Another ski video
This one was taken while skiing a blue run called Barriers. Barriers is traditionally not groomed and develops into a really nice bump run with a fairly steep section at the top followed by maybe 100-150 yards of no bumps and then continuous bumps at a moderate pitch for at least one mile, possibly longer. This is our usual run for introducing students to bumps, because of the reduced pitch in the second bump section. The video only includes about the upper half of Barriers.
February 25th, 2011 at 6:09 am
That looks soooooo fun!
February 25th, 2011 at 1:23 pm
Looks good, G! I love skiing with the sun behind me like that, so I get instant “ski videos” by watching my shadow!
Those bumps still look a bit “Eastern” to me, more like the mogul runs I encounter around here and in Quebec and New England than the ones we get out West (esp. Whistler). There they’re usually enormous steep bowls (often on glaciers) that have been skied enough that they’re textured in gentle “Volkswagens”. I always find it hard to gauge the pitch of a slope from videos — when I see some of the steeper slopes I ski on the screen, they usually look surprisingly flat. (Yet when I look back up those same slopes from below, I often can’t believe that I skied down them!)
Your skis also seem on the narrow side — do you switch skis depending on where you’re heading?
My sweetie and I were in Whistler about 5 years ago when we got 58 inches of “fresh” during the 7 days we cared about, and we almost drowned! We bought fatter skis soon after that trip. Not super-fat, just what they now call “all-mountain”. We’re both enjoying them, even when we don’t get much “fresh”, as in our recent Jan/Feb week.
February 25th, 2011 at 8:48 pm
Narrow? Most people wonder why I use those fat boys in the bumps. The tip is 160mm, the tail is 130mm and they’re 110mm under foot. My Volkl Supersport Allstars, an all-mountain ski, are only 70mm under foot. This is not a steep run, only rated as blue, but with the exception of about 100-150 yards just after the initial steep section, the bumps do not stop for well over a mile. By the time you get to the bottom you know you’ve had a workout. Yes, I do switch skis based on the daily conditions and what I plan to be doing. If I’m stuck on groomers all day in a clinic or if I’m skiing packed out chutes I use the Volkls. If I have a day to free ski I will most likely be in the trees or bumps and I generally use the Icelantic Shamans. If I’m teaching all day or even most of the day I often use the Shamans because they’re twin tips and easier to ski switch. If I’m racing I use Atomic ST11 race skis. And of course if we get a big dump I will absolutely be riding the Shamans with the Marker Schizo Griffon bindings moved 1-1.5cm toward the tail from boot center. I’m thinking about betting a pair of Icelantic Scouts for next season strictly for teaching, twin tip and only 143cm, 12m turning radius. But that’s after getting new boots.
February 25th, 2011 at 11:35 pm
I stand corrected, Gerry. Maybe the same parallax that makes runs look misleadingly horizontal, also makes ski tips look narrow! Your “fat boys” are wider than my Atomic Metron M9s, which I read online are 125/74/109 mm, or maybe 131/76/115 mm.
Maybe in a month, when I return to Whistler, I’ll set up my tiny (and cheap) videocam on my helmet and take some vids. . . and maybe I’ll be shocked at how skinny MY ski tips look!