Messages posted by : pavelski
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This is getting to be a long lesson.
Actually this is just a short comment to the young students in this class. You see we have some young skiers who want to learn to tune their skis correctly. When you become fantastic skiers and great tuners you will recall how back in the "old days" in 2007 we used such "primitive procedures" The future in ski tuning will be two words; nano-technology and electronics. Some very interesting research is done now looking at those vibrating hydrogen molecules. Seems with electronic means in the ski core we can "excite" these molecules to give us even more glide. If you know anything about the space elevator, you are also aware that we have discovered a "new carbon bonding molecule". Very light and very strong! It can vibrate at a given frequency thus allowing better glide! Cross-country skis are now experimenting with such matters. So to my young students. Study your chemistry and physics and perhaps you will be the future designers of a new tuning procedure in which you will "dial-in" the exact frequency required to just hover over that quasi-liquid layer on the ski slopes! |
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Just a short note to follow the class presentation on those wild hydrogen molecules!
Remember I told you at the beginning that this course will make you great tuners AND better skiers. Now you will understand why this claim is not "hollow"! Knowing the existence of this quasi-fluid layer ( QFL) will make you aware how your skis glide over varied types of ski surfaces. I am not talking about varied topographic terrain but rather varied QFL gliding features. If ever you skied in a ski resort which has artificial snow and you ski into a zone that has "fresh" white pellets ( I hesitate using the term snow), you will feel an instant difference. Very much like a "drag"! If you ever ski a race course prepared specifically for a race and go off the course, again you will feel a difference! If you ski in the spring time and go where all skiers go, then go "off track" you will also very quickly feel a difference in glide. If you ski in the spring and ski in the shaded part of a run and then switch to the sunny part of the run, you will feel a different glide! The QFL is not uniform! It has a mind of its own and depending on various factors it likes to change personalities. It likes to tease skiers! So the "experienced" skier learns not only techniques but also strategies to make skiing faster or just more enjoyable! When you hear sports announcers say, "a racer is a great glider" what they are saying is that the skier "feels" the ski interacting with this QFL and allows the ski to flow with little "force". In recreational skiing ( especial in Spring) the snow surface varies a great deal and very quickly you can spot the skiers that intuitively find the fast snow! They have no idea of the existence of QFL but they feel a difference in glide. They search for this like the shark that smells blood 10 kms. away! Remember also I stated that this course is designed for recreational skiers, thus there will be some differences in tuning procedures! In racing race organizers try to make the racing course as hard and uniform as possible. Even adding chemicals to "slow down those excited hydrogen molecules" Thus make the surface harder and the QFL less unstable! Tuning is performed with a "smaller" surface variance ( a another concept which we will have to discuss soon). Recreational skiers tend to go in all sorts of terrain and in all sorts of surfaces! Thus the smart tuner must take in consideration these greater variations. That is why I feel that the skier must know his /her skiing area ( as well as temp. condition, etc....) before tuning. I tune my skis differently in Utah than I do in Maine or New York State. That is why tuning your skis correctly and improved skiing go hand in hand! For class look up variance and try to see its importance for skier and tuner ! |
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Class Objective: To understand why certain tuning procedures are done and how to "adjust" your tuning for your ski conditions and ski needs!
