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Are "Fat Boys" a must for Canada?

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I ski k2 vicious (softer)@98 mm and j ski masterblaster (more mantra) at 95 mm. Bought , what I believed to be a more piste specific Blossom ski at 74 mm .... Sold as a flagship All mountain ski.. The day of the fatties is over Shocked ... back to skiing in it rather than on it .... As a telemarker that s the whole point anyways . snowHead
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
DrLawn wrote:
... I assumed that it would be much less expensive to rent for two weeks rather than popping into the shop at each of the places we'll be visiting,
It has never dawned on me ever to just rent skis for each day.
But I usually swap the skis about 3 times during the week, just because I'm a "tart" and like to experience everything.

I'll see what the shops have in stock and grab some local advice as suggested....

It's easy enough to see vail resorts (Whistler Blackcomb), who control I think all the shops in that particular resort: https://www.epicmountainrentals.com/

I rent no-boards there now and then. As @stuart regularly points out for tax purposes I'm a tourist, but I know
the people in a couple of those outlets so your mileage may vary. The stuff I've had is usually brand new,
correctly prepared, and looks like full retail to me. In my experience watching hundreds of people advised by
them riding deep snow, they know their local conditions pretty well and don't give people the wrong stuff.

You can play with their website, and it looks to me that if you book for 10 days the price is... 10 times the daily rate.
They also have details of their overall service. Note that there is a discount for their season pass holders and also that online is cheaper than walk-in.

My own "rental experience" in other resorts not owned by VR has been similar.
Probably you can find websites for the various hills/ resorts and check in advance what their model is.
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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?
I paid $50 a day at JH for premium skis. Maybe Canada is cheaper but it would certainly mount up for 14 days Shocked
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
@BobinCH, I was just thinking that ... Its Cdn$50 per day, I could nearly get some new boards for that or at least a good second hand set. so...
I'm seriously thinking now of taking my 10 year old XT800ti for there final spin .. and then leaving them over there.

I can can pack the bag on the return trip with maple syrup and Crown Royal, and perhaps a set of Carhart all weather dungarees.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@DrLawn, or buy something “all mountain” like the Mantras and hire for a day if you get some blower pow Madeye-Smiley
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 You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
The simple fact is most people in most places will have more fun on most powder days on 110-125mm skis.

Especially on the typical resort shallow powder days with icy bumps and tracked out crud lurking just below the surface, or upside down snow with denser layers/crust on the top.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@DrLawn, I think you should be flexible. I hope you get oodles of lovely fresh powder, but it's not guaranteed. I'd wait till I got there, myself. If you're in Whistler, these folks look interesting (and 10 days not just 10x 1 day). https://whistler.blacktieskis.com/rates/
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Both my Heli ski weeks, one in Canada one in USA the guides said I had the right skis (at about 95cm), but there was a lot of breakable crust. Admittedly I ski mostly in the Alps so I'm not the right person to ask. I ski Head Kore (133/93/115) and find them a good all round off-piste ski for most real mountain conditions. I imagine for fresh, deep powder a fat ski would be better but I'm not going to carry a second pair for the odd day. Anyway, light powder is super-easy to ski, I'd rather choose my ski for the challenging snow (and they even carve well on piste, on the occasions I find myself on one, as long as it isn't really icy).
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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.
at risk of @philwig telling me I'm some sort of ski boy scout or have no idea Twisted Evil wink , I'll give an opinion based on Whistler or Blackcomb being the mountain I ski on pretty much every week of the ski season...

I skied a considerable amount of that for a couple of years on mk 1 mantras which I believe the latest version is a bit closer to? They were pretty much perfect all round Whistler skis, and I even took them cat skiing in pretty much bottomless light interior pow and they were fine for that too (a while back so the only people with bigger skis were those on heli rentals, and they were only marginally fatter)
Where @philwig makes a very good point about Whistler snow is that it is often heavy and this means best skied straight away. Though occasionally we do get cold snaps that lighten it up, often it gets heavier and/or windblown. This is where the big skis with plenty of rocker come in. The down side is that heavy snow gets squashed into marbly stuff on some of the roads back to the lifts and that can be hard work on fat skis - Blackcomb in particular has quite a few of these such as the run back from the glacier.

With all that, I'll add the ski I've probably skied most of all (even in race training a few times! Shocked ) and liked most were Whitedot Redeemer's which are not exactly svelte! Now I mostly ski Ragnaroks (118 under foot) unless its really firm.


Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Thu 21-10-21 18:21; edited 2 times in total
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
@DrLawn,

An option might be to demo from a shop. They will then often apply that demo rental price to the cost of the skis - that way at least you get something at the end of it.

Not sure if you said you were actually going to be in Whistler or not, but assuming you are (or someone else reading this is), then for this Whistler Village Sports might be a good option.
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Hi @stuarth,
Thanks for the input, I wont be going to Whistler .. the closest we'll get will be Revelstoke ... I've only been there once before and this time it will only be a couple of days at most.

When I started this thread it was prompted by seeing all these powder warriors jumping off cliff and skiing down unbelievable steep couloirs and spending most of the time airborne, they were all using skis that were banana in shape and nearly as wide as under nourished snow boards.

I see a lot of people skiing on the piste in the alps using similar kit and rucksacks while skitering about on the snow in various versions of snowplough. Anyway it got me thinking, as I'd be renting skis what to go for.

I've made my mind up now. I'm going to rent something around the 90 to 100mm that I feel I'm going to get the most out of primarily to ski the piste and anything near the piste, but I wont be going Heli or back country touring or climbing that top bit above the lift in Revelstoke.

Well thats what I was thinking .. but now I'm concerned about what its going to cost me to rent those skis.
I think I'll make a phone call or two right now.
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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.
@DrLawn,

My son actually is one of those that you see hucking big cliffs into the pow and skiing unbelievably steep couloirs.
Most of the time this year he's planning on being on 104 Altums. These have a mixture of rocker and camber so should be a good allrounder - no super fat fully rockered skis unless it really is a big powder day for him.
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Hi @stuarth,
I've just got off the phone with my favourite rental shop in Banff.
Its going to cost me CDN$270 for 7 days plus about $40 per day after that. I'll get a 10% discount off that as we are going to be staying in the Caribou Lodge for the first couple of days. (I just found out the Caribou owns the shop Smile )
I'll be wanting them for 11 days.

I asked if there would be a chance to buy some 2nd hand skis from them, he can't be sure but that would be an option.
The guy told me that his normal ski was 110mm Shocked

Please excuse me whiling away the hours as I look forward to the winter.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
@stuarth,
Congrats on your son being able to do that stuff...
I wonder if my granddaughter is going to be showing off doing all that when she is a bit older. Smile
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Quote:
I can't imagine going proper off piste, more a case of nipping outside the poles for a bit and riding boiler plate.

Your imagination needs an update more than your skis!

In North America, there’s often no such thing as “piste poles”...
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I guided 3 seasons in Snow Country Japan - it was consitently as deep as the depest days of my Whistler season '98/'99 (the deapest season ever). I guided on 125mm underfoot, because I was always walking around on my skis rather than skiing. All my days off I skied 100mm underfoot. Never wanted more.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
[quote="boarder2020"]
Dave of the Marmottes wrote:
boarder2020 wrote:
Quote:

Get out of bounds and there's pretty much unlimited fresh tracks to be had, although comes with the issues of backcountry skiing.


Including killing your wife at KH.


I've heard a few different accounts of the story and none of them make much sense unless you think he was actively trying to get rid of her and make it look like an accident. There's actually a hut down in canyon creek now with an emergency phone inside because people still end up down there. I just don't know how they do it, it's clearly out of bounds and there is no obvious looking way back to the resort other than hiking back up what you just skied. I guess the same could be said for cakehole at Whistler.


They apparently circled the hut at a few 100m where a touring group was staying. Trees, cloud/fog?, only one man really knows. Maybe just the unfortunate combination of ignorance/stupidity and the RCMP dropping the ball and comms politics. There were some sort of bizarre claims about him being experienced in the BC mountains because he'd lived in BC as a kid.
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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?
I live in Nelson, the hill is Whitewater, in the interior of BC. I've skied only the last 15 years or so. My daily drivers are 120 Bent Chetlers, they do everything. I can carve and enjoy thinner skis sometimes but they are more fun more of the time than anything else!
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
I just popped in on this thread again ...
I've dug out out the old Enduro XT800ti's again and taken them to get serviced at "Ski Exchange" near Cambridge.
This may be a bit of a plug before I've seen the results of the service.
I've not been in this emporium for quite a while, its a bit off the beaten track
with the loads of interesting stock.

What impressed me most was the boot parafinalia, I'll be going back.
(Not just to pick up the skis Madeye-Smiley )

I'm going to take them to the Rockies again, one last treat for them, and if they like it, they can stay there.
They have rental bindings so someone else can use them.
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