Once more unto the breach! We’ll get the unpleasantness over quickly and then into the color commentary.
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Northern Rockies/Alberta The scrub strikes back: Sunshine report part deux
- Thread starter Yepow
- Start date
Thread Starter
TS
Up for 5 more days with my teenage boys! Good stuff.
Things started weird., Got the brand new booster strap cinched up, made sure my feet were nicely in the pocket in the bottom rather than booting in the parking lot... hopped onto the skis, they felt slow for the full tune and spring wax I got right before we left for the mountains, but whatever. Got up to the top, went on to a mild green run to get going... and discovered I could basically not make any turns whatsoever. Whatever tune they had done had rendered these essentially unskiable! Could not initiate a turn! White knuckled my way down to the repair tent and they did a basic tune and wax on it--they had noted that they were edge high. While I was waiting for this, I called the owner of the hometown shop--he confirmed that they had railed them (he had had a snowboard that they had done similarly). He apologized and promised me a re-tune later. I think I understand railing: they go too hot, the base expands, they shave off the expanded base, the base cools and then shrinks, and wala, your skis are edge high. Boy they were terrible.
After the second tune on the hill where they set them to 1base/2edge, I still found them troublesome for the rest of the day. It was much better but something felt worse than they used to for sure; It felt like they took a long time to get over and kind of tended to get caught in transition sometimes. So, this kinda sucked
Need to get them looked at one more time? Any long term consequences of being railed?
Consequently, the boys and I spent a bunch of time goofing around while I tried to make something work on these skis. Can choose tol just ski the 99s or the Enforcers tomorrow.
The booster strap was interesting... I felt myself actually flexing the boot when getting forward at times, the slop definitely reduced. The weird or different or sharper or... whatever on the new tune was hard to get used to. I found when I was getting forward and driving the shovel turns were going better, but the new tune doesn't like my A-framing! Maybe it's just sharp edges?
We did a little drilling on sideslipping--was pleased to see that there was SOMETHING my son couldn't do perfectly first try when he tried pivot slipping. It was still better than me by a lot but he can't do steady-state/tempo. I'm sure he'll get it by tomorrow, he said annoyedly and proudly.
Overall a nice day, good snow, frustrating to have the perfectly good I think tune on the AXs buggered up and then "fixed" to something skiable but that feels weird and/or is revealing problems with my technique
Things started weird., Got the brand new booster strap cinched up, made sure my feet were nicely in the pocket in the bottom rather than booting in the parking lot... hopped onto the skis, they felt slow for the full tune and spring wax I got right before we left for the mountains, but whatever. Got up to the top, went on to a mild green run to get going... and discovered I could basically not make any turns whatsoever. Whatever tune they had done had rendered these essentially unskiable! Could not initiate a turn! White knuckled my way down to the repair tent and they did a basic tune and wax on it--they had noted that they were edge high. While I was waiting for this, I called the owner of the hometown shop--he confirmed that they had railed them (he had had a snowboard that they had done similarly). He apologized and promised me a re-tune later. I think I understand railing: they go too hot, the base expands, they shave off the expanded base, the base cools and then shrinks, and wala, your skis are edge high. Boy they were terrible.
After the second tune on the hill where they set them to 1base/2edge, I still found them troublesome for the rest of the day. It was much better but something felt worse than they used to for sure; It felt like they took a long time to get over and kind of tended to get caught in transition sometimes. So, this kinda sucked
Need to get them looked at one more time? Any long term consequences of being railed?Consequently, the boys and I spent a bunch of time goofing around while I tried to make something work on these skis. Can choose tol just ski the 99s or the Enforcers tomorrow.
The booster strap was interesting... I felt myself actually flexing the boot when getting forward at times, the slop definitely reduced. The weird or different or sharper or... whatever on the new tune was hard to get used to. I found when I was getting forward and driving the shovel turns were going better, but the new tune doesn't like my A-framing! Maybe it's just sharp edges?
We did a little drilling on sideslipping--was pleased to see that there was SOMETHING my son couldn't do perfectly first try when he tried pivot slipping. It was still better than me by a lot but he can't do steady-state/tempo. I'm sure he'll get it by tomorrow, he said annoyedly and proudly.
Overall a nice day, good snow, frustrating to have the perfectly good I think tune on the AXs buggered up and then "fixed" to something skiable but that feels weird and/or is revealing problems with my technique
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2017
- Posts
- 327
Do you think they shortened the life on those skis with the bad grind?
Thread Starter
TS
If the skis are difficult to turn. Check the structure to make sure it is not too coarse and also check the base edge to make sure they are clean and smooth. No structure marks on the base edge and no hanging burrs.
BTW, make sure the shop did put a base bevel on your ski. Won't be the first shop not to do it even though it is on the work ticket.
When it comes to ski tuning, always verify. Especially with shops you are not familiar with.
BTW, make sure the shop did put a base bevel on your ski. Won't be the first shop not to do it even though it is on the work ticket.
When it comes to ski tuning, always verify. Especially with shops you are not familiar with.
Thread Starter
TS
yeah, I'm bummed that I spent money on a full tune I don't think I needed (In retrospect) to make them much less fun to ski than they were before. All these learnings by school of hard knocks.
yeah, I'm bummed that I spent money on a full tune I don't think I needed (In retrospect) to make them much less fun to ski than they were before. All these learnings by school of hard knocks.
Eh, hold on just for a sec - the problem may be smaller than it first appears.
