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[Rant] Why can't people learn how to carry skis properly?

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Skis should be carried on the shoulder.

There's a right way and a wrong way to carry your skis on your shoulder.

Doesn't anyone go to ski school anymore?
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
I tried to teach somebody the right way recently. She didn't believe me, said it was uncomfortable and her way was better (the plank, tips backwards rolling eyes ). Sometimes you can lead a horse to water...
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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?
Whatever way is no good for me as I have to carry the wife's pair. She may be interested in a fancy method for carrying two pair of poles though.
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saikee, carrying two brace of eastern european builders is a recipe for a bad back.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
rob@rar, Comfort is the reason I carry my skis tips up, tail down. I tried carrying them tips down with the front of the binding resting on top/behind my shoulder but it just felt less comfortable.

Is there a technical reason for doing it the correct way?
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Quote:

She may be interested in a fancy method for carrying two pair of poles though.

saikee, Laughing
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
PisteHead, better balance, no oil and grease on you jacket, you can secure the tips with less stretching of you arm, and the bit behind you is usually higher in the air and less likely to clonk people. I cannot remember a really decent skier who did not carry them tips down.
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After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
PisteHead, and in the day the tips were sharpened to within a whisker of a Laguiole blade so if they were in front of you and the skis held near upright you were less likely to take someone's eye out.
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PisteHead, for the reasons stoatsbrother said. For me the main reason is that tips-down leaves the least amount of ski poking out the back, therefore less danger of crashing into other people when turning around.
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stoatsbrother, David Murdoch , rob@rar, I wear a helmet now when I go skiing so I'm safety aware. For safety reasons I carry the ski as upright as possible and have never(so far) swung round whilst carrying skis for the reasons you mentioned. Maybe I'll try the proper method next time.
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aghh, people who can't (or are stubborn and won't) carry their skis the right way are my pet hate!

aLso, what of the people who carry them tips down but with front binding in front of shoulder? or people who carry them tips down but resting on edges?!

there is a story of basi trainers at start of week who made predictions at start of course on who would pass or fail based only on way candidates carried their skis. and they got it right. and that's a true story!
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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.
beanie1 wrote:
there is a story of basi trainers at start of week who made predictions at start of course on who would pass or fail based only on way candidates carried their skis. and they got it right. and that's a true story!

Angus Meldrum? That's his April Fools story Laughing
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 bloxy
bloxy
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I thought you were supposed to have them in an X shape, clutched to your chest using both arms with poles sticking out . Boots should also be completely undone and you should scuff along never letting the feet leave the ground.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
bloxy, that's the advanced way, for very good skiers only. Anyone seen carrying them like that deserves all our respect.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Strapped to your Helipack Toofy Grin
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I'm quite fond of carrying my skis one in each hand, hand between the heel and toe piece. So there.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Am I the only one who remembers Mr Pastry?
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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 have someone carry our skis and poles for us. snowHead
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jbob, no!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
jbob, no again, though it's a long time since I've thought about him!
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Did some one mention Sherpas?
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Never mind skis - when are people going to learn how to carry poles properly? I've lost count of the number of times I've nearly had my eyes or dangly bits taken out by numpties carrying poles horizontally and swinging them behind without a care in the world Twisted Evil
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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!
beanie1, true or not, I would expect a trainer to make a decent guess just by someone's bearing on skis, let alone knowing how to carry them... wink

element, so where do you carry your; sticks, gourmet lunch pack, bidon of €5 rose...
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If you have to spell out these little things you wonder how some people ever learn to ski

drones.... don't you just love them...?
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rob@rar, no don't him. As David Murdoch, says it's not that far fetched!
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beanie1, He's a Trainer and former Chairman of BASI (currently working in Meribel). He tells the story of a Grade 3 course finishing on the 1st April where he and another Trainer told the group that most of them were borderline passes and to ensure success they needed to demonstrate good form when carrying their kit. They had to line up their skis in the snow, walk 10m showing good control in their boots, return to their skis, pick them up in the correct manner, hoist them to their shoulders in the correct way and walk 10m under control and with good style. If they could do all that they were sure to pass. Angus could barely finish the story for laughing when he described the look of terror on the Grade 3's faces and the whispered questions about what was the correct manner to walk in ski boots and pick up skis. At the end of the 'test' he asked them to confirm the date so he could fill out the assessment chart for it. It was only then that they realised...
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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.
.... a word of warning about carrying skis upon the shoulder when icy underfoot .. i.e carpark ..... wink

A 'friend' Laughing of mine had an extremely satisfying day on the desent of Bellcote North Face, La Plagne, through the notorious and on this particular day, a very difficult 'Cairn Couloir'. I mention this only to indicate that the couloir is up to 40 degrees in places and can be a bit of a tight spot. However, with skis on the feet, a certain equilibrium can be reached, whereas ....,

