J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Dave Mac

Trencher,

I too have a copy, now severely dog-eared, of Mark Elling's "The All Mountain Skier" I keep it besde my workplace, and "dip in".

It is not a book for beginners. In my humble opinion, it is a book for a reasonably experienced skier, who works on continuous improvement. My oldest son, who can ski well, handed me back the book, and declared it "well beyond him". I am not sure that he was trying hard enough.

Explaining how to ski is very difficult, and Elling often tries several different ways to explain the same point ~ that's important, because people respond differently.

Of course, you do get some lovely Americanisms:

~Never Surprise the Ski.
~The name of Crud skiing game is flexibility.

and a good one for some J2skiers~
~Blame it on your gear!

It is a brilliant book, that most people will learn things from.

In my early Niederau season days, my scouse mate Tony used to keep a pile of American "SKI" magazines in the loo. In every edition, there was always one feature, "How to improve your ski technique - instantly!"

So you had things like~

Learn parallel skiing in two hours, and never look back!

Learn powder in a day, and beat the experts!

Ski ice, it's easy!

Dontcha just lurve the way Americans think..... Very can do.

I am not sure that I am the right person to answer this Tony, I am not qualified to make technical statements about boots. I mentioned bandit as a more knowledgeable person, she denied it, et voila, then comes up with the goods.

I approach boots, like most things in life, from first principles. between you and bandit, you have established you have the right shell. You may be thinking that the has compacted, thus allowing too much freedom around the foot.

You are thoughtful enough to identify and pinpoint where the "looseness" is.

So, where it is loose, ~ might that not be where the inner liner is compacted? Hence, those locations are where padding might help.

So, if you can identify those areas, then you could attempt to pack out to the original thickness, on the outside of the inner liner.

For this, I have, in the past used a product from Boots, called "Second skin". I am sure there are other good products.

Something else ~ if your liner has compacted in some areas, then it has almost certainly compacted under the whole of your foot area ~ where your weight + dynamic forces bear down.

Therefore it does make sense to start with some base padding, be this an insole, or other type of orthodox attachment.

Re the insole, you might consider one with a raised arch. The benefit is that as the overboot clips are tightened, your foot is bottoming against the insole arch, thus preventing the foot from being pressed lower than it's natural arch shape. Many people involved in dynamic sports need orthotic supports.

Going back to the ad hoc padding, what have you got to lose? You could end up with a result.

What about this~ when you go away on one of your wild orgies, sorry, business trips, put you ski boots in the car, along with the aforesaid padding. Get your insoles in first, and then experiment with liner padding.

My test is this ~ with your foot in the boot, clipped up, boot held down, you should be able to lift your heel slightly, but no more than 6mm. The other thing is, that the boot ought to be no more difficult to get on than it was originally, all that you are trying to do, is to bring it back to the original condition.

I am not sure that buying replacement inners would work, given that your original inners have failed.

And, if all fails, buy some of bandit's Zipfits.

Oh, and when you get on the gondola, release the overboot clips, every time, re-fasten just before you reach the top. Course if you wear rear entry boots, this is a matter of clip, clip. If you have anything else, it is a case of clip, clip, clip, clip...... :wink:

How about that Trencher? I got through the whole logic process without once mentioning carpet tiles, oops.

snowb4ndit wrote:

Is it really difficult compared to snow...will i be able to stop?

You will definitely be able to stop.

The real question is....how? :twisted:

A bit like people who say "they don't like flying", when what they really mean is "they don't like crashing!" :-)

A couple in our village have wanted to take up skiing for ages, the lady is a teacher. So we are going with them to Niederau, at New Year, a time which we would not normally choose. It is costing three times my normal January weekly cost.

Were I to be going solo, it would cost much less, I would have booked early, and stayed cheap.

You can go sking in School hols, but it either costs a lot more, or you do a heap of research, to obtain reasonable cost.

I watched, a couple of seasons ago, a guy riding his mountain bike up the piste in Niederau. I have to confess when I saw him, I wondered.....
Why?

No Hamish, the original painting is hanging in Edinburgh.

There is a similar one hanging in the Bichlwirt, painted by a friend of mine. We do have quite similar styles, when it comes to Alpine views. She actually has two of her pictures hanging in the Bichlwirt.

I still do not have a picture of my own that depicts the Bichlwirt. I have a wall full of Niederau views, but no Bichlwirt.

Neiltoo wrote:

I often see people on the slopes who rarely, if ever, bend their ankles whilst skiing. They don't balance but rather are held up by the back of their boots and a straight leg. This results in their toes and/or the nerves on the lower shin being 'squashed' and their calf muscle being constricted.

That's a perceptive point Neil, it ties up with bandit's note about gain of experience/increase in speed. Should also apply to increasing steepness. It is the old "natural reaction" that starts at the beginner stage.

I am still of the opinion that thre is a technical reason for Tony's issue. The change seemed to be marked by a change in ski, and possibly binding, although Tony didn't make that clear.

Tony_H wrote:

Otherwise, expect to buy new boots every couple of years, as I may yet find myself doing this season.

Tony, I have had my Raichle for 16 years, they still handle perfectly well. And that is with multiple weeks skiing each year, so approaching 60 weeks.

I had my previous pair of San Marcos for about the same length of time, until they cracked.

I am not a boot expert, Ise and bandit are the knowledgable folk. But thinking from first principles, if the boots did fit well, what has changed? (I suspect in your case it may be something to do with the binding/binding location)

Capabilities have moved on, and if I did develop a boot issue, I would go for a boot set-up. However, I would caw canny on how this is done. My observations are that you may go to a place with a good reputation, and still receive a bad fitting. My belief is that you need to go the the recommended individual.