# 2017 - goal and progress



## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

so u summit and where exactly do you ride down?


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

wrathfuldeity said:


> so u summit and where exactly do you ride down?


Ah, posted the same face twice; corrected. One cannot ride all the mtn. Last part to the peak is pure climbing; one leaves the ski/board there.









Lol at the vid . I'll sure raise my fist in winner pose reaching the peak - if I'll ever be able to lift my arms again, that is :laugh:


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## mojo maestro (Jan 6, 2009)

Is the goal to summit.......or to ride it? Do you need the split for the approach? Guide?


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## DoubleA (Apr 30, 2014)

Neni is (Neni you are) so hardcore :notworthy:


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

mojo maestro said:


> Is the goal to summit.......or to ride it? Do you need the split for the approach? Guide?


Goal is to summit _and_ to ride it . Top part of the mtn is not rideable, but big part of it is. The dotted line in the pic indicates the climbing part. 
Yeah, the split makes the approach _to_ the mtn endurable. It can be done also purely as a hike/climb, but it's a loooong approach to the mtn by foot. Especially so if you got fresh snow. To skin is way more efficient. The tour takes three days: one to get to the foot of the mtn (long way along glaciers), one to summit the mtn itself, one to get out. 
Oh yeah, absolutely with a guide. I'd never consider such a tour w/o a guide.


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## htfu (Mar 18, 2015)

looks like you have your work cut out for you ... good luck 

one thing about climbing that i picked up from the small amount of indoor bouldering that i did was that it was all about the legs/core. almost all of the high level climbers put it as follows : which is stronger, arms or legs? use the ones that are strongest ... in other words you are mostly pushing with your legs and rarely, if ever, using your arms to pull your full weight up unassisted (the exception is doing some hairy dynos like these... but i seriously doubt that will be something you encounter on this sort of climb).


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## mojo maestro (Jan 6, 2009)

A guide definitely makes it easier...........let them make the hard decisions. At that elevation........and with the exertion.....the mind gets cloudy. Sooo many factors have to come together to make it to the top. That mountain isn't going anywhere........good luck.....and keep us updated.......:grin:


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

neni said:


> Goal is to summit _and_ to ride it . Top part of the mtn is not rideable, but big part of it is. The dotted line in the pic indicates the climbing part.
> Yeah, the split makes the approach _to_ the mtn endurable. It can be done also purely as a hike/climb, but it's a loooong approach to the mtn by foot. Especially so if you got fresh snow. To skin is way more efficient. The tour takes three days: one to get to the foot of the mtn (long way along glaciers), one to summit the mtn itself, one to get out.
> Oh yeah, absolutely with a guide. I'd never consider such a tour w/o a guide.


When you are over here...maybe check out doing rainier and/or baker for some easy practice...I've heard baker is up and down in 1 long day or .5 day for the approach to the base...and then 1 day from base > summit > out. One of my skier buds...says the ride down is pretty fast.

these folks are right in Bham
American Alpine Institute | Mountaineering School, Mountain & Ski Guides


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

wrathfuldeity said:


> When you are over here...maybe check out doing rainier and/or baker for some easy practice...I've heard baker is up and down in 1 long day or .5 day for the approach to the base...and then 1 day from base > summit > out. One of my skier buds...says the ride down is pretty fast.
> 
> these folks are right in Bham
> American Alpine Institute | Mountaineering School, Mountain & Ski Guides


We've only a short 4d window in WA, so it's hit n miss with the conditions, but IIRC Mt. Rainier is a potential option.


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## poutanen (Dec 22, 2011)

Good luck Neni and HAVE FUN! I've been saying this a lot lately, but that's probably due to some personal issues of mine. I totally get tackling a big challenge, as long as there's some fun involved as well.

What's the base camp cabin like? I'd almost be inclined to go for a few nights and attempt the summit on the second or third day at the cabin. Give yourself a bit to acclimatize to the atmosphere. Of course I'm not experienced, so I have no idea if the body can acclimatize in that short period of time.

Also I want to echo what HTFU said. Climbing really is more about body positioning and keeping your mass over your foot holds. I've done some outdoor, and a lot of indoor climbing. With one decent foothold you could stand there all day, trying to hold on with your hands you'll tire out in minutes. I still think the boxing gym is a great idea, but hopefully on your actual assent your arms won't be an issue.

