Do you lock your skis?

[cyn]

We meant to lock ours, but when we got to the lodge and fumbled around for our locks, we found that we had almost always forgotten them in the car.
What a drag it is to have someone stand outside and guard the skis while the other person goes inside to use the restroom etc.
Last year, we bought small locks that slip easily into our jacket pockets, and we leave them there so we always have them with us.
I don't think we're being paranoid about locking. There are lots of thefts at the mountains where we ski and we have invested heavily in our equipment.

 

[Gloria]

Different World

Where we have passes,not that I do this alot, but you can actually get drunk and forget your equipment at the bar overnight,or for a couple days, it's all good, it'll be there for you when you return. I am ussually more careful at other areas although I don't think I have ever locked or made anyone wait with my skis. You never can tell though, I did have a pair of poles stolen from the other area here that is even smaller.

 

[Ski Spirit]

I have yet to lock my skis but think about it. At one resort, in particular, there have been a number of thefts..but mostly snowboards.

One of my skis was taken at one point...but it was an accident..so now I'm a lot more careful about looking to see if the surrounding skis look similar to mine to avoid confusion!!!

 

[altagirl]

Where we have passes,not that I do this alot, but you can actually get drunk and forget your equipment at the bar overnight,or for a couple days, it's all good, it'll be there for you when you return. I am ussually more careful at other areas although I don't think I have ever locked or made anyone wait with my skis. You never can tell though, I did have a pair of poles stolen from the other area here that is even smaller.

Heh, one of the resort employees I know left her skis outside and got drunk. When she went to look for them at like 3am, they were gone. Not in the lost and found or anything so everyone assumed they were stolen. Until that spring, when the snow started to melt off and it became apparent that they had fallen over in the snow and got buried by a snowcat that evening.

Ha.

Anyway, for lunch I just make sure I leave my skis in a spot where I can see them clearly from inside the lodge, or a few feet away on the deck where we normally eat lunch. Not that it would be impossible for someone to steal them, but it'd be a ballsy move, that's for sure - mine are all stickered and easily identifiable, and there are a ton of us around who all know each other's gear if it started walking away with the wrong person. If we're going in to drink after skiing, they get locked up in our ski rack on the truck.

 

[altagirl]

One of my skis was taken at one point...but it was an accident..so now I'm a lot more careful about looking to see if the surrounding skis look similar to mine to avoid confusion!!!

Yeah, that's one of the reasons I put stickers on mine too. There are a ton of people at Alta skiing 183 Gotamas, but most of them are guys. So I figure there's a good chance they'd notice the big "Ski like a Girl!" stickers and find their own. ;) It also eliminates any possibility that my skis are anyone's rental skis that they can't remember quite what they looked like...

 

[Kiragirl]

We used to always separate our skis, place them on racks apart from each other. Recently, tho, my skis have been so old, I'd LOL if anyone wanted them!

 

[Gloria]

Heh, one of the resort employees I know left her skis outside and got drunk. When she went to look for them at like 3am, they were gone. Not in the lost and found or anything so everyone assumed they were stolen. Until that spring, when the snow started to melt off and it became apparent that they had fallen over in the snow and got buried by a snowcat that evening.

Ha..

Don't you just love it, it makes me feel sorry for people who don't ski sometimes, how much fun we have doesn't it?

 

[Jilly]

We either lock or at least split them on the mountain. Hubby actually got his taken on the gondola. There were 2 pairs alike, the girl grabbed his and took off to the top lodge. He looked around for her, but couldn't find her. Since they had demo bindings, he just changed them and took off. She got the better end of the deal, as his might have been demo's, but the store demo not HP rentals. We put a rider on the insurance for the skis only and it came through with payment. As for locks, we use either skikey or cable lock. Depends on the time of year if you can find a skikey lock open. They are either taken, or froze!! Like cyn, I just leave the lock in my pocket so it's always there.

 

[abc]

The short answer is no. I don't lock my skis nor do I bother having anyone guarding them! (I ski alone a lot, there would be nobody to "guard" them anyway)

I figure I'm small and my skis are short. So, who would have been able to use mine?

