Locked in an awkard position.

Hi Folks,

I had an 'unfunny' experience with a combination cable 'ski' lock when I was away in the Ski Welt last week. Normally I just swap skis with my wife when we stop for coffee/lunch/beer but having heard a few dodgy stories of ski/board thefts recently I had carried a Life Venture 4 digit combination cable lock the whole trip but never used it.

http://www.lifeventure.co.uk/products/security/cable-lock.html

We were skiing with a couple who also had a lock with them and always used theirs, so I was beginning to think I was tempting fate so I decided to for once follow suit and use mine on our last full day on the slopes. We had taken the gondola up to the top of Hohe Salve and I had dutifully locked our skis together but not to the rack. When I say 'our' skis I mean they're our own K2 all mountain skis with only a week or two on board and not hired jobs for the occasion. Meanwhile after a refreshing beverage we emerged to continue on but could I get the bloody thing to unlock. I huffed and I puffed but to no avail as the lock had jammed solid.
In the end I was able to struggle back to the gondola with the skis still locked together and head back down the mountain, so glad I hadn't locked then to the rack and eventually found a workshop where a nice chap cut the lock with the smallest pair of snips.
In the end we only lost an hour or so in the process plus a great deal of sweat and a hell of a lot of expletives, but if it had happened elsewhere without the gondola escape route it would have proved more tricky. The lock was so easy to cut was it really worth the hassle or should I have been carrying a pair of cutters just in case? Any thoughts?

Cheers,
Mark.

Quite frankly, I wouldn't bother at all, especially after that experience.
I've never used a lock, usually just swap skis if they going to be out of sight

Never used a lock don't even swap skis with the wife ...... never had a problem. I'd leave ski locks to the paranoid -)

I've never used a lock but friends have had skies stolen (in Flaine). I would usually have no concerns up the mountain but would be careful at base when near a road!

While your lock might be flimsy, it would probably be enough to put off most thieves who will simply go for the next set unlocked!

Wanderer wrote:I've never used a lock but friends have had skies stolen (in Flaine). I would usually have no concerns up the mountain but would be careful at base when near a road!

Yes I think thats probably more relevant usually. I have sometimes been amazed my skis were where i left them outside bars in places I've been before, especially Mayrhofen which has a busy road through it and tons of people up and down it.

I use a lock every time, and I mean every time. Call me paranoid, but for a bit of paranoia I know my beloved BBR'S are waiting for me!!!!

A friend who uses those cable locks a lot says he has one fail every few months. Probably the key type are better than the combination locks.