Need for excellent ski equipment(no real budget limit)

A snowHead

Hi,

I have already gotten most of the ski equipment I need. However, I still need some answers as regards the best ski-equipment, and am hoping for some advice here. Currently, for a pleasant change, I have no real budget-issues, though I think I would still balk at the prospect of paying, say, £2000 for a pair of ski-goggles if a £25 or £200 pair would do instead.

1) My biggest problem is, I think, solved. I need some ski-boots for wide-feet and also need the ski-boots to be altered to be only 12 degrees from the vertical to avoid the previous 3 years' of misery and pain while skiing. I'm basically looking now at 5 brands of the widest ski boots, preferably ones which can be the most easily customised/altered. My previous ski-boots were really bad, with plastic at the back, so that the main, much-needed alteration could not be done by the bootfitter. If anyone knows of any unusual brands I may have missed, that can cater to more than 106mm-wide feet without first being altered, let me know!(Other than bespoke ski-shoes which are, anyway, always made, apparently, bending forwards hevaily).

2) I am mildly short-sighted and also have a huge problem with the ski-googles misting up either because of my warm breath or because of the mist/fog/snow/humidity of the relevant ski weather. I have no such problems in sunny weather, but have no interest in wearing ski goggles during those times. Could anyone please give me names of ski goggles that are available in Europe, that are for men, are able to have prescription lenses inserted for myopic people, and, most of all, have excellent anti-fog/anti-misting capabilities. Thanks!

3) After years of avoiding these useless horrors, I am now forced to buy a blasted ski-helmet. Apparently, these off-piste companies now force everyone to wear a ski-helmet. Could someone please tell me of any ski-helmets which help cool down/ventilate the head,(heating not an issue), which might possibly allow a slot of ski-goggles, if such exists(??), which don't block peripheral vision or reduce one's hearing capability?

4) I need to hire some off-piste skis of 100mm width. Does anyone know which off-piste ski-brand(s) are best? I am intending to ski in late February off-piste for a week.

5) What sort of ski-wax should I buy for February snow? There is little choice available in the Austrian resorts I visit. I would also be interested in a more ecological alternative than usual.

Thanks for any advice.

A snowHead

1. Don't worry about the Boots - Worry about the Bootfitter. If you give your area, someone should be able to advise.

2. Oakley can take prescription inserts - RX Sport, among others, will do this. Prizm Hi-Pink is good for flat light conditions.

3. Salomon do helmets with sliding vents and a pump air fitting system.

4. The "best" Ski will depend on your preference, how good a skier you are and your size/weight/aggressiveness...there are good options from Blizzard, Volkl, Nordica, Scott and Atomic

5. Do you mean "top up" wax...if so I like Swix F4

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

Yeah, 1) is purely a boot fitting issue although I do not understand your 12 degree issue. At all. Any boot can be made to fit. You just want to optimise the process. You need to see a good fitter who will tell you what you need. Where are you based?

2) is almost certainly a user problem. You are probably putting your goggles on your forehead. Daily disposable contacts?

3) who forces helmets on adults?

4) skis entirely down to your preference. Maybe you can tell the difference, maybe you can’t. No-one on here can help, really. Very few poor skis on market. I like Volkl and Blizzard, they are well regarded. Volkl 90eight or Mantra, Blizzard Bonafide (or Cochise).

5) wax? You have no budget limitations. You have someone do your wax for you.

Very strange questions, IMV! Puzzled

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Funnily enough, we all seem to be having the same conversations we had last time... rolling eyes

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No idea what special type top-up wax is. I just use additional ski wax most ski-days, partly because the council fools love to spray the lowest parts of pistes with gravel, and I think that protects the skis a little bit, and because I d not want to slow down when schussing, if at all possible.As a kid, I used to be able to buy 4 different bars of ski wax, each of which catered to each of the 4 different types of ski-snow, such as (I think?)powder, easter-skiing, low snow-levels, ice.

Read about Oakley prism.Trouble is that there are some complaints about inserting the batteries etc. I was, if possible, looking for a pair of men's ski goggles that perhaps needed no batteries but just had high-tech surfaces that prevented mist forming or some such. Of course, if that's not possible. I did read about this "Abom" product that seemed to do the trick, plus it had prescription-lens possibilities, but it is only sold in the US, and the import-duties are horrendous, these days. How I yearn for the earlier days of the Internet where I could discreetly order much cheaper products from the US without being slapped with vast import-taxes!

