I went to alpine was being hurt jumping. Now I go as low as I can instead of as high.

[lonerider]

Originally posted by klaucke
Geoff, didn't this lead to a broken board a couple seasons back? Just something to note for people that hurting equipment is doable. I saw Geoff land well too, but I'm pretty sure he cracked his board just from the size of the air.

I still do jumps on my alpine setup, but nothing like my freestyle days. Small tables I'll do, but no kickers. Small little stuff like bumps in the trail and steep pitch changes are what I like the most, with a grab or 180 or 360. I think it's best to stick with smooth, low (but not neccessarily short) air and keep it safe. The whole reason I went to alpine was being hurt jumping. Now I go as low as I can instead of as high.

If the jump was built properly and he landed well (i.e. stomped flat on the base and not on the nose or tail and rode away flat) I think it's virtually impossible to break the board just based on the size of the air because you are just compressing it. Now if he landed even a little bit on his edge or nose/tail... then all the person's weight swings into a tiny part of the board and can snap it. For a demonstration... hold a toothpick towards one end and press the other end into your desk, you should be able to snap it easily. That's what happens when you don't land on a flat board. Now try to break the toothpick when it's flush against the table, I seriously doubt you can (you can even palm it in your hand and slam it flat again the desk and I still doubt you can break it).

I've hit 65+ foot ramp jumps that throw you at least 20 feet in the air (the takeoff point is already 10 feet above the ground) and I don't notice much of a difference in force landing wise. The bigger jumps *should* have steeper landings to compensate... so the "impact" is the same, you are just going wicked fast (50+ mph). If the jump is made poorly, all bets are off, but you should be always scout out the jump beforehand and watch other people go over it... although I admit I was the first and only person to hit the 65+ jumps in the Kirkwood superpark some weekends (they reshape them each week and so they are slightly different). Of course I was just going straight and some weekends there are guys spinning rodeos and 720's off of them.

[Stan]

Originally posted by lonerider
Yea, I was replying to the other post when I mentioned the difference between tables and kickers. So are you saying the table top was 40 ft long... or wide? Anyways, I really do suggest you try going over a jump straight, it is just *much* easier than going over the sides once you can get over the mental fear of a bigger jump.

You're advice is actually very observant... people land on edge because they panic at their speed and are trying to slow down *immediately* and are too afraid to wait until they ride out the landing because speed-checking... and hence speed-check early... sometimes so early they haven't touched the snow yet.

1) 40ft LONG. I'm NOT doing a transfer on a 40ft WIDE table, even if I ever find one in our parts (East coast)

2) Advice based on experience . . . And AASI teachings . . .

[lonerider]

Originally posted by Stan
1) 40ft LONG. I'm NOT doing a transfer on a 40ft WIDE table, even if I ever find one in our parts (East coast)

2) Advice based on experience . . . And AASI teachings . . .


Yea, that's what I was wondering since tabletops tend to be skinny. We do have 40 ft wide tabletops here on the west coast that have 2-3 takeoff "points" (think of two tabletops fused together at the "hip"). I've transferred from the center ramp to the left transition before on this small 20x40x5' tables before... the craziest one I've seen is two 40x15x10' ft tabletop that are 15' apart... you hit the lip at an angle transfer from one table to the other. While technically not that much harder, you could seriously get eaten if you over/undershoot.

You've taken AASI freestyle lessons? How are they? I went to High Cascade Snowboard Camp (http://www.highcascade.com) and picked up a bunch of useful tips on spinning and halfpipe.

[tigger]

have a look at
http://www.eurosport.com/home/pages/V4/L0/S10001/multimedia_Lng0_Spo10001.shtml
watch the video below:eek:
i dont know where to find the complete video of the extremebrothers anymore.
Or see the old hardattack video with triple backflips in hardboots!!!!

[lonerider]

Originally posted by tigger
have a look at
http://www.eurosport.com/home/pages/V4/L0/S10001/multimedia_Lng0_Spo10001.shtml
watch the video below:eek:
i dont know where to find the complete video of the extremebrothers anymore.
Or see the old hardattack video with triple backflips in hardboots!!!!

