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

Boots seem like a good idea, but if you're only going skiing a few times a
season its probably best to rent skis.. I've done the sums myself and it
works out better for me..

If you own ski's you need to maintain them, which will cost you money, and
cost even more money if you have to take them to a shop to get serviced..
also, if you fly to the slopes, you'll most likely have to pay extra for the
ski carriage.. also, do you really want to worry about damaging your skis
and having to pay repair costs, or even worse, writing them off completely?
Because you go skiing so rarely, I really don't think it would be worth it
for you..

Now that I have boots, I know that when I go skiing I'm going to be
comfortable and also skiing on the best and latest model ski's every time..

"Chris Devidal" wrote in message
...
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

On 24 Sep 2003 01:35:02 GMT, Janet Cicariello-Cook penned:
snip

I disagree with advice that if you only ski a few times a year you should rent.
snip

Janet

I do, too. It's been several years since I last rented, and granted, I
think it was at fairly small resorts (Ski Roundtop in PA, anyone?), but
I seem to recall that the rental skis seemed to have no wax on them.
They positively stuck to the snow rather than gliding along. When I got
my first hand-me-down skis with fresh wax on them, I was amazed at how
much more smoothly everything worked.

--
monique

My pointless ramblings:
http://www.bounceswoosh.org/phorum/index.php?f=6

On Tue, 23 Sep 2003 08:53:34 CST, "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. Also any recommendations on boots?

Focus and spend the most on good boots that fit you well.

In fact, I have even seen people buy boots only, and rent the skis
w/bindings at the area. This works well with DIN standards, not so
well with some of the oddball rental ski setups.

Happy trails,
Gary (net.yogi.bear)
------------------------------------------------
at the 51st percentile of ursine intelligence

Gary D. Schwartz, Needham, MA, USA
Please reply to: garyDOTschwartzATpoboxDOTcom

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. Also any recommendations on boots?

Any help is appreciated,

Chris Devidal


Hi Chris,

First look for boots. Find a good bootfitter (if you say where you are someone
here may have a recommendation). It's hard to improve if every time you go out
you're dealing with different boots that may not really fit right.

Before buying skis, think about what you like/don't like about the different
skis you rent. Get the issue of the ski magazines that review equipment. It
will give you and idea of what's what, but remember that a ski that looks
perfect for you on paper, may not be good in practice. Also, try renting some
demo's from a ski shop (maybe a little more expensive than ski-area rentals,
but you can get to try better equipment that way). Another thing to look for is
early season consumer demo days at ski areas when you can do unlimited demos
for free (or a small fee).

I disagree with advice that if you only ski a few times a year you should rent.
I think you need to be on the same equipment in order to work on skills. Skis
vary and if you change ski's every time, you then have to spend some time
"learning" how those skis respond rather than knowing how your skis feel and
just picking up where you left off the last time out. (I'm not sure if this
makes sense the way I wrote it....) Remember, just because they make new skis
every year, doesn't mean you have to buy new skis every year. A decent first
pair of skis can last many years if you're only using them a few times a year.

Terrain, conditions, etc. will always be variable, so you want to keep
consistent those things that you can control (i.e., the same equipment each
time)

A more advanced skier already has different sets of skills that makes it easier
to adapt to using different skis each time out if they don't want to schlepp
their own skis.

As far as airline travel - ski's plus boot bag equal 1 checked piece of luggage
(even if your boots actually are in a small carry-on bag)

And yes, you do have to maintain them, but it's worth the cost (and eventually
you may learn how to tune your own skis) to know that you'll always be on a
pair of skis with good edges. This may not matter out west, but here in the
eastern US, getting a rental ski with shot edges (even if they do try to
sharpen them) can ruin your day.

Once you find out what you like, then check the ski swaps, the previous
season's model sales, end of year sales on skis that a ski shop rented for the
season, etc.

Janet

Gary S. wrote:
On Tue, 23 Sep 2003 08:53:34 CST, "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. Also any recommendations on boots?


Focus and spend the most on good boots that fit you well.

In fact, I have even seen people buy boots only, and rent the skis
w/bindings at the area. This works well with DIN standards, not so
well with some of the oddball rental ski setups.

Where have you seen "oddball rental setups" that won't fit DIN boots in
the last 20 years?

FWIW, the German Industrial Standards (AKA "DIN") organization has
standards for the alpine skiboot-binding interface; ALL* alpine
manufacturers adhere to the DIN standard, assuring that ALL* boots and
ski bindings will work together.
[*] some companies experiment occasionally (but none recently AFAIK)
with alpine boot/binding systems that are sold together (since they only
work together) but you won't see any of these in rental fleets. c.f. the
Nava system from 20 years ago, with an arm that hooks the calf and soft
boots http://www.roberts.ezpublishing.com/sski/mus27.jpg or the 1970
era Spademan http://www.roberts.ezpublishing.com/sski/mus26.jpg

Note that all the so-called "new" bindings/ski combinations being sold
have DIN standard boot interfaces. They are primarily a marketing
gimmick to hardwire the customer to a particular brand.

