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Ball out on new boots. $500 for something that will keep you from hating yourself on the mountain and last you 5-10 years is much better than blowing $150 on what will most likely result in buyer’s remorse
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Jan 4, 2021 18:30
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I’m idiotically obsessed with spending as little as possible on the skis themselves, gear, whatever, but the one thing I’m happy to pay for is boots, at a brick and mortar with a proper fitting. Warm, comfortable boots really make a massive difference in my ability to enjoy skiing and feel like I’m good at it.
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Jan 4, 2021 18:41
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yea, y'all got me convinced. The one thing I don't want to do is put this on credit, and we're still sorting out our checking and savings after a bunch of unexpected home repairs, so I have to figure out if I want to sell a loving magic card or a couple shares of MSFT or some dumb thing, but I guess I have 3 days to figure out a plan to pay for this before the appointment  Does anyone need a Gaea's Cradle  edit: I should stop bitching and give a slight report on my first day out. I took 3 cautious runs, keeping an eye on this crack, and avoided doing too much that was going to get me off the ground. Mad River was covered with signs that said "6' COVER ON TOP OF NOTHING! STAY OUT OF THE WOODS!" combined with lots and lots of tracks of people definitely wooping in the woods, but I stayed on the beaten paths. Some standing water, rocks, grass patches and they only have like 1/3 of the mountain open, but it was a real nice first day. This is, I poo poo you not, the first time I've left my house to go do something purely recreational around other people, since early March. The way they're spacing everyone out, and the fact that everything at the mountain can be handled outside (include booze sales, if you don't want to carry a flask for some reason). I absolutely smelled someone smoking pot on the lift in front of me before 10am, and I was slightly jealous, because I knew I needed to come back home and work all day. Also being high is usually a last-couple-runs kinda thing for me.  
Cabbages and VHS fucked around with this message at 19:08 on Jan 4, 2021 |
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Jan 4, 2021 18:46
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Personal circumstances aside I'd always recommend if you're going to spend money anywhere it should be your boots. Nothing ruins skiing like uncomfortable boots. Believe me, I have a stupid wide foot as well as poor dorsiflexion and have (and still do) spend a lot of time at the boot fitters trying to dial things in. If financial issues are tight right now maybe the answer is to wait and potentially not go skiing for a bit. Only you know what's best for you in your circumstances. I won't counsel potential financial trouble over a pair of boots.
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Jan 4, 2021 20:42
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spwrozek posted:Took out Partial Octopus on his first tour. He did really well. I think he is very hooked. (although maybe not 8 mile, 3700' days at 12000' About as hooked as I am sore, which is a lot. It's a lot more work sliding skis up a mountain that I had assumed somehow, but totally worth it. That first descent we had was incredible. I definitely am trying to get out again as soon as possible. I think I just need to work on some squats and lunges first.
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Jan 4, 2021 20:52
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Also I somehow managed to put a pretty deep gouge in my top sheet from trying to stab my heel risers with my pole like a moron. What's the best way to fix this? epoxy?
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Jan 4, 2021 21:03
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Wistful of Dollars posted:If financial issues are tight right now maybe the answer is to wait and potentially not go skiing for a bit. Only you know what's best for you in your circumstances. I won't counsel potential financial trouble over a pair of boots. Also, sunk cost fallacy dictates that the $300 weekday pass I already have be utilized 
Cabbages and VHS fucked around with this message at 21:40 on Jan 4, 2021 |
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Jan 4, 2021 21:38
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Partial Octopus posted:Also I somehow managed to put a pretty deep gouge in my top sheet from trying to stab my heel risers with my pole like a moron. What's the best way to fix this? epoxy? It didn't look too bad but this is the solution if it is deep enough.
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Jan 4, 2021 22:53
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That was at the tip. I found a much deeper gash near the binding.