How coarse is the structure next to the edges? Are the ridges and grooves really, really big, like teeth on a comb big?
When you ***lightly*** run the fleshy part of your thumb along the edge, does it feel super sharp, like wire sharp?
When you twist the ski under a bright light, are there random glints along the edge?
I know you were in a hurry to get back on snow, but the bottom of most resorts is the last place I'd take a pair of skis for a tune up. If it's still bothering you, get them into Monod's.
Actually if you are at Lake Louise I have found their on hill tune shop to be great, so they may be the exception to the rule
Not sure if anyone else in the Banff area has this setup. The tune shop I used to go to there which was owned/operated by a world cup level tech closed because he retired :-(
Thread Starter
TS
dreary winter days with unwanted precipitation
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2017
- Posts
- 327
Where were and when the photos taken?
Thread Starter
TS
So, today was an absolute BANGER of a day. It snowed from 8am solid through the entire day, and it's still snowing now. We probably got 8cm or something, but the hill needed it after not much snow for a week. Freshened everything up. I put the railed AXs away and pulled out my old daily driver. Turns out I can still ski, those other skis need some TLC when I get back to civilization (we're staying on the mountain this time).
After an hour or so where I was finding tons and tons of mojo and was happy in some easy bumps with a few trees, I switched for the rest of the day to the 110 Frees and BOY were they a good ski for the freshies and crud and soft bumps. I had maybe the best day of my whole year today skiing in a little bit of powder with my boys, confidence high, charging the bumps with zero shopping (which is unusual for me--was finding it easy to be aggressive) and then blasting through all the chopped up snow through to the end of the day. I worked ZERO on drills and technique and instead had a huge amount of fun. I hope there is some general approval for that, I will get back to the grind when conditions aren't all-time And I must be skiing a little less defensively because my quads weren't giving me much of anything until about 4pm when the moguls started to catch up with me
What a day! I hope it snows all night and I can't wait to slay it some more tomorrow.
Also big shout out to @GregK who has been talking me through ski tunes and Boostercershire straps and who was a big influence on buying the Enforcer 110 Frees which I would have thought were too much ski for me in the absence of advice!
After an hour or so where I was finding tons and tons of mojo and was happy in some easy bumps with a few trees, I switched for the rest of the day to the 110 Frees and BOY were they a good ski for the freshies and crud and soft bumps. I had maybe the best day of my whole year today skiing in a little bit of powder with my boys, confidence high, charging the bumps with zero shopping (which is unusual for me--was finding it easy to be aggressive) and then blasting through all the chopped up snow through to the end of the day. I worked ZERO on drills and technique and instead had a huge amount of fun. I hope there is some general approval for that, I will get back to the grind when conditions aren't all-time
And I must be skiing a little less defensively because my quads weren't giving me much of anything until about 4pm when the moguls started to catch up with me What a day! I hope it snows all night and I can't wait to slay it some more tomorrow.
Also big shout out to @GregK who has been talking me through ski tunes and Boostercershire straps and who was a big influence on buying the Enforcer 110 Frees which I would have thought were too much ski for me in the absence of advice!
Thread Starter
TS
Today, Sunshine Village... looks like Tin Can Alley to me for a few of them. Wasn't a pull-the-phone out lots day.
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Thread Starter
TS
I will have to try all of this when I get home.
Oof. Been there. Nasty hanging burr. Shop took the burr off but also the edge off with it. To the next shop. Supposedly one of the better hand tunes in town. Put the edge back on but it wasn’t the same. Never quite comfortable on them again. Stuck them in a closet. Finally on the eve of giving them away, brought them to “my” shop for an edge and wax and they were like “we can sharpen these but they’re far from flat.” Bingo. Spent one last great day in them then sent them in their way, confident that my needs had changed and that my friend would be in good hands. Took three shops and two full tunes.yeah, I'm bummed that I spent money on a full tune I don't think I needed (In retrospect) to make them much less fun to ski than they were before. All these learnings by school of hard knocks.
As above, it may be an easy problem to fix, but definitely takes the joy out of things while it’s happening. Glad you had a great day without worrying about the drills for once. And as always, a thoroughly entertaining trip report.
Thread Starter
TS
Yeah, easy is relative. For someone with a lot of experience with this sort of thing, and the right tools, and the skill, it's just a track down the problems and fix it yourself. There are things in my professional life that I find pretty easy to do or write about... when you are just learning, it's putting yourselves in the hands of the "experts" and then needing to find out from others what has happened. At least I'm learning about tuning now!
This forum tho, holy cow you can learn a lot 
Andy Mink
Everyone loves spring skiing but not in January
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Welcome to the Rabbit Hole.
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- Dec 2, 2015
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Unfortunately, the customer is usually treated as a moron. So getting redress can be difficult or painful.yeah, I'm bummed that I spent money on a full tune I don't think I needed (In retrospect) to make them much less fun to ski than they were before. All these learnings by school of hard knocks.
This seems to be worldwide in ski shops.
Just this year in Switzerland had a shop guy basically refuse to exchange my friend’s rental poles for 10cm shorter. It really was comical, and not worth fighting over, so she just continued holding the bottom of the grip. I’m so used to the pole thing. Pole length was written down on Moses’s stone tablets apparently. I just tell them what I want, then get the really?? Say yes, and continue.
Thread Starter
TS
Pictures of absolutely shameful trail maintenance. Any self-respecting groomer would be sacked for this kind of work
Thread Starter
TS
Pictured: me and all my friends
