Renting skis in Tahoe?

I am going skiing for the first time out of NY the end of the month.
Probably Kirkwood, but if anyone has strong opinions, I am still open.
(coming up from SF)

I am not going to take my skis. The airlines want $50 to carry them, they
will probably get lost on one of my two plane changes, etc. etc.

I have never rented skis before, so I don't know anything about it;
certainly not in Tahoe.

I used to be moderately fast and aggressive and had Dynastar Speed Cross. A
couple years ago I found I was too old and fat for them and wasn't sking so
fast anyhow; and fell back to the Nordica SUV 12.1s. They don't hold an
edge like the Speed Cross, but are much more forgiving of errors.

Okay, now you know everything about me.
Do I rent skis at the resort?
Rent someplace else? (SF? Tahoe?)
Demo skis? (Is so, what?)

Okay it is a silly question, but remember that I don't know anything about
Tahoe, renting skis, or California snow.

Tom wrote:
I am going skiing for the first time out of NY the end of the month.
Probably Kirkwood, but if anyone has strong opinions, I am still open.
(coming up from SF)

I am not going to take my skis. The airlines want $50 to carry them, they
will probably get lost on one of my two plane changes, etc. etc.

I have never rented skis before, so I don't know anything about it;
certainly not in Tahoe.

I used to be moderately fast and aggressive and had Dynastar Speed Cross. A
couple years ago I found I was too old and fat for them and wasn't sking so
fast anyhow; and fell back to the Nordica SUV 12.1s. They don't hold an
edge like the Speed Cross, but are much more forgiving of errors.

Okay, now you know everything about me.
Do I rent skis at the resort?
Rent someplace else? (SF? Tahoe?)
Demo skis? (Is so, what?)

Okay it is a silly question, but remember that I don't know anything about
Tahoe, renting skis, or California snow.

1. First and foremost, you don't need your classic
EasternFirm(tm) skis for *most* conditions at Tahoe.
I skied there the first week of January when conditions
were powder to windblown crust (Alpine Meadows) and
packed powder (Heavenly). I rented skis from a downtown
South Lake Tahoe store (Lakeview Sports) for $18 for
two days. These were dime-a-dozen Rossi rental skis.
They worked fine except they had next to nothing for
edges and were torsionally not very stiff, so for the
occasional icy patch, the drill was to move feet apart
and skim over. The patches were generally small enough
that the pucker factor wasn't too bad.

When we were at Mt.Baker (Northern Cascades) we went
for the high-end stuff. A pair of Salomon X-Wing
Tornado's. Nice skis, did everything well, there was NO
ice at Baker. The plain vanilla rental slabs would
have saved me $50 for two days (the Salomons were
$70 for two days).

2. Bring your own boots. Carry them on, even if the
flight attendant fights with you. You can replace anything
else at the area except your boots.

3. If you are comfortable adjusting rental bindings
(it's easy) then you will get a better price off-
mountain (the off-mountain shop could, it's happened,
mis-adjust your bindings and the area shop won't
touch them). Otherwise rent at the area.

You won't make as many errors in Tahoe snow. I hear
it's been spring corn snow for the past few weeks.
They should be in for some dumpage fairly soon. Stay
tuned. Either way, unless they get a multi-foot storm,
the plain vanilla skis will work well. If you do get
a multi-foot storm, check out a pair of dedicated
powder skis. They will help your eastern-bred self
confidence in the deep stuff.

By the way Kirkwood is a WONDERFUL area AND it's on
your way from SF to SLT (South Lake Tahoe), so it
should be at least your first day. Then, depending
on where you will be staying (North or South) there
are several areas for you to try. Heavenly and
Sierra-at-Tahoe in the south and Alpine Meadows,
Squaw, Homewood, etc. in the north. All are fine and
all have their 'personality'. You'll have to choose
what personality suits you best. I personally like
Alpine, Kirkwood, Homewood in that order. And
Homewood is nothing like the former two.

Tom wrote:


I am not going to take my skis. The airlines want $50 to carry them, they
will probably get lost on one of my two plane changes, etc. etc.