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Jan 5, 2021 00:16
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okay, okay, I had to sell two magic cards, but now I have a $700 boot budget which ought to be more than sufficient. I came very close to thinking "poo poo I should just sell 4 cards and also get new skis and maybe a used AT setup" but  NO, BAD TIM, NO. (mainly because I don't have an AT buddy to go off into the woods with, and would likely die the first day -- same basic problem that keeps me off the more fun dirtbike poo poo up here)
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Jan 5, 2021 00:33
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Partial Octopus posted:Also I somehow managed to put a pretty deep gouge in my top sheet from trying to stab my heel risers with my pole like a moron. What's the best way to fix this? epoxy? i've gotten better operating the stiff wire risers on my skis with my pole baskets but my topsheets are still covered in small gouges behind the heel. those tungsten carbide tips simply eat plastic for breakfast. it just gives the skis character...
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Jan 5, 2021 00:35
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Cabbages and Kings posted:okay, okay, I had to sell two magic cards, but now I have a $700 boot budget which ought to be more than sufficient. Sell your dead game collection and hire a guide.
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Jan 5, 2021 01:02
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Partial Octopus posted:Sell your dead game collection and hire a guide. Just do what makes you happy.
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Jan 5, 2021 01:10
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Wistful of Dollars posted:Just do what makes you happy. I was just joking around. Also snowboarding is going to bankrupt me this year  These racks are dope though. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JPXW53J/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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Jan 5, 2021 02:13
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Partial Octopus posted:I was just joking around. Is that swallow-tail an Endeavour model?
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Jan 5, 2021 02:34
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Yeah. It's the Endeavor Archetype. Picked it up a few months ago but I haven't been able to use it yet, unfortunately. Hopefully we get a powder day here soon.
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Jan 5, 2021 02:40
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Partial Octopus posted:Yeah. It's the Endeavor Archetype. Picked it up a few months ago but I haven't been able to use it yet, unfortunately. Hopefully we get a powder day here soon. Only in the back country for you now. ha.
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Jan 5, 2021 04:52
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Just learned that someone close to me is a rep for Jones. Makes me wonder what the widest board jones makes is. I already have a rossi split but even though its a "wide" it's the narrowest wide board I've ever seen. Less of an issue in the BC but I'd still love a proper fat boi split. wilfredmerriweathr fucked around with this message at 21:48 on Jan 6, 2021 |
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Jan 5, 2021 15:15
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Storm Chaser is pretty wide, plus volume shifted.
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Jan 5, 2021 16:24
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I don't know what Jones' policy is but you probably shouldn't post all the detail needed for the company to figure out who's throwing prodeals around to friends and family.
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Jan 5, 2021 16:56
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The midwest rep for Jones must love upselling ice axes. Also, fyi, the rep for Jones is also usually the rep for Yes., Now, and some of the other brands under that Nidecker umbrella. And if you could turn that friend's brother's former best friend's childhood pediatrician into an Yes. Optisplitstic you'd find yourself on a drat fine snowboard that has a thicc waist.
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Jan 5, 2021 17:00
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Hunter shut down today with no advance notice. Apparently COVID related. Rumor is that either a ski patrol strike or 19 employees tested positive. EDIT: Hunters official statement is too many patrollers out with COVID. We had friends wait for 2 hours before they told everyone that they are shutting down.
Yuns fucked around with this message at 01:07 on Jan 6, 2021 |
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Jan 6, 2021 01:03
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Our tiny hill has had people miss shifts for probably a half-dozen close calls so far but nobody's popped positive yet. Lots of procedures got put in place to limit possible spread within patrol to avoid shutdowns. Smaller shifts, all comfort amenities removed from inside the patrol room, strict mask requirements, additional PPE for aid room work with patients. If a whole shift got taken out it would be a huge blow, there's not a lot of slack in the system.
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Jan 6, 2021 01:49
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Cabbages and Kings posted:I came very close to thinking "poo poo I should just sell 4 cards and also get new skis and maybe a used AT setup" but Sounds like you've got an appointment, but I'm a fan of Alpine Options. They do a good job in fitting and explaining things, and will also happily refer you elsewhere if you're best suited to a boot brand they don't carry. Great service.
