 Poster: A snowHead
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I have skied for decades on and off but only became really happy when I started using blades ( 99cm or less, little skis with release bindings) about fifteen years ago.
I seldom see anyone using them now and feel I am a curiosity on the slopes. People ask how on earth I manage to ski on them and I retort how can people ski on "proper" skis.
I would like to return to longer skis but how. I don't want to return to the days when I was scared to set off down a steep slope as just now I can handle anything except deep soft snow when I immediately do a face plant. Any advice about returning to normality would be appreciated.
I am a bit sensitive about it so please, all you folks with great long planks on your feet, be kind:D
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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 would say get some short rental skis (preferably with a bit of tip and tail rocker because they'll behave a bit more like some blades) and take some lessons. Modern skis really aren't hard to ski with the right technical foundation and they'll be alot more stable than blades plus you can drop the hunched over gibbon look so will instantly become more stylish 
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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 need to Login to know who's really who.
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Everything @Dave of the Marmottes, says. Short rockered renters and build length as you build your technique
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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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and if you find using poles just too weird to start with - leave them behind. It's good for your technique to learn to get around effectively without them (just look at the way the ski patrollers do it). Most of us do nothing useful with our poles but people cling to them like a baby with a dummy.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Blades are great fun, the main drawback was the bindings which don't pop open and a bit of a phaaf to put on.
my wife has a great pair of Skis that fit a similar bill.
They are Atomic ETL 123cm long.
They are an adult ski and I like to borrow them now and again.
I doubt if you can find a new pair now.
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@JohnU, yep, lessons. My suspicion is that blades are skidded and pivoted rather than at all carved. But it’s been a long, long time since I used them... (think Bigfeet, 1990, which may not even qualify as blades!
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| Quote: |
My suspicion is that blades are skidded and pivoted rather than at all carved.
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Like longer skis, they can be ridden well or badly! And because they are unstable and jiggly till on an edge, they can help with getting the feel of carving. Some blades do have normal bindings - the ones without are lethal.
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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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| JohnU wrote: |
I have skied for decades on and off but only became really happy when I started using blades ( 99cm or less, little skis with release bindings) about fifteen years ago.
I seldom see anyone using them now and feel I am a curiosity on the slopes. People ask how on earth I manage to ski on them and I retort how can people ski on "proper" skis.
I would like to return to longer skis but how. I don't want to return to the days when I was scared to set off down a steep slope as just now I can handle anything except deep soft snow when I immediately do a face plant. Any advice about returning to normality would be appreciated.
I am a bit sensitive about it so please, all you folks with great long planks on your feet, be kind:D |
I kinda did exactly the same. Ski’d for years then skiboarded for many years. One year in whistler I decided not to take my skiboards out and just demoed lots of skis. Basically to get a feel for skiing long planks and an understanding of what I liked. Not been back in skiboards/blades since.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@graeme, a currently frowned upon bit of a-framing going on there... 
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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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Hmmmm. I opened this thread expecting to read about Sheffield United... 
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@under a new name, Agree with the A Frame comment. Outside blade has a much higher edge angle than the inside which is inherently unstable and inefficient.
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You know it makes sense.
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| under a new name wrote: |
| @graeme, a currently frowned upon bit of a-framing going on there... |
Oooo no. What should I do , will I receive a knock on the door.
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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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| zikomo wrote: |
| @under a new name, Agree with the A Frame comment. Outside blade has a much higher edge angle than the inside which is inherently unstable and inefficient. |
The weird thing is I got down that slope and never even noticed.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@graeme, skiers innit, feel they need to justify their ongoing expensive lessons
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@leggyblonde, apparently so. I can’t afford lessons as I buy too many road bikes
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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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@graeme, my kind of guy!
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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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Age? Weight? Hight?
How sensitive? 😏
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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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@mooney058,
47, slim and a Leo
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@JohnU, try a pair of short slalom skis, they won't feel too different. In the very last days of straight skis/early days of carvers, mid-late 90's, I had a lot of fun on blades - carving was fun! But now you can get pretty much the same sensation on slalom skis, especially if you dump your poles.
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Ouch proper slalom skis are nothing like blades. They are stiff, hard to pivot and slide out tails and likely to rebound you into next week if you screw up. As for length a diddy 165SL ski has probably got a longer effective edge than a 2m pow ski.
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@Dave of the Marmottes, I didn't mean a FIS slalom ski, I meant a 'punter' slalom ski. Also, I guess all 5'4" and 50kg of me skiing on a 100cm set of blades probably didn't feel the same to me as it would to, say, a 6ft, 13 stone bloke...
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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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@karin, Fair enough. I still don't feel they are the next building block from blades for someone who was originally using blades because they weren't "happy" on skis.
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FAQ
) you will have had the benefit of learning to keep your weight centrally over the ski rather than leaning too far forward or back! 
