Notes from today

[geargrrl]

(today being, "this" ski day)
-I need to learn how to operate the "skip" function on my earbuds
-I'm really glad I did NOT go in, and skied three bump runs on 2 Face in the fog, nice and slow
-must find belt for pants, top snap popping open is NOT a good thing
-where is that glove squeegee?

How about you?

 

[Jilly]

I was riding my Temptation's and realize that I really need to haul these babies over for edging! But they really love freshies!! These are going out west for sure!!

 

[Lilywhite]

Geargrrl, the belt for pants thing made me giggle, I have had similar before and had to improvise a belt from my luggage strap off of my suitcase. It worked fine but flouro orange with little plane images raised a few eyebrows and clashed badly with my dayglo green pants (bought in an emergency) and raspberry compression top!

 

[Jilly]

That I need to wear my boot gloves to have toasty toes!!

 

[Christy]

top snap popping open is NOT a good thing

I pop mine all the time. Luckily my pants stay in place anyway. Sometimes I don't even bother to resnap them. I have come to the conclusion that snaps are just a bad idea. I'll look for buttons nex time.

 

[bounceswoosh]

I have a pair of North Face pants that have velcro under the snaps, and that works really well.

 

[SkiNana]

-must find belt for pants, top snap popping open is NOT a good thing

How come I never think to come up with a solution, I just figure I have to lose five pounds (and then don't do that either!)

 

[maggie198]

Hate snaps popping, keep telling myself to sew on a new hook and eye fastener at the waistband's snap closure, the broad metal kind that is actually what's holding my pants closed. I need two...

 

[bounceswoosh]

Notes from my most recent ski days, Christmas and the 26th.

I skied my Kikus instead of my Celebrity 100s this week. (I originally bought the Kikus as AT skis, but decided that was a mistake and switched them to full alpine bindings, so now I accidentally have two new pairs of alpine skis this year. Oops?) I definitely find the Kikus more challenging and tiring, but on hardpack they gave me a lot more confidence and seemed to bite in more easily. If anyone could help me understand what ski attributes result in those differences, I'd really appreciate it. I intuitively suspect that the Volkls are stiffer than the Lines, but I'm not really sure that's true. I liked the Kikus in powder, chop, and very soft bumps. The Celebrity 100s are more like comfy slippers - I just feel like I can do everything in them without much effort. Well, except hardpack. But the Celebrities make the fun stuff easy. The Celebrities (165) are in fact longer than the Kikus (162), assuming they measure the same way, but the Kikus feel like a longer ski.

And speaking of all of this, I do not see a Celebrity 100 on Line's product page. Did they kill it / replace it? Maybe I should try to avoid core shots in the future ... on these skis ...

DH and I skied one run down Horseshoe Bowl on Christmas, after a few laps of Ore Bucket, which we were surprised to find open from the top. The T-Bar had been open since the previous Friday. He chose to ski down along the access road for a bit and then angle in from the side; I followed him. We had to ski through some pretty serious rocks to get to an open spot, but then the snow - the snow was fantastic. I could feel the snow pushing against my knees as I skied down. Unfortunately, DH snagged a rock at the bottom and took a hard fall; in combo with some other factors, that ended our day, so we didn't have to decide if we would brave the rocks again for a taste of the white stuff.

 

[badger]

Bounceswoosh, I have the Kenjas and the Celebrity 90. You are a much more advanced skier than I so I am interested in your comments.
I purchased the Line in 2010 hoping for something to assist my endeavors to learn crud and powder. Because I struggle with crud quite a bit I have found these skis pretty nice. They are more damp than the Volkls for sure, and seem just a bit heavier than the Volkl.
Last season I did not use my Celebrity ski until the very last day or so when the snow at my local hill was really choppy. My efforts to ski the Kenjas in that sort of terrain were quite unsuccessful. No skill, no weight, too stiff. Before using the Celebrity that day I had them detuned. The last time they had edges was at the Canyons in Utah where I had a wonderful crash off a catwalk and over the edge into some trees...climbed out with some help from a group of skiers who saw the fall. The Celebritys had been unusually hooky that last few times I had been skiing them; and I couldn't figure out what was wrong. You know, they are very good on the groomed slopes! Freaked me out to say the least, so I decided to stick to my carvers from then on. I find the Kenja to be an awesome frontside ski. If I weighed more it might be even better. (91#) When I bought the Kenjas I was curious how they would do in crud as well. I believe the heavier skiers get a lot out of them in those conditions. Their stiffness does not seem to help me there. The 100 Celebrity may have been discontinued after 2012.

