Drilling holes in my tips and tails

[linds-o-rama]

Rumor has it that for the 08-09 season, G3 has ditched the tip holes, and K2 is adding them!

As a person who has recently required the use of a rescue sled, I'm 100% convinced that you need these holes in your skis, period.

So I'm in the process of modifying some big troubles to make them backcountry-worthy. The tails are notched and sealed with epoxy, now it's time to drill those holes.

Have any of you had a negative experience with holes in your skis? My G3's had plugs in the tips, but those plugs were total crap and were destroyed during my rescue sled incident. I haven't skied them without the plugs, and probably won't be able to ski again for a few months.

I'm a little freaked out about taking a drill to these sweet skis without some sort of idea whether the holes in the tips and tails will effect the performance.

Any thoughts?

[GeezerSteve]

Have any of you had a negative experience with holes in your skis?

I've drilled holes in the tips of at least a dozen pairs of skis over the past 15 years, large enough for a biner (for crevasse rescue). Never had a problem. YMMV.

[brown9]

I used to ski a pair of Tua's that had plugs, I pulled those out, exposed the holes and it had no adverse affect on the ski. While skiing through pow you can watch and there's a steady stream of pow peeing from your ski tip.

[LightRanger]

Shouldn't be any issues, especially with the twin on those BTs. Your holes probably won't even be in the contact area.

Lou Dawson has blogged about this too...

http://www.wildsnow.com/?p=628

[DropCliffsNotBombs]

Drill a clean hole, fill with epoxy, clamp, and let cure. Then drill the hole out again with a slightly smaller diameter bit. The idea is to shield the raw wood core from moisture. Go for it.

[lobstahmeatwad]

Drill a clean hole, fill with epoxy, clamp, and let cure. Then drill the hole out again with a slightly smaller diameter bit. The idea is to shield the raw wood core from moisture. Go for it.

Don't most skis with UHMW sidewalls have UHMW tip spacers that you will be drilling through?

[splat]

Don't most skis with UHMW sidewalls have UHMW tip spacers that you will be drilling through?

yes, they does...

That's why you should simply drill away and just smear a lil epoxy around the sides of the hole to prevent seepage seperation between the glass/plastic/base/topsheet layers.

[BKArmada]

total backcountry jong here.
why are these necessary?
i am very interested

[P_McPoser]

^^^ Because they make cool ass snowsnakes when skiing pow!

[linds-o-rama]

Thanks for the advice, everyone... I haven't yet done this because I'm still recovering from my injury and surgery. But as soon as I can stand for more than 2 minutes (next week, maybe?), I'm going to start working on my skis again. Those big troubles are going to be sooo RAD!

On a second thought, any ideas about drilling holes in the tails too?