Any other tips re ski goggles. I may have no choice re the Oakley one, and it might be OK, but I would like to check out some other possibilities as well, first.

Thanks, I'll check out Salomon ski helmets.

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@CromCruach, most decent goggles claim to have antifog coatings. Honestly? Either they are on your face or they are not near anything moist. Nothing in between. Not on forehead, etc.

Otg versions clearly come with their own issues.

Didn’t we discuss all this before?

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Swix F4 is a Universal condition wax that you rub onto the skis on a daily basis...and it does make the skis glide faster.

Oakley Prizm has no batteries...it is a lens tech that works well in flat light, covering a wide range of conditions...though the Hi-Pink is mostly for lower light. Prizm Rose works well in most conditions. Check out the Oakley Flight Deck, which a great field of vision (probably the biggest on the market).

After all it is free

Wax is unlikely in the extreme to protect bases from stones (how could it?)

Thanks. Did I ask questions here previously? I don't remember. I don't recall being concerned about ski goggles until just now.Previous years, the main issue was all about the ski-boots hurting me all the time.

Ok, I'll check out Oakley more carefully re details.

Re Helmets:- St Anton at one point considered forcing all skiers to wear helmets, but decided against this as 70% of the skiers already wore ski helmets anyway. Plus, off-piste ski schools force all to wear a ski-helmet. Stupid, really, as plenty of ski-accidents happen anyway to people wearing ski helmets, including fatal ones. The problem is that ski helmets may guard against impact, but not recoil. What's worse is that studies have shown that wearing helmets makes bikers too confident and thus increases the risk of accidents, and the same, I suspect, applies to ski-helmet-wearers(ie less able to hear, less peripheral vision etc.)

I cannot use contacts. I tried orthokeratology contact-lenses once, it was a disaster.Putting goggles on forehead makes it mist up? Well, actually, I would have this issue even when the goggles were over my eyes.

Swix F4? Ok, I'll buy it online..

Well, so far, I have 3 options suggested to me online:- Oakley, Abom or Julbo. Any other suggestions?

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

I agree very weird I know of almost no one who waxes every day skiing outside race courses and especially not on hire skis. Why bother?

I don't really buy the experienced skier who knows nowt about goggles or those outrageously fat 100mm skis either.

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@CromCruach, yep.

Your whole thread here http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?p=3083497&highlight=#3083497.

Your whole contacts thing is based on what I understand was a great sounding but completely hopeless Soviet Russian idea to reshape corneas. I am astonished you were even prescribed it. Try Focus Dailies. World of difference, even with your very mild prescription.

No, goggles go over eyes, or on the table. Forehead might be ok but not on top of hat. Goggles get cold and fog up.

Soooo.... you aren’t being forced to wear a helmet at all? Puzzled

then don’t wear one. Unless you want to. Then do so.

Life really isn’t this complicated.

snow reports

@CromCruach, you've already said that you get hot when skiing, so presumably you're sweating. If you then put ski goggles on your sweaty forehead it's going to lead to moisture in the goggles. That's why they fog up. Keep them dry and you shouldn't have an issue.

I do not put the goggles on my forehead, just over my eyes. I only wear goggles, anyway, if visibility is bad re snowing/deep fog. Also, I want to hire a private ski teacher for going off-piste and they force one to wear a ski-helmet. Not the end of the world, but I want to make sure that it ventilates, otherwise I fear I will sweat like a pig.

Hmm, looking at the previous thread I seem to have made, I was accused of being a bit overly-aggressive. I am not "short"(being 5ft 11.5 inches!). Please bear in mind, that, in recent years, I have been either hiring ski-boots or been conned into buying such, all of which were extremely painful to my legs, cutting off circulation and forcing me to stop skiing c. 2pm in the afternoons or earlier.Several ruined ski holidays in a row can make a man a bit annoyed.Anyway, now, finally, I have the cash to avoid future ski problems.