The video has some sweet carving... but the freestyle is very very mediocre... notice how often they cut away from the jump before the carver lands... whenever that happens it's because he/she ate it on the landing (they only put in the "impressive" crashes where they eat it big time in new and interesting ways). Going back... I think they landed about 1 out of 8 jumps, and most of those were not even that big... no grab, a mediocre at about 30 seconds, one guys tries a 360 and he's completely off axis and is going to slam really hard.

Now hard attack video is soooo much better... those guy ere awesome. Huge hits and drops... back flips, grabs... that video has it a ton of great stuff. For all you carvers who want to eventually become decent at freestyle... emulate those guys. Actually anyone should try and be like those guys - they are complete boarders.

[John Gilmour]

Kenny Mollica, last years slalomskateboard world champion- does back flips Naked on his hard boot alpine set up.

No lie.

ask to see a picture on the gong show on ncdsa.com
________
VAPORIZER WHOLESALE (http://vaporizerwholesaler.com)

[lonerider]

Originally posted by John Gilmour
Kenny Mollica, last years slalomskateboard world champion- does back flips Naked on his hard boot alpine set up.

No lie.

ask to see a picture on the gong show on ncdsa.com

Umm... if it had been "Kelly Monica" instead I might have gone to check it out :D :D :D

[Stan]

Originally posted by lonerider
Yea, that's what I was wondering since tabletops tend to be skinny. We do have 40 ft wide tabletops here on the west coast that have 2-3 takeoff "points" (think of two tabletops fused together at the "hip"). I've transferred from the center ramp to the left transition before on this small 20x40x5' tables before... the craziest one I've seen is two 40x15x10' ft tabletop that are 15' apart... you hit the lip at an angle transfer from one table to the other. While technically not that much harder, you could seriously get eaten if you over/undershoot.

You've taken AASI freestyle lessons? How are they? I went to High Cascade Snowboard Camp (http://www.highcascade.com) and picked up a bunch of useful tips on spinning and halfpipe.

I'm AASI Level I certified - taught at Hunter Mtn. for four years . . . Will be taking a break for at least couple of years - baby on the way . . .

Lessons - I've had to take at least 8 hours of training per season as a part of the job description, usually took more than that. Actually, all the free training you get is one of the perks of the job . . . ;o)

[lonerider]

Originally posted by Stan
I'm AASI Level I certified - taught at Hunter Mtn. for four years . . . Will be taking a break for at least couple of years - baby on the way . . .

Lessons - I've had to take at least 8 hours of training per season as a part of the job description, usually took more than that. Actually, all the free training you get is one of the perks of the job . . . ;o)

Cool, a couple of my friends from college were instructors - Rob worked at Mt. Snow as a Level II instructor (I thought it was PSIA, but I can never keep the organizations straight). He said he really liked the free "instructor" lessons as well - although the Level III exam is apparently really hard because not only do you have to be an expert rider... you have to better than them and *teach* them. So he just kind of took the lessons for himself and not actually to get the Level III certification.

[Stan]

Originally posted by lonerider
Cool, a couple of my friends from college were instructors - Rob worked at Mt. Snow as a Level II instructor (I thought it was PSIA, but I can never keep the organizations straight). He said he really liked the free "instructor" lessons as well - although the Level III exam is apparently really hard because not only do you have to be an expert rider... you have to better than them and *teach* them. So he just kind of took the lessons for himself and not actually to get the Level III certification.

For a part-timer like myself - Level I is sufficient. Level II takes some serious work, and Level III - last I heard 9 out of 10 people taking it - usually fail in one or other aspect (it's a multi-part exam, includes writing, teaching, riding, professionalism . . .)

AASI is a snowboarding-specific red-headed step-child of PSIA...

[lonerider]

Originally posted by Stan
For a part-timer like myself - Level I is sufficient. Level II takes some serious work, and Level III - last I heard 9 out of 10 people taking it - usually fail in one or other aspect (it's a multi-part exam, includes writing, teaching, riding, professionalism . . .)

AASI is a snowboarding-specific red-headed step-child of PSIA...

Ah, I see. Yea, he was a part-timer for a while, and then his software company went in a downward spiral - leaving him with a nice car, decent savings, but no job. So to "recharge" he went to the mountains for a while.