"Janet Cicariello-Cook"
wrote in message ...
Hi Chris,

First look for boots. Find a good bootfitter (if you say where you are
someone
here may have a recommendation). It's hard to improve if every time you go
out
you're dealing with different boots that may not really fit right.

Before buying skis, think about what you like/don't like about the
different
skis you rent. Get the issue of the ski magazines that review equipment.
It
will give you and idea of what's what, but remember that a ski that looks
perfect for you on paper, may not be good in practice. Also, try renting
some
demo's from a ski shop (maybe a little more expensive than ski-area
rentals,
but you can get to try better equipment that way). Another thing to look
for is
early season consumer demo days at ski areas when you can do unlimited
demos
for free (or a small fee).

I disagree with advice that if you only ski a few times a year you should
rent.
I think you need to be on the same equipment in order to work on skills.
Skis
vary and if you change ski's every time, you then have to spend some time
"learning" how those skis respond rather than knowing how your skis feel
and
just picking up where you left off the last time out. (I'm not sure if
this
makes sense the way I wrote it....) Remember, just because they make new
skis
every year, doesn't mean you have to buy new skis every year. A decent
first
pair of skis can last many years if you're only using them a few times a
year.

Terrain, conditions, etc. will always be variable, so you want to keep
consistent those things that you can control (i.e., the same equipment
each
time)

A more advanced skier already has different sets of skills that makes it
easier
to adapt to using different skis each time out if they don't want to
schlepp
their own skis.

As far as airline travel - ski's plus boot bag equal 1 checked piece of
luggage
(even if your boots actually are in a small carry-on bag)

And yes, you do have to maintain them, but it's worth the cost (and
eventually
you may learn how to tune your own skis) to know that you'll always be on
a
pair of skis with good edges. This may not matter out west, but here in
the
eastern US, getting a rental ski with shot edges (even if they do try to
sharpen them) can ruin your day.

Once you find out what you like, then check the ski swaps, the previous
season's model sales, end of year sales on skis that a ski shop rented for
the
season, etc.

Janet


Janet,

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

Monique Y. Herman wrote:

On 24 Sep 2003 01:35:02 GMT, Janet Cicariello-Cook penned:
snip

I disagree with advice that if you only ski a few times a year you should rent.

snip

Janet


I do, too. It's been several years since I last rented, and granted, I
think it was at fairly small resorts (Ski Roundtop in PA, anyone?), but
I seem to recall that the rental skis seemed to have no wax on them.
They positively stuck to the snow rather than gliding along. When I got
my first hand-me-down skis with fresh wax on them, I was amazed at how
much more smoothly everything worked.

In my experience, rental skis from a reliable shop are much better
maintained and tuned than is typical for most people's personal skis.
Most people are clueless as to the regular care required for good ski
performance.

In any case, Demo (AKA Performance) rentals will be even better prepped
- after all, the shop hopes you'll come back and buy a pair of those
Demo skis you've just rented.

As to Janet's concern re changing skis - yes: it might be easier to
improve if you remove a variable such as ski type; but that can be
obtained by renting the same model each time you ski. Demo and
Performance stock usually are (nearly) identical from shop to shop,
because the big companies subsidize the shop to rent their skis as Demos
as part of their promo budget.

(FWIW, I like to change skis (I have a big quiver) fairly often - keeps
me on my toes and improves my skiing by forcing me away from ski-induced
bad habits.)

Jim in Texas wrote:

I have to agree with the rest of the posters -- concentrate on getting good
boots that fit, and then rent skis. It's an RSA tradition to wind up owning
a quiver of skis, but the reality is that if you're only skiing a few times
a season, you're not going to get your money's worth from skis.

Even if you get them for $20. and eventually make them into a lawn chair.

Boots first. A good pair of boots will turn crappy rental skis into a decent
ride a lot easier than crappy rental boots will turn the most elegant and
high performance skis into a decent ride.

And if you rent skis, you don't have to worry about tuning them. Just core-shot
over rocks and tree trunks, ruin the top skins, and give 'em back at the
end of the day.

Jim in Texas


I agree. I got crappy rental boots in Germany once. Still had fun, but
it was a lot more work to ski that day...

--
Chester Bullock,
Ethical, quality website design and programming
Tenxible Solutions, http://www.tenxible.com
Web Based Autoresponder and DRIP system, http://www.toolsre.com
AIM: tenxible YahooIM: ccb247

I have to agree with the rest of the posters -- concentrate on getting good
boots that fit, and then rent skis. It's an RSA tradition to wind up owning
a quiver of skis, but the reality is that if you're only skiing a few times
a season, you're not going to get your money's worth from skis.

Even if you get them for $20. and eventually make them into a lawn chair.

Boots first. A good pair of boots will turn crappy rental skis into a decent
ride a lot easier than crappy rental boots will turn the most elegant and
high performance skis into a decent ride.

And if you rent skis, you don't have to worry about tuning them. Just core-shot
over rocks and tree trunks, ruin the top skins, and give 'em back at the
end of the day.

Jim in Texas