J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Trencher

With few exceptions

The skis are symmetrical
The bindings are symmetrical
The boots are symmetrical

The only thing that is not symmetrical is the ski shops liability insurance which requires them to go by the book, and assign a ski to each boot after binding adjustment.

Trencher

Banafell, as you said You are size 12, You must be female. Make sure you are renting female specific boots. Womens skis boots, not only have a narrower last for the foot, but the boot cuffs are different to accomadate womens calves being lower than mens.

Some boots appear to more female specific than others. so you may have to try a few different maufacturers. If you have a ski store you can get to, try on different manufacturers and models. If you then find a pair that works for you., call around the rental shops where you are going, to see if they have that model.

Otherwise, you may be stuck with buying a pair, modifying them yourself (per pavelski) or having the shop modify them for you.

Trencher

Max Cottle wrote:


All though I do have one gripe about boarders. Far too many of them try pistes that are far too advanced for them and when they get to a part that they can't cope with they will slide down on an edge and shave all of the snow off. Now this isn't too bad if there is lots of snow but when there isn't what happens is they shave the snow off that area ices up and I come skiing down the mountain, minding my own business and hit this vast sheet of Ice. Well it makes for good entertainment anyway lol I slide well

The ice is caused by warm temps not snowboarders. Typically the groomer will push an inch or so of snow over the icey patches where it won't stay for long, snowboarders or not.

Now the people who do ruin the groomed runs are the 99 per cent of skiers (at vacation resorts) who can't carve. They can take the most perfect groomed run and turn it into a mini mogul field in an hour or two of swishing thier skis from side to side, thinking they are actually making turns :wink: . Do I begrudge them that pleasure ? No, I know they think I'm ruining the run by carving deep trenches in it for them to trip over.
Each to thier own.

By the way, snowboarding is much harder initially than skiing. Those kid's progress so fast because they are just that, kid's at the peak of thier capacity for learning.

As for beginners on the hill. So many people (and not just kids) forget that people below have the right of way. Even in the instances where they don't (like starting off again after stopping)It's not worth risking a collision. Also skiing in control means allowing for unexpected stops and movements by anyone below, but esp beginners, and has little to do with how expert you may think you are.

In other words I believe you should never impose your acceptable risk on others.

Trencher

Does anyone use poles for skiing ?

Ok, ok, so they are useful

Actually I'm not as anti pole as I make out. It just disturbs me when someone believes they are prerequisite for skiing.

The problem with not using poles everyday, is that when you would like to use them (powder, racing), they feel so awkward and cumbersome.


42/ scraping the snow off a snowboarders boot so they can get in in thier binding.

43/ throwing a pole to a snowboarder who is struggling to get up in deep powder

Trencher

Fit is most important. The helmet should not move or rotate to the back of your head. It should be just high enough above your eye brows to fit goggles on without squishing your nose. You might also consider how easy it is to hear with the helmet on. Some with pads over the ears, muffle too much sound. Helmets where the shell covers the ears seem to allow better hearing.

trencher

Ideally in snowboarding, you turn by edging and subtle weight shifts along the board. The problem is that at slow speeds, this doesn't work well and you need a little prerotation (anticipation) to assist the turn. However the instructers (in the US) don't want you to rotate to turn. So it makes those first turns at slow speeds more difficult. If you watched very carefully, you would have seen the instructor rotate thier upper body very slightly befor and toward the turn (although they would never admit it).

A nice groomed, but soft snow day would be perfect for a first time on a board. Wear wrist guards and maybe some pads for your butt and hips.

Every time you fall is a learning experience (A snowboard speeds up that learning experience). At some point you stop falling so often. Then later, you notice that when you do fall, you come straight back up, hardly even stopping. Sometimes now on skis, I'll boot out and fall on my hip. I'll let myself spin through 360, slap my skis down and use my downhill momentum to get up again, still with some speed in the turn. I don't think I would have learned to do that on skis.

Pick a nice day next year and try it again.

Trencher

I use the M9s for fun carving. They seem fine on ice for me. They have taken quite a beating (maybe 120 hours of hard carving) , but the foam core is giving me no problems. I can't comment on thier powder performance as I usually snowboard in those conditions. If you go for metrons, try to get the new lighter Neox bindings, unless your getting a good deal. I have the 157s and I'm about 160 lbs. From my limited powder experience on them, you might want the 164s for that, but the 157s would be great for everything else.

As for speed, like any small radius sidecut ski, they only feel stable when on edge. You eventually don't even think about keeping them slightly on edge when going fast in a straightish line, it just happens.

Trencher

Yet another thing to check out when looking for a resort - do they have a ski check and is there a charge. Any resort getting a few hundred emails asking that question might start to think it's important.

Trencher