Used Skis

Again, looking for advice from the much wiser RSA crowd.

Living far from the slopes, I only make about 1-3 trips a year, but am still
sick of paying money to rent every time when it seems like I can get a
fairly decent setup used for a few hundred dollars (almost what I spend on
rentals in a season). I'll probably look around on ebay, but the problem is
I don't know what I'm looking for. I'm a 6'0" male, 150 pounds, who skis
mostly groomers but I enjoy powder where available, and the occasional
bumps. It seems I'm looking for some all-mountain cruisers, but what would
be a good set for me, the intermediate who wants to get better and ski
increasingly difficult terrain. Also any recommendations on boots?


Any help is appreciated,

Chris Devidal

Chris Devidal wrote:

Again, looking for advice from the much wiser RSA crowd.


Living far from the slopes, I only make about 1-3 trips a year, but am still
sick of paying money to rent every time when it seems like I can get a
fairly decent setup used for a few hundred dollars (almost what I spend on
rentals in a season). I'll probably look around on ebay, but the problem is
I don't know what I'm looking for. I'm a 6'0" male, 150 pounds, who skis
mostly groomers but I enjoy powder where available, and the occasional
bumps. It seems I'm looking for some all-mountain cruisers, but what would
be a good set for me, the intermediate who wants to get better and ski
increasingly difficult terrain.

The usual advice is to try before you buy. The other usual advice is
that the break-even point for buying vs. renting is ten to fifteen days
a year. If you ski less than that, it's cheaper to rent. Note that
buying used gear reduces the break even point somewhat - but you know
what rentals cost so you can run the numbers yourself. Don't forget to
budget for maintenance including a yearly tune-up & release check. And
a ski bag if you fly to ski. And possible excess luggage charge. yadda
yadda yadda.

That said, if you're going to buy a pair of skis "blind" your best bet
is probably the Atomic C9 (or 9.18 in earlier seasons). All around good
ski for the "pretty good" skier. Very popular and ubiquitous on Ebay.
Aside from some "serious" skiers who are looking for top end
performance, nearly everyone who tries them has good things to say about
them. They may not be the best ski for you, but you'll probably find
them more than acceptable. If you want the best match for your skiing
style, you've gotta get out and demo.

Also any recommendations on boots?

Buy them first, before you buy your skis. Good boots are more important
than good skis. Don't let anybody on the internet tell you what the
right boot is for you. Find a good boot fitter, listen to your feet,
and don't cheap-out on the boots.


Any help is appreciated,

This may or may not have been of any help.

--
//-Walt
//
// ...press any key to continue...

"Walt" wrote in message
...

The usual advice is to try before you buy. The other usual advice is
that the break-even point for buying vs. renting is ten to fifteen days
a year. If you ski less than that, it's cheaper to rent. Note that
buying used gear reduces the break even point somewhat - but you know
what rentals cost so you can run the numbers yourself. Don't forget to
budget for maintenance including a yearly tune-up & release check. And
a ski bag if you fly to ski. And possible excess luggage charge. yadda
yadda yadda.

That said, if you're going to buy a pair of skis "blind" your best bet
is probably the Atomic C9 (or 9.18 in earlier seasons). All around good
ski for the "pretty good" skier. Very popular and ubiquitous on Ebay.
Aside from some "serious" skiers who are looking for top end
performance, nearly everyone who tries them has good things to say about
them. They may not be the best ski for you, but you'll probably find
them more than acceptable. If you want the best match for your skiing
style, you've gotta get out and demo.

Buy them first, before you buy your skis. Good boots are more important
than good skis. Don't let anybody on the internet tell you what the
right boot is for you. Find a good boot fitter, listen to your feet,
and don't cheap-out on the boots.

--
//-Walt

Thanks to you and everyone else for the advice and recommendations. I'm
located in Austin, Texas (not exactly the place to tell Colorado locals
you're from, or a good place to find a good bootfitter). What are some of
the things I should look for in a good boot? Like I said, I'm pretty
intermediate and stick to groomers while dabbling in other bits, but what
should I look for besides comfort? I know ankle support is vital, but are
there any boot advancements such as soft boots (which I keep hearing about)
that I should be aware of. Also, is buying used boots generally considered a
no-no, due to wear of padding, foot molding, etc?


Thanks again,

Chris Devidal

removeNOSPAM to reply

Chris Devidal wrote:

Thanks to you and everyone else for the advice and recommendations. I'm
located in Austin, Texas (not exactly the place to tell Colorado locals
you're from, or a good place to find a good bootfitter). What are some of
the things I should look for in a good boot? Like I said, I'm pretty
intermediate and stick to groomers while dabbling in other bits, but what
should I look for besides comfort? I know ankle support is vital, but are
there any boot advancements such as soft boots (which I keep hearing about)
that I should be aware of. Also, is buying used boots generally considered a
no-no, due to wear of padding, foot molding, etc?

Used boots are tough to buy, for the reasons you cite. Better would be a
"Performance" (thusly advertised, meaning intermediate-low end) boot on
a good sale, fitted by a good boot fitter.

If I was in your spot, I'd schedule my first several day ski trip to
somewhere like Denver or SLC where there are a lot of good shops near
the skiing, and a lot of competition; I'd find a sale (which there will
be many in early season) and buy there; going back each afternoon
getting the fit adjusted until it was perfect. It'll be hard to match
that kind of boot fitting in Austin, I imagine.

After saying the above, I'll add that used boots can be a real bargain,
if you 1) know how to get a good fit and 2) know how to make your own
adjustments and 3) know how to fix things when they break. Boots are
very simple, really. If you pay lots of attention to everything the
bootfitter is doing when you buy those first boots, ask lots of
questions (be obnoxious), read everything you can on boot fitting, and
spend time locating the proper garage sale pair, your next pair CAN be
purchased used and save you hundreds of dollars.

Thanks to you and everyone else for the advice and recommendations.
I'm
located in Austin, Texas (not exactly the place to tell Colorado
locals
you're from, or a good place to find a good bootfitter). What are some
of
the things I should look for in a good boot? Like I said, I'm pretty
intermediate and stick to groomers while dabbling in other bits, but
what
should I look for besides comfort? I know ankle support is vital, but
are
there any boot advancements such as soft boots (which I keep hearing
about)
that I should be aware of. Also, is buying used boots generally
considered a
no-no, due to wear of padding, foot molding, etc?

Thanks again,

Chris Devidal

removeNOSPAM to reply

Chris--
I spent a few years in Austin about 3 years ago. One thing I learned
while there, is that the ski prices are incredibly lower than up north
(I guess for lack of demand), but selection can be a bit smaller. Plus,
they tend to run end of season sales starting about January. Sun and
Ski (on Anderson) and Sail and Ski(?) (on 183) tend to have some pretty
good staff, mostly montain-transplant types attending UT. You might go
by now, see what they've got and do some preliminary shopping, then demo
some of the models on your first trip. That way you'll have narrowed it
down some. One other thing I rememebered, make sure to get model
numbers, b/c for some reason it always seemed like the tops sheets in
that neck of the woods could get alternate graphics. IIRC, the place
out on 183 used to rent skis as well, based on 5 days packages, and the
stuff had little to no wear, as it was seldom used. You might check to
see if they sell out inventory at end of year. Just my 2 cents. As
usual, lal_truckee included all the good advice on boots
--Alex