I also hang my poles on the ski, which is such a very "old timer" move. So if anyone try to take it by mistake, they would have noticed THAT (people don't seem to do that any more these days)!

I can see if it were taken by mistake, it could be a hassle for the rest of the day. But I'm not an early girl. So by the time I take lunch, there's no a lot of time left till the closing of the lift...

Never cross my mind anyone would actually "steal" them. Why?

 

[NannyMin]

I tend to seperate my skis if I am at a mountain with lots of thefts.

 

[Quiver Queen]

My skis are short and I separate them, so I figure they're doubly safe.

 

[ski now work later]

I always lock my skis with a small lock that I keep in my jacket whilst skiing. My kids all lock as well -- good habit to get into. I am really fond of my poles and don't want them ripped off, so I need to figure out something to keep them safe too. What's extra tricky though is when I bring 2 sets of skis to the hill -- I usually wind up locking 1 from each pair to the other figuring no one will steal just one ski.:D

 

[Greeley]

We usually lock our skis unless we will be staying close by to keep an eye on them. We used to just lock our skis at the base until we were at mid-mountain Alta one day. This was duing the time that 3/4 of all skiers were on the yellow Salomon X-Screams, which is what I had. We had miss matched our skis that day so I would know which ones were mine. Some guy came up and was looking for his, they had been taken by mistake. He was basically stuck without a pair of skis and didn't know which skis (of many) belonged to the person that took his.

 

[sibhusky]

Since I'm originally from the NY metro area, I always lock, even here in MT. Yeah, I'm probably the only local locking her skis. But I've been with people whose skis disappeared and it's not fun. My daughter's boyfriend's skis were accidentally lifted at Bridger last year and he had a tense 45 minutes until the guy showed up with his skis.

I figure, the lock fits in my pocket, it takes one minute to lock or unlock and so I look like a touron, there's no "mistakes" affecting my ski day.

 

[IntheClouds]

I will be locking mine this year. Mostly because my boots have some planing & I purchased the walk-eze to go from pking lot to slope saving my bootsoles. They come w/a lock to hook onto the racks. So I'll even have a spot saved (hope that's not against etiquette), & can lock up my skies when I come back. There are occasional thefts of ski's & the sheriff's dept generally will only take a phone report. Probably alot of these are accidental mixups.

 

[abc]

I probably will jinx myself. But I'm probably the only girl who live in New York City who never lock her ski, occasionally lean her bike on the parking meter while getting coffee, sometimes forget to lock her car door, and even forgt to lock her apartment door a few times!!!

I bought my skis on sale. So if I lose it, it's mostly just annoying and inconvinience. It won't break my heart (nor my bank).

 

[pinto]

Sometimes. Not usually midmountain, though. I sometimes wonder if anyone would ever steal women's skis.

I used to split skis and double up with my husband's, but I know someone who lost a split pair to an inattentive thief -- which means they actually lost two pairs, because obviously they had only one of each left. So I've been a little leery about that.

 

[abc]

but I know someone who lost a split pair to an inattentive thief -- which means they actually lost two pairs,

Wow, that takes a VERY inattentative skier to do THAT! Unless, of course the two pairs are about the same length and have similar graphic...

Today, I went out for a group ride with mis-matched socks! (need to do laundry real bad!) But nobody mentioned anything. They weren't even the same color! I don't know if they were just being polite? Or really nobody noticed? I would be really quite surprised...

 

[ski diva]

I generally don't lock mine, either, though I do separate them to discourage theft. But only at the base lodge. At mid-mountain, I don't bother. I think it also depends on when you ski and where. Mid-week, I don't worry about it too much. And if it's at a really busy resort, like Breckenridge, I'm a little more diligent.

 

[Gloria]

Sometimes. Not usually midmountain, though. I sometimes wonder if anyone would ever steal women's skis. .

Sadly, I don't think that the people whom steal skis use them, I think they pawn them or simply sell them. Most probably don't know the difference between mens and womens skis. Like the police around here tell you when your bike gets stolen, they don't want your bike, they want the money for your bike. Check the pawn shops.