Can't wait to hear the trip report and see the pics! :grin:


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

neni said:


> We've only a short 4d window in WA, so it's hit n miss with the conditions, but IIRC Mt. Rainier is a potential option.


ATM...bach is a bit out of range...but might catch a glimpse of ya at crystal to pick up chomps and ride a day there.


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## mojo maestro (Jan 6, 2009)

poutanen said:


> What's the base camp cabin like? I'd almost be inclined to go for a few nights and attempt the summit on the second or third day at the cabin. Give yourself a bit to acclimatize to the atmosphere. Of course I'm not experienced, so I have no idea if the body can acclimatize in that short period of time.


pout makes a good point..........maybe not for acclimatization......but you can rest from the previous days effort......allows for a bigger weather window.......and an early to bed, early to rise start........rehydration........'course you have to factor in the extra expense of a down day with a guide........


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## phillyphan (Sep 22, 2016)

My goal for 2017. 











But in all seriousness, good luck Neni! That looks awesome. I'm just now thinking about backcountry and taking my Avalanche safety course.


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## kalev (Dec 17, 2013)

Sounds like an awesome goal. Regardless of the outcome, I'm sure it will be an adventure! 

Ever thought of cross-country skiing for conditioning? Its a surprisingly good upper-body workout (especially if you're going up hill), and good for skinning / cold weather/ aerobic etc. Just a thought

Good luck!


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

poutanen said:


> Good luck Neni and HAVE FUN! I've been saying this a lot lately, but that's probably due to some personal issues of mine. I totally get tackling a big challenge, as long as there's some fun involved as well.


I hear you on the fun. I do it exactly for this, cos it rewards with a type of satisfaction and self awareness I did't knew from other sports. I'm a lazy bone by nature, seriously, I only move if driven by goals. _Subsumable_ targets ("be in better shape" is too abstract...). A peak, a certain line, the goal to make these types of tours made me improve health n shape and I'm so glad I did cos I'm feeling better year by year. 



poutanen said:


> What's the base camp cabin like? I'd almost be inclined to go for a few nights and attempt the summit on the second or third day at the cabin. Give yourself a bit to acclimatize to the atmosphere. Of course I'm not experienced, so I have no idea if the body can acclimatize in that short period of time.


The cabin is at 3050m; would actually be a good idea to spend a day more there; it's 500m higher than I usually spend my weekends so it sure would help a tad. If the weather plays, I'll also try to spend Easter at high altitude doing one of the easy 4000er m peaks at ours in preparation for this trickier one. And before that, we'll be on a 4 week snowboarding vacation; not at high altitude, tho, but should get decent verts on solids and splits, so the legs really should be no issue.



poutanen said:


> Also I want to echo what HTFU said. Climbing really is more about body positioning and keeping your mass over your foot holds. I've done some outdoor, and a lot of indoor climbing. With one decent foothold you could stand there all day, trying to hold on with your hands you'll tire out in minutes. I still think the boxing gym is a great idea, but hopefully on your actual assent your arms won't be an issue.


Yeah, I've done that mistake as well in the beginning. Meanwhile I use the legs more than the arms; however when iceclimbing, a certain amount of muscle already is needed to get the axe bite, and there I loose heavily due to my weak arms :laugh:. 



kalev said:


> Ever thought of cross-country skiing for conditioning? Its a surprisingly good upper-body workout (especially if you're going up hill), and good for skinning / cold weather/ aerobic etc. Just a thought


Yeah, no . There's no track close by, so I could only go on weekends, and then I'm snowboarding; those days are restricted enough...


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## WasabiCanuck (Apr 29, 2015)

My goal for 2017. Finally conquer this f'ing bunny hill!!!!










jk 

My goal is pretty sad compared to Neni's haha. *I wanna land a 180 bro!!!!* 

Neni you are awesome and on a whole other level of snowboarding, great job and good luck. Please follow all avy safety precautions etc, we have lost too many awesome people in the backcountry. Be Safe and have fun.


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## poutanen (Dec 22, 2011)

WasabiCanuck said:


> My goal is pretty sad compared to Neni's haha. *I wanna land a 180 bro!!!!*


Ha! That's my goal for this year too. I've been snowboarding for 25 odd years, but in a couple weeks at Kicking Horse I'm going to tell my instructor I want to nail 360s by the end of the week.