He said he went for the Level II because you can do higher end private lessons and those customers tend to give you very nice tips which sometimes are more than what you earned for that day salary-wise :D He was a great teaching assisant at school, very patient and encouraging - even to kids who skipped class and then tried to code with two fingers. I always a bit "surly" to students who came unprepared and then expected extra help.

[MapofTaziFoSho]

I still have my 00 Burton Balance 148.5 for this duty. :)

[NateW]

Originally posted by skategoat
The problem in the East is that the landing areas are usually very hard and icey. Very narrow margin of error and if you have your weight even a little bit back, the board will shoot out from under you on landing and the last thing you'll remember is the crack of your coconut hitting the ground.

Typically the last thing you remember in a situation like that is actually a couple seconds *before* impact. For example, you might remember bombing toward the jump, but not hitting the lip, getting air, or what went wrong with the landing. Or you might remember seeing a stop sign out of the corner of your eye, but not the blue minivan that totalled the car your dad let you borrow.

(I mean, hypothetically speaking, of course.)

[NateW]

Yes Thomas we should hook up! I just ordered my pass and I should be there pretty much every weekend plus the midweek occasional evening or day off of work. You can email me at delaminator(at)gmail.com.

Have you found www.snowboardseattle.com yet? It's a nice little community of Seattle area boarders (and a couple skiers)
exchanging snow reports and stuff. I post there as 'hardboots.'

[thomas_m]

Thank Nate! I just registered. Once the hill opens, I'll give you a yell.

We're probably headed down to Timberlne this weekend, just can't wait any longer...

T.

[Stan]

Originally posted by lonerider
He said he went for the Level II because you can do higher end private lessons and those customers tend to give you very nice tips which sometimes are more than what you earned for that day salary-wise :D He was a great teaching assisant at school, very patient and encouraging - even to kids who skipped class and then tried to code with two fingers. I always a bit "surly" to students who came unprepared and then expected extra help.

Hunter (where I taught) has implemented a policy where ALL levels of instructors have to teach (including the Director) and they have to teach ALL LEVELS OF STUDENTS. So being AASI Lvl I or Lvl III made pretty much no difference what type of clients you get. Now, if you do a good enough job, they may come back and request YOU specifically - that's when you are cashing in . . . ;o)

And there's NOTHING wrong with coding with two fingers... :D

[Camberpopper]

use to love hittin big headwalls on the racwboard! Sweet!!! Carve,carve,shhhh,land,carve. hittin heather canyon on Mt.Hood .Got to have a bit wider board for Heather. Heather canyon is more of a drop off. anywere from 5ft.drop to 30ft.drop. If anyone has been to Mt.Hood, I hope you checked out Heather Canyon @ Timberline. SWEET!!! Im totally stoked thinking back to hose "good times"!:D

[lonerider]

Originally posted by Stan
Hunter (where I taught) has implemented a policy where ALL levels of instructors have to teach (including the Director) and they have to teach ALL LEVELS OF STUDENTS. So being AASI Lvl I or Lvl III made pretty much no difference what type of clients you get. Now, if you do a good enough job, they may come back and request YOU specifically - that's when you are cashing in . . . ;o)

And there's NOTHING wrong with coding with two fingers... :D

That's a good policy... because for the first few years of riding, I was very anti-beginner lesson because I was worried that my beginners were being saddled with rookie instructors.

Well, ok... if you can code at 30+ words a minutes with two fingers :D but I'm borderline ADD and I remember people sitting there trying to figure out how to use vi and I was just sitting growing old.

[AlpentalRider]

Originally posted by thomas_m
Thank Nate! I just registered. Once the hill opens, I'll give you a yell.

We're probably headed down to Timberlne this weekend, just can't wait any longer...

T.

I'll be riding Alpental tuesdays, thursday nights, and hopefully sundays as well with my buddies. So if you guys wanna hook up let me know, I live just 20 min away from the mountain hehe.

[Stan]

Originally posted by lonerider
Well, ok... if you can code at 30+ words a minutes with two fingers :D but I'm borderline ADD and I remember people sitting there trying to figure out how to use vi and I was just sitting growing old.

