J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by steverandomno

On the 'Billy Big Balls' point...

Peer pressure plays a huge factor. Everyone wants to stick with their buddies, which in the absence of someone in your group with big enough balls to say that they'd prefer not to take an unnecessary risk, can lead to tragedy.

When you speak up, often you'll find many others share the same concern and might later thank you for having the balls to say something that everyone was thinking at the time.

So I was skiing at the weekend and stepped on the Gondola for one last run... then apparently a massive power surge blew the main transformer and tripped all the safety features.

3 Hours later we were rescued by two awesome guys who travel down the gondola rope, landed on the roof, got into the cabin and lowered all of us safely in harnesses to the ground.

A few cabins further up the mountain, these guys had a more entertaining rescue...

Thanks for the tip, SwingBeep.

Have you tried taking them back to the shop?

Yes, I have a few times. They're excellent (Selkirk sports in Golden, BC) and I will get them to have a look at them again this season. These days my feet seem to change a lot more over the season, the right one in particular. The first season was fine without the x strip (my mistake, it's foam not neoprene), then the x strip was put in last season. The movement only became an issue at the end of last season and I think it's starting to compound the packing out of the liner which has seen over 100 ski days now. I had the same issue with previous boots bought in the UK.

I was considering getting a new cold temperature liner for this season anyway so I might give that a go and get them to do remould of the shell. But I didn't want to do that for at least a few weekends, so my feet get used to being in ski boots again. Thanks for the detailed help.

In the meantime your tips are interesting. I wasn't aware of the heel retainers or the ankle booties. I will probably give the booties a try and let you know how they worked out. That might prolong the life of the existing liners which are fine otherwise.

I have always found the UK to be the cheapest place to buy ski gear, but I will always try to demo skis before buying them.

SwingBeep wrote:
As I said above there's a lot more to boot fitting than most people realise.

Nonsense, it's all voodoo. :)

The best boots I've ever had are the Salamon heat moulded shell ones I have now. They fit almost perfectly. The only area I think I have a problem with is on my right heel where there seems to be too much movement. I have tried some x-shaped neoprene inserts around the ankle whch helped, bu there is still a bit of movement in my right heel. Any tips to try and seat my heel more firmly?

There are loads of different waxes for different temperatures. There are also some specialist waxes for conditioning the bases that are tailored to dirty and artificial snow such as molybdenum wax. The main difference between waxes seems to be the flourine content of the wax, with higher flourine content giving a faster but more expensive wax. I use kuu wax and have found it to be good for recreational skiing. I wouldn't get too bogged down in the type of wax you use for recreational skiing. Ski racers worry most about the type of wax because they are doing speeds far greater than recreational speeds and every microsecond counts. Race tuners apparently layer waxes for optimum performance as the snow conditions change through the different altitudes of the race courses. They can have a quiver of skis with wax applications that last for a single run and are tailored to the order of those runs. Most recreational skiers are going to be more concerned about the longevity of a wax. An amazingly fast race wax might be great for a few runs but it's not much good if you're on a two week holiday and it's done by the third decent. Then you're back to an expensive belt wax. Unless you know that there will be -20 temperatures, a high temperature wax rated for air temps of -5 and higher would probably be the best choice for longevity.

Probably more important is how you apply it. The key tool is a temperature controllable iron. All waxes are designed to be applied at specific temperatures and it's important that the wax doesn't smoke when your melting it on the iron.

Most people who tune for the pro's will recommend a 'hot scrape' to clean out the structure of the ski before applying a final coat of wax. I won't go into the details of the best way to apply an hot iron wax as there are loads of good youtube videos that show how to do.

I skied Lake Louise on Sunday. The resort is in the best shape that I've ever seen it in mid November. There's already a very good base on which another 20 cm is due to fall over the next few days. Compared to last November when there was plenty of snow but a very thin base and huge swings in temperatures, all of the interesting in-bounds off piste terrain looks to be filling in nicely with temps just below freezing and lots more terrain open.

If you're thinking of getting in a pre-Christmas week or two, then this season is shaping up nicely. With the pound buying more than two dollars, I'm expecting to hear a lot more British accents on the lifts this year.

I know. That was my first thought too. According to the article, the injured adult had tried unsuccessfully to sue the adult supervisors. I guess the Telegraph doesn't have all of the facts but the phrase 'allegedly made a sudden turn into the path of' strongly implies that the child was downhill.