Skiing?

[MUD]

Don't bomber tele bindings allow you to lock in the heel. So you get alpine and tele?

No, they do have a climbing bail though, it allows your heal to no have to go all the way back down when climbing, less pain in your calves.

[Neil Gendzwill]

I hold strong that I think it would be easier to teach a youngin' on alpine gear. More room for mistakes on your part, easier to control at slow speeds...... etc, etc, etc......

I don't tele, but I think you're right. For one thing, the backwards snowplow that comes in so handy might be tricky on teles.

[Mike T]

Parallel in one day: Gotta be possible for an accomplsihed snowboard carver. Or even a not-so accomplished one. I had previous skiing experience but never really made parallel turns. 3rd run on my new shaped skis - parallel turns. Carving after not too many more runs. Snowboard carving skills seemed to have a lot to do with it.

Backwards snowplow: Good one Neil! Incredibly valuable.

Need to do more than snowplow on skis: If your little ripper has a knack for skiing you will find that they can get away from you FAST. Best if you can chase them and not lose them - be ready to point 'em downhill!

As soon as my daughter can get on and off the cahir by herself I will board whren she skis. My new (but not received yet) Coiler AM 172 will be the weapon of choice ;-)

[BobD]

RDY_2_Carve

Go for alpine skis, like the metrons mentioned above. I inline skate a bit, but it was sooo easy. I actualy left some railroad track carves on my first run down on skis. I don't think I looked very elegant that first season, but it is relatively easy (and fun). Just don't use poles. You'd hate to be a real skier.

When my daughter started skiing I was only boarding. The slow speeds were agony in hard boots, so I went back to soft boots for just that purpose. It worked fine, I would help her off the lift and we would make a toe side turn easily. We did have a fall getting off the lift, when forced to do a sudden heelside to avoid a multi wipe out in front of us. I hurt both shoulders absorbing my weight with my arms, so as not to fall on her.

There are alot of cheaper skis, including Atomics with around 12m sidecuts that would be great for the purpose, eg http://cgi.ebay.com/Atomic-E7-148-cm-Used-Shape-Snow-Ski-with-bindings-B_W0QQitemZ150065948095QQihZ005QQcategoryZ21243QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

BobD

[Derf]

The way I see it, it's easy to get down the hill on skis when you're a beginner, hard to look good on them anytime, and fairly hard to actually BE good.. On a snowboard, it's really hard to get down the hill as a beginner, easy to look good, and really hard to actually BE good..

I concur

[Neuffy]

My history - I skied from 3-15, snowboarded from 16-now. Still ski occasionally.

The impression I've gotten is that skiing is way easier to pick up, stay on your feet, and make it down the hill than boarding. Getting to intermediate skiing takes a while.

Snowboarding is brutal at first, but getting to intermediate doesn't take very long.

Becoming very good at either probably takes about the same time, when you account for standards.

Originally Posted by pebu

The way I see it, it's easy to get down the hill on skis when you're a beginner, hard to look good on them anytime, and fairly hard to actually BE good.. On a snowboard, it's really hard to get down the hill as a beginner, easy to look good, and really hard to actually BE good..

This doesn't quite make sense to be. I think it takes just as much skill to look good skiier or snowboarding.

Considering how bad the average boarder looks, even ones who have been boarding for a number of seasons, it does not seem to me that boarders have an easy time looking good.

Of course, it may simply be that most snowboarders have different impressions of what is "good", but I really don't feel that flailing, counterrotating and excessive waist bending looks "good."

I suppose one could argue that skiing is simply harder and more techical at the high levels because you are dealing with two edges (simultaneously) and poles, instead of just a single edge.

[Why doesn't this forum have justify?]

[Phil]

I really don't feel that flailing, counterrotating and excessive waist bending looks "good."

Add A-framing (keeping the knees together while the skis are apart) and you could just as well be talking about a skier......or JJFluff

:lol:

Sorry, had to do that.

Being a carver, I think that a lot of skiers are lame. All of that technology and all they do is weak skidded turns all day. A lot of those that have broken through and found out how to carve do it poorly. To me, it is hard for people to look good on skis.

[Neuffy]

No....skiiers are just as bad. It's just that the previous statement made out that it was easier to look good on a snowboard than on skis.

