How bad is the jonesing?

[captain_hug99]

Yes yes yes! There was a little bit of snow on Pike's Peak and I was ready to get my ski racks on.

 

[Fluffy Kitty]

My friend was like "How do you not have scurvy?"

Raw bear meat is rich in Vitamin C.

 

[skiwest]

Ha ha ha ha, I use Gummi Bears as incentive when studying. Despite a fairly decent diet overall,I recently noticed that at the end of a busy week the only thing in my 'fridge besides condiments was Gummi Bears and beer. My friend was like "How do you not have scurvy?"

My local store started carrying chocolate covered gummy bears in the bulk bins. They taste so. damn. good. after a day of skiing or hiking!

 

[Jilly]

I love chocolate covered jujubes. With the gummi bears you wouldn't get a black licorice one!!

Think I'm going to buy the set of Warren Miller films on a flash drive. My new TV has the ports for that.

 

[ilovepugs]

Ooh, I want the Warren Miller films on the flash drive. Great tip!

I’m driving my husband nuts by incessantly sending him links to possible new skis that I want to buy. The reality is that I don’t really need new skis, but I’m trying to quell my urge to ski by spending money on ski gear. Ugh!!

But if anyone has suggestions for an ice coast ski for a progressing intermediate mostly skiing at night in the Mid-Atlantic, I’m all ears! That’s totally the extremely specific need I’m trying to buy for.

 

[marzNC]

But if anyone has suggestions for an ice coast ski for a progressing intermediate mostly skiing at night in the Mid-Atlantic, I’m all ears! That’s totally the extremely specific need I’m trying to buy for.

Have you ever tried skis in the Head Joy line? I went with the Absolut Joy for Mid-A skiing, which is 78 underfoot. The Volkl Yumi is another ski that shows up at Mid-A demo days. I had fun with the Yumi last Jan at Massanutten, and I usually don't like Volkl.

 

[ilovepugs]

I’m going to demo the Heads this season! I used to own the Yumis (before they added the metal) but I didn’t love them and sold them this spring. They were fine to learn on but I didn’t like them for night skiing much at all.

 

[Randi M.]

So right now the jonesing is tolerable - too busy with back to school, Jewish holidays and all else that September entails to feel painful ski yearnings. But that being said, we bought our season passes, reserved our house for Christmas week and bought all the needed major gear in August. And I watched YouTube videos of skiing last night, so....

 

[Jilly]

Ooh, I want the Warren Miller films on the flash drive. Great tip!

I'm waiting to see what's happening with Canada Post. They are talking about a strike starting Sept 26th. Maybe I shouldn't assume it will come post, but I can't see them using a courier. And not sure if I ordered it today, I'd get it before the strike date.

 

[Fluffy Kitty]

I'm sure this is just frost, but, whatever...

 

[skiwest]

I'm getting excited to demo some new skis. I tried the Black Pearl 88s last year and was extremely underwhelmed, so now it's time to branch out and do a big demo day with multiple pairs. My Rossignol Temptation 100s are just too much ski for the conditions I'm in most of the time, but I'll be keeping them for powder days.

 

[Fluffy Kitty]

I'm getting excited to demo some new skis.

My first reaction was, "Hey, that would be a great thing to do before snow is here...:

 

[Abbi]

I just turned on the AC! Thinking about skiing is partly wanting to be a little cooler!

 

[LKillick]

Super excited. I am, overall, a warm weather person -- with the exception of skiing. Since summer is over, I'm very ready for snow! Can't help thinking that the ridiculous amount of rain we've had would have been lovely for skiing with cooler temps...

 

[SallyCat]

But if anyone has suggestions for an ice coast ski for a progressing intermediate mostly skiing at night in the Mid-Atlantic, I’m all ears! That’s totally the extremely specific need I’m trying to buy for.

Everyone focuses on the icy conditions skiing at night in the mid-Atlantic and the general advice tends toward very narrow carvers; I think the conditions are more varied. Sometimes it's push-piles/dunes of granular snow shoved to the side of trails that are otherwise glare ice. In that case, I like a slightly wider ski to play around in the granular.

If conditions are relatively good, the skied-over trails still firm up at night and become a teeth-chattering challenge. Then, I want sharp but burly and stable skis.

So for me (and I am a non-petite 5'8" 170 lbs) my go-to mid-Atlantic night-skiing ski is the Volkl RTM 84. They are burly, sharp/carve well, and the 84 width seems perfect to me.

That's not necessarily a recommendation, just one person's perspective.

 

[Jilly]

Well tonight was the last paddle practice before a race on Saturday. We pull the boats on Thursday next. I'm off to the sample sale on Saturday the 29th. I want to talk to the Nordica/Blizzard rep. I need skis and nothing else really....But there are usually some really good deals to be had there.

An event we did for ages was....Bad Ski Movie Night....yup...being on the Aspen Extreme, Ski School and Fire and Ice. Since a friend and his wife have moved...its their turn!!

 

[SallyCat]

I brought stuff into the bootfitter's yesterday for mounting, heat-molding, etc. , so now it really feels like pre-season.

 

[ilovepugs]

If conditions are relatively good, the skied-over trails still firm up at night and become a teeth-chattering challenge. Then, I want sharp but burly and stable skis.

How do I evaluate the "burliness" of a ski - or at least what characteristics in the ski should I look at to narrow the number of skis that I should try to demo? Do I look at its flex? Materials?

The skis that I have now (J Skis Whipit, 90mm waist width) do have some titanal in them; technically they are "all mountain park" skis, so reasonably flexy and forgiving, but they are still very durable skis. Edge hold was OK on hardpack but my skiing ability is still progressing, so I'm not sure how much I trust my judgment. I learned how to ski on Volkl Yumis (pre-metal version) and they didn't feel as solid or stable as the Whipits.

 

[SallyCat]

How do I evaluate the "burliness" of a ski - or at least what characteristics in the ski should I look at to narrow the number of skis that I should try to demo? Do I look at its flex? Materials?.

I defer to more expert skiers here. I would imagine flex and torsional stiffness would be factors, but I'm better at knowing what I like than why I like it. I demoed a lot, made a few bad ski purchases, sold them off, and finally settled on what works for me. I guess that's going about things the hard way; if I understood ski characteristics better, I would have probably made fewer purchasing mistakes.

Fwiw, several people have said that the RTMs are "too much ski" or "too advanced" for me. Maybe, but I have much softer skis with no metal, etc. and I don't find them "forgiving," on hard groomers, I find them unsupportive and easy to overpower. I may not use the RTMs to their full potential yet in terms of edge engagement and flex, but man are they stable and fun and confidence-inspiring.

 

[ilovepugs]

Awesome, thanks for the input and the insight!! I am definitely on the heavier side and pack a lot of lower body muscle, so what you say makes sense to me. I'm only just getting comfortable on blue trails, but I relate to what you're saying about the softer skis with no metal in them.