Ski "locks"

A snowHead

Are they a real deterrent? After yesterday's experience (near bottom of blog) I'm not so sure.

Would a determined thief be carrying cutters? Quite possibly. Do they carefully select the skis they need? Obviously. How difficult is it to cut the wire? For some makes/models you could probably work through it with a pair of scissors rolling eyes

. With a small pair of pliers it takes a split second with virtually no pressure at all as the wire's so thin.

Can't remember exactly what I paid at the Intersport Bourg St Maurice, but it wasn't cheap. Two, three weeks' use... then it decides to refuse to release with my skis 'firmly' attached to a railing by a mountain restaurant. I hadn't changed or forgotten the code, it just got completely stuck.

Had the owner in fits though, seeing how easy it was to cut the wire (he'd offered me a pair of bolt cutters to start with).

Anyone had similar problems? Any recommended makes that are a bit more solid and resistant (and don't weigh a ton to carry around....)?

A snowHead

PG saw one of these bing used today in Grandvalira and thought the same. Someone who can bite bottle tops off could bite through the wire !

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I've got one for my board and anyone who's with me. It's a Burton one with the retractable cable and triangular lock that sits in the middle. I've not had any problems with it so far.

I know it's very easy to cut through but it's a deterrant. With tons of boards lying around with no protection i'm quite happy with it and i really couldn't carry around something much more substantial.

I think it is possibly more difficult to know with boards (my view anyway) as there are so many different designs, even for the same board, which is a good one/expensive to a cheap/poor one by just scanning an eye over them where as what i know are "good"/expensive skis do tend to stick out, i don't know whether it's just the styling of expensive skis but i tend to notice them more than boards Puzzled

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PG, I picked one up at the start of last week - as much to protect my carbon poles (which are a big draw to random tea leafs) as my skis. Really only for use on the mountain as I don't leave skis outside resort bars.

I don't think anyone will carry bolt cutters up the hill, nor have I seen anyone skiing down with armfuls of stolen goods, so I think anything that makes my battered skis (and poles) less attractive is worth the €8 or so I paid for it.

Doesn't seem that easy to get it undone with the combination though - but I suspect a decent yank with ski leverage would break it open if necessary.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

They are more useful in deterring dozy ski-renters from taking your planks by mistake. I don't know anyone who has had their skis deliberately pinched up the mountain, but a mate had his skis taken by mistake, and he wasted several hours waiting for the restaurant to close, then took the last pair of skis left outside (left by aforementioned dozy git) to the hire shop they came from, they then took the serial number and tracked down the real "owner" etc etc. He ended up wasting nearly a whole day sorting it all out before he was re-united with his own planks.

I always use a lock if I am leaving my skis on a rack out of sight for any length of time.

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After some divvy taking the wrong set of skis in VT we even get the kids to split their skis we then put them as far apart as possible. Once you get into the habit it is no trouble

After all it is free

PG, I've got a couple of locks bought in the UK that we used last week in Arc1950 (great to see the pic of Luigi's in your blog, we spent most of our apres ski in there just where you were standing!!).

The locks are the Kryptonite Retractor Lock

http://www.kryptonitelock.com/inetisscripts/abtinetis.exe/PublicArticleDetails@public?artid=2758&atf=products_item&pgrp=20

It's designed for skis and snowboards with a retractable cable and dials easy to use with gloves on. I find the locks an excellent product, IIRC they cost about a fiver in the UK. No idea if they would resist a pair of pliers but they have a security rating of 5 out of 7 for their cables (1 being the lowest), so I'd imagine they'd be fairly good at resisting Puzzled

Interestingly I didn't see anyone else using locks in Les Arcs last week, but I saw a lot of people mixing & matching their skis but then leaving them together in a pair - an interesting method and probably no deterrent to a quick grab - the thief may end up with 2 different skis but you're still missing 1 which is not much better than missing both!

we saw a few of these in Soldeu last week and wondered if it was worth the effort. We tend to swap our skis with one another, just to make the casual thiefs life difficult.

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Ok .. well I can cast a thieves eye on this product. i bought one last year and decided to test it out by bolting it to my bed. Whoops ... I maintain the thing was broken but I may have messed up setting the combonation Embarassed

Anyway the only way for me to release the skis i decided was to break the lock off ... and I managed it in two minutes with a pair of plyers. Will stop the opportunist and that is all. I still use one though ... and even remember the code now!

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I don't think that those cable locks offer any protection against a determined ski thief who will probably be carrying a discreet pair of pliers. But it might help if you are doing battle with a reluctant insurance company? Me, I keep my fingers crossed and keep my skis in view if I can. So far I've not had any skis stolen (although I did have to chase after a resort bus in Les Arcs once because someone had 'mistakenly' put my skis on the back of the bus while I was sat in my car making a phone call), and hope my insuarnce pays out if ever it did happen.

You know it makes sense.

After looking at the various 'ski locks' avaliable in my area,I decided they were all overpriced junk,so I made my own.Plastic coated multi strand stainless wire with a loop at either end + a decent combination lock.You would need a pair of decent cutters to get through this.Only felt the need to use it a few times,but its certainly secure.
My usual tactic is to bury our skis behind a load of others.Safety in numbers Very Happy

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Splitting skis seems a cheap, easy and possibly useful precation to me, with or without a lock. Of course, you might be seen by a bad guy, or a bad guy might wander about until he spots the matching ski, but it might deter theft.

