I know less than nothing about the science but I do have a massive amount of on snow experience. IMHO some damping def. helps. To much will render your ski/board dead on arrival. Think of the difference between driving a luxury car and a sports car the luxury car isolates you from the road while the...

powdercow, Have you tried a binding that allows you to shift your boot center back? There are a lot of demo/rental style models that might improve your results in powder simply by putting you a little back on the ski. Salomon makes a few good ones and Atomic makes some that shift toe and heel togeth...

Im still in the planing/accuring stage of building my own snowboard/ski's But I have a lot of on snow experience. Camber in general leads to a more energetic ski/board. It provides the "spring" you feel from turn to turn. It is in my opinion most needed in cojunction with shorter radius st...

While I can't comment on any scienific data, I can speak from 17 years of working and riding on snow. Trust me racing or recreation, a proper wax job and structure make a huge diffrence. the idea that a dry base would have a positive effect on downhill ski/boarding just doesn't work. If it did we wo...