straight skis

[happygirl]

Does anybody still like to ski on straight skis? After years of skiing on shaped skis, I still sometimes take out my straight salomons and enjoy them.

[BushMogulMaster]

Does anybody still like to ski on straight skis? After years of skiing on shaped skis, I still sometimes take out my straight salomons and enjoy them.

Definitely. You're much better off on a straight ski in the bumps than an all-mountain, powder, or alpine carving ski. And since all I ski is bumps....... :wink:

[freeheel_skier]

Absolutly. That is pretty much what I skied on before I started Tele. They are fun to break out every now and then.

----Doesn't Plake only ski on looonng skinnies???

[happygirl]

A couple of years ago I was at ski market in MA. and they were like giving away brand new straight skis, so I bought 2 of them for $40 a set. The funny thing is I have such a blast on them! I love these salomons!

[Lostone]

Since shortly after I started skiing a lot, I've had a quiver of skis.

When I added shaped skis to the quiver, I found I had real problems switching back to straights. I would try to turn, and they would totally ignore me. I would sometimes be panicking by the time I remembered to jump on them. Still I kept some and occasionally used them, but as the amount of shaped skis in the quiver increased, the straights skied less.

When I moved up here, I knew I would have less room, so some of my skis would not make the journey. All the straights, as well as 3 pair of longer shapes (192) stayed behind.

We had a give-away area in the condo association I lived in. I put them in htere, and they all got picked up by someone. Maybe they're still out there. :wink:

[outofshape]

There is a nasty rumor the straight skis burn well in the preseason Ullr tribute campfires.

[canonizer]

I'd be pretty happy with a pair of yellow 195 7s'. I think that might have been Rossi's last good production ski.

[ahm]

Think the XXX and the B squad work pretty well as production skis. They seem to work just fine in this shot.

http://www.postimage.org/aVexS10.jpg (http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=aVexS10)

[happygirl]

Has anybody tried the Volkl Rebellions this year for bump skis? They look pretty good. That is my kind of ski. I find fat skis to dam heavy at times. AHM- thats a pretty awesome photo. Where was that taken?

[ahm]

Happygirl: The shot was taken in Feb 2006 outside La Grave France in the Freax Couloir. The ski, although a bit buried, is the Rossi XXX. I seem to like fat skis as bump skis. The XXX, narrow by current standards, is 90 mm under the foot. Hope it dumps Thurs into Fri and this season's snow piles up like last years.....................

[jwt]

AHM, looks a bit like the top of Hillmans or the Left Gully ( except for the background - and yea, that much powder!) They both have that little right turn near the top. Actually, LG has a slight left turn. Nice pic. great snow. Climbed or lift-serviced?

[ahm]

JWT: The shot is a total of 7000 vertical, with the couloir being 3000 verts. There is one lift at La Grave and it is about 7000 verts, there are no runs and no avalanche management. To get to Freax takes some time, no touring, but if you don't know where it is, you could easily not come home as there are numerous terminal cliffs. Have fun, coming weekend looking pretty good!

[ahm]

Here's a couple interesting shots from La Voute. La Voute is in the current Cloudveil catalog. There's a couple rappels and then the untracked reward. These are from 2006.........it was deeper in 2007, but more videos vs pics.
http://www.postimage.org/aVkzL7J.jpg (http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=aVkzL7J)

http://www.postimage.org/Pq4Ig5HA.jpg (http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=Pq4Ig5HA)

http://www.postimage.org/aVkA44S.jpg (http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=aVkA44S)

[happygirl]

AHM- Thank you for the pictures! Very nice...

[jwt]

AHM"Have fun, coming weekend looking pretty good!"

Yea, but not that much fun! Did you do it guided, or were you simply using maps,directions? I see you were displaying da 'Bush moniker on your hat ( not helmet!). . .but I guess you fall there, the helmet will not do much good anyway.

Real nice advanture. . .I like adventure. . . . .gets the stomach doing willies. . . . the natural drug. . . .and allows you to speak to God in a really meaniful way - like 'please keep me alive!'

Any vids of that kinda stuff AHM?

[ahm]

JWT: A good deal of La Grave I am very comfortable skiing alone; however; for La Voute you would certainly want a guide and I use one. You would never find it and LG has no maps. It also features two significant rappels and you would need all the climbing gear for that. First time to LG, absolutely have a guide. The terrain is very very big, with no ski map, no actual trails, no signs, and no markings. Also, absolutely zero avalanche protection. There is no base lodge, nothing but a town and a 7000 vertical ski life. When being guided, I use All Mountain Adventures which is based out of Boulder. The owner is a good friend of mine. There website will have video from LG and there are some bush skiers in the video clips. But the easy way to go is to go with skierslodge. They more or less pioneered LG skiing and have a great set up where a week of guiding and lodging and meals is about 1200 euros. Runs like La Voute can take 3 or 4 hours, depending on snow stability and how quick people are through the rappels. Certain days, you may only ski two runs, but they will be 8000 verts each and typically you will see no other skiers during the runs. Give it a whirl, great place to ski, I've spent about 25 or so days skiing in LG.
http://www.postimage.org/aVr1kpJ.jpg (http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=aVr1kpJ)

[ski_resort_observer]

Hey AHM....Happy Holidays!. When are ya going to be on this side of the pond?

[jwt]

Thanks AHM, I'll save it for Euro trip someday. How much experience do you need for the repelling? Mountaineeering skills are limited to winter camping in the Presidentals and crampons - no axe, no glisading exp., ice climbing. Very limited rope use.

Should I call those guys across from EMS in N Conway ( forget their name - but they have great knowledge of the stuff and do expeditions and training all over the world.

Thanks, great picture - shows the degree of the wall. We call those NFZ's