J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by ise

What are you trying to protect them from though? The real problem that could arise is some wear at the toe and heel which is going to affect the way the binding releases. This can be compensated for by getting the bindings properly setup periodically.

More to the point, it actually takes quite a bit of wear to do that sort of damage. I'm not really sure a "normal" skier could do it in the lifetime of a boot which I'm assuming is typically not more than 6-10 weeks. If you're walking along roads, climbing over stuff and, I think the most wear, summer skiing and having to ride a few lifts and walk around you might get some wear.

I've had boots at 120-150 days use which have that damage but the point is they've been totally knackered at that point anyway.

As above, some boots you can get replacement toe and heel pieces for although I'm never sure how generally available these are. Some boots have interchangeable soles like my Endorphins as well.

As an aside, I think we've actually ended up with an awful standard for boot soles anyway. That a ski boot standard produced something that it's so awful and dangerous to walk around in is a poor outcome IMHO.

bandit wrote:

ise wrote:
Great gear :D I like the revelation sack and the havoc's and kilowatts skis, very tempting and there's a local dealer :D

You know you want some. What are you waiting for :D

I'm waiting for them to hand me a pair to go try when we get some snow :D

ellistine wrote:Interesting. Begs the question as to who else Atomic makes skis for.

It's an incestuous business, various marques share production. From this you might take the supposed difference between a lot of skis is more marketing than anything else.

BD seemed to have needed to move production as they are using some fairly unique construction concepts. They CNC the wood core and use glass fibre with vacuum gluing to reduce weight. Even the big fat skis like the Zealots are pretty light for what they are.

How well this will play in a wider market is questionable though. Particularly in their home NA market. The trend has been for heavier and heavier skis which add masses of stability for skiers carrying more weight than ability :D I'd be the first to admit even my XL's go aerial a few times when I'd prefer them not to :D The danger is people will find them great on groomed slopes and powder but a handful on anything in between.

Add to that the fact this process produces a very stiff ski and again it might be a problem for a weaker skier to flex the ski properly at lower speeds.

They're going to release tele' bindings soon and a range of tele' and AT boots which will be interesting.

Great gear :D I like the revelation sack and the havoc's and kilowatts skis, very tempting and there's a local dealer :D

I mentioned Black Diamond as a provider of touring skis in another topic, they have a great range of skis (that I covet), Thomas Laakso of Black Diamond was interviewed by Telemark Tips and they have a video of that:

http://www.telemarktips.com/Interview14bird07.html

It's a great chat about ski construction and not just relevant to AT or tele' gear. BD are pretty interesting and probably a company on way places for skis. There's a good range of skis which I think will start to appear in a wider market.

They also do great mountain gear, I've poles, ice axes, ice screws and their great ATC XP (probably not worth asking )) along with some other stuff. They emerged from the rubble of Chouinard who were a highly regarded climbing company who went bankrupt in disgraceful circumstances pursued by litigation for failing to warn people that climbing might be dangerous :roll:

ellistine wrote:ise,

Just been looking at your blog. Do you ski tour all year round? You're so lucky to be so close to the mountains. Are the skis you use for touring that much different from conventional downhillers?

I only ski tour in the winter, in the summer it's more general hiking and mountaineering.

I've a couple of pairs of tour skis, some stormrider XL's which are a standard freeride/off-piste ski with fritschi freeride touring bindings on them, all in around 6kg. I also have some ultra light stormrider PIT lights with dynafit TLT's (the pin binding), all in around 3.4kg.

Any ski will do with two caveats, very heavy skis are out, the XL's weigh 4kg unmounted which is pretty much the heaviest you want and second, very fat skis are not ideal. Fat skis aren't always very good in difficult off-piste, aren't ideal with skins. People try and push that boundary and get as fat and light as they can. There's an irony with ski touring though, on piste is the usual mix of people, near piste you have some guys with huge fat skis skiing "off-piste" and the further you get from the piste the bigger the beards and skinnier the skis get :D

Black Diamond or G3 are good examples of specialist skis for touring (and telemark).

ellistine wrote:
The bindings on my Salomons are moveable without tools so I might still do a bit of experimentation in November.

I've some railflexes on a pair of volkls that might be movable, I'll have to look at it.

Trencher wrote:
When a ski is flat on the snow, it is possible to lean forward or backwards to shift weight along it's length. The problem comes when the ski is tilted on it's edge more than say 45 degrees. The same fore/aft pressure on the cuff now will flex the ski, but won't pressure the front ski edge downwards into the snow. This is compounded by the need for hip counter to angulate properly. Hip counter actually lifts the toes into the air, making front edge pressure even harder to attain.

The trouble I have understanding this is that an alteration in upper body posture will have the same effect. This is something that doesn't need a screwdriver and skiers ought to be able to do between turns.

ellistine wrote:

ise wrote:just relaxing and getting on with it

I wouldn't say it's something that stresses me out. In fact, to me, understanding the various aspects of the equipment is part of the enjoyment of skiing. Chatting about it on sites like this also adds to the enjoyment.

The level's about right here to me, I've seen other stuff that's just too much and crosses a line into mumbo-jumbo.

I'll settle for arriving in the right place with all my kit having this season once forgotten the liners for my boots arriving in the next village, once forgetting a drink while ski touring and yesterday, not skiing, forgetting my fleece and having to buy new sweatshirt.