• For more information on how to avoid pop-up ads and still support SkiTalk click HERE.

Hello from the midwest

DesmoDog

Getting off the lift
Skier
Joined
Jan 31, 2023
Posts
180
Location
SE Michigan, USA
Greetings,

I'm Craig, aka "DesmoDog" on pretty much every forum I've signed on to for the last bunch of years.

TL:dr verison - I skied a lot as a kid, gave up for (30?) years, dabbled in it here and there more recently, and am now retired and getting back into it.

The rambling version;

May as well start from the beginning. This is me a few years back, I'm the one on the right.
Ski.jpg


Unfortunately that photo (circa 1965) doesn't show the awesome lace up boots or cable bindings on wooden skis with screw-on edges. You can see the bamboo poles though.

I grew up in Minnesota. Since I didn't play hockey and the x-box didn't exist yet I skied a lot while growing up. I was on the ski team in high school but only as an excuse to ski with my friends. I was never very fast and didn't really care, I preferred bump skis and moguls over race skis and gates... I can't recall what skis I (never) raced on, but I still own the Mark IV Comps I bought to replace my Mark IVs.

For whatever reason, a year or two after high school I just stopped going out. Maybe 25 years later my sister had ended up in Colorado so I started going out to visit her in the spring. I'd spend half a day skiing with her. Everytime at lunch I'd decide I'd had enough, ski back to the base and hang out while she finished her day. My downfall was (is) conditioning, I could still ski but the altitude combined with the general lack of fitness associated with not being 20 years old anymore shortened my day. I'm working on that too, not as much as I should be, but...

Then I retired and am now getting back into things I did in my younger days. I spent about ten years working as a bicycle mechanic starting in high school, now I volunteer at a local bike co-op. Skiing has always been one of those things I was going to get more serious about again "someday" and that day has finally come.

I found this forum when I was searching boot reviews. Actually, that isn't true. I found the forum when I searched for info on vintage gear after my eyes started to glaze over from all the info on modern stuff. I have no plans on using my old stuff but opened up my ski bag out of morbid curiousity. I'll bet it's been sitting undisturbed for over 20 years.

This is the last set of gear I bought, I was probably 16 or 17 when I got it. The only newer gear I have is a helmet and goggles I bought earlier this season.
CompIV_8124.jpg


Yes, I'm one of those Salomon SX90 fans. I tried on some Nordica HF 110 boots today... pretty sure I'll have a pair custom fit tomorrow as part of my reintroduction

And that's my long winded story or where I cam from and how I got here.

BTW, I did have a dog named "Desmo". But that's a story for a different forum.
 

Sponsor

Staff online

Top