 

[B.E.G.]

Badger, you're definitely a flyweight! On that note(ish), I realized I lost a few pounds because I lost muscle tone. Blergh.

Went skiing today in MT! No demos (aren't mounted yet) :( and no skis or poles because I only brought boots. Ended up on rentals (some kind of K2 with a 70 waist and 146 length), and due to a slight miscommunication at the crowded rental place ended up with no poles. Observations?

1) Skiing without poles rocks! I was so much more aware of my stance and moving dynamically. Also, since I couldn't rely on them to help me out when I stall out on flats, had to be much more aware of where I was skiing.

2) Rentals are blah. Soooo uninspiring and noodly. It was interesting skiing something super narrow and shorter than what I've skied in the past. I missed the stability I got from a wider ski!

3) and most importantly, skiing something steep when you reallllly have to pee is Just Not Fun. Talk about ruining that forward stance - every time I got forward my bladder protested!

 

[mustski]

Not today ... yesterday. I prefer skiing my Auras on the groomers over my carvers. That made no sense at all until I realized that my Volkl AC3's demand that I drive them hard all the way through the turn. Thanks to rocker technology I have gotten lazy about that! Then again, if I prefer the Auras why not ski them? I bought them to be used after all. Note to self: leave the carvers in the closet unless it is really icy out there.

 

[bounceswoosh]

Bounceswoosh, I have the Kenjas and the Celebrity 90. You are a much more advanced skier than I so I am interested in your comments.
I purchased the Line in 2010 hoping for something to assist my endeavors to learn crud and powder. Because I struggle with crud quite a bit I have found these skis pretty nice. They are more damp than the Volkls for sure, and seem just a bit heavier than the Volkl.
Last season I did not use my Celebrity ski until the very last day or so when the snow at my local hill was really choppy. My efforts to ski the Kenjas in that sort of terrain were quite unsuccessful. No skill, no weight, too stiff. Before using the Celebrity that day I had them detuned. The last time they had edges was at the Canyons in Utah where I had a wonderful crash off a catwalk and over the edge into some trees...climbed out with some help from a group of skiers who saw the fall. The Celebritys had been unusually hooky that last few times I had been skiing them; and I couldn't figure out what was wrong. You know, they are very good on the groomed slopes! Freaked me out to say the least, so I decided to stick to my carvers from then on. I find the Kenja to be an awesome frontside ski. If I weighed more it might be even better. (91#) When I bought the Kenjas I was curious how they would do in crud as well. I believe the heavier skiers get a lot out of them in those conditions. Their stiffness does not seem to help me there. The 100 Celebrity may have been discontinued after 2012.

I weigh twice what you do, so I agree that our experiences on the same skis are going to be pretty different. For one thing, the Celebrity 100 is the narrowest ski I've had in several years! Maybe lightness is a Volkl thing - my Kikus are definitely much lighter than my Celebrity 100s, even though the Kikus are wider and have a heavier binding mounted. I can make it down the hill just fine on either ski in groomed conditions, but when the snow is scraped off, the Kikus hold their edges just a bit better.

 

[MaineSkiLady]

Top snap popping!! Ditto! Just about the only thing I don't like about new ski pants (that and the dumb lower rise, what is that?>in WINTER?). Just don't want to have to start with belt but may not have choice. Annoying. Pants won't fall down, but.....

badger, I had the overtuned issue in 3/11. The hooky thing. Yikes. Also crashed - HARD (OW) - which I rarely do. Saw stars. Then DH detuned (which many say don't do it/never do it > phooey<done), all okay.

FWIW: Volkls generally have much higher torsional stiffness than aforementioned Line Celebrity.

