Size does matter ...

robinph

... and smaller is apparently safer for you:

http://sbmag.wordpress.com/2007/02/13/skiboarding-is-the-safest-snow-sport/

5starpool

Interesting. I must try those the next time I go. I've wanted to the last couple of times but always assumed I was too rubbish. Next time I might just bite the bullet and go for it.

robinph

You can turn a lot easier than on ski's and have less to worry about with poles and they are basically just great fun. On my last trip there were three of us almost fighting over who would get to take my set out for a blast each day once they had each seen how much fun they are.

You certainly won't find them difficult top use once you already know the basics of using full length ski's and I've seen a lot more people on them in the last couple of years.

redzerdrog

going for 2 weeks skiing next month so must give these a shot

sharingan

Used em. Takes a bit of getting used to (well a morning) but a lot of fun. You have to throw your weight a bit more forward than on skis, and you are hanging your arms out wide like dubya bush for balance and control.

Deep powder is a no-no on them. But if you have trouble with ice, moguls or crowded slopes they are a nice alternative. They are pretty good too when snow conditions are a bit rubbish for skiing or boarding.

Pretty handy too for chase-cam activities if you like in-motion video footage of your mates, when your skiing concentration is impaired.

Though you can get pretty bored with them I have heard. They are nice to try out, fun for a while, and a handy to own, but you might tire of them and find getting back on full skis a bit harder as a result.

Anyone care to distinguish the differences between ski-blades & ski-skates?

robinph

I'd never heard of ski-skates until this thread so don't have a clue as to what they might be. I do know that what we are actually on about in this thread though is actually ski-boards as the snow-blade name is a Salomon trademarked product, and theirs are apparently rubbish for some reason that I still don't quite get.

Have to agree with the comment about it being easier to use a camera on them though, but after previous attempts on skis and holding a camera I invested in a helmet cam as well for this year. Which neatly brings me onto the video from my trip last month that I just finished putting together yesterday and can be seen here.

Enjoy.

5starpool

Great stuff Robin

Love the ski Sunday and closing music - nice touches. Conditions looked good out there.

robinph

Right, I take it all back, blades are rubbish and dangerous and you should never go anywhere near them. *

I'm currently "skiing" in Livigno, except I managed to tear a ligament in my knee on the first afternoons skiing since deciding to switch to my blades after lunchtime, and all becasue the blades I have don't have release bindings. I now have my right leg in a plaster cast and am stuck with trying to hobble about the resort between the bars on a set of crutches so that I can now spend the money I just got back from my lift pass.

* I will actually go back on the blades again on the next trip, but I think I'll get the bindings switchedm to release ones before then.

5starpool

Horrible, a lesson harshly learnt by you can be of value to us all though.

Royale with Cheese

Tried em before. Weren't for me, neither was snowboarding actually. Just plain old skis suit me fine.

As for those things being safe... I don't know about the new ones but when we tried them about 5 years ago they didn't have auto release bindings on them. My dad fell, ski got stuck in the snow, his boot didn't come out and thus his foot stayed in one position while the rest of his body twisted the other. He broke his ankle.

Edit: Just read robinph's comment, sorry if I'd seen this thread last month I could have warned you. Remember to get auto release bindings now kids.

ZorbaTehZ

Sucks man.
Were you one of those people that got to right in the big orange sled things down the mountain? I'll bet that was cool

robinph

Part of the problem was also that I was on a fairly shallow slope at the time whereas if it had been on a steeper one then the I would have just fallen away from when the edge got caught ... probably.

I've been sampling a lot of the local brews though instead now so it's not all bad and random people in bars have been buying me beers as well, I think as a kind of offering to the snow gods so that they don't end up like me as well.

I will be changing the bindings on them though before using them again.

ZorbaTehZ wrote:

Sucks man.
Were you one of those people that got to right in the big orange sled things down the mountain? I'll bet that was cool

I didn't get a ride in the strecher thing as I was still just about able to ski down, but the next morning I could hardly move so got myself a taxi the few hundred meters down the road to the trauma clinic.