 Poster: A snowHead
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I often see folks having what seems like great fun on these things, and often thought about trying them. What are they like ? are they worth trying for a day or will I just regret giving up a day skiing. I wish my friend or someone had them to give me a tryout on them. Or are they just a gimmick?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I have the Salomon SBPRO ( said SB10 pro on another thread  ) they are good fun but I don't take em serious though I am hoping to use them on features later.
I am new to using them myself and not used them a lot, others on here will have a lot more experience than me with them.
I do not know how they compare to the salomon Blades as these are wider underfoot and closer to what are called skiboards. I would say see if any snowhead lives close to you for going to a fridge who will let you try them ( I am close to Chillfactore so if that is close enough I will be there in Nov on the monthly pass ).
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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 asked for 'short skis as I'm a beginner' on my first trip. Got 145's - and I'm 6ft 
Have to say they were great though, so blades probably have their place.
Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Thu 30-10-14 13:04; edited 1 time in total
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I have a few times
They're stupid and useless, but at the same time hilarious and ridiculous good fun. Every time I've used them has been with a group of others and we'd all end up rallying around trying to jump and spin off the most unlikely features, beatering offpiste, and laughing at each other. It's kinda like going to a fancy dress party in drag and trying to shake your ass/sway your hips like girls seem able to do effortlessly: normally failing totally, but having fun anyway.
Useless if you want to ski well or any sort of interesting terrain mind, plus you look like a tool.
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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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plus you look like a tool
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+1
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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great for teaching kiddies though... you can walk around in them easily and snow plough to your heart's content!
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Or are they just a gimmick?
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yup!
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They're stupid and useless, but at the same time hilarious
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yup, that too!
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plus you look like a tool
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yup, and that!
+ what @flangesax said.
If you don't get them up in a radical carve, IME, the inside blade wobbles around so much you may as well blade 1 footed.
They're a complete laugh for an afternoon. Carve blades need to be really carved, and are worse that useless in powder. Fat ones (especially Big Foots, which are about 60cm long and 110mm wide) are a laugh for tumbling about in waist deep piste side powder, but it's certainly not skiing (even if a sH who owns a pair did the Hidden Valley in the Dolomites on them).
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Yes, even owned a few pairs over the years.
Great as a teaching tool, but only for very specific problems, especially balance.
Good fun for messing about as a group of disproprotionate ability - the 1 week skier can get down the mountain just as fast as the 20 year skier, possibly not with the same style.
It is not realy skiing and they are not a substitute to skis early in the learning process, it can be very detremental to your future skiing if your fist week is spent only on these.
SAFTEY - must be skied in the correct lenghts for height, or you will get injured. The saftey relies on you toppling over instead of releasing. The longer ones with bindings negate the befits of having such a short, and short radius plank.
IN the first few years, many people (especially parents of children) who were refused the ones they liked the look of in a rental shop and told they could only have the very short ones, bought some becuse they were relatively cheap - this lead to a huge increse in accidents ivolving serious lower leg brakages - more than one doctor at hospitals near resorts told me it was as if ski bindings had taken a 20 or 30 jump back in technology - the injuries they were seeing were the same as form skis with non release bindings of yester year.
I have'nt worked in the rental trade in a few years know, but if memory serves. Blades of 89cm you must be over 5ft, 99cm or longer 5ft4in
Once tried using a pair of Kids snowboards (mounted with ski rental bindings) as powder blades (7 years before I saw McConkey do it in a movie) - worked ok in steep trees, but too slow to be any use elesewhere
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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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Hi
I have owned a pair of Salomon 99cm Snowblades for a number of years. I have always really enjoyed using them.
On my blades I removed the non releasing bail bindings and replaced them with a pair of proper Salomon bindings. Much improved. Providing you keep them on their edges and stick mainly to the groomed you will have a lot of fun.
Stuff what you may look like and what people think. It is your ski trip - go for it and enjoy yourself !
