"Chris Cline" wrote in message
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Thanks for the review on the boots, Griss. Good, firsthand comparative
information is something that not all of us can afford to get, so it's
helpful to get it from someone who has the ability and is willing to take
the time to write it down.

Having read this board for a while, I kind of thought there would be a few
who would enjoy reading my saga.

Just in case you're still feeling insecure about skiing on equipment
that's "too good for you", here are two other things to add to your
rationalization mill: 1) If you're only buying boots every 10 years, think
about the cost on an annualized basis. Also, 2) realize that you will only
be skiing around on "leading edge" equipment for maybe 10 or 20 percent of
the time that you will be skiing on the boots.

The amortization thing I've got down cold, no worries.

I got some Salomon pilot skate boots, along with top of the line skate skis,
as a gift about 4-5 years ago. At the time, they were fairly new and
definitely "leading edge" (of course, that's debatable, but it was early in
the Pilot life cycle). Since they were a gift, I was happy to have them, of
course. I really was a poor skate skier, and was a little sheepish about
having such good gear. But it was immediately clear that they really did
work much better than my old generation skate boots. But it was the same
"not worthy" situation.... but it only bothered me for about 2 days 8-).
They worked better, felt better and helped me ski better - and inspired me
to ski about 10X more than previous and take some lessons - and I quickly
improved to nearly "worthy" by finishing a 50 k race (3:45) that year. I
also found, that there were many who were like me - older, decent skiers,
not elite racers, but ski a lot and enjoyed the top end equipment (whatever
brand of boot, not to mention skis and POLES). So I was no longer alone or
so conspicuous! But I do NOT wear lycra.

Besides, if people are so concerned with whether or not someone has "the
cred" to ski on particular equipment, they need to spend time thinking about
more important things!

And how.

Get what fits, what's comfortable, and what makes you happy!

Chris C.
SLC, UT

Thanks for the comments, Chris.

Grissy