 Poster: A snowHead
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| Manda wrote: |
I think we all agree on that?  |
Yes we can. Thanks for clearing up the confusion.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Kramer wrote: |
| skiing backwards off piste on purpose is incredibly difficult but I have seen someone manage it once. On a video. |
I've seen a guy ski an entire off piste face backwards - on a video. I have an inkling itmay have been one of the "solid powder" series as I'm 99% certain the guy was from scandinavia.
By the way, the solid powder series is worth a shufty if you have broadband, three half hour films available for free download. You can even, if you have the ight software, burn themto VCD and watch them on your telly.
http://solidpowder.com
Alternatively, it could be Further from Teton Gravity Research, SkiMovie III: the front line, or just possiblywarren Miller's Storm as they're the only other ski films I have.
or itmay be something I borrowed off a friend, but I doubt it as he tends to have snowboard videos.
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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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I've bladed a couple of times, though not for a couple of years. Just as you would expect very short skis to be. Easy to turn and skate as light and compact. Very forgiving as no length to lock you into a turn or throw your weight fore or aft. Very quick edge to edge. Very easy to learn and get comfortable with (How long does it actually take? About 50m). Just stay on the edges and carve away. Fun as it's a different (manoeuvrable though not fast) way of sliding on snow.
Helpful? Not sure. Haven't spent enuff time on them. I suspect could help with practising quick edge changes and knee steering for carving. Doing something similar but not the same as something you're trying to get good at is a tried and tested indirect way of training, which it has been recognised, does result in improvement additional to direct training methods. So I was surprised to see in another recent thread the consensus that in-line skating is unhelpful.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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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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| slikedges wrote: |
| (manoeuvrable though not fast) way of sliding on snow. |
My daughter has clocked 56.7 mph on blades.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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laundryman, Was she wearing them in the car?
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spyderjon, it's slightly easier to operate the pedals than on 2m skis!
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laundryman, where was that?
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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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spyderjon, I used to ride my motorbike to the ski slope, with (leather) telemark boots on, and (2m) skis on the rack. I'd say laundryman, 's daughter probably went faster on her blades !
Why? - because I could, that's why !
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Kramer, ladies' WC downhill, Côte 2000, Megève.
WC = World Cup, before the double entendres fly. 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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laundryman, I'll be trying blades this weekend for the first time. I'm going for 6.7mph myself!
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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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| Quote: |
a bandaid for unsafe/poor technique
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I don't really see how blades can be much help as a bandaid for poor technique - though they are rather good at revealing some bad techniques which can be disguised on skis, especially people who have their weight on their heels. Too far back on blades and you are on the deck. This thread started with the suggestion that blades can be a valuable teaching aid and several posts, from people who know what they are talking about, have confirmed that they are.
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Not good for powder though 
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You know it makes sense.
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| pam w wrote: |
| Quote: |
a bandaid for unsafe/poor technique
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I don't really see how blades can be much help as a bandaid for poor technique - though they are rather good at revealing some bad techniques which can be disguised on skis, especially people who have their weight on their heels. Too far back on blades and you are on the deck. This thread started with the suggestion that blades can be a valuable teaching aid and several posts, from people who know what they are talking about, have confirmed that they are. |
I'm not entirely sure tht's true. Bad technique such as weight too far back or forward is also reasonably evident on skis - perhaps you don't fall over but you would notice lack of control, difficulty turning, washing out the turns, slipping, lack of edge engagement etc. Blades could also hide bad technique - For example I could track turns on blades long before I could do so on skis - so something was still up with technique but whatever it was I got away with it on blades. I also tended to ski slightly in the back seat - I could get away with this on blades just as easily as on skis - only much video analysis, coaching, and practice has beaten this out of me (almost!).
Not an expert on the teaching thing but does the fact that you don't use poles with blades have a negative effect on upper body positioning and movement or would you just use them as tools for teaching very specific things?
Not sure why people think jumping is better/easier on blades - I prefer a bigger platform to land on (especially on soft snow). Skis are definitely more forgiving if you don't get the landing right!
PS Easiski, I'm still not quite sure how you'd ski deep/heavy powder/crud without pushing your feet forward hence being more on the heel of the foot (weight still centred however!). I find that if I don't do that I get too forward (ie face plant!  ) -how does staying on the balls/toes work here?
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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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fragglerock, No - sink and stop dead! Fun watching though!!!
Manda - just try them, but bear in mind that you a) need to keep them on their edges or they are alarmingly unstable and b) it's helpful to take a slightly lower and wider stance than on normal skis.
laundryman, Is your daughter a lunatic? Alternatively is she only 2' tall? I'm astonished at that speed on a pair of blades - afraid to say I'd have bottled long before that sort of speed! 
