jjue
12-16-2007, 10:48 PM
Now that we have 105 and 110's that can do it all , why would any of us want to ride something shorter ??? And why would Greco and Kirk team up to design a new 101 board , isn't that length passe' ? And why fat ? and why stiff?
I am a confirmed longboarder and 110 rider and yet I was always hankering to try a new 100 board to replace my ageing Canon M7 99 . So the KTP it was this year ! and boy am I lucky ... I got to ride that thing alot today at Northstar which had their steep backside runs open 1800 vertical of fast continuous icy black diamond groomed slopes . Today was a cold day with no snow for a week and the snow was seriously firm , you know the kind that has good snowboarders sliding out and skiers carefully picking their way down the slope .
I had the Sherpa out first and of course that thing holds ice like a slalom ski despite it's girth , no surprise . Then again off to the KTP , last week rode it in deep powder , this week in the reverse condition firm steep icy slopes .
So whats so special about a short board , and especially what is so special about the KTP . ?? The answer for one , is SHORT.
I know that there are folks here to prefer to ride the BWP to the EMP or the ALP but why ??? A day on the KTP for this 110 and longboard rider was a total relevation , I understand !
10 cm does make a difference and the KTP is much easier to skate for me then my longer boards .
10cm does make a difference and the board feels much more nimble and manuverable, it is very special feeling for me to have such a light weight responsive board on my feet , feels like skates .
But all this is for naught , if this board does not PERFORM , and yes it does and then some !
Ok I certainly don't lay carves like Kirk but I did try the thing carving the steep and icy slopes both at 4cm back and at center . No question center is better in firm , icy snow . You feel like you get better control of the whole edge on the snow . I will set the board back for pow , but remain centered in icy snow . 4cm back does work well in soft snow groomers like you get on pow days like last weekend . but for firm icy days like today you can't beat center .
Ok how do they do when you lay them into a carve , whenever there is some soft snow over the firm icy snow , the board hooks up well and carves like a dream easy as pie. Now , like Brklyncarver says , when you really lay some speed into these boards on a steep icy slope they chatter a bit . More than my 110 or longer boards ... but what does that really mean ???
Here is what I think is happening , these boards bite snow like a fiend , they are very stiff and I can get an edge like no tomorrow on these . Now on ice on moderate slopes no problem both edges carve nicely , on steep ice there is just a little bit of edge slippage this can be accentuated if the snow is a little bit chunky or lumpy ice and you can feel both edges release just a little bit driving into a turn at high speed , roll off the speed a bit and this does not happen . I really think this has to do with the shorter edge of the board vs a 110 or longer board . BUT is easily remedied by just a slight variation in technique . Rather than drive into the turn with equal weight on both feet , I drive into a steep icy turn with most of my weight to the outside foot with a light inside foot , I can feel the edge force wonderfully on my outside edge all my weight there ,as if I am on ice skates , then a gradually weight the inside edge and concentrate on feeling the edge forces build up on that edge . ,the the turn happens and the inside foot turns and becomes the more weighted outside foot . I feel like I am carving more foot to foot then equal footed , this helps me to eliminate that chattering on ice on steep and is a very nice feeling .
Now here is an important point , often skiers like myself think they know all about how to make a skiboard work , the answer is they don't know at all . Especially on the shorter boards , you guys who do this all the time and ride at high speed on icy steep slopes are masters of handling your edges which skiers are not . Skiers can be lazy and skid their tails , I do it all the time on skis , skiboards especially shorter skiboards at high speed on technical steep slopes demand careful attention to technique , you need to be working your edges .
The other technique , I found was on really icy snow it is better not to try to carve too hard if you can't really get an edge which is rare with the KTP as it edges very well , just slide out a bit and look for some softer snow on the other side of the icy patch to grab an edge .
Now the coolest thing about a day like today , is that to the edge of the steep icy slope there is 4 inch deep wonderful sloughed off powdery snow that is in a narrow band , even too narrow to turn on with my Sherpa , but with the KTP , you can cruise wounderflly down the sloughed off snow as if you were in pow .. .the wide shape of the KTP is wonderful and you can feel the g forces as you just drop , edge set to edge set like an elevator down this soft stuff while everyone else is struggling in the middle of the icy steep slope .. very , very cool ! I couldn't get enough of that !
The KTP is a very smooth board , it is not tiring to ride , feels totally and completely natural to move about and ride without poles , reacts to your bodies movements with grace and power , it is a very high performance board that will teach you well . The feeback is instantaneous and you immediately know if you are doing something right or wrong .
It was cool riding this board in difficult steep slopes and people doing a bit of a double take and look down at my feet :)!
