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Snow Blades

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Interesting quandre.

My son who is 10 is coming skiing with me in march, and i'm wondering if a set of snowblades could be the way ahead for him.

He can ski, but it costs me roughly 130 euro to hire skis/boots

So i'm thinking maybe it would be more cost effective to buy some snowblades off ebay.

Do they work in pretty much the same way, are you supposed to wear traditional skiing boots.

130 Euro is approx 109 pounds, and i can get a set for about 30, i can then buy him boots ( if needed).

I've read a post on here about blades and they seems the same as ski's just smaller, and for a 10 year old they could be perfect

Thoughts appreciated.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
No no a thousand times no. You can buy proper kids skis second hand for not much more than £100 (if that) if you want to be cost effective. A 1m adult snowblade isn't designed the same way and for the same use as a kid's ski.

Oh and the binding probably won't give him a spiral tib-fib fracture like a snowblade binding can.


Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Wed 22-02-12 20:41; edited 1 time in total
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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?
Blades are not cool ! The poor kid would spend the week having the p*ss taken out of him
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I'm pretty sure this has been covered extensively before but...

He can ski? Nuture it! If you want your boy to pick up bad habits, have less control and look feeble then get him some blades. There's nothing blades do better than skis (other than encourage a lazy lack of technique) and he won't thank you in the long-term.

Blades are for people who've given up on being skiers, and anyone who says anything to the contrary has given up themself.

-fin-
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
They don't ski anything like skis, unfortunately. Need to get them right up on edge. If not in a pretty radical carve, the inside blade oscillates quite scarily.
Fun for 2 hours one afternoon, but that's all.
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ok thanks for that, so next question if i can is

there are some child ski's 108 cm, i'm assuming they will be ok for a 10 year old size boot 3/4
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Esdel, If I remember there was a minimum age for Salomon Blades of 12 or 14 due to the binding, but this was at their launch perhaps this has changed?
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After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Esdel, if they were 210s from 1985 they'd be better for him than a set of blades...

In seriousness, depends on his height/weight. Plenty of guides on the net, have a google.
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i'vw just google it, and the first 5 pages are people selling but not alot else,

I get it that snow blades are for either, dweebs or french kids apparently
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130 euros to hire skis and boots seems expensive. I have seen plenty of rentals for half that. Where are you looking?
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ok i'll stick my neck out, mid-forehead is perfect height, a few cms either way will be fine.

this was first hit: http://www.evo.com/how-to-choose-youth-skis-size-chart-and-guide.aspx
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Esdel, Unless he is very small for his age 108 sound way too short to me. My pretty average size (only just) 8 year old daughter is on 115s and went to those having grown out of her 105 just after we got back from skiing Feb half term last year (so was only just 7, mid Feb birthday)
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Esdel, Ski length.Rank beginner around shoulder height.Some experience around forehead height,with a couple of cm's each way not a worry.The brand is of no real importance,kids skis are,essentially,kids skis.
Get a length,and put up a wanted ad in the Buy/Sell section.Loads of kids skis end up in the corner of the garage,every chance someone will have something?
Boots are a bit trickier.Got a ski shop near you?Kids boots are pretty cheap,with the Soloman ones being around £50 last time I looked.Also the chance of some used ones,as some shops take trade in's as the kids grow out of them so fast.

My experience,kids like their own kit,plus you have the certainty of knowing what they will be skiing on.

Blades.....I think you may have got the picture Sad
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Esdel, ..I've got some 130cm youth skis with rental bindings (easy adjust) which go down to about a UK4 boot size (mondo 23). These are a bit battered on the top sheet from the kids hucking and hooning about off-piste but have really good bases and edges (just serviced) - side cut 95 (tip) 65 85 (tail). The bindings are Tyrolia SR70 (din 1-7) which are excellent bindings - the brakes have a nice action since they come up and then tuck in when retracted. They are named X-sport but I think were made in the Head factory in Austria since they are identical to Jon Olson Head skis. They have excellent camber and are really tough skis. Thirty quid plus postage? Also pick up from Cambridge if you are anywhere near. If you're interested email me on tjea100@tiscali.co.uk - thanks
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
say no to blades
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
kioksor wrote:
say no to blades

I see I'll have to buy some blades. I've never used them but have occasionally enjoyed pottering about on Big Foots. I have always wondered why snowHeads seem so set against blades. I enjoy anything that lets you slide about on snow. Blades look like fun to me?
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Esdel, Totally agree with valais2, 130's should be about right. My 10 year old son(11 in 8 weeks) is just about to go up to 136's for racing and so daughter will get the 130's at 9 years old.
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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?
If you can afford to go to a resort that charges 130euro for kids skis, then what is the problem with the ski hire?!

