Poster: A snowHead
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I'm off to La Tania for a couple of weeks at the end of Jan, and am looking to upgrade my battered old salomon axendo's / 185's. I have been scouring the ellis-brigham website for a couple of hours and still can't quite make my mind up what would suit me. Me being a 6'1" 11 and a half stone skinny bloke. I like burning up the miles on pisted reds and blacks, but i'm not that confident on the mogul fields and in the deep stuff. I had a good go in the powder last season in monty, but my current ski's have a skinny waist 64mm, so I personally could'nt get much of a rythhm going. I've got about 12 weeks / 7 years experience so am looking to invest in something that will do me for a couple or 3 years and hopefully help to improve my performance. Price wise I would'nt want to pay much over 500 quid.
Any recommendations would be much appreciated.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Got to be Rossignol Open 500s Great reviews and stupidly cheap at about 250£ complete. The only other real choice would be K2 Apache Recons - Getting rave reviews everywhere for doing everything well.
aaaagh . . . nerd attack, someone strangle me.
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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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fontman, If I was you I'd ask to demo at La Tania, find a good ski store with a decent range of ski makes and go with a shortlist of 3 or more skis to try, ask for recommendations from the people there too. Ski something different every day if you want, then buy what you like best at the end of the week. Usually if you buy skis then you won't pay for the weeks "hire". You won't even have to buy the skis you demo-ed either, you'll have a brand new pair for the next trip
To add to Masque's suggestions, have a look at Volkl 5-stars, Volkl 724Exp, Atomic M-11 Puls, Head ic180 or iXRC, Rossignol B2's.
Masque, wear that anorak with pride. This gear-head stuff beats working today anyway
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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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fontman, as we found this New Year La Tania is a pretty small place, and you have a choice of 4 shops. The Intersport seemed the smallest and least equipped of the lot. Others in our party went to Sport2000 and had dreadfully set up hire gear (bindings set completely the wrong length so they fell off, completely incorrect tension settings etc) - so I didn't even go in there. Ski Higher (Twinner) and Ski Wave (SkiSet) seemed the only two that knew what they were doing - and I was much more convinced by Ski Wave, where the staff really seemed interested and knowledgable. He was very reluctant to let out his decent kit though given the amount of rock on the slopes. Ski Wave are principally a hire shop, but do have skis on sale too. IIRC their main brands are Dynastar and Rossignol, with a few Atomics too. I don't remember seeing many Volkls. The only Head stuff I remember seeing was through the window of Sport2000. I've basically decided on the Dynastar Legend 8000, but I'm a FatB as opposed to a beanpole, and they are pretty expensive. You can find contact details at e.g. www.latania.co.uk. (Don't believe their driving timings though - much more like 9+hours driving from Calais)
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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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Thanks for the advice guys, will check out your suggestions. Hope the rocks get covered before I get to La Tania, I ripped my bases to shreds in Sauze 3 seasons ago. Almost binned the skis then. I might take the old planks with me and heed GrahamN's advice to try before I buy just in case the snow covers not too good.
I did want to go to Courcheval or Meribel but I'm meeting up with a buddy who works in LT. He ses there's only 3 bars and 5 euros a pint!! Sure it will seem like home after a few scoops though.
Thanks again.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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footman, you'll just have to ski over to La Rosiere for some beers there.
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johnnyrotten, I'm as busy as hell, I just keep having to wait for the puters to finish crunching in the background, so I've dragged out the old IIx to surf this sin bin Actually got the old girl up from OS5 to 7.2 and Netscape 3 . . woohoo, speed of light stuff - well it was in 1990.
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David@traxvax, Cheaper there is it?
5 euros a pint seems mighty steep to a northern monkey like me, might be about right for The Old smoke though.
They had happy hour 5-6 in Rois mages in monty last season so you could get a golden throat charmer for 3. Needless to say I took full advantage of their hospitality.
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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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fontman, €5 for a beer in the Trois Vallées is cheap. The usual going rate around 1850 is €8. You get used to it.
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Fontman, yes happy hour in the Petit Relais has 1664 at 1.3Euros a demi. You might not get back in time for the last link though.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Just got back from Meribel: cheapest pint I found was €4, but that could've been happy hour! Was usually about €6 so €5 doesn't sound too bad. Let's face it: if you want cheap beer head for Borovets...
La Tania & Meribel actually have better cover than Courchevel at the moment, which is a bit odd. Can't see them letting you demo anything unless the snow starts falling tho.
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