As regards being an "expert", I don't think(?) I ever claimed to be one. Granted, I have been skiing for 1 or 2 weeks a year since the age of 6(I'm 45 now) but my ski-style is not like a ski-teacher's at all, all I can do is relatively easily ski down a black ski-run or an (easy)off-piste ski-route without too many problems. I am hardly the type who can ski down near-vertical slopes like on youtube.

However, until recently, I never really bothered to research ski-technology and just hired/bought whatever I saw available in the stories. If my goggles fogged up, I would either give up, or just slog away skiing until the end of the day etc. It is just that my last 3 years have been blighted by really bad ski-boots so now I am investigating bootfitters and buying new high-tech ski gadgets etc., so as to improve. Besides, this year I am planning to do some amazing off-piste runs and I would rather just keep filming and enjoy myself, instead of wincing in pain from pain in the legs or constantly wiping the sweat or snow from my goggles etc.

Re:- "Wax is unlikely in the extreme to protect bases from stones (how could it?)" Ok, so I am being a bit foolish/anal....

You know it makes sense.

I can only offer advice on 2) ask your optometrist if contacts are an option, or even laser refractive surgery

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

I was a woolly hatter for 35 years. My Salomon helmet is light, comfortable, ventilated and protects from the elements...I now wouldn't use anything else.

For skis, check out

Scott Slight 100
Atomic Vantage 100CTi
Nordica Enforcer 100
Volkl 90Eight

A snowHead

OK, I have solved the issue, I will get smith's knowledge turbo goggles and one of their ski helmets. Best to try both from the same company. Thanks for getting me to think outside the box. I was not really getting anywhere in my searches previously.

A snowHead

Scott Slight 100
Atomic Vantage 100CTi
Nordica Enforcer 100
Volkl 90Eight

_________________

Thanks, I'll hire those if available.

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

Hmm, changed my mind for the umpteenth time. Thank God I refused to buy alexa or siri or use amazon assistant, there is something very wrong with instant gratification, it just leads to debt and posession of shoddy goods.

I decided to go for the oakley line miner inferno "Hi pink" in the end. Basically, my biggest problem is whiteouts while skiing and not being able to see the difference between the white of the snow falling in the air above and the white of the snow on the ground. Other lenses seem OK, though the black one for sunny days is definitely not an option, given past experiences with sunglasses etc. I'll either go for the rose replacement lens or one of the other 3(sapphire etc. ?)

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The simplest bit of all this must be the boots. A good boot fitter will know what boots can be modified to fit you. If they don't have anything suitable, they'll send you somewhere that does. Where are you based? (We can then recommend a good boot fitter.)

In terms of helmets and goggles, you need to try them on. I got my most recent helmet from decathlon. Keep trying them till you find one that is comfortable and fits with the goggles without a gap.

Ask your optician about suitable contact lenses. This is another area where consulting an expert is the best option.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

"private ski teacher for going off-piste and they force one to wear a ski-helmet"

Was the first time I'd heard that - but sure enough, Piste-To-Powder insist you wear one.

Off piste actually, I think that's pretty sensible; trees, branches, hidden rocks, raised likelihood to fall, etc.

After all it is free

Helmet, goggles - what about a visor helmet?

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Boots - hire the best bootfitter you can find and wear what he/she advises, cost no object. Simple as that and will improve your skiing more than any other piece of equipment.

Helmet/Goggles - tricky to answer as they need to fit your face and head properly and what works for one noggin doesn't necessarily work for all. Start with the top end brands e.g. Oakley, POC, Smith, Anon, Sweet Protection etc and try on the many different alternatives and pick what fits best. Personally I like POC helmets and goggles, but even within the one brand some models don't fit me at all, while others are perfect. Fogging shouldn't be a problem on any half decent pair of goggles.

Skis - Literally dozens of decent options at 100 mm waist. Again all the major brands have excellent skis in this width and its pretty hard to go wrong, although you could end up with something pretty demanding. If I had to pick one for your stated ability, it would probably be the Volkl 90Eight as it is very light and easy to ski almost anywhere in any style.

Wax - Just slap on some Zardos Notwax on the hire skis (ideally straight on top of a fresh hot wax and then daily thereafter) and then forget about it.

Help!!

Need for excellent ski equipment(no real budget limit)

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