Do any of you Divas use powder leashes and if so, what words of wisdom can you share?
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Powder Leashes
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SkiNurse
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Not that I have a "tendency" to lose skis. But it has happened now once, in 25 years of skiing and once is too much. Whoever may recall my story, it was NOT fun skiing out of Lover's Leap in Blue Sky Basin on one ski. So, why go through THAT torture again if I don't have to?
Yep, if I see them, I'll buy them!
Yep, if I see them, I'll buy them!
Yeah - I know it can happen. I've lost one that took a long time to find - though I don't think those streamers would have helped. The ski traveled under the fluffy snow all the way to the bottom of the run and was stuck in a stand of trees.
And I think actual leashes are dangerous when used with releaseable bindings. I'd rather lose a ski than get beaten up by it as it's tied to my leg and I'm cartwheeling down the mountain - or even have it yanking on my leg in a relatively uneventful fall. My knees are bad enough. If you're going to use something, I'd go with the powder cords (streamers) that you tuck into your pant legs. You can buy them at most of the shops around here, but it's WAY cheaper to just go to Home Depot and get some construction flagging tape and tie a piece on to your bindings.
Like this: https://www.uline.com/BL_6423/?pricode=wl59
Just don't leave it hanging on to your skis and not tucked into your pants where everyone in the lift line has to try and avoid standing on it or you're stuck under their skis...
geargrrl
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I've never attached mine to my body, just the binding. I was taught loop the cord and stuff it into my gaiter. The idea that the cord floats to the surface so that you can find the ski. I have never heard of attaching them to your leg.
Anyone old enough to remember avalanche cords, in the pre-beacon era? Same concept, colored cords float to the surface.
Anyone old enough to remember avalanche cords, in the pre-beacon era? Same concept, colored cords float to the surface.
Greeley
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I use them on deep powder days. I spent an hour digging for a ski at Alta one day and don't want to do that again.
Another recommendation is to make sure your pole straps are secure. A friend of ours had the straps that release from the pole. It was a 3' powder day at Tahoe, he fell and the pole releases. You know the saying 'No friends on powder days'. We lapped him twice while he was digging for his pole. We still threaten to supper glue the straps to his poles.
Another recommendation is to make sure your pole straps are secure. A friend of ours had the straps that release from the pole. It was a 3' powder day at Tahoe, he fell and the pole releases. You know the saying 'No friends on powder days'. We lapped him twice while he was digging for his pole. We still threaten to supper glue the straps to his poles.
I'm always debating that. My solution has been to keep the straps as loose as they will go. I've snagged a tree in the past and they just pull right off my hand like it's nothing, so I guess it works.
But yeah - I know most patrollers insist on no straps, and they recommend you never use them in the backcountry either.
geargrrl
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
survey tape, parachute cord...
I will say this about survey tape. It does crack apart in the cold. I use it to mark my poles as we have a giant pole bin at our patrol lodge that everybody tosses their poles into. There is another set just like mine, but longer- after some mishaps with the wrong size poles I just mark mine, but the tape does break off.
I second that. I just feel strang NOT having the pole straps loop to my wrist.
But the way I had the straps done, the loops are pretty big once I release my grip on the pole itself. So yes, I've had my poles snagged. Though as soon as I let go of my grip, the pole and my hand were free from each other despite the loop.
judes
Diva in Training
Powder Leash Hassle
Hi there,
I am just setting up my powder leashes (heading to the snow in a week)... I have the simple long streamer that ties to the binding and tucks into the pant leg.
Does anyone have suggestions for a better spot to tuck it so it doesn't:
1. Unravel while skiing/waiting in line
2. take so long to untie and retie when you have to take your skis off for a gondola???
I am thinking of making a little pouch with a clip that attaches to leg/boot so the streamer can pull out freely, but when I want to get off I just unclip a carabiener or something and clip to the binding so I don't have to muck around with the actual streamer unless I've actually fallen off. I've seen friends trailing those long streamers and need one (almost lost a ski last season took 30 min to find the bloody thing it had slid under the snow) but want to avoid that problem...
Judes
Hi there,
I am just setting up my powder leashes (heading to the snow in a week)... I have the simple long streamer that ties to the binding and tucks into the pant leg.
