J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by SwingBeep

The weather during the Maunder Minimum was extremely unpleasant. Long bitterly cold, but dry winters (the glaciers in the Alps stopped advancing) followed by cool wet summers leading to shortened growing seasons, failed crops, and widespread famine. Perhaps last winter wasn't too bad after all.

If you go to the St Anton Tourist Association website most of the available hotels, apartments and chalets are listed under "Accommodations"
http://www.stantonamarlberg.com/en/winter/unterkuenfte/accommodation-list.html click on "Rooms" for hotels and "Apartment" for flats/chalets.

I think the Stöcklis still have a bit of life left in them. The shop said they would stand one more grind which you haven't had done yet, but as the risk of ripping an edge out increases as the base gets thinner I think it would be prudent to swap the bindings over before the start of next season. The Stöcklis don't owe you anything and having to come back down to the village in the middle of the day to get the bindings swapped would be a real PITA!

West System Epoxy is a marine grade epoxy used in boat building and repairs, their 650-8 G/Flex epoxy is a good choice for repairing delaminations.

Bandit, bear in mind that your bases are now very thin, so it might be a bit tricky to get a layer of Metal Grip and a layer of P-tex into the core shots. I would give the methacrylate a go. I first found out about it via this German shop http://www.rain-sport.de/rain-sportde/Belagbearbeitung/Belag-Reparaturmaterial/Belag-Reparatur-Power-Repair-Kartusche-schwarz

There's some background info that you might find useful here: http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=59881 The Austrian Alpine Club's scheme might be worth a look http://www.aacuk.org.uk/benefits.aspx

Core shots are usually repaired by first applying a foundation layer of Metal Grip (a mixture of polyethylene and heat-sensitive adhesive that adheres better to fibreglass and metal than normal P-tex repair material) to the exposed core and then filling the rest of the hole with the P-tex repair material of your choice.

P-tex repair materials are not made of sintered UHMWPE like P-tex bases are, as it's not possible to heat sintered UHMWPE to its melting point without changing its molecular structure, so the repair materials are made of softer extruded PE. Drip candles are the softest, p-tex string is about as hard as extruded base material and p-tex repair ribbon is the hardest (almost as hard as sintered base material) but it's harder to apply.

Alternatively you could use a 2 component methacrylate adhesive, such as this:
http://www.bondrite.co.uk/structural-acrylics/methacrylates/black-medium-cure-thixotropic-acrylic-50ml/prod_120.html just fill the hole proud, leave it set overnight and file / scrape it back to the level of the base.

The construction of top quality skis has changed remarkably little since the Blizzard Firebird era, although shapes and flex patterns have obviously changed enormously. They still have sidewalls and wood cores that are sandwiched between layers of fibreglass and in some designs aluminium alloy and they are still laid up by hand using a 2 component epoxy laminating adhesive.

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheSLsport#p/a/u/1/uPRW60ek1AY

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheSLsport#p/a/u/0/SbwYTjDhI-0

A pair of 160cm Gotbacks weigh 3.38kg whereas the a pair of 163cm Auras weigh 3.20kg which is a surprisingly small difference when you take into consideration the extra with of the Gotbacks, perhaps it's because the Gotbacks don't have any sidewalls or metal in them and the core is made from soft woods instead of hard woods.

There are no safety regulations specific to Snow Parks, however the Swiss Commission for Accident Prevention on Snow Slopes http://www.skus.ch/ has produced some guidelines that the Swiss Supreme Court recognises as authoritative:

Guidelines for Skiers and Snowboarders http://www.bfu.ch/PDFLib/982_42.pdf and Richtlinien für Anlage, Betrieb und Unterhalt von Schneesportabfahrten / Directives pour l'aménagement, l'exploitation et l'entretien des descentes pour sports de neige http://www.bfu.ch/PDFLib/1119_42.pdf In both these documents it is clearly stated that all snow sports activities take place at ones own risk.

There is also some case law that you can study http://www.skus.ch/skus_d/frame.html

The Association of Swiss Cable Way Operators http://www.seilbahnen.org/index_de.html has also produced a set of guidelines detailing it's members safety obligations with regard to snow sport descents in both German http://www.seilbahnen.org/dcs/users/6/Verkehrssicherungspflicht_06_d.pdf and French http://www.seilbahnen.org/dcs/users/6/Obligation_d_assurer_la_securite_06_f.pdf

Another possibility is that the boot was subjected to excessive heat (>70°C) which welded the insole to the inner boot, it wouldn't be the first time this has happened.

The "cheapo plastic wedge" was presumably a heel lift, they are usually made of either polypropylene, hard EVA foam or cork all of which are standard boot fitting materials.

I've been using custom insoles for about 20 years and have never felt the need, nor have I been told to have them checked annually. If your body undergoes a physical change i.e. weight gain / loss then you might need to have new insole made or your boots refitted.