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#1
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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 |
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#2
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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 |
#3
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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 |
#4
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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 |
#5
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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 |
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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. |
#7
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"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 |
#8
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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.) |
#9
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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 |
#10
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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 |
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