The Carver's Almanac

SES 2006 - The Friday before

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February 10, 2006


It's time again for another Aspen SES, and this time, the PureBoarding folks are overlapping the last part of their session, so
we should have plenty of carving action. I arrived one day in advance of the SES, to see if I could hook up with Jörg & Co.


It looks like I'm at the right place. The Pureboarding folks have made the Molly Gibson Lodge their
galactic headquarters for the event, with schedules posted each day. Good thing I'm fluent in Switzerdütsch.


I made my way Friday morning to Ajax mountain, and noticed that the grooming report says Aztec run is not groomed.
Hrmph. We can only hope that the rest of the mountain is up to its usual high standard for grooming.


The gondola opened at 9 AM, and I met up with Jörg. On the way up, he mentioned that hardbooting in
Europe is seeing sizeable growth compared to last year. Worldwide sales of Raichle hardboots for 2006 are
20% higher than in 2005.


We get to the top of the gondola, and the Pureboarding folks show off their two custom
fabricated boards: the #TWO symmetrical freecarve board, and the #ONE asym go-anywhere board.


Jörg mentioned that the IBEX company, located in Europe, licensed the rights to make bindings from the Burton
Race Plate design. IBEX has also purchased the boot molds from Burton.


Now we get to see the Purboarding folks lay it out. Here's Jörg, using his patented Pureboarding toe-grab technique.


This looks exactly the same as a move in my yoga class.


There must have been a dozen or so Purboarding folks. Here, Remo cranks the board on edge.


Mike has the double-arm carving technique down.


Rony tries out the #TWO.


Carmen shreds the groöm.


Mike decambers the #TWO.


Erich


Chris


Mats, an Aspen local, is a Donek product placement ad waiting to happen.
(Yes, we have not one, but two riders names Mats this week)


Joel Parker Shreds on the Coiler.


Ris is amazing. He can carve with ease, but he only has the use of one of his legs.
He has a special binding setup: one binding is offset 4 CM


Eric, the brains behind the Pureboarding website, shows how to rail on the groöm.


Pete up on edge.


The sun comes out just as Uschi makes some turns.


It was sunny most of the day downtown, but there was an Addam's family cloud hanging over Ruthie's Run.
Still, the grooming was exceptional, and we can expect the same for the rest of the week.


Sibylle maps the trajectory.


Christian flies down the groöm.


Mike can flat-out ride.


Armin is an old sage at carving.


Heinrich


Mike and Jörg perform synchronized carving.


Löthar does the Pureboarding toe-grab by-the-book.


The session is all about expressing youself, and snowboards are not the only way to do it.
In addition to a bunch of snowboard carvers, the Pureboarding team also has a bunch of ski carvers.
This photo shows Bill, a bootfitter at Stefan Kaelin' ski shop, giving a few pointer to the Pureboarding ski carvers.


Bill rides these really short carving skis. We're talking 8M sidecut.


Lifters are required to prevent boot-out, since there's a lot of boot overhang off the side.


Bill and Andy carve it up on skis.


Olaf tries the outrigger technique,


Heinz


Roger


OK, Ajax was cool. Now, it's time to hop over to Buttermilk to meet up with Team Ubrick.


I got some photos of Mike, who won last year's limbo contest. Let's see if he's in prime limbo form for this year.


Yup - Mike is once again a contender for the limbo.


Not to be outdone in the "getting low" department, Norm rails it on the groom,
with his trademark nose-to-tail pop to get things started.


Looks like Norm is going to put up some heavy limbo competition this year.


This is the only shot I got of Ken Lao, showing off the new BTS.


Then, I met up with Michelle Ubrick, who was railing on the terrific groom.


Scott Ubrick shows how to slice the groom on the Donek.


Scott is one of those Donek poster boys.


A bunch of Pureboarding guys made it out to Buttermilk for the afternoon as well.
Here's Kurt going down the frontside of Buttermilk.


Sibylle shreds on the #TWO


David locks in the toe-grab and lets it ride.


At the SES, you can not only talk shop - you can eat, drink, and breath shop. Here is a cant/lift doohicky at
Stefan Kaelin's sport shop that is used to dial in the perfect amount of cant and lift for skis. Chris Karol is helping
in the R&D to make it suitable for snowboards as well. Bill (of carving ski fame) does all the bootfittings
on this thing. If you want the ultimate dialed-in snowboard hardboot fitting, arrange an appointment with Bill and Chris.

Cool. That was a nice "day before" the SES. On Saturday, everyone links up at Snowmass. Can't wait!