Matthies
01-17-2009, 12:05 PM
Ok, so I took the 2009 ALPs to Breckenridge yesterday for my first try. I’m a total beginner (with 9 times on ski boards thus far and bigger guy 5'11/230) so this review is geared more towards people thinking about this as their first ever board rather than intermediate or advanced ski boarders.
It was pretty warm yesterday, 50s at the base of the mountain so the snow was wet or icy in the shaded parts. My first two runs with the ALPs were not that encouraging, in fact after the second run I was about to go all the way back down the mountain in the gondola and get my Spruce 120s because I was really not enjoying the ALPs. I had some problems with my tails getting stuck, almost to the point I had to do little “jumps” to get through my turns and I felt a few times like I was going to fall backwards, like the ski boards would shoot out from under me. But I decided to give them a few more shots. I’m glad I did.
What occurred to me next was that I was: A) trying to ski the ALPs, and B) was trying to ski them like my 120s (with poles). So I thought I would do an experiment and try and ski them, well you know, more like ski boards. I had studied the Japanese “craving video” and that was NOT AT ALL how I had ski boarded up to this point, so I put my collapsible poles in my backpack and thought I would try to emulate what I saw on the video with the ALPs.
As soon as I did that, everything changed. No more stuck tails, no more for/aft imbalance. As soon as I stopped skiing them and started ski boarding them, everything worked. I got in to a more lower stance, put my weight on the uphill ski and pushed my downhill leg out and BAM I was up on the edges and I was making carves! Something I had yet to be able to do on ski boards. In fact I was making such great carves that I would actually start to go uphill and come to a stop.
Once I started ski boarding the ALPs everything went right. I was turning and going faster than ever before. I’m still not good at carving, and my form sucks, but that’s not the boards fault. Once I started riding them like they were designed to ride I felt great on the ALPs. So if you’re a total beginner then make sure you know how to ride them like ski boards and you should be fine, riding them like skis and with poles is not like the 120s, this are meant to be ridden more aggressively, with a lower stance and on the edges, if you can do that than they are a blast. If you want a more ski type ski board then look to the 120s, but you will be missing a lot if you just ski your boards!
I did something on the ALPs I had yet to ever do on ski boards, I went down a run five times without taking a break. I could not stop riding them, I went up skied right down into the lift line then went up again, no thought to being tired or wanting a break, I just did not want to stop riding them like they are meant to be ridden.
I give them an A- as a totally newbie beginner board, only because they don’t offer the same for/aft confidence that the 120s do for bad form and bad riders just starting out. Again this is more my fault than the boards fault, but thinking back to when I first started and trying to ski them, I think I would have been more frustrated starting with these than a longer board. BUT once you ski board them everything changes, so that’s the key, if you think you got the form down these would be great beginner boards, once you get the form (even bad form) then all the negatives go away.
It was pretty warm yesterday, 50s at the base of the mountain so the snow was wet or icy in the shaded parts. My first two runs with the ALPs were not that encouraging, in fact after the second run I was about to go all the way back down the mountain in the gondola and get my Spruce 120s because I was really not enjoying the ALPs. I had some problems with my tails getting stuck, almost to the point I had to do little “jumps” to get through my turns and I felt a few times like I was going to fall backwards, like the ski boards would shoot out from under me. But I decided to give them a few more shots. I’m glad I did.
What occurred to me next was that I was: A) trying to ski the ALPs, and B) was trying to ski them like my 120s (with poles). So I thought I would do an experiment and try and ski them, well you know, more like ski boards. I had studied the Japanese “craving video” and that was NOT AT ALL how I had ski boarded up to this point, so I put my collapsible poles in my backpack and thought I would try to emulate what I saw on the video with the ALPs.
As soon as I did that, everything changed. No more stuck tails, no more for/aft imbalance. As soon as I stopped skiing them and started ski boarding them, everything worked. I got in to a more lower stance, put my weight on the uphill ski and pushed my downhill leg out and BAM I was up on the edges and I was making carves! Something I had yet to be able to do on ski boards. In fact I was making such great carves that I would actually start to go uphill and come to a stop.
Once I started ski boarding the ALPs everything went right. I was turning and going faster than ever before. I’m still not good at carving, and my form sucks, but that’s not the boards fault. Once I started riding them like they were designed to ride I felt great on the ALPs. So if you’re a total beginner then make sure you know how to ride them like ski boards and you should be fine, riding them like skis and with poles is not like the 120s, this are meant to be ridden more aggressively, with a lower stance and on the edges, if you can do that than they are a blast. If you want a more ski type ski board then look to the 120s, but you will be missing a lot if you just ski your boards!
I did something on the ALPs I had yet to ever do on ski boards, I went down a run five times without taking a break. I could not stop riding them, I went up skied right down into the lift line then went up again, no thought to being tired or wanting a break, I just did not want to stop riding them like they are meant to be ridden.
I give them an A- as a totally newbie beginner board, only because they don’t offer the same for/aft confidence that the 120s do for bad form and bad riders just starting out. Again this is more my fault than the boards fault, but thinking back to when I first started and trying to ski them, I think I would have been more frustrated starting with these than a longer board. BUT once you ski board them everything changes, so that’s the key, if you think you got the form down these would be great beginner boards, once you get the form (even bad form) then all the negatives go away.