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Old-ish snowboarder wanting to start skiing too...any advice?


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Been boarding about 10 years now, love it to bits but also intrigued by skiing past 2 or 3 years so rented for a couple of days in Shiga over NY...AWESOME! Was up fast and getting plenty of turns in, keeping up with the wife pretty good and generally having a lot of fun. So, now I'm thinking to jam up the garage with even more off-season sports gear etc and wondering where to start. Of course I'll do some shop research etc but non-invested advice always welcome re: sizes, setups etc. I'm 182cm, 71 kg, 43 yrs old and very fit.

 

Cheers

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Cheers for the info. Telemark? Have an image of it being quite the skilled endeavour, I'm keen to go but shouldn't I get some more solid basic non-telemark skills down first? Also, do people recommend any kind of specific instruction or simply have at it?

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The height/weight ratio conjures up a nice, upright, old-school style tele stance. Just add lurk and Paul Parker cap.

 

But in all seriousness, if chairmanoftheboard is looking for a new challenge this is one option. I reckon its a bit more physically demanding than snowboarding and alping skiing, but therein lies the fun. As for getting down some basic skiing skills and then moving on to tele, a lot of alpine skiers found it hard "break old habits" when trying out tele at first. I too had this problem in my first few outings so if its something you're considering, it may be better just to jump right into it.

 

ps - if buying new, gear can be a bit pricey

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Originally Posted By: Myoko Guy
I got into boarding more than 10 years ago and would never go back to skis - although I might not have a choice next year when my daughter will be big enough to start learning to ski.


Never say never wink

And skis have changed dramatically in the past 10 years. You may be pleasantly surprised

Mike
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Thanks Scott, indeed in my research the cost looks fairly challenging. Think some 2nd hand could be on the cards whatever I choose. Any advice on choosing booots etc in general? I rented some recent and good quality Salomon boots that felt great, anything I should be looking for?

Mike, too true, my wife was a skier until about 10 years ago, when she hopped on some new skis recently she was just all over it and very taken from the off.

How strange, a direct mailout from ICI Sports just came through my post box about a sale starting Friday...uh-oh....providence?

 

edit:any recommends on 2nd hand skis, gear etc?

 

 

cheers

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I took up skiing just as parabolic skis were coming into fashion - southern winter 1996. Did try straight skis once (loaned from a friend) and did not have much fun. Was early intermediate then, maybe a bit easier for me now, but why bother trying?

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I made the switch the other way last season from skis to board. After 30 years on skis it was heavy being totally wobbly again. It's taken me maybe 20 days on snow to get to kind of where I was on skis, i.e. being able to aggressively attack my turns and commit full edges at reasonable speed. It clicked with me about halfway through this season's trip. Now it feels like it used to skiing - makes you realise that there's not that much difference when you boil it down. A good on edge turn is a good on edge turn, whatever you have under your feet.

 

For me there pluses and minus both ways, but it's more around the bits that aren't about sliding down the hill.

 

Pluses for me = comfortable boots, lighter gear, ease in powder, being able to slide down sideways if I get out of my depth... ashamed

 

Minuses = the pain of the flat traverse, all that unbuckling and buckling

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Originally Posted By: grazza

Minuses = the pain of the flat traverse, all that unbuckling and buckling


whatever happened to step-in bindings? they were in about 10 years ago?

a pity the rear bindings cant be a blend of what we have now, and step-in
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Originally Posted By: chairmanoftheboard


edit:any recommends on 2nd hand skis, gear etc?


cheers


Aside from the classifieds here and on other forums, there's always 2nd hand shops and good ole fashioned gomi hunting. Also some of the smaller/local ski shops will have older model gear going for pretty cheap. ICI Sports (Matsumoto) had a 2 year old model boot, size 28 going for 70% off that I kick myself for not getting at the time.
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Never tried steps ins, you don't see them much these days. Don't know why. A rear step in binding would make life easier though.

 

Here's another idea. Skating on a snowboard would be way easier if you could work out a front binding that could could be quickly rotated so that your front foot went lengthwise along the deck, then click back across the deck when you want to slide properly with both feet in the bindings. This would let you skate properly like on a skateboard, and would probably make traversing a breeze. Any engineers out there?

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Just a bit of a dnurken afterthought, but 43 isn't old - it's apparently the new 33 (or something like that). Was out for a full day of skinning/skiing today with 3 other guys ranging in age from 50 to 67 and they were doing circles around me.

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Old-ish...doesn't mean much to me but figured it might be worth taking into account ie style and gear-wise. Now trying to figure out a broad set of ski/boot specs ie length, width etc that might work for my needs then start looking. Think a trip to Kanda way is on the cards ..uh-oh!

 

@Grazza...check some Flow bindings, flip up/down back to get them on/off, don't have to sit down, even pretty easy to just lock in and go while you're skating.

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Originally Posted By: gareth_oau
Originally Posted By: grazza

Minuses = the pain of the flat traverse, all that unbuckling and buckling


whatever happened to step-in bindings? they were in about 10 years ago?

a pity the rear bindings cant be a blend of what we have now, and step-in


K2s brilliant
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Originally Posted By: grazza
Never tried steps ins, you don't see them much these days. Don't know why. A rear step in binding would make life easier though.

Here's another idea. Skating on a snowboard would be way easier if you could work out a front binding that could could be quickly rotated so that your front foot went lengthwise along the deck, then click back across the deck when you want to slide properly with both feet in the bindings. This would let you skate properly like on a skateboard, and would probably make traversing a breeze. Any engineers out there?


Something like that on the market already one brand is called Swivler never tried it though.
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My advice? Do it!

 

No more cold backside from sitting down to strap in, no more wasted time coming off the lifts, more time on the snow, ease of skating over flat sections, all round challenge, etc...

 

I respect boarders and boarding (except when they do their piste grooming act), but I have to say skiing has everything going for it, and more boarders should try it.

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