 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi, I need to 'pick' snowheaders' brains! What would you think of a barrier spray that helps stop snow building up on the soles of your ski boots? (Only natural, bio friendly ingredients). Applied before venturing out.
I would be VERY grateful for opinions. Thanks Alv123skiing
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I don't find it a problem. One more thing to faff with/forget/etc.
So no interest from me, sorry.
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| alvin123skiing wrote: |
Hi, I need to 'pick' snowheaders' brains! What would you think of a barrier spray that helps stop snow building up on the soles of your ski boots? (Only natural, bio friendly ingredients). Applied before venturing out.
I would be VERY grateful for opinions. Thanks Alv123skiing |
Two plastic bags you can put in your pocket (looks naff) or cling film is the answer. Or a can of deicer.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I have long been used to giving my boots a good bash to get loose snow off. A ski stick usually does the job. I dislike the widespread habit of vigorously kicking it off using the bindings - you wouldn't take a hammer to your bindings, so why smack them with a ski boot at the end of a long heavy leg? I had this drilled into me by an instructor, years ago, and it has stuck (like the snow......).
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@alvin123skiing, It will probably be more use between the climbing boot and crampons for those of us who forget poly bags.
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| pam w wrote: |
| (like the snow......). |
@alvin123skiing might have some spray for that too... 
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@alvin123skiing, seriously though, is this some sort of pre pitch, pre production survey?
I'm a fan of the beating my boots with a pole and i like to visually check for snow build up before committing myself to my bindings! A spray might take the focus off a procedure that I feel is important.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@alvin123skiing,
Simples, don't take your skis off.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Veg oil works wonders on ski boots and the horses hooves. Failing that CatTracks, failing that kick the snow off on your binding. Always good to see something being invented for a problem that doesn't really exist.... 
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I'd think it was a shitty gimmick that only mugs would buy - if you really want non stick veg oil aerosols* are available form any supermarket
* Lucky I didn't get Android spell nanny to correct that for me.
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@Dave of the Marmottes, or Teflon spray, or wd40, or just hit it with your pole like we all do!
* that cream old folks rub on their nether regions?! 
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You know it makes sense.
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@alvin123skiing, I think that's a very good idea. It may well be that folks could use veg oil or WD40; but that's not how most of us work. e.g.: why on earth is there one cleaner for the bathroom, and another for the kitchen — just daft.
Personally, I find that snow sticking to the bottom of my boots is a pain, and often, it's just not possible to actually view the bottom of your boots when you are standing in your skis — unless you are very flexible indeed. And having even a little snow on the bottom of your boots can stop your bindings closing fully. And often, it's not just "snow"; it's become impacted snow, which is almost ice, and hard to remove.
There is the whole "safety" angle as well, I personally have come out of my bindings at speed because there was impacted snow on the bottom of my boots — before I learnt the hard way to ensure it was all removed, and that often takes a very careful scraping, not just a quick bash with a ski pole.
Standing on one leg, whilst bashing the bottom of your boot with a ski pole is not easy for many folks.
Part of my work is advising people about their biz ideas, and one of the tips I give people, is if you are going to sell something, then sell a CONSUMABLE. Either literally — food, ice cream etc, or something like you are describing. I think you are on to a winner, and all the ski rental shops would love your product. What better than to offer it to skiers when they are renting their skis & boots? It's the perfect add-on, and could have a good mark-up for them. And it's a world-wide market, and most skiers are not dirt poor.
Also, it's the perfect product to have next to the till in ski shops; along with boot warmers, piste maps and lip balm.
You need to decide if it's a pressurised aerosol; or just a air pumped bottle. Plus, you need a big lever so folks can operate it with gloves on etc. You can tell folks to apply it ones in the morning, and once after lunch. And you need to ensure it does not make the boot easier to escape the bindings than the DIN setting say it should.
Good luck, and don't rely too much on consumer "research". Remember what Steve Jobs from Apple said: "It's not the consumer's job to know what they want".
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@PeDaSp, some good advise ish there BUT.....
Who exactly is the audience going to be?! -
Teens, nope
Your average Joe, nope
Inflexible people, possibly
Experienced skiers, nope
Europeans, big nope!! I mean seriously, the French would stand there and wee wee themselves laughing until they split in two watching some arthritic Brit with his bottle of 1 Cal spray or Cilit Bang trying to spray the bottom of their boots after lunch.....
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| PaulC1984 wrote: |
@PeDaSp, some good advise ish there BUT.....
Who exactly is the audience going to be?! - |
I hear there is a very, very crazy group of people who fly to the mountains in the depths of winter, and then put heavy plastic boots on their feet together with huge planks made of wood and metal. Then they walk for like half-a-mile to queue up for 20 minutes, and then climb into tiny cabins hanging on a bit of wire, crammed with other crazy folk, and are taken to the top of the mountain in sub-zero temperatures.
Then — and you're not going to believe this bit — they attach the planks to their feet and then throw themselves down the mountain on icey tracks!!! Sometimes, with no tracks at all!!
But it get's even crazier — they have special rescue teams waiting at points down the mountain, and even ambulance helicopters, because they so often fall over or crash into each other, breaking bones and tearing their knee joints. And they have to wear special crash helmets to help stop themselves suffering from brain damage!