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Jan 6, 2021 04:39
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I had a really frustrating day today. Took the day off (a week ago, looking at forecasts); we only had a dusting with mostly rain yesterday but we're a good bit lower than the resort and in the banana belt. Still, checked the snow report in the morning and 12" was reported, so we figured it was still go time. Couldn't leave home until 9 or so once kids were at preschool. Roads were icy as hellll, which wasn't a big deal for us but slowed traffic down. On top of that, tons of folks headed towards the resort. It took us pretty close to an hour to get to Squaw (16 miles), and then had a pretty long lift line. It was almost an hour and a half from getting in the car to getting on the chairlift. And then the conditions were not really what we were expecting; not bad, but far from 12". However, it seems like everyone else was expecting that and we had the longest lift waits of the season so far. We took 4 lift rides, over about an hour and 40 minutes, with conditions being a mix of wind buff and ice crust, before calling it for lunch and going home. What frustrates me most about this is: - I had to call out someone in the lift line for mask protocol. The lifties have been great about this, but can't be everywhere at once. Some dick was loudly talking on his phone in an adjacent corral line with his mask off, and then we ended up merging right in front of him. He ended up squeezed in next to my wife, way too close. Asked him to back off and put his mask on; at least he wasn't combative, and complied, but he did make a bullshit excuse about how he was "just getting a snack" - It's super obvious how many people up here are violating the stay at home order and coming in from out of town. Like, the vast majority of the people at the resort. We saw groups of 3 or 4 families sitting together at tables with masks off and talking about their "hotel" Normally even though conditions weren't up to expectations this still would have been a good day of skiing, but instead I left grumpy and frustrated. I know I'm in a fortunate situation where I actually do live near a ski area and don't have to travel to ski, but I also made some non-trivial sacrifices to put myself here. Apologies for the gripe, but it feels worth sharing. This ski season sucks, but please if y'all are not near a ski area please don't violate stay at home orders to get out there.
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Jan 6, 2021 05:50
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Steve French posted:Apologies for the gripe, but it feels worth sharing. This ski season sucks, but please if y'all are not near a ski area please don't violate stay at home orders to get out there. I could not loving agree with this more. On Monday I had to drive to Vancouver to pick up some stuff for my business, the first time I've left town apart from going to the vet in Squamish since September. The cars trying to get into town at 9am were lined up back to Callaghan FSR, a solid 10 miles outside of Whistler. Our health officer has told people from Vancouver to stick to the Vancouver mountains but nooooo. Have to go ski Whistler.
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Jan 6, 2021 06:18
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I know multiple NYC residents who went to Jackson Hole. Sorry Wyoming. I've had to cancel our out of state ski travel but many people apparently haven't. I feel like a lot of these NYers feel if they own a second home elsewhere that they're a resident of that other place too for quarantine purposes which I don't think is right.
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Jan 6, 2021 09:32
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Tons of NYC folks in Aspen too. Not that upset about it because they're basically keeping me afloat financially
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Jan 6, 2021 14:32
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Spime Wrangler posted:I don't know what Jones' policy is but you probably shouldn't post all the detail needed for the company to figure out who's throwing prodeals around to friends and family. lmao yeah that rep is totally gonna get blown up because his friend's cousin's husband posted that he might get a pro deal in the snow sports thread on a dead comedy website
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Jan 6, 2021 16:06
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it's totally unlikely but also common courtesy when someone gets you a hookup, just like it's common courtesy to let people who are new to prodeals know the etiquette when pushing the boundaries a bit. that's all I was going for.
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Jan 6, 2021 17:01
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Steve French posted:- It's super obvious how many people up here are violating the stay at home order and coming in from out of town. Like, the vast majority of the people at the resort. We saw groups of 3 or 4 families sitting together at tables with masks off and talking about their "hotel" That's a bummer. I had high hopes for yesterday and spent an hour at Alpine. I'm curious on your take about the stay at home order. Who do you think that allows to ski at squaw, only people who live in Tahoe City and Truckee?