Nothing wrong with working on carving, bumps, etc. etc., but I want to spin like the kids these days! lol


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

WasabiCanuck said:


> My goal is pretty sad compared to Neni's haha. *I wanna land a 180 bro!!!!*


See, and I wouldn't even think of _trying_ this cos that's way too complex and dangerous to me . Goals have no classification; if working at it makes you happy, it's a _geat_ one.


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## Noreaster (Oct 7, 2012)

Hey, progressing nicely on your way to Elbrus, eh? :wink: 

Seriously though, that looks like one tough peak to scale over 3 days. Impressive goal. Good luck with it.

As for the workouts, cardio is going to be your friend at that altitude. And while there're plenty of different ways to build upper body strength, sorry to say but I found no real substitute for pull ups and push ups. Been doing indoor climbing all through the last year (my daughter got me into it) and as much as I hate structured gym workouts too, there came a moment when I realized that without regular weight training and pull ups I'm just not gaining enough upper body strength to progress where I want to be. 

I still can't bring myself to go to a conventional gym, I just have a pull up bar and a set of weights at home. Pretty low tech, but I've been doing it daily and have some serious muscle to show for it. 

And yeah, in ice climbing you need your arms and upper back just as much as legs. Here's a pic from my last week's BC trip. We did a fair amount of roping on that one and I was pleasantly surprised how much I gained in strength and endurance in the last year compared to how I knew myself to have been before.


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## mojo maestro (Jan 6, 2009)

Ice climbing is by far, the most dangerous "sport", I have participated in. Got 31 stitches in the face my first season...........lucky to still have my left eye. Gnarly................


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## raffertyk2 (Dec 16, 2014)

poutanen said:


> Ha! That's my goal for this year too. I've been snowboarding for 25 odd years, but in a couple weeks at Kicking Horse I'm going to tell my instructor I want to nail 360s by the end of the week.
> 
> Nothing wrong with working on carving, bumps, etc. etc., but I want to spin like the kids these days! lol


Got my frontside 180's pretty locked in, backside always gives me more issues so i guess you can say that is a goal for this year. Also riding steeper terrain more fluently and getting comfortable on bigger jumps, focusing on keeping my weight forward and not landing in the backseat so often. 
@neni love following your threads, this looks awesome!! Not big enough peaks around here otherwise I would be so game, Also Fiancee would kill me if I attempted anything like that this year wedding is in April :hairy:


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

Noreaster said:


> Hey, progressing nicely on your way to Elbrus, eh? :wink:


Ha, so far quite on schedule; still some time till I turn 40 



Noreaster said:


> As for the workouts, cardio is going to be your friend at that altitude. And while there're plenty of different ways to build upper body strength, sorry to say but I found no real substitute for pull ups and push ups. Been doing indoor climbing all through the last year (my daughter got me into it) and as much as I hate structured gym workouts too, there came a moment when I realized that without regular weight training and pull ups I'm just not gaining enough upper body strength to progress where I want to be.
> 
> I still can't bring myself to go to a conventional gym, I just have a pull up bar and a set of weights at home. Pretty low tech, but I've been doing it daily and have some serious muscle to show for it.


Not sure if this counts as "cardio" (I'm not familiar with terms n exercises)... the first half hour at the fitness boxing workout was pretty demanding cos it were non-stop alternating serie of run-at-place (knees high, fast pace; or on toes w low bent knees a.s.o), mixed with series of 20 push-ups (well, for me on the knees) or sit-ups n holding positions. The funny thing: if I had to do this at home, I wouldn't manage as much as I did when someone is screaming at you in drill voice. Completely receptive to psychological pressure, lol. Been panting for air and had a glowing red face for the next hour, lol. But the fun only just had begun cos that was "only" the warm-up for the subsequent punching-bag arm killing session. 

(When SO tried to motivate me at home to join his morning push-up n bar-bell workout, I usually tell him nicely to f off and leave me alone; no morning person here :embarrased1
So... yeah, I'll try to be add some exercises at home... but... well... hach...

But I can squeeze in 3 times a week at lunch at the boxing club as doesn't seemt to hinder the evening program; body had enough time to recover to well sustain a xc training in the evening. 

That pic looks awesome! Also looks pretty cold. Did you split there as well or just climb?


