Advice for a Slides First Timer

Mike, welcome to the forums.

Not sure if you saw this, but this gear might work for you:

http://nyskiblog.com/wide-waxless-backcountry-skis/

Personally I think it's too bad that some skiers dismiss nordic skiing.  It's fun as hell, if you like the feeling of real snow underneath your skis.

Stay tuned for the continued transformation of NYSB.

Thank you sir.  Good to be here.

My current BC Nordic rig is Madshus Glittertinds (a skinny-ish kick and glide ski) with Alpina Alaska w/ 3 pins (soft kick and glide boot).  So far they've been good for most moderate tours as well as skiing in tracks at BREIA.  I made the jump from XC skis to BC metal edge and I'm loving it!

So much so I bought another pair, Madshus Epochs and some Crispi Svartisen w/ 3 pins for a little more downhill prowess, but still mainly a tourer.  I may add a pair of two buckle plastic boots like the T4 for use with these as well.

I don't plan on using this stuff for lift serve, just trails.  Lately I've been pondering getting a 50/50 AT setup so I can ski at Gore and other small resorts as well as trying to tackle some more ambitious tours like Marcy and Wright (not the slides, just the ski trail).  The money for that sort of thing is holding me back, it's a big investment.

Telemark has crossed my mind and I love skiing free heel but I'm not that good at the actual telemark turn and I'm thinking I'd rather improve my Alpine skiing while opening up more tours rather than try to learn an entirely new technique.  I'm still working on telemark and parallel turns with my lighter freeheel gear, but in my mind that will always be more or less survival/secondary to the touring aspect.  I have no problem using a snow plow on my Nordic gear

Anyway, enough babbling about me and back to the OP.  Seriously, look into Nordic - you could try snowshoes, they are great exercise in the winter but if you already have the skiing bug, why limit yourself to places with lifts?  There are countless ski trails in NY and the Adirondacks are a great place to go when we have the snow.  North Creek area is great but I spent too much time there early this year when there wasn't much snow - head west towards the lake.  There is good skiing to be found over there and usually a lot of early season snow.

I think that is an excellent idea to get some cardio in for a kid that likes to ski and hates to run

Might not be much snow for that down in NJ for the kid though.

Coach Z wrote

I think that is an excellent idea to get some cardio in for a kid that likes to ski and hates to run

Might not be much snow for that down in NJ for the kid though.

I agree.

I'm sure there has to be some ski touring to be done in the Catskills.  I know that people have and do ski the 35, 3500'ers.

Also think about how much more time you spend actually SKIING!  I'm sure a 4 hour tour equates to more actual ski time than 8hrs of lift served... although I gotta say I'm pretty whooped after either

MikeK wrote

I know that people have and do ski the 35, 3500'ers.

So do we. More HarvSpam:

http://nyskiblog.com/skiing-catskill-3500-winter-peaks/

Harvey wrote

Mike, welcome to the forums.

 

What's the deal with all these new peeps, Harv???

Now you've done it.....this place is growing

I've read the blog for quite some time now on and off but I never knew there was a forum attached to it.

Seems like another good place to waste my time

welcome, Mike!

MikeK wrote

Seems like another good place to waste my time

Another one liner for the Harv quote HOF