I promise this is the last class dealing with "theory" or mental concepts! I generally avoid theories, long winding lectures on.......... but this concept you must know and remember at all times. Often it is the "small" questions that are vital and crucial! Such is this question, "why is ice slippery"? Ask 10 people and I will bet you the 10 will give you the wrong answer. De Loco and Jamser, ask your teachers , why ice is slippery and I am sure they will give you the incorrect answer! So let us start this intellectual class with the wrong answer! Ice is slippery because pressure exerted causes the ice to melt, thus causing water which we all know is "slippery" WRONG!!!! Please allow me to be "simple" or as the French say "vulgarisé" I will take out long terms, theories, chemical equations and get to essential! Ice or more precisely water has three states! liquid, solid and gas! Basic high school chemistry! What we have discovered very recently is that ice has "mysterious" properties. (just for skiers)!!!! You all know the formula for water. The famous H (with two molecules) and O for oxygen! That H is the key with those two molecules! Those hydrogen molecules have "different" personalities as they get close to the surface. Think of them like adolescent boys when they get near girls! They seem to do "strange" things. So it is with these hydrogen molecules as they get near the top of ice near air! ( I really really am simplifying things here and I am sure some chemist or physicist is tearing his hair out). Near the top of the ice ( or surface) these hydrogen molecules vibrate more, bounce of each other ( very much like boys) thus causing a very unique and strange layer IN THE ICE! This very thin layer of bouncing hydrogen boys....upps I meant molecules results in "unstable boys....dammmmm I meant molecules! It is called by people more intelligent than me, "a quasi-fluid layer" That means it is like water, feels like water but is not yet water! Shall I give you that analogy of the adolescent boy ( for Jamser's sake)! Like an adolescent boy, who acts, feels and may seem to be a man, yet he is not yet a man! Such is this quasi-fluid layer! What is important here for skiers and tuners is that this layer makes ice act "slippery"! Those molecules moving about, bouncing off each allow other molecules to "slide" about also! Even when it is -129c. So if you close your eyes and see a section of ice there is a small microscopic layer that want to get away! That is in motion and ever changing! That is why you can slide! So next time you ski, thank those hydrogen rebel adolescent molecules! They are the ones giving you all that skiing pleasure! For the smart readers or those that do not believe me just Google, Somorjai and you will get many articles or refer to New York Times article on , "Why ice is slippery" What does this mean for ski tuners? I will often mention this quasi- layer and since I hate repeating myself and have cramps typing this long term, if you do not mind I will label it QFL! Later you will discover this QFL is vital for structuring and wax selection! Hope it was not too painful! Hope it was not too "abstract" Now de Loco and Jamser you can show something new to your teacher because even university lectures still teach that ice is slippery due to pressure! Now no more theory. Now we get out hands dirty! Get ready. Soon we will be burning bases. I really mean burning! It will be your homework! Keep in touch and get those old skis out! Burning time is coming!!! |
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Here are why some of those are not needed or are not essential.
1, The fans cause more problems than solve them. batteries after two hours are gone Often freeze There are other simpler ways to solve fogging issue. 2.No these are sold as "anti-cross" deflectors. Plastic! They break. 3. Not valid for 90% of skiers in resorts and poor perfrmance in ski resorts. 4. No. Not crampons but brakes with spring activated mechanism. Only go "on" once boot is off! You are correct for some products for "specialized" skiing or"climbing" such as split skis. These units however are poor performers in groomed hard slopes! |
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Ha,,,, ski season is just around the corner for you North hemisphere fanatics.
Soon you will be visiting ski shows, planning holidays and looking at those "old" ski pictures. By late October, if you are like me you will make an inventory of all the equipment you have. If you are like Ellistine ( you must get to know Ellistine) you will want to buy anything related to skiing! You will begin to read all sorts of literature on "essential" equipment! Several years ago I began to collect on some "essential" products. Mind you the term "essential" is defined very broadly by ski marketing staff! I will list some of these wonders and hope that others as obsessive as I also have "discovered" such items! WARNING: This is not fiction. 1. Goggles with built-in fans 2. Ski poles with internal springs or shocks in handles 3. Top sheet "protection" tape 4. Plastic rub plate to take snow off boots 5. Anti-cross plates. Look like small 3" towers near tips so skis do not cross. 6. Binding cold covers. ( so units will not freeze up) 7. Ski bras ( really that is what they are called) For perfect snowplow! 8. Ski lights ( really) Just screw the, on tips! 9. Boot covers. Not sure if they are for cold or to give that "perfect" all together fashion look. 10. Hollow poles for wine or vodka ( again really) 11. Poles with batteries so you can have blinking poles 12. Gold Plated bindings ( again really) 13. Goggles with magnetic lenses 14. Alarms for skis. Unit screws on top near front unit 15. Ski pants with heating wires near rear. 16. Skis with asymetric sidewalls ( Kastle) 17. Skis with 4 steel edges 18. Skis that hinge into 4 pieces ( again, again really) 19. Two skis that can join at sidewall to create a board 20. Rear holder. This you will not believe. Let me describe . A series of levers and pulleys which "hold up" skier who has weak back muscles! 21. Top ski graphics tape. A series of 10 rolls of duct like tape which you can apply to top of ski depending on your mood! 22.Bindings that never let skis "fly off"! The units have internal metal wire anchored to internal spring ! Releases but instantly come back on boots. Great fun! Sold for $125 in 1973! 23. Rear brakes at tails. For the "adventure-some skier who does not want to slide backwards while hiking up Everest! 23. Front brakes. Two saber-like shafts under boot at toe area. Can also be used to "slash" skiers/boarders who come to close. Can also be used to "pick up" small animals for supper while skiing! 24. Long tongs. Before you all get excited these really are called "long tongs" Another era another story. Still see some for sale! Not sure why, but surely not for skiing! 25. Electrical heated gloves. Not so good while skiing but my son "borrows" them often! Why? He does not tell me! Well there are some of my "collections". Please do not tell my wife since she thinks I donated them to my local ski museum! I realize some of you will no doubt think I made this up, but I hope some skiers will be honest and admit that they bought or tried some of these. I did not mention some other "strange" systems like the Nava boot/binding system which the producer swore would make me a "better' skier! Now it is up to you to continue the list! Stranger the better! ( Notice I did not get into the hats, jackets, etc....) |
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Probably wondering what roads and Rome have in common to ski tuning?