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## Winter_Lion (Nov 30, 2016)

neni said:


> Ha, so far quite on schedule; still some time till I turn 40
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Do you guys have Crossfit where you are at @neni? I think that might be of service to you in your aversion to a gym:
https://youtu.be/tzD9BkXGJ1M

Sent from my VS990 using Tapatalk


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

Just got to state the obvious..."neni and noreaster...ya'll R badass!" (crawls back in me little hole)


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## chomps1211 (Mar 30, 2011)

Ditto Wrathful! :embarrased1:

...and to answer your question neni? MOST DEFINITELY what you're doing is cardio!!! Most training for boxing focuses on cardio vascular training & endurance! 

Just about everything that isn't lifting weights in boxing is serious cardio. (...cardio & core!). Jumping rope, shadow boxing or heavy bag workouts. Running,.. you name it. It's all designed to get that heart rate up!


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

K... I think I've solved the tetris riddle and finally put the pieces of the AT split set-up correctly. The colors burn my eyes; but as I've got the most ugly boots available on the market, it's at least sort of consustent to have equally wild colored bindings :facepalm3:










First carpet test "strapped in"? *Holy bench vice!*
This is going to be hell! Feels sooo unnatural! I'm used to stiff boots, but the Deeluxe XV are a soft sponge-like joke compared to these boots! (BTW, the softest AT boots on the market :eyetwitch2















Hope I'll get used to this... gonna do a little trial tour tomorrow. Ai... this is gonna be an interesting day...


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

mojo maestro said:


> Ice climbing is by far, the most dangerous "sport", I have participated in. Got 31 stitches in the face my first season...........lucky to still have my left eye. Gnarly................


Well, I thought one's supposed to hit the _ice_ and not the _eyes_ with those axes... 

But I hear you. I'm constantly worried to hit myself with a crampon in the opposite leg... but... there's a very funny section in one of Joe Simpsons books - IIRC at the beginning of The Beckoning Silence - abt what some ice axes in the hands and crampons on the feet can play with ones psych... something like one feels like a mighty invincible knight... of course only as long as standing on safe ground... quickly and drastically changes once _on_ the ice :laugh: 
there's something to that...


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## mojo maestro (Jan 6, 2009)

neni said:


> Well, I thought one's supposed to hit the _ice_ and not the _eyes_ with those axes...
> 
> But I hear you. I'm constantly worried to hit myself with a crampon in the opposite leg... but... there's a very funny section in one of Joe Simpsons books - IIRC at the beginning of The Beckoning Silence - abt what some ice axes in the hands and crampons on the feet can play with ones psych... there's something to that...


One time my arms were so jelly.......I did hit myself in the head. The stitches happened from a soccer ball chunk of ice from above..........I was climbing close to the ground unroped in a gully.....roped party couple pitches up knocked off a bunch of ice.......they yelled.......i tried to get a quick look.........bam!!!!!.......right in the face. Helmet took most of it.........glasses shattered and gashed above my eye and laid my cheek open............bloody mess......


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## Noreaster (Oct 7, 2012)

neni said:


> Not sure if this counts as "cardio" (I'm not familiar with terms n exercises)... the first half hour at the fitness boxing workout was pretty demanding cos it were non-stop alternating serie of run-at-place (knees high, fast pace; or on toes w low bent knees a.s.o), mixed with series of 20 push-ups (well, for me on the knees) or sit-ups n holding positions.


The main principle in cardio is any workout where you bring your heart rate way up, then let yourself rest for just a little bit, then repeat the whole cycle again. 

There are 2 ways of endurance training: aerobic and anaerobic. You want anaerobic one because you just want to build muscle mass and endurance and not lose weight. My advice would be to speak with your trainer at the boxing gym about this (if you haven't already) because the two differ in their approach to duration and intensity of train-rest intervals and the professional would know how to modify the existing routine to suit your needs. 




neni said:


> That pic looks awesome! Also looks pretty cold. Did you split there as well or just climb?


Splitboarded for 6 days north of Pemberton, around McGillivray Pass (well, the group did, I lucked out with a strep infection and stayed in a hut for a couple of days drooling into a towel and waiting for amox to start working and my hearing to come back) But yeah, we had an AMGA guide there and the routes were designed with the idea of having to do some climbing.


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

mojo maestro said:


> One time my arms were so jelly.......I did hit myself in the head. The stitches happened from a soccer ball chunk of ice from above..........I was climbing close to the ground unroped in a gully.....roped party couple pitches up knocked off a bunch of ice.......they yelled.......i tried to get a quick look.........bam!!!!!.......right in the face. Helmet took most of it.........glasses shattered and gashed above my eye and laid my cheek open............bloody mess......