A snowHead

We carry 2 locks, and split the skis, and park them well apart...call me paranoid Laughing

. PG, the only place I have had a lock broken was outside the restaurant at the top of the TransArc. The entire rack collapsed though, and I kept my skis as the noise brought everyone out to see Toofy Grin

A snowHead

I split my skis with a mate in Vail on the mountain last season, leaving my poles on one "set" of skis and his poles on the other. The two "pairs" were ~15m apart, but not locked up.

Came back from lunch to find my skis and his poles OK, but my poles and one of his skis gone.

A guy working for the mountain was extremely helpful, and stayed with my mate until lunch had died down, to see if there was an odd ski obvious, but no luck. At the end of the day there was one B3 (my mate was on B2s). And it was not marked, so no idea of where it came from.

The mountain was very helpful - gave my friend an action packed skidoo ride back to the top of the gondola, a lunch voucher which was enough for 4 or 5 of us and free hire for the remaining two or three days. They even liaised with the police to sort out the report, and continued to bend over backwards after we were back in the UK to produce the paperwork to satisfy the insurance.

However, the insurance company did not pay up, because skis were not secured. It was arranged via the SCGB, with (I think) Primary.

So, I'd go back to Vail, but I won't be renewing with SCGB and I will use a lock, regardless of how useless it seems to be. I suspect this incident was just an accident, albeit perpetrated by an idiot. Even I can tell the difference between a B2 and a B3 (although both were basically white then)

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

PG, Proper locks for skis! ONGUARD DOBERMAN (Lock No. 5032) here

I have used it for a long time without any problems. DON'T buy one of those other 'Things' again! I will bring you out a Doberman next week.

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BernardC, excellent, thanks! Just hope it gets on with my Mastiff.

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I don't have my own skis, but my rental skis are not covered on my insurance policy for theft unless locked. Hence I carry a lock merely as:

1. A slight deterrant
2. To satisfy insurance should they be stolen - hopefully the thief will be kind enought to leave the cut-through/bitten through lock at the scene for the police report to prove I had locked them!

It is a bob-standard 'Life Venture' retractable cable lock (from Blacks) - similar to the Kryptonite one mentioned above. I doubt it is particularly tough. As I actually have 2 (but one is sufficient to go round 2 sets of skis) I was vaguelly toying with the idea of seeing if I could cut through the one not in use with my leatherman during lunch on one occasion ... Cool

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We always use 'bog standard' retractable cable locks, and have never had any problems, and neither have any of our friends who all use them (and have spent much more time away than we have!)

I don't think there will ever be anything that is completely thief proof, but I work on the basis that if an opportunist is lurking around, then my albeit flimsy little lock is better than nothing at all!

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I have a bike lock I carry around - multistrand cable plastic covered, with several keys attached about my person. It is a bit bulky/heavy, but the free end just about goes through the hole in the heel-release lever of the Freerides, so it does work. I'm pretty sure a pair of pliers/wire-cutters would make little impression, but of course it would not stand much chance against bolt-cutters. However I guess taking a pair of bolt-cutters to a ski-rack may be a bit difficult to make look nonchalant.

Having said that, I still often just split the skis outside a restaurant rolling eyes

.

After all it is free

Like ise, we don't use a lock in CH, but we do in France. Too many dozy renters, a deterrent to the casual thief - far easier and less obvious to nick an unlocked pair. A determined thief will get what they're after anyway, whether it's skis, TVs, jewellery, cars etc.

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There have been warnings broadcast over the radio and tv in France recently. Some have hinted at (a very small minority of) impoverished seasonnaires trying to supplement their income. I heard one gendarme detailing the increase in manpower needed over the holiday period in French resorts to handle the big increase in thefts.

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Frosty the Snowman, exactly what I've been taught to do ever since I started skiing

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Get one of those £200 motorbike chain locks - need an oxy torch to cut through those hehehe

In Arc 2000 the other week I was skiing with a friend and as we were coming out of a snack bar I was telling her how I always lock my skis as B2's are so common they tend to get picked up by mistake. I had locked my skis to hers which were pink flowery Rossi's. Right next to them were an identical 2 pairs of skis - same size B2's as mine with a pair of hire Rossi's the same as hers. Perfect timing.

Hmmm - if my lock ever fails I have a leatherman in my pack with a good wirecutter on it. It's the diamond file on it I like though - handy for smoothing out the dings.

I was in les Arcs locking my new skis when I could (but I did not see anyone else doing it) most of the stands I used were not useful, where as in Canada( where losts of poeple did) the racks were made of narrow metal/wood or had loops in to lock them.

I treat locking my skis in 2 ways:

1 to stop accidental removal.
2 to show the insurance company the broken lock that I had made the effort. I really dont think it would stop a thief who wanted them. you can get some very small but powerful bolt croppers nowadays.

BTW if you got a B&Q store close at hand you can pick them up for 5 or 6 quid.

You know it makes sense.

Why not, and it is always possible, have your skis where you can see them!?

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

A snowHead

They might not cause much problem to a determined thief but certainly act as a deterrent & are much less of a pita than splitting skis. The most hazardous places are ski racks near carparks imo as they are ripe for opportunistic theft. I've heard of very rare smash and grab raids where the scumbags have just dummped a load of skis into a truck and driven off (probably not locals to the resort in question).

Also I'd say sticker up your skis so no clown can mistake them for his.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I have a lock with quite a clever design - it basically clamps the skis together, plus there is a cable for attaching to a nearby post or the like. Can't remember what it's called, and am not at home at the moment - but it does seem better than the standard cable ones.

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fatbob, My first season there was a "gang" doing just that - every week. Police relatively useless so a wee "sting" was put into place. Miscreants deposited at the Gendarmerie, oddly enough having fallen down stairs on the way.

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Ski "locks"

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