Seriously tho, IME, ski hire shops will charge say £50 for boot hire or £50 for ski hire but boot AND skis can be had for about £70, unless you've got a supply of boots to use for a growing child, you will hire boots every year and skis will only be another ~£20
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I got my price from my experiences last year, € 60 euro for ski's and € 70 euro for lessons( which he's not having this year
€ 130 , I've been budgeting for the trip and thought it might make more since to use the money more wisly.

If I can buy some ski's this year for around the £50 pound mark that then gives me £ 60 for boots, these items he can then use this year and next, and I've lost nothing, as I might be able to sell them on if he outgrows them.

He takes after his dad is so is limited in stature, I don't see it as an issue.

Thanks for all the replies


Plus as people have said, kids love having there own stuff.

Valais email to follow
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Esdel, I booked ski hire for my ten year old yesterday, ski set, only fifty somethin euro
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Esdel, http://www.skiwear4less.com/acatalog/copy_of_Roxa_Junior_Chameleon_Ski_Boots.html Tostertalby says hers are great and they will last her several seasons
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espri wrote:
kioksor wrote:
say no to blades

I see I'll have to buy some blades. I've never used them but have occasionally enjoyed pottering about on Big Foots. I have always wondered why snowHeads seem so set against blades. I enjoy anything that lets you slide about on snow. Blades look like fun to me?


I wish Kneissl would make massive, powder ski sized Big Foots. Ridiculous, but I'd HAVE to have a pair!
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Have you tried skidiscount.com? (or .co.uk, whatever)

I wouldn't pay 130 EUR for hire either...
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Esdel, 130 Euro for hire skis, kin ell they saw you coming!!!
38 euro in Les Arcs 1800 last week for kids skis, boots, poles a helmet if he needed it(he has his own) and insurance, oh and they threw in an extra days rental for FA.
130 euro Laughing Laughing Laughing Laughing Laughing
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Ex rental kids skis should last a while??

Rent the boots he will outgrow them in a season
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Esdel wrote:
I got my price from my experiences last year, € 60 euro for ski's and € 70 euro for lessons( which he's not having this year
€ 130 , I've been budgeting for the trip and thought it might make more since to use the money more wisly.

But if you spend all the €130 on buying kits, where's the money for lessons? Are you implying he'll have no lesson?

I'm not sure it's such a good idea, regardless of blades or skis.
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You know, I cannot believe the negative vibe skiers give blades...I just got a pair myself after being a skier my whole life...yeah, I love my salomon tornadoes, but it's always fun to try something new, esp. if the blades can perhaps help me become a better skier...why be afraid of trying something new and perhaps a lot of fun?

Why poo-poo something if you've never tried it...most every review I read from someone who has actually tried blades, really likes them...and this covers beginner to expert skiers.

Do you all feel the same about boarders too?

The notion that someone is going to get the 'p*ss' beat out of them because they blade is absurd...really, how childish can you be...like someone is going to stand there and lob insults at someone on the slopes or start a fight with them because they are wearing something different than you...shame on you for saying this crud! Wear what you want, be safe, and have fun with it. Did everyone here with this horrible vibe fight going from straight skies to curved skis? If so, you look kinda funny now!

I'm just sayin...
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I don't have anything against blades per se, in fact I have a pair (although they are stuck in the back of a cupboard somewhere as I don't think I've used them in over a decade). What I do have a problem with is the seemingly high proportion of people who use the inherent properties of blades to charge around the mountain like out of control missiles. It's much easier to ski badly on a pair of blades than it is to ski badly on a pair of skis so I think there is some danger in using them as a learning tool, especially if you're going to strap 'em on and give it a go.

For very sensible reasons of safety the OP was advised against putting his son on blades.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
headless wrote:

Why poo-poo something if you've never tried it...most every review I read from someone who has actually tried blades, really likes them...and this covers beginner to expert skiers.


Most people say "yeah they're a bit of fun for an afternoon or so but I wouldn't use them full time". That was my feeling, and that of everyone else I know who's tried them. I also really liked them, but while they're good fun they are pretty limiting in terms of speed etc. and just not as good as real skis...