[Why must I spell ski "skii"?]

[Phil]

Well, you will look twenty percent cooler just because you are on a snowboard.

[Neuffy]

Hell, I look at least 200% cooler on a snowboard than on skiis. But that's just because

1. I have no freaking clue what to do with my poles if I'm not in moguls.

2. I don't really know how to position my feet anymore. I just know how to go and/or carve.

3. I snowboard a hell of a lot more now.

[RDY_2_Carve]

Hey thanks everybody for the opinions. I think you've all swayed me to just do alpine instead of plunging into tele.

And thanks for pointing out the whole getting off lift thing on a snowboard. I guess that would be really hard hanging on to a 3yr when on a board! Or you could wave to the liftee like a madman for the "slow" button! That's never fun for the other people on the lift though...

[Phil]

Hey RDY_2_Carve,

Check out my profile pic (not my avatar). That little dish is enough to get me on skis anytime. In the pic, I am wearing my UPS boots with Atomic 99 ski blades. Those skis are just lame. I got them thinking that it would be better with my daughter. They never did much for me. Now I just switch to ski boots and use my Volkl skis. Today's skis are definitely worth it. I ride them whenever I get the chance. I don't tele, nor do I have ANY desire to, so I cannot help you there.

I recommend getting your daughter as decent equipment as possible, throwing and edgie wedgie on them, and using some kind of training tool (harness, hoola hoop, bamboo, etc) to help her TURN - not to hold her back.

Skiing with my daughter is definitely one of the great joys of my life.

[BobD]

Once, after my daughter (5) could get herself off most lifts on her own, we happened to be on a lift where the liftie had not been maintaining the snow level and it was very low. My daughter could not feel her skis touch down, so she stayed on. Her skis passed over the safety bar and she was heading back down on her own. The lifty was reading a book !. We shouted in vein. He was aroused by my wife's flyiing ski pole smashing into his window (it didn't break luckily for him). My daughter was ok, we could reach up to get her down.

Hey, that's a good reason to carry at least one ski pole, still doesn't justify two.

BobD

[MUD]

Even with all of my skiing, every time I come off my board to ski, I look at my poles and go, WHat do I do with these again????????

BUT, it never feels weird coming back to the board and NOT having them. It just feels right.

[RDY_2_Carve]

Phil,

I absolutely cannot wait to get my daughter on the snow. She's a little daredevil already! She'll probablly be smoking my ass down the mountain by age 10. Can't wait for next season to trade in the jibbing best friend and brother-in-law for the 3 year old! :)

P.S. Awesome pic! The signicant other rides plates too? That's too friggin cool.

JPW

[tufty]

First, you figure it's possible to get comfortable with a parallel turn on skis in one day? I think having started as a little kid, you don't have any perspective on the learning curve there.

Second, you don't need or even want a parallel turn to help teach the little beggars to ski. Snowplow, baby, and quads of steel. Last I did it I was on a pair of 200s - hopefully the shorter skis these days will make it easier.

I am by no means a good skier, hell, the guys I work with still laugh at me, but when I learned I did one run down the bunny slope doing that snowplough thing, thought "that sucks" and moved straight on to parallels. Admittedly, I was learning on 195cm almost-straight skis, and trying to snowplough made me feel like I was destroying my knees. I still can't do it, even on little shaped skis.

I'd say that anyone with reasonable snowboard experience could pick up basic skiing (parallel turns, skidding turns to slow down and stop) within a day, and on modern skis be into carving turns very shortly afterwards.

There's 2 things to learn when skiing (at least when learning to get down the hill), one is how to control the planks and the other is what to do on the mountain; if you have reasonable balance and co-ordination the first bit isn't too hard, and if you've alredy boarded the second is there already.

I should add that my 6-year-old is already way better on skis than I will ever be. But I will have my revenge. I picked up a 130cm snowboard with his size boots (soft, sadly, but I know where to lay my hands on a set of kiddy plates) and bindings at a ski sale a couple of weeks back, that'll even the little sod out. Well, for a week or two, anyway. *sigh*

Simon

[Phil]

Phil,

P.S. Awesome pic! The signicant other rides plates too? That's too friggin cool.

