 Poster: A snowHead
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Martin H & myself were at Castleford today doing a few drills with the Andy, the race coach from the Lions Club.
Andy was extolling the benefits of using blades to learn correct fore/aft balance & to be centred over the balls of your feet. Seeing Andy tearing around the GS cones (with his ski poles) was pretty awesome.
I'm intertested in hearing other opinions.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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spyderjon, I love it when other coaches, close to my ability, agree with 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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Wear The Fox Hat, Funny that as I did comment to Martin that although the instructor looked nothing at all like you, when he skied the two of you were almost indistinguishable. Almost 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Yeah, he used poles!
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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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spyderjon, absolutely! Think about it: too far forward or back and you're down.
I don't agree with "centered over the balls of your feet," however. You want to be centered on your foot, with your balanced over the arch (between the ball and the heel). The arch and instep become the key focus for balance and feel. If you focus on the ball, you'll likely get your weight too far forward, drive the tips, and probably lever off the ball and not the ankle, all of which will be less effective than being more centered.
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I find blades useful if I'm having a really bad day on skis. They help me to focus on getting centred on my skis, especially from being too far back. I find that they are a bit like personal "reset button" - if things are not going so well on my skis a few hours on blades seems to help.
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I can see that blades would help with balance, but I still don;t think of them as alternatves to skis. After all, lots of exercises involve things like skiing with your boots undone, but we don;t do that either, do we?
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I often use blades, or childrens skis (110s etc - when I've run out of blades) with the race club. They're great for balance, and good for working on carving too - of only because skidding on blades (on plastic) is so horrible !
One of the things I look for, is how well folk can ski on short skis....can be quite revealing...
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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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I have also found blades excellent for working on balance and carving techniques. Don't understand people who would want to use them all the time though - they are very limiting.
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nbt, Blades have limitations, that's what makes them useful as a training tool, if you know what to do with them. It seems that few people use the same equipment all the time, certainly not blades. I do warmup exercises pretty much every time I go out, if it were convenient I might use blades for the same purpose.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I find roller blades are pretty useful for balance work, and you get to roll around all summer...
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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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The advantage of blades are that they keep everyone else from tracking out the off-piste. 
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You know it makes sense.
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easiski, powder, slush, heavy snow? End of turn, etc, etc, etc.....
Kramer, 
I have some Line bullets if anyone wants to make an offer - good as blades come but since I really learnt to ski they've not come out of the cupboard.
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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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Never tried blades, but when I took my kids ice skating for the first time (for any of us) at Christmas I found that a skiing stance made it a lot easier. So that's probably mutual.
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Poster: A snowHead
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I know that I might get shot down for this, but it does seem to me that blades are extremely popular amongst those who haven't quite got the hang of skiing yet. Loads of my friends who are 3-4 week skiers love them, because it makes it easier for them to go down more challenging terrain, but I'm not really sure that there's anything more to it than that. If so once you become a competent skier, it's difficult to see their attraction other than as a novelty to play with once in a while.
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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, Good Point
I have tried blades and can see the attraction occaisonaly, but no substitute for a real pair of planks !
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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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Was at my second race training session last night. Andy (it's actually Andreas as he's an Italian), the instructor who recommended blades for balance training showed us a new drill - running the slalom gates flat out with a race ski on one foot & a blade on the other, & then swapping them over. I haven't tried it yet but damn it looked impressive.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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stuarth, yes.
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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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spyderjon, I bet it was impressive. I wonder what next, monoski? Can't wait 'till next Sunday.
Strange, Andy didn't sound anything like an italian, possibly swiss or french. Qualified in italy though.
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spyderjon, We used to do something similar on straight skis - 210 on one foot, 120 on the other. After a couple of runs you couldn't feel the difference ! 
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Kramer, no, I think you've hit the nail on the head - I haven't used blades (I would, just haven't gotten around to it). But a typical response from posters who do seems to involve words like "when I'm having a bad day on skis I switch to blades until I get back on track & feel ready for skis again". From what I can see, blades more often than not are the easy-man's feel-good interlude to "normal" skiing for the not-so-competent. In which case I can't seem much difference between a day on blades and a day in the pub, or in the chalet reading a good book, or sledging. They all equal a day's physical and mental break from the trials of normal skis, n'est pas? Surely in such instances money spent on the blades would be better spent on lessons? 
However it's good to see that blades are being used in instruction as a helpful aide to improve technique.
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Manda, I don't see lessons and training aids as mutually exclusive. I see use of blades in this regard as a bit like Don Bradman honing his skills by using a stump in place of a bat in practice.
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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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Manda, as you point out yourself - you haven't used blades.
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Manda, Do it - not when your're having a bad day. Blading is still skiing, just with very short skis.
Go down some bumps and give your balance and reactions a workout !
Try to slice large trenches in the snow...
Try to get sooo much edge your outside boot drags in the snow.
