J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by ise

some photo's from Zermatt yesterday :

http://snowslider.net/2007/04/22/zermatt-cima-brioschi/

maybe Täsch? I know it's car park but it's got some good points and, I'd expect it's more economic.

Max Cottle wrote:

Only just noticed that, that's not really true, these are freeride skis for off-piste primarily. Stockli piste skis would be models like the Lasers, Cross or Spirits. I think the confusion is that the term off-piste is used increasingly interchangeably with powder for some reason.

Yes and No, ok the XLs are offered as free ride but 50% on Piste 50% off piste. However, If you compare these skis and the scott schmidts to my Volkl P50s which are 100% piste skis they are very simmilar in measurements I think that the tip has an extra 1.6 cm on the XLS and the waist of the XL is slightly fatter. The Scott Schmidts, (ill admit I have not looked at the measurements for these) are piste skis so they are likely to be slimmer (likely I say, you might want to check).

Myself I would say that the XLs are piste skis, a year or two from now piste skis are going to be much fatter than they are now. I was looking at the XLs for 50/50 off piste but I felt that the DPs were a better fit for me (personally) they are much fatter and still very good on piste. In my oppinion if you are buying skis now you want to be buying fat.

If you are unsure about fat or don't want to go off piste buy the XLs or the Scott Schmidts. If your improvement is going to take you off piste (which i suspect it will do as the natural progression) then you want to look at the DPs, they look awesome (brushed aluminium finish), and ski better. Read the reviews, try them if you can. Many of the reviews say don't try them unless you are an expert........Crap, it may take you a day o two on piste to get used to them but if that is the price ou pay for what they deliver i'd say that is a pretty cheap price.

Fat Skis are the way to go,

I do have some XL's that I've been using this season and the end of last, these are not piste skis, I'm not sure who has them as 50% on/off piste but it's not Stockli themselves. As for trying them, I have, all of them. Buying XL's as a piste ski would be a huge, huge error these are absolutely not a piste orientated ski.

You reflect a common and widely held opinion about fat skis, it's one I happen not to agree with but it's not particularly perverse. Personally I spent last season skiing all terrains on slalom skis and the necessity for fat skis is lost on me :) A lot of it is a matter of opinion but I feel strongly that to equate off-piste with powder is an error, a lot of lines I ski are defined by their gradient and location not by the depth of powder on them so I'd choose a ski that reflects that gradient and location.

That we'll all be on fat skis in a season or two is highly debatable, for a start we've been told this for a couple of years already and it's not happened. Ignoring the ones outside restaurants there's no mass shift to fat skis I've noticed off-piste, it's around 50% maybe slightly higher if there's a lot of powder and, tellingly, less if it's not fresh snow. As we get further and further off-piste and into the real back country touring then skis get shorter, straighter and thinner of course. That observation may not hold for somewhere like Verbier or Val d'Isere but it's what I've noticed this season.

A lot of people are also highly suspicious of fat skis and concerned about their use to extend the range of fairly modest skiers, I don't personally totally agree with this as the obvious corollary to that would be for us all to be on skis from the 1950's but you see stuff from time to time that tends to make that case a little. I'm personally more than a little puzzled by the mass market appeal of skis that are only perform optimally in conditions that their users are likely to encounter very rarely, for myself I can only think of maybe three days this season that something fatter than my current XL's would have been useful and I actually do have some fatter skis that I can rarely be bothered to use.

OTOH, this all rather happened before with shaped skis, people expressed concerns about increases in speed and were sniffy about other skiers who couldn't carve turns on straighter and longer skis so it's inevitable that you'll hear similar comments about fat skis in terms of terrain access and snobbery ,see above ) , from those who can ski any terrain on any ski already.

For what it's worth I had a review on my blog of the current (or old) XL's : http://snowslider.net/reviews/stockli-stormrider-xl-2006/

Max Cottle wrote:Good Call
Yes, 500Euro but again no bindigs and for me no good as they only do up to 184....strange considering that these skis suit the taller heavier skier.

Cheers for that I am going to look on their site for Avalanche Trancievers

Cheers

Max

I presume they just sold out on the other lengths, Stockli themselves have all lengths at 340 euro's in their sale I noticed in their store Vevey yesterday for anyone in Switzerland, stock at other stores will no doubt vary although prices won't. XL, AT's and PIT lights also at 30% with anything else that's EOL currently along with the usual assortment of fixations incl' some freerides like the Silvretta Pure's and naxo's plus shaped skins for the EOL skis where appropriate.

If you want to do more on piste skiing I would look a the scott Schmidts or the XLs

Only just noticed that, that's not really true, these are freeride skis for off-piste primarily. Stockli piste skis would be models like the Lasers, Cross or Spirits. I think the confusion is that the term off-piste is used increasingly interchangeably with powder for some reason.

Max Cottle wrote:Hi Zinal

Just read my response to your post and it didn't come out as I intended so my apologies if it sounded snotty

cheers

Max

It's fine, but if you look at Telemark Pyrennes you'll see their prices which are the same as in the Stockli stores. I'm aware that the UK prices for Stockli are high though.

edit : I see TP don't have the 193's right now though.

Max Cottle wrote:I bought my Stockli stormrider DPs from St Anton Austria Sport Jennenwein. I couldn't get a good price in the UK so I called them and they posted them to me. Including postage and bindings 830 Euro which is an Awesome price.

I also saw some good prices on Ebay for the XLs Scott Scmidt and the DPs

The Stocklis are very well priced for what they are remember they are all hand made skis

Cheers
Max

list price for a stormrider dp pro is around 500 euro in fact plus bindings of course.

Max Cottle wrote:Hi There,
Usually when you go skiing your hotel, Pension or whatever will have a boot room with heated boot stands. If not use a hair dryer.

cheers

Max

Since most modern boots and foot beds are thermo-formed then application of aggressive heat will deform them. Heat levels used to form boots and inners are comparatively low as the customer is required to be standing in or on the item as it's formed, these heat levels are well within the range of hair dryers or radiators. Good commercial boot dryers will use very low heat for this reason, I'd be careful with some of the older ones in hotels.

Heat's less effective than ventilation so, if it's possible, removing the inner is good idea. My boots and inners are sat outside now gently steaming in the midday sun but as they're touring boots it's easier to remove the inners.

It's closed because of lack of snow, the wind has stripped the summit of snow and it's down to bare earth in places. Generally the snow at St Luc is pretty good though. I took a few photo's over the last weekend :

http://snowslider.net/2007/01/14/st-luc-chandolin-2/