Good ski repair shop in Flaine and in Chamonix

I am planning to travel via Geneva to either Flaine or Chamonix (no
final decission yet).
My new (and expensive ...) skis require serious base weld / repair
(cought big rock the first week I skied on them).
Please, any recommendations on GOOD, professional and well reputed ski
repair shop/person in both these resorts
Thanks in advance,
Paul

On Feb 15, 6:22*pm, " wrote:
I am planning to travel via Geneva to either Flaine or Chamonix (no
final decission yet).
My new (and expensive ...) skis require serious base weld / repair
(cought big rock the first week I skied on them).
Please, any recommendations on GOOD, professional and well reputed ski
repair shop/person in both these resorts
Thanks in advance,
Paul

Try Proski , 220 Avenue Michel Croz in Chamonix www proskimontagne
com .Don't know if they are the best but they definitely know what
they are doing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
XS
Peak Retreats http://www.peakretreats.co.uk
Ski Collection http://www.skicollection.co.uk

On Fri, 15 Feb 2008 10:22:26 -0800 (PST), in
,
" wrote:

I am planning to travel via Geneva to either Flaine or Chamonix (no
final decission yet).
My new (and expensive ...) skis require serious base weld / repair
(cought big rock the first week I skied on them).
Please, any recommendations on GOOD, professional and well reputed ski
repair shop/person in both these resorts

Flaine Super Ski is where I'd go if I wasn't going to do it myself.
Most shops just do a machine repair, which isn't normally anywhere
near as good (in terms of longevity) as a hand job.

Doing it yourself is really quite easy, though. All you need is a
P-Tex stick and a flat metal scraper, available from any decent ski
shop. Clean out the damaged area, and cut off any rough edges, then
drip the lighted P-Tex candle into it from about six inches, allow to
cool and scrape flat to the rest of the surface. For very deep gouges,
repeat applications may be best, allowing the first to cool before
adding more to build it up to the requiered level.

I am not sure P-Tex will help in my case:

http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/8775/k22fi3.jpg
http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/2742/k21ad6.jpg

Paul

On Sun, 17 Feb 2008 04:59:36 -0800 (PST), in
,
" wrote:

I am not sure P-Tex will help in my case:

http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/8775/k22fi3.jpg
http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/2742/k21ad6.jpg

Nasty, but I've seen, and repaired, worse. At least the edge hasn't
been pulled out of the ski. Nor has it completely exposed the edge's
mounting-plates, which are perhaps 1-2mm deeper than your gouge.

If it were mine I'd attack it gently with a knife, then use a
blow-torch (being _very_ careful and quick) to cut/burn/melt any rough
edges. Then yes, it would be P-Tex, applied in several layers. It is,
after all, the same material the base is made from. Using anything
else over a hole that size would give no benefits whatsoever. In fact,
I suspect that araldite or similar, which I've used succesfully on
upper-ski repairs, would likely make the final repair much less likely
to take good hold.

OTOH I can see why you'd be reluctant to tackle it yourself unless
you're already at least a little practised in this area. But I don't
see what else a shop would do any different from the above.

Ace wrote in
:

On Sun, 17 Feb 2008 04:59:36 -0800 (PST), in
,
" wrote:

I am not sure P-Tex will help in my case:

http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/8775/k22fi3.jpg
http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/2742/k21ad6.jpg

Nasty, but I've seen, and repaired, worse. At least the edge hasn't
been pulled out of the ski. Nor has it completely exposed the edge's
mounting-plates, which are perhaps 1-2mm deeper than your gouge.

If it were mine I'd attack it gently with a knife, then use a
blow-torch (being _very_ careful and quick) to cut/burn/melt any rough
edges. Then yes, it would be P-Tex, applied in several layers. It is,
after all, the same material the base is made from. Using anything
else over a hole that size would give no benefits whatsoever. In fact,
I suspect that araldite or similar, which I've used succesfully on
upper-ski repairs, would likely make the final repair much less likely
to take good hold.

OTOH I can see why you'd be reluctant to tackle it yourself unless
you're already at least a little practised in this area. But I don't
see what else a shop would do any different from the above.

I'd cut a piece of base material and glue a patch in, then fill the gaps
around the edges with P-Tex. Ski shops will sell pieces of base
material.

P-Tex isn't actually quite the same stuff, as the base material is
sintered, not that it would matter for a hole that size. I've never got
P-Tex to hold in wide holes, either, but YMMV.

--
Jeremy
R1200RT

Ace wrote:
On Fri, 15 Feb 2008 10:22:26 -0800 (PST), in
,
" wrote:


I am planning to travel via Geneva to either Flaine or Chamonix (no
final decission yet).
My new (and expensive ...) skis require serious base weld / repair
(cought big rock the first week I skied on them).
Please, any recommendations on GOOD, professional and well reputed ski
repair shop/person in both these resorts


Flaine Super Ski is where I'd go if I wasn't going to do it myself.
Most shops just do a machine repair, which isn't normally anywhere
near as good (in terms of longevity) as a hand job.

