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Snowboarding Vail, Colorado '05(1/28/05 - 1/31/05) Whistler 2004 My Favorite Tahoe Resorts
My Gear
My Snowboarding History Well I have a story as to what happened to me when I first started snowboarding. I started I back in the 1997/1998 season, which was also an El Nino Year so the snow was not bad especially for Southern California. I took my first and only lesson at Snow Summit in Big Bear. I did have a slight problem though. I wear a size 14 shoe size, and they didn't have any size 14s at Snow Summit, but rather than leave I stuffed my toes into a size 13 boot. They were pretty tight! I actually did pretty good my first lesson, by the end of the day I had already learned how to connect my turns, not very eloquently but I was far ahead of anyone else in my class. My toes hurt all day, especially in the beginning when I ate it after each turn. Well at the end of the day both of my big toe nails where black... I jammed them up so much it wasn't a pretty sight. Needless to say, I rode the entire season with black toenails, they eventually fell off completely, and took about a year to grow back completely. But they are fine now. I was worried at first, but it's all good now. The funny thing is they fell off when I went on vacation in Hawaii. Anyways after my first trip and lesson, I decided that I had to buy boots that fit, and ended up buying everything. My first setup was a Burton Floater 154, Burton Custom Bindings, and Burton Custom(?) Boots (cant remember the boot type for sure) My boot problem would however continue for years. The size 14 boots were still a little too small, I put in SureFoot footpads which helped a lot, they gave me a little extra support in my arches but my toes still hurt whenever carving on my toe side, especially cutting hard turns where it was bumpy. I rode with those boots for about 2 years, when I bought another pair of Size 14 Burton Driver Boots... these STILL were too small. So the year after I bought a pair of size 15. Finally after 3 years of riding I found a pair of boots that fit just right. I ended up with a Size 15 Pair of Burton Driver boots. I have finally given up on Burton since they stopped making larger size boots for their high end boots. I now ride Vans Contra boots with the BOA enclosure system. I love these boots but the quality kind of sucks. I've had numerous problems with the BOA enclosures failing. The cables jammed up once inside the enclosure. Another time the dial just popped off and got lost on the slopes. These boots are great if you hate having to constantly lace your boots. I also decided to buy my first non-Burton board this year, and I am completely satisfied with my Donek Sasquatch 170. It's better than the Burton Canyon that I rode for a number of years without a doubt! Ok back to the history. The first year I learned to ride, I rode Snow Summit, Bear Mountain, Mountain High, Snow Valley. I spent a pretty significant amount of time in the parks, never really did much on the pipe, but I was able to hit most majority of small and medium sized jumps sticking most landings... Anyways in '98 I moved to the Bay Area, and discovered a new playground, Lake Tahoe! And I can pretty much say that even the worst days in Tahoe are better than most days at any resort in Big Bear. I now ride mostly at Kirkwood, but also spend time at Squaw Valley, Sierra at Tahoe, Heavenly, and Sugar Bowl. |
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Last updated on 05/09/07. Copyright © 2007 - Riftzone Productions. |