Anyone coding at 30+ WPM is NOT thinking about what they are coding . . . They just don't have TIME to think about it . . .
:p

[lonerider]

Originally posted by Stan
Anyone coding at 30+ WPM is NOT thinking about what they are coding . . . They just don't have TIME to think about it . . .
:p

That's only one keyword/identifier every two seconds. I'm not referring to sustained total wpm, I mean... when you are typing something in (like a condition or loop construct) that burst should be relatively fast... and also for most larger projects you *should* have designed you entire algorithm/system out before you even touch the keyboard... so the rest is a matter of just typing it out... starting to type code before you've completely thought out your program is just asking for trouble.

[tilledog]

Billy Bordy on the Madd 158

Click on the 2nd pic down for a super sized photo.

http://www.hardbooter.com/articles.php?id=26

Davo

[Erwin]

I like to do 180's on my old asy Hot Blast over smaller big jumps (~15ft). Bigger ones I just hit and do some grabbing.
I do have to say that I didn't clear a table two days ago - just a few feet were left because lack of speed - and I landed very hard on an icy table. Although I bent down when landing I felt something in my knee, but until now everything is still fine. So I was lucky - be careful! First try some straight airs to get used to the kicker before trying anything crazy. If you clear a good shaped jump you will hardly feel anything when you come down! If anything goes wrong - try to relax when crashing. Until now I didn't have any major injuries because of jumping with hardboots.

Erwin

[northcoast]

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by thomas_m
Thank Nate! I just registered. Once the hill opens, I'll give you a yell.

We're probably headed down to Timberlne this weekend, just can't wait any longer...

T.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Originally posted by AlpentalRider
I'll be riding Alpental tuesdays, thursday nights, and hopefully sundays as well with my buddies. So if you guys wanna hook up let me know, I live just 20 min away from the mountain hehe.

We definitely should all get together. Nate if you haven't gotten your pass yet you should have it soon (I printed it. :) ) I'm at West on the weekends although I bounce back and forth between all 4. Fridays will be split between Alpental and Central Park (improved half pipe w/snowmaking and lights) dependent on snow conditions. Hopefully we will get more snow soon but until then there's the Snow Expo next weekend and then a trip to Hood with the Donek Jr. Team thanksgiving weekend.
________
Nexium Settlement Information (http://www.classactionsettlements.org/lawsuit/nexium/)

[lonerider]

It might have been mentioned before, but I just recently watched Todd Richards' Trick Tips, Vol. 1: Snowboarding - Park and Pipe Basics (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00006IULL/ref=pd_luc_mri/002-8324383-6227229?v=glance&s=video&me=ATVPDKIKX0DER&st=*) and Todd Richards' Trick Tips, Vol. 2: Snowboarding - Park and Pipe, The Next Level (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000AINKK/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_2/002-8324383-6227229) and I have to say that both of them are *excellent* instructional videos. Normally I am very skeptical of instructional videos, but these videos teach exactly the same things I tell people I'm teaching. None of the knowledge is "revolutionary" but it is usually gained over several years from listening to veteran freestylers and through painful self-experience, and so it is very nice to have it all consolidated in a single place.

For most people here I would recommend the first video with cover etiquette, safety, basic jumps, basic rails and a couple of grabs, and dropping into the pipe, riding the pipe walls (I really wish they just sold this with every snowboard purchase... it would make my life in the park/pipe much easier).

The second video is covers spins in the park and pipe nicely... 180s, 360s, and 540s (stuff an intermediate freestyler could actually learn) and their pipe equivalents (front 360s, alley-oops, air to fakie).

I'm really happy with my purchases and I'm definitely going to be showing it to help "prep" the people I teach.

[UK40]

Originally posted by boogieman
does anyone jump with their alpine board
i tried once and i ripped out my rear binding and almoast broke my knee, since that day i never tried it again

Hello I'm Uldis I also try to jump with
hard board.
I didn't broke any binding. It's cool.

[boogieman]

nice picture

Ill try again (to jump) in exactly 40 days (the countdown has started!) :D for a while arleady actualy but now its really starting to itch