That's $50 for the trip vs. $50 per day. Do the math - it's cheaper to
bring your own, assuming you already own skis.

I have never rented skis before, so I don't know anything about it;
certainly not in Tahoe.

There are plenty of places to rent gear. See
http://preview.tinyurl.com/agmew6

It'll be cheaper off-mountain, but if you rent at the resort you can
swap out boards as conditions change. High end demo skis will be better
than the beater rentals, but will cost more.

Bring your boots. It is impossible to ski in rental boots. Just look at
the people skiing it them - you don't want to ski like them, do you?

//Walt

VtSkier wrote:
I rented skis from a downtown
South Lake Tahoe store (Lakeview Sports) for $18 for
two days. These were dime-a-dozen Rossi rental skis.
They worked fine except they had next to nothing for
edges and were torsionally not very stiff...


Good skiers can ski on any old crap. The rest of us need all the help
we can get.

I shudder to think about skiiing a real mountain on that crap gear.

//Walt

Walt wrote:
VtSkier wrote:
I rented skis from a downtown
South Lake Tahoe store (Lakeview Sports) for $18 for
two days. These were dime-a-dozen Rossi rental skis.
They worked fine except they had next to nothing for
edges and were torsionally not very stiff...


Good skiers can ski on any old crap. The rest of us need all the help
we can get.

I shudder to think about skiiing a real mountain on that crap gear.

//Walt

Not really. If the conditions are reasonable, most anything will work
for anybody. Packed powder being 'reasonable'. Note that I had something
else for powder and wished I had something else for ice.

The same shop had an upgrade to a Head Monster or some such for maybe
$12 per day instead of the $9 I paid for junk. That included poles. See
the video of the day at Heavenly. And I ski bumps like that even when I
have my Atomics on my feet.

On Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:50:24 -0500, Walt
wrote this crap:

we can get.

I shudder to think about skiiing a real mountain on that crap gear.

You couldn't ski a real mountain with good gear.




A mighty Hungarian warrior
The blood of Attila runs through me

On Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:47:48 -0500, Walt
wrote this crap:

I am not going to take my skis. The airlines want $50 to carry them, they
will probably get lost on one of my two plane changes, etc. etc.

That's $50 for the trip vs. $50 per day. Do the math - it's cheaper to
bring your own, assuming you already own skis.

They charge for skis? Last time, I put them in my case and took them
as checked baggage.

Bring your boots. It is impossible to ski in rental boots. Just look at
the people skiing it them - you don't want to ski like them, do you?

Amateur! Amatooor! I could wear snow boots, and strap cafeteria
trays to my feet, and still ski "The Wall," at Kirkwood. Real skiers
don't need none of that steenking fancy crap.




A mighty Hungarian warrior
The blood of Attila runs through me

"A mighty Hungarian warrior" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:47:48 -0500, Walt
wrote this crap:

I am not going to take my skis. The airlines want $50 to carry them,
they
will probably get lost on one of my two plane changes, etc. etc.

That's $50 for the trip vs. $50 per day. Do the math - it's cheaper to
bring your own, assuming you already own skis.

They charge for skis? Last time, I put them in my case and took them
as checked baggage.

$15 each way for the first bag and $25 for the second.

On Feb 3, 12:47*pm, Walt wrote:
Bring your boots. It is impossible to ski in rental boots. Just look at
the people skiing it them - you don't want to ski like them, do you?

//Walt
Wear your boots through the airport, and take your comfotrable shoes
in your carryon bag. That way, you won't have to pay the airlines for
the extra weight in either your checked bags or your carryon bags.

wrote in message
...
On Feb 3, 12:47 pm, Walt wrote:
Bring your boots. It is impossible to ski in rental boots. Just look at
the people skiing it them - you don't want to ski like them, do you?

//Walt
Wear your boots through the airport, and take your comfotrable shoes
in your carryon bag. That way, you won't have to pay the airlines for
the extra weight in either your checked bags or your carryon bags.
--------
Thats a tempting idea. If only it wasn't so impractical.