:eyetwitch2:
Sounds horrible! I know it from climbs how one is urged to look up when someone yells "Rock!" even tho one would know that one should rather brace.
You're still doing it? 
I've only yet done very mellow n nicely firm glacier walls; nothing gnarly with that; subscribe for an ice fall course soon. 
Thanks for the reminder. I'll keep the mantra in mind to suppress the urge to look up


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## mojo maestro (Jan 6, 2009)

Not as much..........too many people...........too little ice.........did take the kid last weekend to the local flow so he could swing an axe. Ice season is boarding season....................I'd rather ride..........and yes......your boots are ugly......:grin:


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## deagol (Mar 26, 2014)

Neni,

congrats about quitting smoking, first off !!

What an awesome goal to climb and ski that peak. 

I am not sure if when you said you've only ever been up to about 11,200 feet on a splitboard, but if you remember when you came up to splitboard with us a couple years back on Bert, the first climb we did before dropping in was actually about 12,200 feet. I just confirmed it on Google Earth. So hopefully that makes you feel better (??)

Obviously the climb we did was a cake walk compared to what you will be attempting, but at least you know you have been higher than 11,200...

Also, I know that hardboot splitboarders often cut/modify their boots to increase flexibility. There are advice threads on this topic over at Splitboard.com. Not sure if that is something you would want to tackle, but there is some info out there. 

RE ice-climbing: I've also dabbled in it years ago, what a sketchy sport!!


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## Noreaster (Oct 7, 2012)

neni said:


> First carpet test "strapped in"? *Holy bench vice!*
> This is going to be hell! Feels sooo unnatural! I'm used to stiff boots, but the Deeluxe XV are a soft sponge-like joke compared to these boots! (BTW, the softest AT boots on the market :eyetwitch2
> Hope I'll get used to this... gonna do a little trial tour tomorrow. Ai... this is gonna be an interesting day...


Wow. You definitely pushed it to another level there. I could see how hard booting is going to make touring a lot easier but riding in those things in unpredictable conditions on uneven steep glacial terrain. Yeah, that's... a different story. I wonder how the board response is going to change and how much forward lean you're going to get out of those without serious modifications. Curious to know how your trial had gone.


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## robotfood99 (Mar 19, 2016)

neni said:


> The colors burn my eyes; but as I've got the most ugly boots available on the market, it's at least sort of consustent to have equally wild colored bindings :facepalm3:



Gnu/Airblaster made this ninja suit just for you!


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

Noreaster said:


> Wow. You definitely pushed it to another level there. I could see how hard booting is going to make touring a lot easier but riding in those things in unpredictable conditions on uneven steep glacial terrain. Yeah, that's... a different story. I wonder how the board response is going to change and how much forward lean you're going to get out of those without serious modifications. Curious to know how your trial had gone.


Hmmm... mixed feelings. Top section opened the first time this year today so we went for off-piste instead of the tour as there was an entire untracked peak to ride. Took the AT boots n split cos it offered a good various terrain n conditions for a trial; narrow gullies, steep sections, traverses, all sorts of exposition and snow condition from windblown crusts to sweet pow and later on heavily chewed up crud.

The good: Been actually surprised how well it worked. Had expected problems _in general_. However, on the steep crusts, it was awesome how much response I got with them! Was soooo easy to push thrugh turns. Way easier than in soft boots. Tight turns in gullies were ok, billy-goating in steeps as well. Crud was ok-ish. Didn't feel as confident to plow through it at the same pace like usually, don't (yet) feel completely well balanced. Quick reactions are not there yet.

Soft pow was nice to ride - of course. (And carving homewards on groomers was fun as well, lol). 

Heel hold is splendid, even with pretty loosely tightened boots. No slipping at all, toes have even room to wiggle and were warm all day 

The main advantage is the amount of pressure one gets to the edge; it's really night and day. In crusts I usually have problems to get through frontside turns with the hind leg at slow speed; today it was very easy.

Nice is also how quick one is in and out of the bindings. Also really had the impression that the split was torsionally more responsive and more stable with these binding plates vs the Sparks. 

In the evening, I did some quick tests in touring mode. WOW! The edge contol and direct motion transfer is absolutely phantastic! Traversing steep slopes, skating, skiing down, all were non-brainers (all this gave me problems with softboot set-up). 

