skis to blades

Hello, Id be interested if anyone has any experience, on changing from skis to blades. I have used blades and found them great fun and really so much easier than normal skis. However not being the perfect skier felt it was important to continue with skis as well. So a bit of both was order of the day. year before last did 3 days on blades in Italy , Best ski hol I ever had. Last year in Andora, back on Skis . Really struggling on the turns specially the turn right, ie lift the left one. As a result er broke me leg. Dohhhhhhhh 6 months in cast , still have swollen ankle now. Does using blades spoil the ski-ing technique, does it matter, should i stay on blades.Any opinions , experience, anyone. back to kircdorf in march, hoping the snow stays good, will i be brave eneough to get off the blue.
Ken

olderskier wrote:great fun and really so much easier

Hi Ken, to answer your direct question(s) I think it's really up to you to decide how you want to enjoy the mountain. IMHO Blades and Skis are worlds apart in terms of technique and versatility; personally I ski but there are plenty of people who get tremendous enjoyment cruising the runs on blades.

I'm neither a Ski Instructor nor a Doc, however, and I think you need to have this discussion with one of each. As a skier I would be very concerned if I was still recuperating from a broken leg; have you done enough physio and gym work to get back sufficient (and balanced) leg strength to ski safely?

Hope that helps - enjoy the mountain the way you want (but be safe).

Cheers,

thanks powder hound, was hoping for someone with similar experience, the only guy i spoke to, who had same experience, reckoned that blading had ruined his skiing. he to, had broken leg, but that was result of attempting to rescue his daughter, who was about to be whisked off on a ski lift. I will be taking it very cautiously this year. So far from heading for the nearest black, I might get to the reds by midweek.
I would appreciate others comments, quite a few have looked.
thanks

Ken

Hi, this is my first posting, but I hope it helps. I had just learned to do snowplough turns on skis when I had a bad road traffic accident which messed up my knee. I couldn't snowplough any more, so I had to find another way to to get past this stage and learn to ski. I used Snowblades, and they were excellent - the snowplough position on them is less extreme and I was skiing parallel on them very quickly. I had some lessons knowing that the intention was to move to longer skis, so learning carving and other turning techniques, and how to use poles. I then did my own version of ski evolutif - moving from 99's to 120's and now onto 147's without any difficulty whatsoever (I'm pretty short, so 147's are up to my nose). Snowblades are excellent for learning edge/carving techniques, but not so good for learning skidding/sliding techniques of turning as applied to longer skis. Nevertheless, I couldn't have learned to ski at all without starting on Snowblades because I'd not have got past the snowplough stage. I have now had two ski holidays of two weeks each, and can do reds, some blacks, some bumps and a bit of powder, all parallel. Lessons really helped, and I'd highly recommend a good instructor to get technique right, whichever way you go (blades to skis or skis to blades).

I'm an older skier, 65 next month. I started using blades five years ago, found it very strange at first, but within not much more than an hour was pretty comfortable with them. I mixed skis and blades for a bit, but now use blades almost exclusively. What I like is the way that you can carve virtually every turn when the snow is halfway reasonable. I think they're great for getting the feel of carving, and that many skiers would benefit from using blades for a bit to discover the sensation, and what you need to do to achieve a carved turn.
I still use skis after a snowfall - well you have to don't you - and don't have particular problems readjusting to skis.

Take both skis and blades and take each day as it comes. Blades are great fun and have their place on the mountain even though hardcore skiers scoff at them. See how your leg feels and what your frame of mind is and clip in to what feels right on the day!!I always feel blades are for sunny days, when you tend to feel a bit more adventurous!! I have had major surgery on one leg due to a ski accident and have followed the above for years - I'm now trying to grasp snowboarding - oh give me back my ski's!!!!

lol, thank you guys, I was going to try a board last year but never quite got there. I think maybe I had a couple of problems, Hire ski's were the heaviest i can remember, and I was certainly struggling with the left foot, this added to the 4ft of fresh wet snow, and er going on to the black that was actually taped off , so shouldnt have been there reallly , but shhhhhhhh. The main difference i found with the blades was how much harder you have to work when slowing yourself down. This really showed up the weakness in the left ankle. so praps i need to concentrate on that left leg more anyway. Off to Kirchdorf Sat morning, the snow is excellent apparently. Wish me luck. Will be looking for ski pals next year. for a 2nd trip. any gender any age , any number. so if anyone is interested , ill post again when i get back. Cheers all.

Are the blades you are using non releasable ?. If so, that's asking for leg injuries. There are now blades with releasable bindings.
As for you question, have you tried some real shaped skis, like the Atomic Metrons or Salomon Scramblers. They will have a radius close to your blades and you can ski these much shorter than a traditional ski, so they give you the best of both worlds.

Trencher