I have a Christmas story for you all.
It will warm your hearts. It will make you desire,,,,,,,,,,
It will make you believe that there is a Santa,,really!
But first,,for you to really appreciate this story you must do following;
Go rent (or buy,,since it is worth it) the video "A Good Year" with Russel Crowe!
Watch it and pay attention to that "Eccentric British Uncle" and what he does!
Then,find out what a "garage wine" is!
Then you will be ready for my "Boutique Ski" story.
As always this Pavel story is real,,however "stange" it may sound!
Merry Christmas to you all.
Respectfully,
Pavel
A Boutique Ski Story
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Started by Pavelski in Ski Chatter 24-Dec-2009 - 5 Replies
Pavelski posted Dec-2009
Pavelski
reply to 'A Boutique Ski Story' posted Dec-2009
Well the story is ready.
Waiting for your confirmations that you have seen the movie, "A Good Year"!
That American girl,,,well she is like the skier who knows what a great ski is!
She "appreciates" the contents, the "inside" rather than the label! So it is with skis!
Soon, the story!
Waiting for your confirmations that you have seen the movie, "A Good Year"!
That American girl,,,well she is like the skier who knows what a great ski is!
She "appreciates" the contents, the "inside" rather than the label! So it is with skis!
Soon, the story!
Pavelski
reply to 'A Boutique Ski Story' posted Dec-2009
Has always,,I have a surprise ending to all my stories.
This one will make some of you happy.
If ever you wanted to try a boutique ski for few weeks or a month,,,,,, (with no strings attached)
Wait for the story.
Then dream
This one will make some of you happy.
If ever you wanted to try a boutique ski for few weeks or a month,,,,,, (with no strings attached)
Wait for the story.
Then dream
Pavelski
reply to 'A Boutique Ski Story' posted Jan-2010
A Boutique Ski
This "ski sickness" invades the mind slowly, silently. All skiers succumb to it. It is powerful and lasting.
It has one major symptom. The constant desire to find that perfect ski. To find that ski which will make you soar, which will answer your slightest hints from your knees. This is a story of such a ski.
I hope you all watched the movie, "A Good Year" since you will appreciate even more this story.
Every year around August I make the rounds of my skiing friends and collect "wax money". We buy ski wax at low, low rates from an importer and I am the person who selects the waxes and makes all payments. I have been doing this for years so the importer lets me go into his huge warehouse to select waxes and tuning material!
Here I am going up and down these long long rows of industrial type steel shelves, picking tuning files, diamond sticks, bevel guides etc,,,,,then by chance, I stop, look up at the end of the dark row and what do I see?
Some skis all pushed to the corner. All sorts of skis that I do not know! Some of you the know me,,,understand my puzzled look! I know my skis. I dream of skis! I still have all the SKI magazines from the 1960s in my office! And yes I read them still!
What are these skis? Never seen them in any store in my area! In fact I have never seen these skis in any ski resort! Strange, unique graphics. Unique bindings! All leaning against each other like discarded mops!
Once I had all my skiing goodies ready, I go into the office to pay and I ask owner, "What are those skis"?
A sad look comes across his face as he replies, "Pavel,,,,have you a minute"?
So over coffee he tells me a sad story. This is his story.
Seems he is stuck with all these skis since a very exclusive ski company (very small, very chi,,,, chi) which he represented in my country decided he was not "exclusive" enough! He did not know the right ski people,,,,you know the people who like to show their ski brands more than ski! In short they terminate his contact with him!
He is stuck with an inventory of skis. He can not sell to public since he does not own a store! He can not sell to stores since his contract stipulates, "he no longer represents the ski company".
As he is telling me this,,he pauses, looks at me intently. Then I see a faint smile ,, his eyes narrow as he takes a deep breath.
"Pavel" he begins,,,, " you can sell them. Take them all. I trust you since we have known each other for years."
Off I go with 20 pair of skis that cost $2,000 each! I hide then from my wife since she knows my "addiction" and I am sure she would call the hospital have have me "committed"! Since I know little about these skis,,like all of you I go to Google and search! Imagine my amazement when I do not get one "hit",,not one for a specific model! This ski is flying below the Google radar! Not possible!
I then type a more generic term, just the ski brand! Now I get information and strange messages from skiers about, "hot skis", "rare skis", "unbelievable skis"!
My interest is now at an all time high! I measure all of them and enter data into my ski data base! I find strange "errors"! That ski length of 175cm. is not 175cm if you take out tape! That waist mm figure is way off! I finally call owners of ski company out of frustration and then I realize what I have, as he explains how these skis are made! Hand made skis,,,made in the old way with one person making one ski from A to Z! No robots cutting steel. No heated presses injecting fluids between layers of wood, rubber and steel!
Before I could sell skis,,I had to try them. All of them! So every morning I would get up, before my wife was up,,sneak four or five pair into car and get to ski center before crowds!
This is where that movie, "A Good Year" come into play! If ever you have sipped a "garage wine" ,,you will know how I felt as I tried these skis on the slope! I thought I knew skis. This was an awakening to me. I was like a little boy who had just discovered what a toy store was! Each ski was different. Each had its distinct personality, its own pleasures which it allowed me to share if I knew how to be "nice"!
Then on the fourth day of testing,,,I found my match! A sleeper, since its cosmetics never revealed what it could do! No wild COMPETITION graphics. No huge RACE letters! No EXPERT logos! Just four simple letters, discrete, unique!
Ask a good skier what is a great ski and you will get a look rather than words! A misty look that all men know that reminds them of their first car, first date, their first,,,,,!
That is what this ski did to me! The boutique ski!
All I hope is that you all find such a ski in your life time! All good skiers deserve such pleasure!
PS. I know what is on all your minds! What is this ski? That is part of this ski disease,,you must discover your own ski. Trust me the trip to discovery is worth it! Enjoy it!