Remember what the stated goals were at the beginning of this course! Well one of them was to become a ski tuner. No NO let me repeat that. To become great ski tuners! A competent tuner! This means you must have an open mind at all times, and even when you begin to show others how to tune skis you must always look for betters ways, easier ways and more effective ways to tune. Goal of class: To learn to read, study and apply other ways to tune skis. To learn to have an 'open mind" about learning! In the past many "truths" seemed absolutes! Now we discover that perhaps we might have been incorrect. From believing that the world is flat. To that all universe rotates around earth. To thinking that the smallest elements were parts of an atom! We are discovering that many, many truths are not. Did not experts build the Titanic!!!! I mentioned to you all that there is not ONE way to tune a ski. I am presenting the way I tune my skis based on my experience, for my needs. You must develop basic technical skills and then adapt what you have learned to your needs. I want you at the end of this course to have a "critical" mind so that you can differentiate between "correct procedures" and sales-gimmic procedures. Or the worst,,, "the best" procedures by some Guru! In order to help you along in this search for your ski tuning procedures I will share with you many sources of ski tuning information collected over the years! It does not mean I support them! They are for you to read, sometimes laugh, yes sometimes cry! For example I have a great advertisement in which a product is advertised related to skiing! Man is bending over work bench "tuning a ski"!!! Well in my "old fashion classes where students are physically with me, in class room" we analyze picture and behold even new tuners find at least 15 errors. Some just funny ( ski with rear binding in front) to serious dangerous errors! ( Wax remover beside beautiful pot belly wood stove which will explode in a few seconds)! I will be sending these to you ( only registered students) so open a file called "Tuning Info Pavel"). Soon you will have homework with the TOKO Waxing Manual! Enjoy reading them. Enjoy learning how to "see" the many errors you can find. If you have visited the past class you will have noted that I asked students to view a U TUBE video of a young lad "teaching" ski tuning! See if you can find it and find at least 25 errors! As far as the Toko Manual. Also view it and list the procedures and products you do not need for your purposes! (I know now I will get many emails from companies ,,,, or Dave will get them!) PS Dave is the site administrator. Now you understand the lesson 3 title. There is not one way to get to Rome! I will teach you how to walk ( and think) you will choose the road to Rome based on your budget, transportation, language skills, time, and sights you want to see)! You see I only sell one thing and it is free for you. Knowledge! |
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More and more sayings are coming out help!!!!
1. Know your limits and exceed them frequently 2. I know this one is long ,,,very long but it is worth it! Early 80's Top of Kitzbuhel! Two young rookies on World Cup tour are looking at each other, slightly shaking with that blank look standing just above the Mauefalle! Canadian: "Carl , do you believe in God?" Italian : " At Kitzbuhel. what is important is not whether you believe in God, but whether he believes in you." |
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Raising teenagers is like nailing jelly on a tree.
( Ho you mean it has to be about skiing!!!!!!!) Families are like fudge! Mostly sweet, with some nuts! OK OK here are some relevant ones! Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional! Forget the health food, just give me snow! Romance is dead. So is my mother. Man 42 inherited millions. Never but never take a sleeping pill before skiing! There is a fine line between skiing and mental illness You should not confuse skiing and career. Never be afraid to take a ski day Double diamonds are forever Avoid skiers with cells |
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