Nobody is ripping an alpine board switch. Unless you’re talking about a “free riding” board(think burton supermodel or similar tapered, set back board). But if you’re taking about a hard booted, ski binding-esque alpine board, nobody is doing that. Travis rice would struggle with both feet pointed uphill trying to turn.
You don’t know who I know.
But millions of people learned to ski or snowboard before Shane McConkey mounted a pair of water skis and rode down an Alaskan mountain face. So it can be done. Maybe not as easily as reverse camber
This is my exact point. Shane can do it because he’s a fucking monster. The rest of us need good equipment to do anything close. EQUIPMENT MAKES A DIFFERENCE.
But me personally, I will charge anything. 14” of powder at keystone and I ripped everything with a 146 nug because its 90% rider and 10% equipment. I could do it just as easily on a 170, but I like to turn more than twice and I don’t own a 170.
Oh,, you ‘ripped’ shin-deep powder? So what?
This also demonstrates the point. You have obviously never ridden shitty equipment. Primitive stuff where basic riding is challenging. And to see someone truly talented be able to rip on it.
I’m a mediocre rider. I’ve managed to get good enough to instruct mostly from sheer time on the board, AS WELL AS ADVANCES IN TECH THAT ALLOW ME TO DO SHIT I COULDN'T DO OTHERWISE.
Goddamn right what you use can help or hinder you. You, deluding yourself into thinking you’re doing something special riding in powder on a short board. The is not special, especially when you are riding a high-end volume-shifted board with a rocker. No shit it can ride powder. Nugs are fine in powder. In this case the board is helping you. It’s designed to.
Not hindering you like a cambered 147 from the 90’s would have.
I’m not saying equipment is everything. Of course the rider is the most important thing.
But when you play down how much the right equipment can help you, it’s obvious you’ve never tried to shred on shit equipment.
To make it clear, the only people this ‘90% rider 10% equipment’ idea is relavant to us pros. They are so good that they can ride equipment that would hinder anyone else.
It’s specifically because equipment can hinder or help the majority of us is why I want to make this point.
If you hold onto the 90% rider idea, and advice you give to ‘normal’ people will be shit. You’re basically telling a normal rider that equipment doesn’t matter, when in fact it can make a huge difference.
That attitude is what I want to avoid in this thread, so people asking for advice will get good advice, not just ‘ride better. It’s all on you, bro’.