The bad:
- jumps were simply not manageable - so far. I tried, but they all ended in spills n tomahawks. Boots don't allow micro adjustments/board corrections with the ankles, couldn't get one landing properly done. Maybe it's an exercise thing and I will figure out how to circumvent that restriction.
- skating and one-footed riding is close to noob level. Made a clown out of myself . Also getting up in deep pow is so much harder due to that range of motion restriction in the ankles.

The ugly: 
Backside traverses are PITA! Boot seriously bites into my calves. Pretty painful. Gonna need to check for potential modifications... at first glace, the boot only offers to even increase the fwd lean, but not to reduce it. This is a major drawback. That peak has a rather long outrun through a gully, all on my backside edge. On the third round I had to stop several times to get those calves a break from the pressure :dry:


Done some stance/angle adjustments; had the feeling of over-powering the tail a bit and not standing wide enough. Gonna see if this helps with landing stability and crud.

Tour is shifted to tomorrow. Pretty much the entire ascent will be along crusted southern slopes. Riding down will be on northern face to seek for blower


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## Noreaster (Oct 7, 2012)

Neni,
Thanks for the review.

Do you know the max backward lean on these boots or can guesstimate it? From what I understand they max out in the front at 18°.


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

Noreaster said:


> Neni,
> Thanks for the review.
> 
> Do you know the max backward lean on these boots or can guesstimate it? From what I understand they max out in the front at 18°.


Yes, 18° is the out of box fwd lean. Several modifications are mentioned on splitboatd.com how one can increase this fwd lean.

In riding mode, however, they have too much fwd for my taste. 

Today's tour was again mixed. The ascent was absolutely gorgeous! Soo much superior! We had loads of slopoery steep passages with refrozen and crusts. SO with his softboots was struggling; I've been happily gripping with the edges, full contact with little energy effort. It's awesome how easy it is to skin up in otherwise challenging passages. Also had no foot burning feelings, no foot pain at all. Totally love to ascend with these alpine touring boots (not the same as hard boots, btw).

But the downhill was just one: pain. Felt like the boots want to crush my calve muscle in rutted variable terrain. Like highbacks which have way too much fwd lean, and the high boot rim bites constantly into the calve. Probably need to cut part of the rim off.


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

*Modifications - round I*

Sooo... I took a deep breath... and then set the saw onto my brand new 600$ Dynafit TLT6 Mountain CL women's touring boots and began to modify.

The problem no 1: it's designed for skiers - which rarely lean backwards. The upper rim is _very_ high positioned; pinched directly into my calve muscle making backside edge traverses very painful -> I cut off 4cm of the upper hind rim so it's even with the lean tongue in ride mode.

Problem no 2: range of flex/lean. Out of the box the boot has 18° fixed fwd lean in riding mode. No give n take. 18°, full stop. Inspired by the guys at splitboarding.com, I increased that motion range by filing the lean plate and tongue to have a bigger hole, i.e. the stopper won't be fixated at a certain degree but can shift. I got abt 3° of decreased lean and 5° of increased lean from the standard, i.e. in the fixed riding mode the boot now has a 15-23° flex. 

First carpet test: wow! What a difference! I'm glad I dared to destroyed any chance of warranty, lol. Feels soooo much better; no pinching, and the gain of flex is substantial. Very eager to get them out this weekend! A challenging tour is planned; after all the pain downhill last week I was in doubt if the advantage of ascent is worth the struggle while riding... now I'm pretty convinced that it's gonna be a win-win.

All one needs is a little saw, a file and sandpaper. (And tweezers to get all the aluminium splinters out of ones fingers if you're equally clumsy as I, lol)

Sawing off the upper rim holding the power strap (then sanding to smooth the cut):









Before: hard shell hind rim pinching calve muscle 








After: now the muscle insertion (indicated by fingers) is free









File the lean plate to get more ° of motion (upward for increased lean; downward for decreased lean):








Above the original, below after filing:








The lean tongue hole needs to be adjusted as well; file will do the job; not nice looking but it works:










Ready to go!


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## Noreaster (Oct 7, 2012)

neni said:


> First carpet test: wow! What a difference! I'm glad I dared to destroyed any chance of warranty, lol. Feels soooo much better; no pinching, and the gain of flex is substantial. Very eager to get them out this weekend! A challenging tour is planned; after all the pain downhill last week I was in doubt if the advantages of ascent is worth the struggle while riding... now I'm pretty convinced that it's gonna be a win-win.