In this case he's wanting to use blades as a substitute for kid's skis (which they are not - so it's not quite the same is it). Despite being short they are designed for adults.
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You look like a bell end if you choose to wear fruit boots.

End of argument.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
headless, Nice rant. Unfortunately the few serious bladers are vastly outnumbered by the out of control fools which tends to tarnish the blades reputation.

That said some pro skiers who ski way better than anyone on this thread use them


http://youtube.com/v/SSFowVywHao&amp
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Quote:

it costs me roughly 130 euro to hire skis/boots

Shocked Shocked Shocked where are you paying so much? That's outrageous. 40 euros for 7 days kids skis and boots is more like it.

I am NOT anti blades. I had some from the beginning till my fear of the non-release bindings had me throw them away, a few years ago. My daughter skied on them for years, with her cousins, had huge fun including yomping through lots of river beds, off piste trees etc. I have used them, and enjoyed them, myself in the past (it would do a lot of skiers a power of good to spend a few days getting blades on edge, and going without poles). I don't use them any more; elderly people on blades are tragic (now I sound like Whitegold)

BUT they are built for adults, emphatically not for children - indeed if you buy a new pair you would get a warning that they should only be used by adults. A child would be in real danger of them (not that an 8 year old can't get a spiral fracture on skis - it happened to one of our family, two years ago, on gentle green slope).
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fatbob, Brilliant! Laughing Laughing
Who said blades were rubbish if you wanted to go fast! Clearly they knew nothing.
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fatbob wrote:
Unfortunately the few serious bladers are vastly outnumbered by the out of control fools which tends to tarnish the blades reputation.


That said, can't the word Bladers be removed and replaced with pretty much any word?

Skiers, for example, or Snowboarders?
Audi Drivers is another good one...

Also how do you gague being in or out of control? Simply saying "Some guy on blade buzzed past me - they were completely out of control" doesn't mean they were...
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Richard_Sideways wrote:
That said, can't the word Bladers be removed and replaced with pretty much any word?

Skiers, for example, or Snowboarders?
Audi Drivers is another good one...
Not in my experience. When I look around the mountain there is a higher proportion of out of control bladers than there are out of control skiers or boarders. By a considerable margin. Obviously you can get people out of control on any type of sliding device, but I think there is something inherent about the design of a very short ski that enables people to get around the mountain in what they think is a controlled manner, but in reality is not.

Richard_Sideways wrote:
Also how do you gague being in or out of control? Simply saying "Some guy on blade buzzed past me - they were completely out of control" doesn't mean they were...
I'm not talking about etiquette (i.e. buzzing people or not), but about technique and whether bladders are using any in relation to how quickly they are travelling and how much control they have over speed and line. I rarely see bladers making linked, rounded turns where it appears as if they can slow down and change direction easily. I do see a lot of people on blades skiing in a straight line with a semi controlled hockey stop type turn if they need to scrub off speed or change direction.
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Poxy auto-correct is changing all instances of blader in to bladder. Apologies for any unintended mirth!
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rob@rar, don't blame auto-correct. You're just taking the p!ss, aren't you?
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pam w, wink
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rob@rar, bladder...heheh
I take your point, but (and possibly with a devils advocate hat on, and setting myself up here saying this on 'The Piste') by that same rational, you're saying that snowboarders are inherantly out-of-control, as they have about the same amount of effective edge in a turn as a set of blades.

Could it be that people don't give enough respect to the discipline and take the "I can move about on these and therefore I can do it!" attitude. I know that you agree thats an attitude thats prevelant across the mountain regardless of what people slide on. People switch disciplines, learn the basics (or less) and then think their previous experience will mean that they pick up the rest as they go rather than get proper tuition. The people I know who blade liken the process closer to that of skating, rather than skiing.
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Richard_Sideways wrote:
I take your point, but (and possibly with a devils advocate hat on, and setting myself up here saying this on 'The Piste') by that same rational, you're saying that snowboarders are inherantly out-of-control, as they have about the same amount of effective edge in a turn as a set of blades.
I see a lower proportion of out of control boarders than I do bladers, but I'm sure you have seen boarders who can only turn by kicking their back foot around and then doing a partially controlled toe-side or heel-side scrape down the piste? Also the skier who can only manage a turn by a big shoulder rotation and zig-zag their way down the piste? Poor technique is seen in all disciplines (I'm trying to work out what is good and bad technique for snowbiking so I can complete the description...). From what I've seen there are a higher proportion of bladers who have poor technique, but that's not a scientific sample so I might be wrong.
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