Help required.... Excuse the long post...!!!!!

A snowHead

Hi everyone, I’m after some equipment advice from you knowledgeable lot so that I don’t potentially ruin next season for myself. Bit of a story to it, so apologies in advance for the long post… so here goes….

Started skiing again about 4 years ago after nearly a 15 year break, I’m 38 about 5’11. Have been going to Levi in Finland for the past 3 years with family and friends where snow conditions are pretty much hard compacted, heavily groomed pistes with a usually a light dusting on top, its not top notch skiing but as a family resort and for fun skiing we love it.
So first investment 4 years ago were a pair of Head 10.7 boots and a set of 160’s Elan Magfire 8’s, I really progressed quickly, couple of private lessons in Levi over the first couple of trips, many snowdome trips, 3-4 weeks on the snow, and I considered myself to have become a fairly competent intermediate skier, attacking the blacks, albeit they aren’t like the blacks in the rest of Europe, more red. Was def becoming an aggressive piste skier / carver. Boots - big and comfortable, but very heavy, skis - a good start for me.

Daughter had a pair of K2 juvvys and started venturing in the parks, thought cool, so brought myself a pair of 159’s K2 public enemy’s. Had great fun for [/size]a season, levi & snowdome, but realised that I was a def groomer and was missing the fast pistes, which the PE’s really aren’t designed for. So… week in Levi this February on the PE’s, and def missing a pair of carvers, decided to book a week in Killington begin April, with daughter and bruv which just returned from.
On getting to killington, 50% end of season sales and excellent exchange rate, decided to get a new pair of piste skis, went for the recommended pair of 167 K2 Crossfire’s, longer than I’ve had before and a lot heavier than had before. First day on these, on the grommed piste stuff was really good, Although end of the day felt like I had lead weights on my legs what with the heavy boots, longer and heavy skis. Second day ventured up mountain onto the chopped up, soft, powdered stuff and it hit me that I was not that intermediate, competent skier I thought I was, I was totally all over the place, mostly on my backside when I hit anything that wasn’t flat and groomed, bruv on a pair of 130 Very Wed’ze short skis and daughter on her fairly short juvy’s looked like they’ve skied the soft stuff for years….. Then I start looking for reasons why, was it all in the head, was it the skis, was it the boots, was it technique??????,

Went back onto my PE’s and felt a bit more comfortable up the mountain, not brill though, started blaming my boots as they were too heavy, and the PE’s are def more harder work could really feel it in me legs, so I went and had a fitting for a new lighter pair of boots, ended up with a pair of Salamon Impact 9’s, which were very comfortable and light for the first hour, but again even with my PE’s, I’d gone back to being all over the place, no control…… and they made my right foot go numb after about hour and half. It got that bad by the end of the week, I even considered putting on a snowboard which brought a twinkle to my daughters eye….!!!!!

Put bluntly, I screwed up, even though I wasn’t used to the different conditions, and I had swapped and changed stuff far to much, (believe the crossfire’s would have been good if I was in Levi where I would probably be able to handle the more ‘advanced’ skis), I lost serious confidence in my ability and equipment. Old boots new skis, new boots old skis, new boots new skis, what a proper mess……

So on arrival in killington next year, straight to the private lesson desk to take technique out of the question….. and I now have 3 pairs of skis and 2 pairs of boots, 160 Elan Magfires 8’s (which are pretty ripped up), 159 K2 PE’s and 167 K2 Crossfire’s, heavy old Head 10.7 boots and new light Salmon impact 9 boots, and…. I‘ve started skiing in completely new conditions to me, as per killington, And I would replace the whole lot if it meant I could find 1 pair of skis and 1 pair of boots that I could take anywhere, Levi, Killington, snowdome….

With the new boots, should I just persevere and start next season with them ? why would they make my right foot go numb when they are generally comfortable and light boots and I had a moulded foot bed done. What single ‘intermediate’ skis could replace my PE’s and crossfire’s for proper all conditions, including proper groomed downhill fast pistes? should I stick to the shorter length ?

Thanks in advance to anymore that spent the time to read this post and try to help a very frustrated skier that’s considering boarding to take the boots, the right skis, different techniques, different conditions out of the equation….!!!!!!!!
(don’t mean to make boarding sound very simplistic, but I do have this belief that it does take some of my concerns away……..)

Thanks everyone....

A snowHead

Hi. On the boot front, the short answer is, get thee to a decent bootfitter - there are couple on this forum, one'll be along in a minute I expect.

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GRW, welcome to the madhouse that is snowHead

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first things first, get the boots sorted out, you need to see a boot fitter and have them looked at.... if your boots fit well and are not causing you problems then you can concentrate on technique and probably enjoy the skis you already have. the crossfire is a great ski for the piste the PE pretty good as an all rounder but as it is a little wider you will struggle if your boots are not helping you, if you have excess space in a boot then you will not stay in control of your skis and not enjoy the sport.

good luck

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Hi CEM,
totally understand what you say about the boots, I do really like the comfort and the lightness of the new boots, and they def did feel different when skiing in them, actually felt more jittery, which probably means more responsive !!!! this again would make sense as they are a more advanced boot than what I'm used to.
I do have an old injury on my right foot from rugby about 12 years ago, done some ligaments and chipped me ankle, which has kind on shifted things around on my foot, so the more I think about it my foot has less room to breath in the newer smaller volume boot which could be why the numbness is happening. Would custom inners help with a variety problems like this , or should I just stick to a larger volume boot ?

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

there are loads of things which can be done to a boot, 'jittery' would say to me that there may still be too much space somewhere and you may be compensating by clipping the boot up too tight which is cutting off blood and causing numbness.... alternatively it may be that the boot is just a little tight in one spot and the jittey feel comes form you keeping too loose to try and stop the pressure...all in all it is really difficult to say without seeing the foot and the boot, a custom liner might help but given the problems you have had and the amount you have chucked at gear so far i will not be the guy to sell one to you unless it is absolutley required, start from the ground up

take the liner out the boot and put your foot in the empty shell, slide your foot forward until your toes are gently brushing the front, how mauch space [in mm] is there between the back of your heel and the back of the boot?

next we look at the shape of the shell, does it match your foot shape, then the footbed, is it doing what it is supposed to do, does it offer enough support or too much, once we get all these bits correct we look at what needs to be modified for the lumps and bumps on the foot [if there are any] liners can be used for perofrmance and comfort but the key is to get the correct shell and footbed to start with

hope this make sence

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RobMcQ, Welcome to snowHead

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I skied the b78's in a 166 at Ischgle the week before last and they were a hoooot Laughing

I have an old pair od b2's at home, but will almost certainly be swapping next season. how do the K2's compare in 'feel' on piste and in a bit of powder? The rest of the family (all girls) ski K2 Burnin luvs and Lotta luvs and really enjoy them snowHead

After all it is free

RobMcQ,
Funny you should mention the Raiders, couple of days after i'd bought the Crossfire's, another shop in killington said I should have gone for the Recon if I wanted all mountain advanced or the raider if I wanted all mountain intermediate.....its just that at that the time of buying I didn't think I wanted or needed all mountain !!!... its amazing what conditions you get used and how different it can get.

Axsman, On piste I think the K2s give a little more edge grip and feel a bit more stable at speed. I also find the K2s a little easier in short turns, but that's probably at least partly due to the shorter length. Off piste I don't think there's much to choose between them. I would have happily bought Bandits, but the Raiders were on offer and just seemed fantastic value for money.

Help!!

Help required.... Excuse the long post...!!!!!

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