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Poster: A snowHead
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easiski, (1) yes, (2) no. She's 17 and seems pretty fearless - and very practised on blades.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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laundryman,
56.7 metres per hour? That's not very fast.
I think it's about time you bought her some proper skis. If you let her know she'll go faster on them, I'm sure she'll try them.
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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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| slikedges wrote: |
| 56.7 metres per hour? That's not very fast. |
Sorry, I got mixed up with me, at football. 
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Not too bad in the soft stuff depending on the blade. Salomon Pro and Atomic 1.20 have as much surface area as a piste carver in a longer length.
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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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my daughter doesn't exactly "flow" through the powder, trees, rocks, crud, narrow paths, on blades. She and her cousins have found by trial and error that you do, indeed, need to be in the back seat off piste, with the tips up, and they sort of "yomp" - similar to the technique used by scree-running mountaineers, or skilled people on raquettes/snowshoes who can slide downhill leaping from foot to foot through the powder. It's not anything like using fat skis off piste, and I doubt if anyone will make inspirational videos of it. It's just a different way of having fun. And when they need to take them off and climb out of the rivers, ravines and dead ends they find themselves in, they're easier to carry than skis. She can also go very fast on piste - unlike laundryman I have no idea how fast, I just know it's faster than I generally go on skis. I have to make a big effort to keep up. Seems to me there are lots of ways of having fun, and to take up moralistic stances as to which is more worthy is just silly. There are lots of stupid and thoughtless snowboarders, skiers and bladers out there, but as someone who is now lucky enough to be able to spend a lot of the season (not to mention the summer) in the Alps, I enjoy trying them all.
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pam w, yep, my girls have developed similar off-piste techniques: one involves a sort of pedalling action, which is hilarious.
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pam w, please don't take my anti-snowblade stance as moralistic. I freely admit that it's no more than pure snobbery, and as such, totally unjustified. 
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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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pam w, Maybe it's our proximity to Marseille, but in the holidays our pistes are absolutely lttered with extremely dangerous and large young men (usually of Arab extraction) who terrorise every law abiding piste user. It's not the fault of the blades - I have a pair and my publicity does say that I teach snowblading (which is true) - but because they're so easy they're imensly popular with people who don't want to/can't be bothered to/possibly can't afford to learn to ski.
this should not be taken as moralistic or even racist - just a statement of fact!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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laundryman, if I had a 17 year old daughter, there is no way on earth that I would consider publishing a picture of her on this website for the delectation of these reprobates!
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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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You know it makes sense.
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No excuses. But I've already owned up to being a whopping 0.3 mph slower here. Daughter No. 2 (usually the fastest laundryperson in a GS on proper skis) might have beaten us both but, at 50+ mph on her blades, she elegantly avoided an interloper starting across the hill in front of her, frustrating her attempt on the blade land speed record. These days, snowscreamer easily outshines me in French as well, but I like to think I can read a piste map a little better. But if she reads this, she's bound to have her own take, and you may not hear from me again. Kids - who'd 'av 'em?
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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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I have done a fair bit of skiboarding now (blading is the WRONG term unless you use only salomon)...... i tried it as a 2 week skier and basically never looked back..... I like the freedom of no poles, i like the manoeverability, i like not having to spend years learning. As a recreational skier, why does it matter that there are limitations? I would have said that for someone in my boat, skis will always be more limiting. Im just out there to have fun......
Oh and I would have said on skiboards that leaning back is something you can do without issue...... in fact if you desire to go properly fast, leaning back helps no end.
Ad
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Poster: A snowHead
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buns, On the contrary. Skiboard is an american term. The first proper short skis were Salomon Snowblades, and the name has become generic. Skiboard is just another american attempt to be different to europe! By using the term you're supporting this superiority conplex they have.!!
If you lean back you're out of control, and therefore are one of the bladers mentioned above. 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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easiski, were the first "skiboards" not made by Line (who called them skiboards)? Then Salomon came along and made what they marketed as "snowblades", so that name is in fact just a Salomon brand?
Incidently if you have to get some skiboards/snowblades/whatever, I found Line ones are _way_ better than Salomon ones
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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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I always thought that the first blades were the "bigfeet" from about 15 years ago.
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Help!
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ssh, we've had barrels of laughs over the years. One of the things I really like about skiing is that (in general) adults have no particular advantage over kids (somewhat the reverse in our case) nor males over females, so the whole family can get involved together in healthy outdoor activity.
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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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John Rivett, I see that the days of reasonable and well balanced posting have been put behind you then?
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Kramer, there is nothing well balanced about 90% of people on blades...
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FAQ