Does anyone have suggestions for a better spot to tuck it so it doesn't:
1. Unravel while skiing/waiting in line
2. take so long to untie and retie when you have to take your skis off for a gondola???
I am thinking of making a little pouch with a clip that attaches to leg/boot so the streamer can pull out freely, but when I want to get off I just unclip a carabiener or something and clip to the binding so I don't have to muck around with the actual streamer unless I've actually fallen off. I've seen friends trailing those long streamers and need one (almost lost a ski last season took 30 min to find the bloody thing it had slid under the snow) but want to avoid that problem...
Judes
Brooklyn Skier
Certified Ski Diva
Skiing in deep powder.
I was skiing Sierra at Tahoe on Christmas day in a snowstorm. After a few hours, snow patrol opened one of the diamond trails and I was second down after following a snowboarder. He disapeared in front of me and a min later I heard him scream and saw he had gone off a rock edge/boulder and tumbled over. I slowed in very deep powder and went around the sides to avoid the boulder. It was a more narrow section and I had slowed too much to see if I could cross in front of him and also if he needed help. That is when I started sinking in the soft quicksand-like snow. I tried to get momentum to stay on top of the powder stuff but it was too late. I had twisted in a way that I lost a ski and was on my side sinking making a nice mold of my shape in the snow. It was in such slow motion that you would think it would be easy to figure where my left ski was hiding on me. Right? But WRONG...I was on my side, it was out of the question for me to take the other ski off to try to find the other. Anyhow...very uncomfortable to come up with delicate crawling motion while trying not to further sink with all the snow kicked around btwn us...it took some time to find that darned ski. Plus now some more snowboarders had come down and got stuck at the same location because they didn't want to go off the boulder which was smack in the middle of the trail. The first guy who went off it, was fine and I think we were both drenched in sweat by the time we found my ski and I got it back on. He was nice enough to help to appreciate that I had slowed to ask if he was OK and thus inadvertenly caused this chain of events. (My poles didn't help any as I could dig all the way down and then past my elbow and I still couldn't tap a hard surface to help push me back up).
I never heard of powder leashes before because you don't need them where I am from (East skiing in PA, NJ, NY and VT) because it never gets that deep here. You better believe when I went to ski the next day at Kirkwood which got several feet of snow, that I went into a store asking for leashes but salesperson sold me a snowboard cord which I found out when I opened it...so that was no good. I went back to a different store and bought the powder leashes ($18 at Kirkwood). I wound up not needing them at Kirkwood but it was good to have just so that if I ski in the deep stuff I would have the little bit of assurance should I ever separate from a ski again that in the least I'd see a little pink nylon sticking out...making a much quicker finding.
To attach my powder leashes, they easily laso and tighten around the breaks on the skis (my terminology is probably wrong here). I can easily take em off too for gondolas or trams. After you click your boot in, you have to just tuck the nylon part (leash part) under the elastic band part of the bottom LINER of your snow pants (not the loose space btwn the liner and outside material pant or they will keep slipping out and trailing behind you).
If its not deep powder, leave the leashes home or in your boot bag. I don't think I'll ever have a need for them now that I'm home but now that I have em I'll use them again the next time I ski in the nice deep powder you find out West. Cheers, happy skiing (or boarding if you must).
I was skiing Sierra at Tahoe on Christmas day in a snowstorm. After a few hours, snow patrol opened one of the diamond trails and I was second down after following a snowboarder. He disapeared in front of me and a min later I heard him scream and saw he had gone off a rock edge/boulder and tumbled over. I slowed in very deep powder and went around the sides to avoid the boulder. It was a more narrow section and I had slowed too much to see if I could cross in front of him and also if he needed help. That is when I started sinking in the soft quicksand-like snow. I tried to get momentum to stay on top of the powder stuff but it was too late. I had twisted in a way that I lost a ski and was on my side sinking making a nice mold of my shape in the snow. It was in such slow motion that you would think it would be easy to figure where my left ski was hiding on me. Right? But WRONG...I was on my side, it was out of the question for me to take the other ski off to try to find the other. Anyhow...very uncomfortable to come up with delicate crawling motion while trying not to further sink with all the snow kicked around btwn us...it took some time to find that darned ski. Plus now some more snowboarders had come down and got stuck at the same location because they didn't want to go off the boulder which was smack in the middle of the trail. The first guy who went off it, was fine and I think we were both drenched in sweat by the time we found my ski and I got it back on. He was nice enough to help to appreciate that I had slowed to ask if he was OK and thus inadvertenly caused this chain of events. (My poles didn't help any as I could dig all the way down and then past my elbow and I still couldn't tap a hard surface to help push me back up).
