Thanks for the advice, all!

I did end up buying yesterday, and found a sweet little package that
works nicely for me. Salomon Siam 5 skis with Ellipse boots, looked
and felt right in the shop, serious end-of-season clearance package,
ended up buying a good helmet with audio speakers (now I just need to
get the player to plug the helmet into!).

Went up on Timberline to try them out today, courtesy of a free ticket
from a friend who'd bought one for someone else who didn't use it. I
got started, wimped around on Bruno for a couple of runs to get the
feel, then went off to Pucci/Westleg, then skied the Mile all the way
down to the bottom of Pucci by way of Westleg Road four times.

Lovely. The only time I really had problems getting my tails over
were skill-level issues, not strength issues. I had good control and
started figuring out what tires me skiing the Mile and started working
on chaining my turns better rather than braking, forward, braking,
forward. I was definitely skiing faster with better control over what
I was doing.

Snow was nice. Fresh snow all week, several inches yesterday, was 30
degrees by my Subaru's temperature gauge when I got there. I skiied
until 3:30 and it was still around 35 degrees when I left. The
Mountain was sunny but socked in with clouds below. We had several
instances of sunshine and snow. A lot of people were there, judging
by the parking lot, but the slopes weren't bad (many were over on the
terrain features or on Palmer).

I'm quite pleased with what I got. Thanks for the tips.

jrw

Congratulations on the new gear. At end-of-season prices it's hard to
go wrong getting anything!

Here's a ski tip. Or something.

It takes less energy to ski down as you develop more confidence and
let yourself go a little more. Think about keeping yourself forward. I
think about reaching ahead to pole, and I try to keep my shins
pressing forward into my boot cuffs. This helps the "shovel" (front
part) of your skis dig in and make you feel more in control. This
helps you feel more comfortable letting a little more speed build.

If in doubt it always helps to bend your knees more, too!

Have fun on your new stuff. :-)

Chris

"Mighty Chris" wrote in message
oups.com...
Congratulations on the new gear. At end-of-season prices it's hard to
go wrong getting anything!

Here's a ski tip. Or something.

It takes less energy to ski down as you develop more confidence and
let yourself go a little more. Think about keeping yourself forward. I
think about reaching ahead to pole, and I try to keep my shins
pressing forward into my boot cuffs. This helps the "shovel" (front
part) of your skis dig in and make you feel more in control. This
helps you feel more comfortable letting a little more speed build.

Right - steer the front of the ski rather than push the tails around.
It's the way modern skis are meant to work.

Bob

On 17 Apr 2007 19:13:13 -0700, Mighty Chris
wrote:

Congratulations on the new gear. At end-of-season prices it's hard to
go wrong getting anything!

Very true. Thanks!

Here's a ski tip. Or something.

It takes less energy to ski down as you develop more confidence and
let yourself go a little more. Think about keeping yourself forward. I
think about reaching ahead to pole, and I try to keep my shins
pressing forward into my boot cuffs. This helps the "shovel" (front
part) of your skis dig in and make you feel more in control. This
helps you feel more comfortable letting a little more speed build.

Forward is a challenge, but I'm working on it--fortunately, the
position is very similar to hunt seat horseback riding so I can think
hard about that as well. There appears to be a synergy going as I had
a good lesson tonight and used some ski skills on horseback grin.

If in doubt it always helps to bend your knees more, too!

Oh yeah. Just keep playing that one song from the Bob Gilson
(Gibson?) album, Ski Songs...


Have fun on your new stuff. :-)

Thanks! I am...

jrw

Bob F wrote:

Right - steer the front of the ski rather than push the tails around.
It's the way modern skis are meant to work.

It's the way skis have been meant to work for the 50+ years of skis that
I have personally skied. 50+ years all count as "modern." Have to go
back to the 1860s in the gold mining town ski races to see skis that
aren't meant to turn when you pressure the shovel. (Except for jumping
skis, of course.)

The real treat is skiing was just as much fun on wood planks as on
current multi-lam/foam/fiber/titanium/extrude. The wonder of it never
diminishes.

On Apr 17, 9:39 pm, lal_truckee wrote:
Bob F wrote:

Right - steer the front of the ski rather than push the tails around.
It's the way modern skis are meant to work.

It's the way skis have been meant to work for the 50+ years of skis that
I have personally skied. 50+ years all count as "modern." Have to go
back to the 1860s in the gold mining town ski races to see skis that
aren't meant to turn when you pressure the shovel. (Except for jumping
skis, of course.)

The real treat is skiing was just as much fun on wood planks as on
current multi-lam/foam/fiber/titanium/extrude. The wonder of it never
diminishes.

I disagree. My boots weren't as warm and comfortable then.