And not only that, they often stop at lunch time and drink large quantities of a very expensive and dangerous chemical that causes loss of body co-ordination and spacial awareness and control. It's called Ethyl Alcohol I think, and that of course just makes everything 10 times worse.
Plus, and to top it all, they pay through the nose for all this — just a week of this craziness costs thousands of pounds. And they do it every year — sometimes more than once!!
These folks will buy anything, I guarantee it 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You could try silicone spray I suppose. It's the sort of thing you buy one can of and it lasts a lifetime. I should know, I have one. I think I may have used it to stop snow sticking to something, but I can't remember precisely what or why. It may have been ski related.
More generally. what sticks is a function of the type of snow and the temperature and what you're doing with it. If you're having trouble, I guess a little silicone spray on the bottom of the boot may help, but I'm not sure. Kicking them on the bindings mostly works, then those skier-stick things. In extremis ask your mate to hold your boot and poke it with the end of the stick thing. That always works.
Product-wise, well I think you can sell lots of tat to people who don't know any better, but anyone could by cheap unbranded silicone spray so it seems unlikely.
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Well, I'd buy it. Dunno about anyone else but I can be with a group of people who all have to wait for me because my boots are iced up. OH can't believe it. I bash and bash with my ski pole but can't do anything and he thinks I'm inept. Then he has a go and realises just how iced up my boots can get. I think it's the tread. It just seems to hold the ice.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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So there you go -out of respondents so far you have one person who finds icing a sufficient problem that she'd consider it and one who thinks skiers are mugs and will buy just about anything.
I really don't get it - I just wouldn't want the soles of my boots to be more slippy. The bigger issue for me is not the inconvenience of occasionally bashing a bit of snow off the sole but the risk of slipping when walking on vinyl, wood,tile or concrete floor or ice. Not everything in the ski world is covered in rubber matting.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
I mean seriously, the French would stand there and wee wee themselves laughing until they split in two watching some arthritic Brit with his bottle of 1 Cal spray or Cilit Bang trying to spray the bottom of their boots after lunch.....
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Is ClitBang what somebody was suggesting old folk rub on their nether regions?
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Don't think I'd buy it. I'm pretty expert at gently scraping the snow off on my bindings on those occasional days when sticky snow is a problem. Mrs FZ might be more inclined to use it, but she'd never remember to apply each day before skiing.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I went to a diving shop to buy some spray to keep my goggles clear. The assistant explained that they didn't stock it there as nobody ever bought it. He said, "Are you too posh to spit, then?"
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| Dave of the Marmottes wrote: |
So there you go -out of respondents so far you have one person who finds icing a sufficient problem that she'd consider it and one who thinks skiers are mugs and will buy just about anything.
I really don't get it - I just wouldn't want the soles of my boots to be more slippy. The bigger issue for me is not the inconvenience of occasionally bashing a bit of snow off the sole but the risk of slipping when walking on vinyl, wood,tile or concrete floor or ice. Not everything in the ski world is covered in rubber matting. |
Now that is something I had not thought of. I honestly think that walking down tile covered stairs to basement toilets in mountain restaurants is far more dangerous than skiing on the slopes! Saying that, when I take my skis off and walk a few feet to the wooden decking of an outside bar/restaurant, I often find myself slipping because of the impacted snow on the bottom of my boots. So it's swings and roundabouts.
I would give it a go is the answer, and see what the results were.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| PeDaSp wrote: |
I honestly think that walking down tile covered stairs to basement toilets in mountain restaurants is far more dangerous than skiing on the slopes! |
+1
Now, if someone could invent a backpack with a sort of universal portable Stannah Stairlift maybe they'd be on to something.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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That's why all those people wear airbags at resorts: they are not in fact posers, it's in case they slip on those stairs..
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You know it makes sense.
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Snowboarder here. This is actually quite big problem for me - my boots, have quite a chunky tred and the impacted snow builds up super fast, and you use your feet a bit more to get around on a snowboard, its also kind of painful if you strap in with it still under foot.
We dont have polls. so I try and scrap it off on the back of my bindings, which is kind of fiddy. Honestly the best solution is to knee down (like some kind of animal!) and rub it off with the back of my glove, after a few weeks of that the gloves are starting to wear.
I was genuinely considering grating of my tred, so it stopped happening, plastic bags also came to mind, Might try this veg oil solution though...that could work, and Id rather try something before I go damaging my boots.
to sumize, ask some borders...not sure how widespread the problem is, but its a constant frustration for me.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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That's the second time this weekend I've heard a snowboarder complaining about their boots. Has the earth slipped on its axis?
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Poster: A snowHead
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Not a problem for me (snowboard boot compacting problems), but i do get a bit of a buildup on my back foot binding from boot in/out scooting for the lift action. Snow sticks to the rubber grippy bits and needs periodic knocking off. No biggie.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| escooler wrote: |
| Honestly the best solution is to knee down (like some kind of animal!) and rub it off with the back of my glove |
So is it really such a problem - you all spend so much time sat on your back bottoms in the middle of a slope (usually over the brow of a hill) can't you just rub the snow off then
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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And is the suggestion really that we carry one of these things (with a long lever to be used with gloves) in our backpacks, for a second application after lunch?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Kickng off on bindings is entirely fine and all that's necessary. Been doing it for 45 years...
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