Griggs
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I've had a go on them a few times in the past. They're great fun but they look absolutely crap. It's impossible to look stylish on blades.
They bite very well on ice but are totally useless in any depth of snow, and you stop dead if you suddenly hit deep slush!
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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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Meribel, 2009:
Youngster in lift queue pointing at someone carrying snowblades: "daddy, daddy, what are THEY for?"
Aged parent: "they're for hooligans"
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They do look stupid alright, I always thought that, but wondered was the fun aspect high enough to risk looking like a muppet, not so sure now, think I may regret leaving my skis off for a day, the kids ski well enough for me no longer needing to snowplough down runs with them, they are at the bombing on stage picking their own way down, and hockey stopping. I always fancied the big foots off piste , then again I am a gadget nut and always out to try new stuff, ( so yea im a muppet)
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You know it makes sense.
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@bobski62, ROFL, @HoneyBunny, , I don't look stylish anyway,  but I try.
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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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In France snowblades are almost exclusively used by teenage chavs and people who find proper skis too difficult to turn (think overweight mums and dads forced to go skiing by the other half or kids), so obviously when you see them on the slopes it's an unskilled disaster waiting to happen. If someone can actually ski it's a different matter, but given 9/10 bladers fall in the previous category you'll get lumped in with them anyway. And look a tool.
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Poster: A snowHead
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lol, ok, I haven't skied in France for several ears, and have only really seen them the odd time in Austria and Italy, they are there but not so many, mmmmmmmmm I think SH has managed to put that genie back in the bottle for me.
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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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As a wise man said: You should try everything once. Except bestiality and morris dancing. And snowblading.
ps only joking
disclosure: years ago I was given an old pair of big feet (kind of similar idea) - I spent a couple of fun afternoons on them. Then I brought them with me on ski holidays for 3 years and never once bothered to use them. They are in the garage somewhere.
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Used to use them all the time until our son did his ACL when it didn't release. Messed up a whole week's holiday. Now up in the loft somewhere. They were fun on nicely groomed pistes and moguls but sank in powder (we didn't have fat ones) and on ice it is nice to have 12 foot of edge to maintain grip. Wouldn't go back.
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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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Great for sorting out fore/aft balance. Get it wrong and you're on your face or on your @r$€. Fun for an afternoon of carving, but haven't done it for a decade or more.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Two of us with my friend's regular instructor used blades for a days lesson.
as i'd only just been introduced to carving skis it was very useful to get away from leaning way forward and pressuring the ski tips for turns etc, instead using the edges and ski radius etc.
Also good training with your boots unclipped to learn to carve turns - and as you're poleless it pretty much forces you to get your hands up and in a good position to maintain balance if you want to make rapid progress without tumbling over...
Hilarious fun if you like carving - we went down la Face in Val d'Isere on them as a school of three.
Also useful if you're helping a very young child to ski etc.
Obviously you use them on piste only.
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Great for getting you centred ... Great for beginners to muck around on so they get used to the movement without the planks on their feet. Even short skis are alien to newbies.
Got my kids skiing by wearing these whilst throwing an american football around between us on a gentle slope. Their mind was on the ball rather than the blades which became second nature after a while.
Anything after .. Tool
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I was given some yesterday (unexpectedly) as a birthday gift so tried them at Castleford last night for the first time. Not sure what I looked like...a overweight man in his late forties...but I don't give a stuff, they were fun to play on for an hour and I"ll have a go on them in resort. Quite a change to swap from my 179cm 102 underfoot K2's but fairly easy to ski although slippery and unstable (or was that me.). Didn't have the confidence on them to try any of the tricks or jumps yet but maybe next time. Wouldn't want to spend a full day on them but ok for a bit of fun.
As a wise man said earlier...
| Griggs wrote: |
Stuff what you may look like and what people think. It is your ski trip - go for it and enjoy yourself !
