The most important piece of my skiing equipment is…
My wife argues it is my helmet, or, on a cold day, my warm layer. Well indeed, safety first…
Safety aside though, the most important piece of my equipment, the one I obsess about and take with me in the overhead compartment when I travel, are my boots.
Boots are what allows you to control your skis. At their best, the boots give you a perfect connection to your skis and to the snow, and will let you drive improvement, but at worst they will hurt, impede or prevent any technical progress since you will have poor or no control of your skis, or even force you into detrimental movement patterns. They will make you want to go home at 11 am.
The more I teach, the more I realize how much the boots are linked to your enjoyment and progress. Of course basic fit is a starting point – and even that is complicated – here is a detailed presentation just on that.
A good boot fitter wll also consider flex patterns, forward lean and ramp angle in connection with skier dorsiflexion range and ability, canting options, foot bed choices, etc. This is part art and part science.
The master at work – pink socks optional!
While the internet is a great place to get education on this, this is not where you should get your boots. Nor is a city shop. Ideally you want to get boots at a reputable shop with a renowned boot fitter, in a ski area, on the first or second day of a multi-day stay, so that the boot fitter can have several days to get to the final tweaks needed for a perfect fit (sometimes the “art” part of boot fitting will take a few tries to get dialed in to perfection) .
The nominal price of the boot might be higher than at your city store; but the boot-fitter will not have to take any shortcuts such as oversizing to prevent pain points. Over the course of several visits if necessary, s/he will send you out skiiing before implementing gradual, progressive improvements to the fit, until it is just right. I cannot count the number of clients that came to me with new boots bought in the city; decided to get professionally fitted at the ski area; and were floored by the outcome in comfort, and skiing improvement.
Here in Park City, there are a number of great professionals, I will be happy to point you to someone who suits your ability and personality.
As always, the good guys are always unbelievably busy – be sure to make an appointment before coming to town, especially in high season.
Owning the right skis…
Do I have the right skis now ? Will I be able to ski them on tomorrow’s snow? What about length ? Width under foot, radius, early rise ?
Do you obsess over your skis ? good! you should ! They can make a world of difference in your enjoyment – and they can help you overcome terrain or conditions that you find challenging.
What is “a good ski”?
It is often said that there are no longer any bad skis out there, and that is true even in the budget categories. But the industry has made so much progress, and the offering is so diversified, that many a specialized ski will be truly marvelous in a certain set of conditions, and will be harder to ski in other conditions.
However, if you are truly intent on owning your skis, you can get some middle of the road skis that will do everything reasonably enough, and perhaps pick a model that is tweaked towards helping you with your weaknesses.
What form that ski may take depends on where you ski the most…and who you are talking with. For me, skiing mostly in Park City, it may be something in the 70-80 mm range under foot, 15-17 m radius – but just ask someone else, and they might pitch a width under foot of 90mm or more, radius of 20 meters for the same conditions…. There is no right answer, just what works for you, and that will change by tomorrow because of the snow conditions, and next season because you have improved – or because you went to a very different resort.
The case for not owning your skis
With that, most visitors I see at the resort would be better off not owning their skis. No more skiing on a ski that makes the conditions of the day trickier to handle. No edge and base maintenance worries. No shlepping them thru airports, no luggage fees, no ski bag that did not make it on time because the airline targeted bigger bags first to try to take off weight (or whatever reason they have). Believe me, I see this happening with my clients all the time!!
Just rent off of a demo pool: get your details sorted out online in the store database ahead of your trip, and then pick up your skis on day one. Do not like them? Return them at mid day and get longer ones / shorter ones / different ones. If you pick a store on the resort plaza, you will just need 5 minutes indoors and you will walk out with just the right ski for you, for today. It snowed last night? get in the store early and pick up a wide ski for today. You can get back to a carver tomorrow.
And after having tried various skis out there, if you truly fall in love with a given pair and you just have to buy them – the store will be happy to give you some form of credit for your rental fees. Just remember – you will have to ship them home or worse trundle them thru the airport.
Local store in Park City typically offer the same prices as can be found online.