Try blading backwards
Try some jumps....
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Manda wrote: |
| From what I can see, blades more often than not are the easy-man's feel-good interlude to "normal" skiing for the not-so-competent. |
Is it me specifically you're calling "not-so-competent" or do you have other people in mind as well? Not only have you not tried blades (so your basis for contributing in this thread is somewhat shaky) but you also haven't seen me ski, so I'm curious about your justification for the "easy-man's feel-good interlude for the not-so-competent" jab?
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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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I think a better analogy is that they are like riding a unicycle rather than an ordinary bike for a day.
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Have you tried riding a unicycle? It's very hard, more like riding a BMX in a road race I'd have thought.[/pedant]
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You know it makes sense.
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I think WTFH's analogy is on the mark. Blades can be tricky little blighters to get to grips with, but are limited in what you can do on them unless you are extremely talented. On the one occasion I tried to ride a unicycle that was exactly what I thought of it.
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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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rob,blimey! If that's true then there is no way I want to waste one of my few enough weeks on snow to get to grips with them.
I'm sure it would take me more than a day to ride a unicycle at all.
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Poster: A snowHead
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rob@rar.org.uk, yes, that's the point. (although I was also considering the fact that while unicycles are difficult to master, they are also frequently ridden by clowns...)
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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ski, all those things that you mentioned, you can do on skis as well. As well as go off piste. Admittedly skiing backwards off piste on purpose is incredibly difficult but I have seen someone manage it once. On a video.
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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 never used Snowblades either, but I'm a bit reluctant to slag them off, as I ski and board, and have also Monoskied quite a bit at the end of the '80s, and just think sliding around on snow is ALWAYS fun, so why should blades be any different?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I really do not know where all these thoughts about blades originate. Blades are just a different ski. There are advantages and disadvantages to blades relative to a middle of the road carving ski in a similar way that there are advantages and disadvantages of a fatty ski relative to a middle of the road carving ski.
Do not make the mistake of equating some of the idiots who are seen on blades with blades themselves any more than you would equate an idiot on skis who travels too fast on a crowded green run with the skis he is using. If you see someone out of control on blades it is because he is a beginner not because of the blades.
Most of us are recreational skiers so talk about improving your technique or being an expert in the steep and deep is rather beside the point as these are personal choices. If that is how a skier wishes to enjoy his recreation, fine but there are other choices for enjoyment which are equally valid.
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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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Kramer, yes - but they're all more accessable and/or different on blades. Landing jumps especially !
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| Manda wrote: |
| rob@rar.org.uk, nope, wouldn't dream of it! : |
In which case you need to phrase your posts a bit more carefully. I'm the only person who has said in this thread that I strap on blades when I'm having a bad day on skis, and I didn't care for your assertion that people who did this are "not-so-competent".
An idiot on blades will be an idiot on skis. As others have said, it's not the kit it's the person in charge who will be responsible for safe skiing or not.
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ski, you have a good point there, and I have the bruises to prove it. You haven't seen me in the park by any chance have you?
rob@rar.org.uk, I think that Manda was probably referring to my earlier post about my not quite got the hang of it friends who put on blades because they find it easier. It was me who raised the thought that once someone were a competent skier then the attraction of blades may be vastly reduced. Sorry if I caused any offence.
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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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My daughter, a competent but rather unadventurous skier, with slightly arthritic hands (at 15!) just loved blades from the off, partly because they were so much easier to carry around, and didn't involve poles. For the next six years she used nothing else. She is incredible good on them. She is lighter than me, but although I am a reasonably competent skier, I find it hard to keep up with her on piste. Off piste, though supposedly blades are hopeless, she and her cousins can go anywhere, slowly, with a weird loping backward leaning stance which seems to do the trick. I am sure none of them ever crashed into anybody - they are far too competent to do so. I spent a day on blades, on a ski course with Sally Chapman's outfit, and I think we all learnt a lot from them. Specifically, to be much more dynamic, to change edges much quicker, to try jumps we were all too old and boring (and scared) to try on skis and generally to be less staid. Nowadays, I spend a day on them sometimes, always enjoy it, always fall over somewhere I wouldn't have fallen on skis, and am always quite glad to get back on my skis the next day. I find they tire my legs more - you have to keep working on blades. I don't understand the disdainful attitude of some skiers to blades (look at the relevant threads on "skipass.co," (in tartiflette we trust). They are rabidly anti blade. Odd. Prejudiced. Blinkered. I wonder how many of them have tried them?
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rob@rar.org.uk I didn't know this was something you had posted - I've seen comments to that effect on other forums as well as snowheads. I wasn't meaning to name&shame so appologies for any offence caused.
Blades for fun, or on an off-day (we all have those!) = good, right & proper. Blades as a bandaid for unsafe/poor technique = bad, wrong, wolloping offence. I think we all agree on that?
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