 

[badger]

Top snap popping!! Ditto! Just about the only thing I don't like about new ski pants (that and the dumb lower rise, what is that?>in WINTER?). Just don't want to have to start with belt but may not have choice. Annoying. Pants won't fall down, but.....

badger, I had the overtuned issue in 3/11. The hooky thing. Yikes. Also crashed - HARD (OW) - which I rarely do. Saw stars. Then DH detuned (which many say don't do it/never do it > phooey<done), all okay.

FWIW: Volkls generally have much higher torsional stiffness than aforementioned Line Celebrity.

I totally agree with the Low-rise Surprise issue. By the time you have 2 or three waistbands of baselayer and add that lower-waisted snap/hook, then you have potential pops, plus a big poochy pant to cover up.

Detuning the Line ski made it safe again. Honestly I cannot figure out why this ski started to do its hook and grab behavior after I had skied it the season before with no problems.( "overtuning" hmmm, could be.) Somehow I may have contributed by not being forward enough? But this twin-tip with no edges performs perfectly in the soft chop!

 

[MaineSkiLady]

Detuning the Line ski made it safe again. Honestly I cannot figure out why this ski started to do its hook and grab behavior after I had skied it the season before with no problems.( "overtuning" hmmm, could be.)

Refresh my duh memory: so you DID have them tuned between the time they were fine and the time they started hooking? Because if not, there may have been some railing at the tips, which could contribute to this hook and grab deal. But if you DID have them tuned, it's regulation for the tune to go the whole edge length. Which didn't work for me, either, all advice to the contrary. Not a sit-back issue at all, really.

 

[badger]

Refresh my duh memory: so you DID have them tuned between the time they were fine and the time they started hooking? Because if not, there may have been some railing at the tips, which could contribute to this hook and grab deal. But if you DID have them tuned, it's regulation for the tune to go the whole edge length. Which didn't work for me, either, all advice to the contrary. Not a sit-back issue at all, really.

Unfortunately I don't remember either! Talk about a DUH moment.........lol. All I really know for certain is that they stay on the trails now without mutiny on their part. Have you ever had a shopping cart that pulled you toward Produce when you wanted to go to the Pasta aisle?

 

[frenchgirl]

I skied my Blizzard viva 8.1(unrockered) and found out that I have to really pressure the tips in hard snow. If I do not they kind of chatter from side to side during a turn

 

[Sarah_82]

A couple firsts today at Breck:

I finally tried Ore Bucket. I say I tried it rather than skied it because I did a lot of side-slipping in the steeper parts... It mostly wasn't the steepness that phased me, when I looked back up it didn't look *that* steep, but sometimes things like trees and rocks freak me out a bit and make me afraid to turn. I'd like to try it again, but maybe later in the season when there's hopefully more snow. It was crowded and icy enough on most of peak 7 that my friend and I figured we'd take our chances with the trees and soft snow. And she'd done it before, so at least one of us knew what we were doing.

I also had a binding pre-release for the first time. I was on a blue with some moderate sized bumps, going fairly slowly across the fall line, and suddenly realized my left ski was missing. I was going slow enough I didn't even fall down, so maybe it was from my ski bending a bit too much in a trough between bumps? No harm done, but the thought of that happening when I'm going fast on a groomer makes me wonder at what point I should consider upping my "skier type" for DIN setting from II to III... I wouldn't really describe myself as an aggressive skier yet, but then that is a sort of vague, relative term. I don't want to lose a ski at a bad time, but then I don't want to break a leg from what would otherwise be a harmless fall, either. In any case, I'll get the bindings checked for any defects before just cranking up the DIN myself.

 

[Pequenita]

I also had a binding pre-release for the first time. I was on a blue with some moderate sized bumps, going fairly slowly across the fall line, and suddenly realized my left ski was missing. I was going slow enough I didn't even fall down, so maybe it was from my ski bending a bit too much in a trough between bumps? No harm done, but the thought of that happening when I'm going fast on a groomer makes me wonder at what point I should consider upping my "skier type" for DIN setting from II to III... I wouldn't really describe myself as an aggressive skier yet, but then that is a sort of vague, relative term. I don't want to lose a ski at a bad time, but then I don't want to break a leg from what would otherwise be a harmless fall, either. In any case, I'll get the bindings checked for any defects before just cranking up the DIN myself.

Might also want to see if there is any wear on the boot on the side that prereleased.