Here is a pic of a very special quiver ! ( ps . yes those are extreme 2 bindings , I replaced the metal toe levers with plastic ones to save some damage to the soft plastic of my expensive alpine touring boots )
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/jjue/DSCN11480001.jpg
I am a confirmed longboarder and 110 rider and yet I was always hankering to try a new 100 board to replace my ageing Canon M7 99 . So the KTP it was this year ! and boy am I lucky ... I got to ride that thing alot today at Northstar which had their steep backside runs open 1800 vertical of fast continuous icy black diamond groomed slopes . Today was a cold day with no snow for a week and the snow was seriously firm , you know the kind that has good snowboarders sliding out and skiers carefully picking their way down the slope .
I had the Sherpa out first and of course that thing holds ice like a slalom ski despite it's girth , no surprise . Then again off to the KTP , last week rode it in deep powder , this week in the reverse condition firm steep icy slopes .
So whats so special about a short board , and especially what is so special about the KTP . ?? The answer for one , is SHORT.
I know that there are folks here to prefer to ride the BWP to the EMP or the ALP but why ??? A day on the KTP for this 110 and longboard rider was a total relevation , I understand !
10 cm does make a difference and the KTP is much easier to skate for me then my longer boards .
10cm does make a difference and the board feels much more nimble and manuverable, it is very special feeling for me to have such a light weight responsive board on my feet , feels like skates .
But all this is for naught , if this board does not PERFORM , and yes it does and then some !
Ok I certainly don't lay carves like Kirk but I did try the thing carving the steep and icy slopes both at 4cm back and at center . No question center is better in firm , icy snow . You feel like you get better control of the whole edge on the snow . I will set the board back for pow , but remain centered in icy snow . 4cm back does work well in soft snow groomers like you get on pow days like last weekend . but for firm icy days like today you can't beat center .
Ok how do they do when you lay them into a carve , whenever there is some soft snow over the firm icy snow , the board hooks up well and carves like a dream easy as pie. Now , like Brklyncarver says , when you really lay some speed into these boards on a steep icy slope they chatter a bit . More than my 110 or longer boards ... but what does that really mean ???
Here is what I think is happening , these boards bite snow like a fiend , they are very stiff and I can get an edge like no tomorrow on these . Now on ice on moderate slopes no problem both edges carve nicely , on steep ice there is just a little bit of edge slippage this can be accentuated if the snow is a little bit chunky or lumpy ice and you can feel both edges release just a little bit driving into a turn at high speed , roll off the speed a bit and this does not happen . I really think this has to do with the shorter edge of the board vs a 110 or longer board . BUT is easily remedied by just a slight variation in technique . Rather than drive into the turn with equal weight on both feet , I drive into a steep icy turn with most of my weight to the outside foot with a light inside foot , I can feel the edge force wonderfully on my outside edge all my weight there ,as if I am on ice skates , then a gradually weight the inside edge and concentrate on feeling the edge forces build up on that edge . ,the the turn happens and the inside foot turns and becomes the more weighted outside foot . I feel like I am carving more foot to foot then equal footed , this helps me to eliminate that chattering on ice on steep and is a very nice feeling .
Now here is an important point , often skiers like myself think they know all about how to make a skiboard work , the answer is they don't know at all . Especially on the shorter boards , you guys who do this all the time and ride at high speed on icy steep slopes are masters of handling your edges which skiers are not . Skiers can be lazy and skid their tails , I do it all the time on skis , skiboards especially shorter skiboards at high speed on technical steep slopes demand careful attention to technique , you need to be working your edges .
The other technique , I found was on really icy snow it is better not to try to carve too hard if you can't really get an edge which is rare with the KTP as it edges very well , just slide out a bit and look for some softer snow on the other side of the icy patch to grab an edge .
Now the coolest thing about a day like today , is that to the edge of the steep icy slope there is 4 inch deep wonderful sloughed off powdery snow that is in a narrow band , even too narrow to turn on with my Sherpa , but with the KTP , you can cruise wounderflly down the sloughed off snow as if you were in pow .. .the wide shape of the KTP is wonderful and you can feel the g forces as you just drop , edge set to edge set like an elevator down this soft stuff while everyone else is struggling in the middle of the icy steep slope .. very , very cool ! I couldn't get enough of that !
The KTP is a very smooth board , it is not tiring to ride , feels totally and completely natural to move about and ride without poles , reacts to your bodies movements with grace and power , it is a very high performance board that will teach you well . The feeback is instantaneous and you immediately know if you are doing something right or wrong .
It was cool riding this board in difficult steep slopes and people doing a bit of a double take and look down at my feet :)!
Here is a pic of a very special quiver ! ( ps . yes those are extreme 2 bindings , I replaced the metal toe levers with plastic ones to save some damage to the soft plastic of my expensive alpine touring boots )
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/jjue/DSCN11480001.jpg