Doing it yourself is really quite easy, though. All you need is a
P-Tex stick and a flat metal scraper, available from any decent ski
shop. Clean out the damaged area, and cut off any rough edges, then
drip the lighted P-Tex candle into it from about six inches, allow to
cool and scrape flat to the rest of the surface. For very deep gouges,
repeat applications may be best, allowing the first to cool before
adding more to build it up to the requiered level.


I repaired the base of one of my very old pair of skis with araldite
(the ptex would not stay in the hole) and it worked quite well. With
epoxy resin don't worry too much about getting it level to the base of
the ski as its abrasion resistance is very low and the excess will wear
of after an hour or so skiing on firm snow. It was also going below the
level of the rest of the ski after a couple of days. Unfortunately the
skis did not last much longer after that since I knocked an edge out and
decided to retire them! Therefore I cannot comment on the longevity of
the repair.

I do not think ptex is exactly the same material as ski bases. It is
much softer and has a lower melting point. I have even forced it down
into the gouge using a waxing iron.

BTW I have been unable to find ptex in any French resort ski shop – I
wonder why?

Ace, would you kindly like to tell the group how you managed to damage
the tops of the skis so badly that they needed araldite to repair them.

On Wed, 20 Feb 2008 11:00:52 +0000, in
, "
" wrote:

I do not think ptex is exactly the same material as ski bases. It is
much softer and has a lower melting point. I have even forced it down
into the gouge using a waxing iron.

Yes, I think you're right, on reflection. But when cold its
characteristics are pretty similar, and a good repair will be
completely invisible.

BTW I have been unable to find ptex in any French resort ski shop – I
wonder why?

Odd. I certainly have done, but I admit it's more unusual to see the
full repair kit available in most resorts. There's often one more
specialist shop in larger resorts though - usually the same one where
you'll find the touring bindings and stuff.

Much more common in Switzaerland, where I think the independent skier,
and people touring, is much more the norm, compared with the French
whose main ambition seems to be to go as fast as humanly possible
while keeping the ankles tied together and never going beyond the
piste markers.

Ace, would you kindly like to tell the group how you managed to damage
the tops of the skis so badly that they needed araldite to repair them.

Not mine, actually. Or at least not since my second-ever trip where I
managed to get then caught under someone else's having failed to
predict their movements and skied straight into them. The later ones
were my wife's current 1080 foils, and I honestly can't remember how
she did it, but she managed to shave a huge chunk off the top edge,
which exposed the internals. As I said, a bit of araldite was applied
and two seasons on it's still holding good.

"Ace" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 20 Feb 2008 11:00:52 +0000, in
, "
" wrote:

I do not think ptex is exactly the same material as ski bases. It is
much softer and has a lower melting point. I have even forced it down
into the gouge using a waxing iron.

Yes, I think you're right, on reflection. But when cold its
characteristics are pretty similar, and a good repair will be
completely invisible.

BTW I have been unable to find ptex in any French resort ski shop - I
wonder why?

Odd. I certainly have done, but I admit it's more unusual to see the
full repair kit available in most resorts. There's often one more
specialist shop in larger resorts though - usually the same one where
you'll find the touring bindings and stuff.

Much more common in Switzaerland, where I think the independent skier,
and people touring, is much more the norm, compared with the French
whose main ambition seems to be to go as fast as humanly possible
while keeping the ankles tied together and never going beyond the
piste markers.

Ace, would you kindly like to tell the group how you managed to damage
the tops of the skis so badly that they needed araldite to repair them.

Not mine, actually. Or at least not since my second-ever trip where I
managed to get then caught under someone else's having failed to
predict their movements and skied straight into them. The later ones
were my wife's current 1080 foils, and I honestly can't remember how
she did it, but she managed to shave a huge chunk off the top edge,
which exposed the internals. As I said, a bit of araldite was applied
and two seasons on it's still holding good.



To which I can add that there seems to be a reasonable ability, in France at
least, to get worn/damaged ski bases back to 'as-new' condition. Decathlon
stores offer to do this for, I think, 30 euros per pair, while outfits like
http://www.skispaschers.com/occas.php offer second-user skis which they
describe as " ETAT IMPECCABLE, SEMMELLE ENTIEREMENT REFAITE " - in other
words, restored to as-new condition, which sounds confident enough.

So maybe all is not lost - and you might not have to rely on a botch to fix
things.

RM
www.mountainpassions.com - an Online Magazine with Altitude

On Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:22:57 +0100, "Roger Moss"
wrote:


To which I can add that there seems to be a reasonable ability, in France at
least, to get worn/damaged ski bases back to 'as-new' condition. Decathlon
stores offer to do this for, I think, 30 euros per pair, while outfits like
http://www.skispaschers.com/occas.php offer second-user skis which they
describe as " ETAT IMPECCABLE, SEMMELLE ENTIEREMENT REFAITE " - in other
words, restored to as-new condition, which sounds confident enough.

So maybe all is not lost - and you might not have to rely on a botch to fix
things.

Many years ago I took my skis in for repair - a couple of bad seasons
had left them scored and marked, but not with holes completely through
the bases - and they came back with the entire base remade; even the
centre grooves that /should/ have been there were filled in.


--
-Pip