Good Luck!

:smile:


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

fck ya...ms badass with tools and knows how to use said tools to make herself happy :x


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

wrathfuldeity said:


> fck ya...ms badass with tools and knows how to use said tools to make herself happy :x


You haven't seen my set of whips yet >


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

neni said:


> You haven't seen my set of whips yet >


ooh...wanna come play in the basement?


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## poutanen (Dec 22, 2011)

This is my favourite thread of 2017.... :grin:


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## Oldman (Mar 7, 2012)

Can I just sit in the corner and watch? >


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

Good news. The mod was a success and confidence got a big boost 

The 1200m vert tour this weekend was classified the same difficulty level - just not at similar altitude - as the one in the first post, and in not very nice (read as nasty) conditions: windblown crusts on the steep top 300m vert. Some splitboard guys with normal soft split set-up really struggled quite a bit, even with crampons; some gave up and didn't make it to the peak. Now I understand why some guides here are reluctant to take splitboarders on some of their tours...

A girl with skis and I were to lead and beat the tracks to the peak. I didn't even bother to mount the crampons, those touring boots gave such an awesome sideways response. Such a big energy saving. It's soooo great! 

The ride down was rough condition-wise due to all the crusts n hard blown windformations, but this time, thanks to the flex, I've been happy to ride with 'em boots. Almost no pain from pressure (need to tweak a little bit more for bit more fwd flex on the hind boot doing some more cuts to the shell) and the real good thing: riding with the ancles was possible, had the freedom to do mini adjustments to steer the board. Found a nice little spine and to do those little hops going left n right on it was no problem. Now I'm sure I love that new set-up and gonna stay with it. Yay! (Pfewww, was a bit cocerned after the first rather awful tour, lol).

So glad also that we've done the Svalbard trip. Learned so much abt handling steep icy crusty hindblown hardpack slopes there, up as well as downhill. It's been a refreshing experience - well... SO didn't join the tour - to be for once the one with the most fluent downhill ride . Back at the parking lot, quite many questions were asked abt that strange but obviously well working AT set-up by other splitboarders.

Yep, I'm ready to tackle that peak . Very stoked!


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

Stoked for ya. 

Some folks don't realize that gals in their 30-50 can be BEAST. Got a friend that is 40ish that is a yoga instructor, a guide up Denali, dh bikes, bc skis, mtn climb and is an elementary school teacher.

Another who was early 60's and decided to train for a marathon...took her 3 months and she finished the marathon.


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## poutanen (Dec 22, 2011)

wrathfuldeity said:


> Some folks don't realize that gals in their 30-50 can be BEAST.


Just had a week of snowboard instruction from a 35 year old mother of two young kids, she's about 120 lb soaking wet, and she's a phenomenal snowboarder! I saw her wipeout once all week, and I think that was just to make the rest of us feel better about ourselves... :embarrased1:


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## Argo (Feb 25, 2010)

I just rode waist deep powder at stevens pass this morning, last night too actually, stopped because the lines are insane. My goal of riding powder has been met, Ill keep aiming for the same goal all spring....

Time to shovel some more.


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

Argo, u need to carry a 12 pack in your emergency rig kit for this guy


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## DoubleA (Apr 30, 2014)

Slew Bohemia this week! Big ol' feather in my cap. 
Peace and Love to the UP!


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

*Update*

Time flies... right?

What happened to the '17 plan is... meh... bloody run of injuries. Short after the last post elbow was injured. Took months to heal. No climbing/roping with a fucked up arm. So no serious touring. 

The next year - the super-dooper endless pow year '18 - I prepared again for the tour, even picked up to do trail-running in summer, in winter did some very nice pow long tours in deep with the AT set-up, felt well prepared... and ended the season with surgery and crutches. This time foot was the issue. Missed out all the spring touring season.

Well, it's '19 season now... Holy cow... I meanwhile turned 40 :eyetwitch2:... have adjusted to go to a gym... Oh, and yes, can do push-ups :laugh:. 

Finsteraarhorn is still there, waiting, I still glare at it every day. And maybe... maybe this year...


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## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

I've created a new thread for this year: https://www.snowboardingforum.com/snowboarding-general-chat/260455-2018-19-goals-progress.html


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