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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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Like riding a unicycle: fun, tricky to do well, but ultimately limiting compared to a regular bike. A decent skier on a pair of blades is good to watch, although most people I see on short skis are using their characteristics (very easy to twist to change direction) to ski badly.
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Have to confess that I did not use my Snowblades last year but I am going to take them on a forthcoming trip to Les Arcs to use for the odd morning or afternoon. You do see alot of people in France skiing badly on them - but use them properly to carve on piste and you will have a lot of fun. Aim to get some with releaseable bindings rather than the cheaper non releasable bail bindings so at least you have peace of mind that if you take a tumble the blade should release rather than twisting knees into shapes they were never intended to be in !
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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"but use them properly to carve on piste and you will have a lot of fun"
I think they are good to get the feeling of carving early in skiing but once you've learned how to carve a proper ski it feels so much more precise, stable and powerful.
I tried big feet (primitive, early and very short snowblade) back in the era of long skinny skis which I could only really carve on big open, moderate angled pistes. I found I could carve big feet all over the place. As you say good fun. But with "modern" i.e. last 15-20 years! shaped skis you can carve them all over the place anyway at normal lengths.
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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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@jedster, yep.
I tried snowblades in 1989 (had to ski down the Wall on them for a forfeit). Actually, I think what I tried was just the ?80cm of tip cut off an old pair of skis and mounted with bindings, which the shop was actually renting out.
Dubious engineering!
And rubbish.
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I totally agree that full length skis offer a much more stable carving platform and that modern skis allow for carving all over the place. I ski Salomon X-Wing Tornado TI's which I absolutely adore but for a laugh and something different I still enjoy the odd morning on the 99cm Snowblades. At the end of the day it is all about getting out on the snow, having fun and enjoying being on your skis whatever shape or length they may come in.
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You know it makes sense.
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I once tried Big Feet in the early 90s when I was a kid, nervous and rubbish. Found them so easy to use (I was very into rollerblading at the time as well and the similarities were so close) and I was more confident. Did nothing for my actual technique mind. Just covered up the fact as soon as I change back to skis I was back to pizza/french fry.
One major drawback, they were soooo slow. I was a slow skier as it was but this just made it even worse. Keeping up with our group was almost impossible and very frustrating for them.
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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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@TheDoctor,
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| rollerblading ... and the similarities |
Except that when I actually took rollerblading lessons and was getting an initial appraisal the instructor's first comment was, "Ah, you're a skier aren't you. You're doing it (blading) all wrong. just cos it feels like it works, doesn't mean it is working properly".
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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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The truly hip are monoskiing, of course.
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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 did it quite a few years ago. good for a break from ski's and a lot of fun.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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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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| coops1967 wrote: |
The truly hip are monoskiing, of course.
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It's Smokin Joe!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Loads of fun! Give them a go. You can even do off piste on them if you keep your speed up and have good balance. BUT IMO they are just a fun toy. I think it was 20 plus years ago when I had my first pair. 
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Is that bloke still promoting those blades with wings things on equipment reviews? I'm sure if you could get him to stop endlessly banging on about how any idiot could easily ski down a 60 degree powder filled couloir he could probably give loads of advice about blades.
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he'll be back 
the blades with wings do exist (seen a pair in Obertauern)
but imho they're more like heelies, and I've never seen anything further forward of the toes in contact with snow (regardless of how many vids might get posted).
I'll stick with real skis tyvm.
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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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Hubby arranged to switch his hire ski's for blades to give them a try.... Unfortunately the day he had arranged to do it we had a massive dump overnight and it was still snowing so there was a good 6inches of powder on top of the pistes. That is the first and only time I had seen hubby do a somersault. He had good fun but hasn't bothered again. If you are hiring though, why not switch for a day (or half day) you may as well give them a try
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So after all the above posts they are fun for a morning or afternoon, you can not take em serious or be taken serious on them, but hey who gives a short bladed ar2e.
Buy some secondhand stick em in the suitcase ( normally the one the misses has because that is always the biggest  ) or in your ski bag.
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FAQ