Upon arrival at the La Roche car park, following this epic descent, this 'friend' shouldered skis in Bristol fashion and commenced the crossing of the carpark glacier. The first two or three steps were most successful, but then a great calamnity befell .. in fact it wasn't the calamnity that fell, it was the said person wot fell after being briefly airborne, with an almighty, buttock crunching crash, onto the edges and bindings of the now rabid skis. A great hush desended upon the the crowded terrace of Chalet de la Roche ... followed no doubt by much giggling & tittering .... Some strange exclaimations, in an unknown 'foreign' language echoed around the carpark ... Toofy Grin

The pain lasted over a week and the bruising, from knee to hip lasted six weeks plus. A guide nonchantly passed and mentioned ... "You should never carry your skis on your shoulder when walking on ice .... don't you know that most injuries to skiers are happening this way ... ? "

When his concussion wore off, I bet he wondered what it was he said ..... Toofy Grin
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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
I tend to carry my skis upright, wrap my arm around them and lift them by the bindings. I know it's supposed to be a "noob's" way of carrying them, but by the end of a week when I've spent 13-15 hours a day typing, my shoulder is often so frozen that both lifting my arm high enough to carry them properly and the weight on my shoulder are excruciating. Sorry and all that

rob@rar, good anecdote Smile
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
BernardC wrote:
...A guide nonchantly passed and mentioned ... "You should never carry your skis on your shoulder when walking on ice .... don't you know that most injuries to skiers are happening this way ... ? "


Not your mishap I hope? The guide was right - if on ice, car parks also being my nemesis, I'll keep poles in one hand and skis in the other, using both of them as aids when it's very slippery. Difficult to do for any length of time though because the skis weigh a ton.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
rob@rar, that is a great april fools story, very harsh but funny at the end of two weeks of terror... would have got me definately...
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
BernardC, eaxcellent writing as usual Very Happy BUT a very good point. I shopulder arms on clear paths/roads or on snow that my boot can compact slightly. Anything else and it is skis in one hand and poles in the other.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
I seem to remember that when I was taught as a child in the 50s we carried skis like a rifle when marching on parade -"shoulder arms" (on the shoulder nearly vertical with hand under the butt end).
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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 got the pleasure of an $800 bill for stiches in the bridge of my nose for ignoring the perils of the car park when carrying new skis. I now wear my googles down where possible.
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David Murdoch wrote:
Skis should be carried on the shoulder.

There's a right way and a wrong way to carry your skis on your shoulder.

Doesn't anyone go to ski school anymore?


Ski school 10 years ago certainly did not teach what people here seem to think is the "right" way. I was shown how to use the brakes to hold them together, and just told to put them over my shoulder, without any suggestion tat "tails first" or "tips first" might be better.

There isn't, of course, really any "right" way except what works for you, and doesn't get in the way of others.

Prior to this year, I always carried them the "obvious" (to me) way, which was tails down. Now I have one of these and carry them exactly as shown in the photo.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
I prefer to use my poles to carry my skis- put skits together then loop one pool wrist loop over the tips and put the other pole the opposite way, putting the wrist loops of each pool then over the baskets of opposite pole - makes a sort of ski handbag - good for long treks to the funiculaire etc.
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sallywt wrote:
I prefer to use my poles to carry my skis- put skits together then loop one pool wrist loop over the tips and put the other pole the opposite way, putting the wrist loops of each pool then over the baskets of opposite pole - makes a sort of ski handbag - good for long treks to the funiculaire etc.
oops - that's 'put skis together then loop one pole wrist-loop'. I Type loopy til I get my morning coffee... rolling eyes
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Why should I care about how other people carry their skis Puzzled
As long as they are not endangering me in any way I'd say it's entirely their problem rolling eyes
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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!
Steilhang, NO, sorry, you are not getting the hang of this at all. You have so much more fun if you feel effortlessly superior to those carrying their skis the "wrong" way, sneer at those wearing the "wrong" thing and post pictures of them on the internet, or criticise their choice of planks. Get up to speed, will you.....

In fact the excellent story from BernardC just goes to show that there is no "right" way for everyone, everywhere. I have always felt uncomfortably vulnerable carrying my skis on my shoulder on icy surfaces, and am glad to have expert confirmation that it's the "wrong" way in those situations. However, myarthritic hands are not strong enough to carry skis so I either give them to my husband or have to tuck them under my arm. I do have a sling thing but never have it with me at the moment it's needed.


Last edited by After all it is free Go on u know u want to! on Wed 13-02-08 11:55; edited 1 time in total
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pam w, you were partying nicely and then spoiled it by going all liberal in the last sentence. Surely BernardC was right and the ice was wrong!
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If this is all people have to worry about, the world is indeed a happy place Very Happy

Laughing
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