If ever you see an old man, with a white beard and a great big smile soar just above the snow,,barely touching the flakes, well look down at what is making him levitate.
Those are the boutique skis!
This "ski sickness" invades the mind slowly, silently. All skiers succumb to it. It is powerful and lasting.
It has one major symptom. The constant desire to find that perfect ski. To find that ski which will make you soar, which will answer your slightest hints from your knees. This is a story of such a ski.
I hope you all watched the movie, "A Good Year" since you will appreciate even more this story.
Every year around August I make the rounds of my skiing friends and collect "wax money". We buy ski wax at low, low rates from an importer and I am the person who selects the waxes and makes all payments. I have been doing this for years so the importer lets me go into his huge warehouse to select waxes and tuning material!
Here I am going up and down these long long rows of industrial type steel shelves, picking tuning files, diamond sticks, bevel guides etc,,,,,then by chance, I stop, look up at the end of the dark row and what do I see?
Some skis all pushed to the corner. All sorts of skis that I do not know! Some of you the know me,,,understand my puzzled look! I know my skis. I dream of skis! I still have all the SKI magazines from the 1960s in my office! And yes I read them still!
What are these skis? Never seen them in any store in my area! In fact I have never seen these skis in any ski resort! Strange, unique graphics. Unique bindings! All leaning against each other like discarded mops!
Once I had all my skiing goodies ready, I go into the office to pay and I ask owner, "What are those skis"?
A sad look comes across his face as he replies, "Pavel,,,,have you a minute"?
So over coffee he tells me a sad story. This is his story.
Seems he is stuck with all these skis since a very exclusive ski company (very small, very chi,,,, chi) which he represented in my country decided he was not "exclusive" enough! He did not know the right ski people,,,,you know the people who like to show their ski brands more than ski! In short they terminate his contact with him!
He is stuck with an inventory of skis. He can not sell to public since he does not own a store! He can not sell to stores since his contract stipulates, "he no longer represents the ski company".
As he is telling me this,,he pauses, looks at me intently. Then I see a faint smile ,, his eyes narrow as he takes a deep breath.
"Pavel" he begins,,,, " you can sell them. Take them all. I trust you since we have known each other for years."
Off I go with 20 pair of skis that cost $2,000 each! I hide then from my wife since she knows my "addiction" and I am sure she would call the hospital have have me "committed"! Since I know little about these skis,,like all of you I go to Google and search! Imagine my amazement when I do not get one "hit",,not one for a specific model! This ski is flying below the Google radar! Not possible!
I then type a more generic term, just the ski brand! Now I get information and strange messages from skiers about, "hot skis", "rare skis", "unbelievable skis"!
My interest is now at an all time high! I measure all of them and enter data into my ski data base! I find strange "errors"! That ski length of 175cm. is not 175cm if you take out tape! That waist mm figure is way off! I finally call owners of ski company out of frustration and then I realize what I have, as he explains how these skis are made! Hand made skis,,,made in the old way with one person making one ski from A to Z! No robots cutting steel. No heated presses injecting fluids between layers of wood, rubber and steel!
Before I could sell skis,,I had to try them. All of them! So every morning I would get up, before my wife was up,,sneak four or five pair into car and get to ski center before crowds!
This is where that movie, "A Good Year" come into play! If ever you have sipped a "garage wine" ,,you will know how I felt as I tried these skis on the slope! I thought I knew skis. This was an awakening to me. I was like a little boy who had just discovered what a toy store was! Each ski was different. Each had its distinct personality, its own pleasures which it allowed me to share if I knew how to be "nice"!
Then on the fourth day of testing,,,I found my match! A sleeper, since its cosmetics never revealed what it could do! No wild COMPETITION graphics. No huge RACE letters! No EXPERT logos! Just four simple letters, discrete, unique!
Ask a good skier what is a great ski and you will get a look rather than words! A misty look that all men know that reminds them of their first car, first date, their first,,,,,!
That is what this ski did to me! The boutique ski!
All I hope is that you all find such a ski in your life time! All good skiers deserve such pleasure!
PS. I know what is on all your minds! What is this ski? That is part of this ski disease,,you must discover your own ski. Trust me the trip to discovery is worth it! Enjoy it!
If ever you see an old man, with a white beard and a great big smile soar just above the snow,,barely touching the flakes, well look down at what is making him levitate.
Those are the boutique skis!
Trencher
reply to 'A Boutique Ski Story' posted Jan-2010
Here's some jackets to go with those skis :lol:
http://www.stbernardsports.com/products2.cfm/ID/332/NAME/
http://www.stbernardsports.com/products2.cfm/ID/305/NAME/Bogner-Ladies%60-Leana-DP-Fur-Insert-Jacket-2008-09
Trencher
http://www.stbernardsports.com/products2.cfm/ID/332/NAME/
http://www.stbernardsports.com/products2.cfm/ID/305/NAME/Bogner-Ladies%60-Leana-DP-Fur-Insert-Jacket-2008-09
Trencher
because I'm so inclined .....
Edited 1 time. Last update at 03-Jan-2010
Pavelski
reply to 'A Boutique Ski Story' posted Jan-2010
Trencher,
A great new skiing year for you!
Yes,,you understood the type of skis some skiers want! Seems there are more and more, "boutique ski companies" ! In this period of "recession"?
Some skiers just want to "stand out" and be willing to pay price! To each his own!
Keep on "carving" Trencher!
A great new skiing year for you!
Yes,,you understood the type of skis some skiers want! Seems there are more and more, "boutique ski companies" ! In this period of "recession"?
Some skiers just want to "stand out" and be willing to pay price! To each his own!
Keep on "carving" Trencher!
Topic last updated on 03-January-2010 at 11:50