JPW

Yeah, she was a skier until we met, at which time she told me that she had wanted to try boarding for a long time. She tried it and liked it. The year after we got married she took up hardbooting and has not been on skis or softboots since. That was ten years ago. My other daughter is only 15 mos. right now. It will be a grand day when all four of us can go out together. Unfortunately, I will most likely have to be on skis to help them out for years to come. Oh well, there are worse things in life than having to be on skis.;)

[pebu]

Can I start using that as my sig.?

Have at it.. I think that was one of my wisest moments.. Next one is scheduled for about 6 1/2 years from now....

I was a little ambiguous on the "looking good" part. I guess I should have added "... to the untrained eye." The only people who really know are the people that are already in that "good" state.. I've been snowboarding for somewhere around 8 years or something. I forget how long exactly.. Anyways, my point is I still don't consider myself in that "good" category.. I'm real close, but not quite.

Speaking of sigs, somebody had something about snowboarding and golf in theirs... I haven't been able to find it again, but I liked it alot... Any ideas?

[Allee]

Parallel in one day: Gotta be possible for an accomplsihed snowboard carver. Or even a not-so accomplished one. I had previous skiing experience but never really made parallel turns. 3rd run on my new shaped skis - parallel turns. Carving after not too many more runs. Snowboard carving skills seemed to have a lot to do with it.

Agreed. I could pull a parallel turn on a blue run after an hour of pointers from the skier boyfriend, so I don't think it's that hard. And I could do the same on snowblades the first day, although years of rollerskating might have helped with that. The bit I hate is where the tips start to come apart on you - still haven't figured how to save that one from turning into a faceplant ...

[JJFluff]

I definately plan on getting on a pair of skis this year. I skied for two years before I started snowboarding. Now that they went parabolic, it should be fun to see how the hardboot thing will transfer over into carving on a pair of skiis.

[MUD]

I definately plan on getting on a pair of skis this year. I skied for two years before I started snowboarding. Now that they went parabolic, it should be fun to see how the hardboot thing will transfer over into carving on a pair of skiis.

They really are neet, especially if you remember the old days........

[lstzephyr]

Wow the lifty horror stories must be why the parents around my lift love me so much, I always help the kids as much as possible, they rock. I skied for 15 years(started at 4) and boarded for a few(5-6 years) but I must say that starting kids out early is awesome. I can't remember when I learned, I only remember being about 14 and people telling me i was good. Lol. I haven't skied in years now, but I am planning on it tuesday.

[ARCrider]

They really are neet, especially if you remember the old days........

the old days hmmm

You mean back in time before buckle boots or not so far back?

[patmoore]

the old days hmmm

You mean back in time before buckle boots or not so far back?

The old days.....

This is the only photo I have of myself before I resumed skiing (and took up boarding) in 1997. It was taken when I quit skiing in 1962 at Mt. Tom in Holyoke, MA (which didn't close until about ten years ago). The boots were leather, the bindings were Marker Toe Release with bear trap heel pieces and the skis were wooden Erbachers with tips covered with glue and screws from repair jobs from all the jumping I did as a 16 year old. I even went off one of the jumps at Belknap (now Gunstock) in NH. Dad had bought me those skis in Bertchesgarden where we had learned to ski in 1956. At least I had graduated from bamboo poles. My dad had a pair of Head Vector Competitions with Cubco bindings. He caught me doing ballet on them and I was banished from using them again.

Dad was an Air Force Colonel stationed at Westover AFB and got transferred south. Skiing wasn't a choice so I got serious about sky diving and logged a little over 2000 jumps. In the last decade I've rediscovered skiing and discovered boarding. The feeling of carving a turn on either implement is so fun that I feel sorry for my skid-and-scrape friends and I'm always trying to convert them.

[Phil]

I did a search and

Sweet!!!

Now, if you really want to know how clueless skiers are about going out and having fun and skiing in a way that FEELS GOOD, check out the discussion about the above video.

I am all about efficiency and effectiveness, but I also love to lay it down when I get a chance. It is a shame that so many skiers miss out on carving all together, but it is even more of a shame when someone does something that is as cool as extreme carving on skis and is blasted for not looking like the rest of the (PSIA) robots.