how not to lose your skis in powder?

[BenWA]

lawn dart over a road gap at Mt Baker, first day of the memorably shitty '02/'03 season. Had mass speed upon landing so I sat back to dump some speed in the elephant poo crud and my ski hit a poof of pig poo, then *Doink* ...felt the sensation of yanking a drumstick off of a Thanksgiving turkey, inside my knee.

[BenWA]

I've never really understood the term, "losing a ski." I don't have much money, leaving a ski behind is not an option. I would dig to the ground in a fifty yard radius before leaving one behind. It would have to be pitch black before I would end my excavation for the day, returning the next morning to finish the job.

That said, most of the time they're pretty easy to find. You'll usually find it right around where the accident started, not where you ended up.

BobMc

When you spend 2 hours trudging around in 2' of pow on 40 degree slope, you get exhausted pretty gawddammed fast. Then when you go to the ski patrol and borrow a metal detector and still come up empty handed, it doesn't take long for your moral to continue the search to evaporate.

[Teletori]

That said, most of the time they're pretty easy to find. You'll usually find it right around where the accident started, not where you ended up.

BobMc

I used up my luck last year. One ski traveled under the snow and hit a rock, surfaceing 300 feet downhill. Another time, it ran 100 feet under snow, hitting a tree, and leaning into it. Both incidents I was about to give up, and then finding them. Gonna buy some leashes soon.

Would not crank the bindings more either, since one of the falls also broke the ski after hitting a buried rock, and the other a anchored branch.

[adam]

You're too young to understand, yet you have 600 posts.

Thank you for bestowing your knowledge upon me, oh great one.

[jackstraw]

Other than pre-release and exploding, the just generaly suck. Thats all.

im not smooth enough to ride on markers...the elastic travel is too short for me...therefore, they suck
but how the hell do guys like holmes, mcconkey, collins, plake, etc ride those puppies? ive found the cranking the din still doesn't help that much w/ the toe releasing the way they do.

[72Twenty]

Train your dog to find your skis. If you don't have a dog, adopt one.

Helps if your skis smell like bacon.

[Spats]

I started rocking powder cords after losing a G41 with about 7-8 ski days on it. It never showed up in the spring, either. I still remember the wipeout very well, and to this day I have no idea what happened to the ski.

The cheapest and easiest thing to do is buy a roll of 1" orange flagging tape at the hardware store. The ones you buy in the ski shop are uselessly short...lots of them don't even extend beyond the tail of the ski! You want at least six feet. Just tie it to one of the brake arms and tuck it in your cuff. And if it starts coming out, please, please tuck it back. Don't let it just dangle behind you.

[Particle]

This is a dangerous thread. If you post the wrong thing, you are sure to lose a ski the next pow day...

Yep, see even my comment was a little too sarcastic. I blew up big this morning and only found my ski by a little fleck of black visible from the tail barely sticking up out of the snow.

[Jim S]

And what bindings could Jim S *possibly* be skiing on after such a damning statement?

Drumroll, please!!!

Markers!

First, I got those Seth Pistol demo skis as a god deal used.
Second, I didn't know better then.
Third, you are right.

Since I've experienced Marker's preejaculatory release too often, I now us Look and Salomon bindings.

[DownhillRider]

Downhill: It's pretty much not the best argument to compare ANY brand of demo bindings to regular bindings, regardless of DIN settings, terrain, etc. Look bindings are held in high regard, yet I've seen countless instances of the demo versions just taking a shit whenever they feel like it, mostly on account of the demo plate itself.

Ah, learn something new every day - I never even knew there was a difference between demos and normal bindings..never tried a pair of demo skis before. Oh well, doesn't matter for me anyways..I have some 8800's with P12's coming today, fkna!