I never heard of powder leashes before because you don't need them where I am from (East skiing in PA, NJ, NY and VT) because it never gets that deep here. You better believe when I went to ski the next day at Kirkwood which got several feet of snow, that I went into a store asking for leashes but salesperson sold me a snowboard cord which I found out when I opened it...so that was no good. I went back to a different store and bought the powder leashes ($18 at Kirkwood). I wound up not needing them at Kirkwood but it was good to have just so that if I ski in the deep stuff I would have the little bit of assurance should I ever separate from a ski again that in the least I'd see a little pink nylon sticking out...making a much quicker finding.
To attach my powder leashes, they easily laso and tighten around the breaks on the skis (my terminology is probably wrong here). I can easily take em off too for gondolas or trams. After you click your boot in, you have to just tuck the nylon part (leash part) under the elastic band part of the bottom LINER of your snow pants (not the loose space btwn the liner and outside material pant or they will keep slipping out and trailing behind you).
If its not deep powder, leave the leashes home or in your boot bag. I don't think I'll ever have a need for them now that I'm home but now that I have em I'll use them again the next time I ski in the nice deep powder you find out West. Cheers, happy skiing (or boarding if you must).
judes
Diva in Training
My new (untested) leash setup
I am about to head off for some (hopefully) deep powder in a week, and have set up a leash system I am keen to try out.
Background: Came off my old Salomon skis last season in about 30cm of powder. Took about 40 minutes of more and more frantic digging to find it. It was nowhere near where I came off, must have travelled a few metres under the snow.
This season I have brand new Line Celebrity skis for the first time, and I would be really upset (words couldn't describe how upset I'd be) if I lost them, so I've set this up: (please follow link)
https://picasaweb.google.com/drjudes/SkiStuff#5291052267377793538
https://picasaweb.google.com/drjudes/SkiStuff#5291052294523670690
This system allows me to remove the whole thing easily on non-powder days (just slides off the powder strap), and allows me to unclip the carabiener attached to the string on the brake quickly for when I am getting into gondolas etc. Because the little neoprene bag holding the leash is so close to the ski attachment, the leash shouldn't get pulled out and go trailing behind me, often. And the bag keeps it all neat so it's not tucked into pants legs which doesn't work so well - I've had friends training ribbons down the mountain
So hopefully this will solve the most common problems people encounter when using powder leashes. Let's just hope it works. It SHOULD. I will post once I know in 2 weeks after testing
I am about to head off for some (hopefully) deep powder in a week, and have set up a leash system I am keen to try out.
Background: Came off my old Salomon skis last season in about 30cm of powder. Took about 40 minutes of more and more frantic digging to find it. It was nowhere near where I came off, must have travelled a few metres under the snow.
This season I have brand new Line Celebrity skis for the first time, and I would be really upset (words couldn't describe how upset I'd be) if I lost them, so I've set this up: (please follow link)
https://picasaweb.google.com/drjudes/SkiStuff#5291052267377793538
https://picasaweb.google.com/drjudes/SkiStuff#5291052294523670690
This system allows me to remove the whole thing easily on non-powder days (just slides off the powder strap), and allows me to unclip the carabiener attached to the string on the brake quickly for when I am getting into gondolas etc. Because the little neoprene bag holding the leash is so close to the ski attachment, the leash shouldn't get pulled out and go trailing behind me, often. And the bag keeps it all neat so it's not tucked into pants legs which doesn't work so well - I've had friends training ribbons down the mountain
So hopefully this will solve the most common problems people encounter when using powder leashes. Let's just hope it works. It SHOULD. I will post once I know in 2 weeks after testing
ripcord powder leash
I saw some powder leashes at https://www.ripcordpowderleash.com/
They look as they will work.
Does anyone have experience with them?
I saw some powder leashes at https://www.ripcordpowderleash.com/
They look as they will work.
Does anyone have experience with them?