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Jan 6, 2021 17:04
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I'm dreaming about the conditions in Japan this year. They're getting bombed Honshu to Hokkaido with the most early season snow in a long time, while the country is also enforcing strict border restrictions keeping the usual ski tourist hordes out. It looks like endless pow with refills all day and no competition.
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Jan 6, 2021 18:01
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casque posted:That's a bummer. I had high hopes for yesterday and spent an hour at Alpine. Honestly I don't know where the line sits. The stay at home order requires that short term rentals / hotels are only open for essential workers, and forbids non-essential travel. I don't know if there are more specific guidelines as to what constitutes travel, and I'm certainly not qualified to draw a line. However, without drawing that line I think it can reasonably be said that going from Tahoe City or Truckee to Squaw is not "travel", and that going from SF to Squaw is. Is it travel to come from Auburn or Grass Valley over the pass? I don't know. There are also other weirdnesses, like, the state border is pretty concrete and people coming in from out of state are supposed to quarantine, etc. But Reno is close, and driving from Reno to Squaw is very arguably not "travel" (I know there are many folks working at ski areas up here that commute from Reno, and in the beforetimes I would frequently go down to Reno for grocery shopping and other errands). Stateline and South Lake Tahoe are a more absurd example. One thing that is clear though is that short term rentals are not supposed to be happening, but absolutely are. I don't want it to seem like I'm mainly upset about this because of lift lines at resorts; if they shut things down entirely and I didn't get to ski at all, I would accept that and understand. But I also have more limited outdoor recreation options living here than folks coming in from out of town do: everything is covered and snow and ice here.
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Jan 6, 2021 18:14
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I was planning on a Japan trip for this season or next but who know when that will ever happen. I can't blame the Japanese though. Hordes of Australian tourists must be challenging enough even without a pandemic. We had our first ski team parents meeting last night to go over the COVID rules and expectations this season and everybody was awesome and supportive. It makes me hopeful about the team at least. (I have to get up super early on training days to help take temps and go over health questionnaires which is exactly how I like to spend my resort time.) Yuns fucked around with this message at 18:22 on Jan 6, 2021 |
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Jan 6, 2021 18:15
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Master_Odin posted:Sounds like you've got an appointment, but I'm a fan of Alpine Options. They do a good job in fitting and explaining things, and will also happily refer you elsewhere if you're best suited to a boot brand they don't carry. Great service. well, thank goodness that the one local recommendation that came through.... is for the place that I have an appointment on Friday! It was lovely timing but I am fairly stoked to be getting new boots, I have been skiing since 1991 and I've never owned a pair of new boots before.
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Jan 6, 2021 18:32
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Steve French posted:Apologies for the gripe, but it feels worth sharing. This ski season sucks, but please if y'all are not near a ski area please don't violate stay at home orders to get out there. I've basically given up on this ski season and will just save up money for a crazy ski trip next year
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Jan 6, 2021 18:45
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That dud of a storm was even more of a letdown at Mammoth, where it ended up leaving a couple inches at best. There are no crowds at least but with the forecast looking dry for the foreseeable future it is going to be a rough season.
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Jan 6, 2021 19:22
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bawfuls posted:That dud of a storm was even more of a letdown at Mammoth, where it ended up leaving a couple inches at best. There are no crowds at least but with the forecast looking dry for the foreseeable future it is going to be a rough season. Same here man. Glad I have rock skis
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Jan 6, 2021 19:30
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Yuns posted:I was planning on a Japan trip for this season or next but who know when that will ever happen. You just reminded me I was supposed to be getting ready to head to Sapporo for the EZL Japan trip. In more uplifting news, during our family Zoom call on Christmas we got the last holdouts to agree that our next “Cold Family Christmas” will be in Hokkaido.
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Jan 6, 2021 20:25
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highme posted:You just reminded me I was supposed to be getting ready to head to Sapporo for the EZL Japan trip. In more uplifting news, during our family Zoom call on Christmas we got the last holdouts to agree that our next “Cold Family Christmas” will be in Hokkaido. How you doing brother?
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Jan 6, 2021 20:29
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