Personal Equipment Evolution

Could make for some fun, nostalgic discussion.

As for myself, I think I can remember most of my gear, maybe.  Well, skis and boots.  Bindings not a clue.

As for skis, don't recall the boards I learned on, but my first personally purchased pair (ski swap) was during my HS racing days.  I was terrible, but I loved my Head Comp SL skis.  205s, as anything less was unacceptable.  Next pair were the K2 5500.  A ski considered to be legendary by some, one of the first (I think) to use 'cracked' steel edges.  Next ski was another considered by some to be revolutionary....the K2 Four.  I believe it was at the forefront of attempts to take a recreational expert level ski below 200cm and give it a larger sidecut.  All Bode did when that ski came off the line was to slay the '96 Junior National Championships in Sugarloaf (three firsts and a second) on the K2 Four.  Some feel that result spurred mainstream acceptance of the shaped ski.  I used those Fours for a good long time.  My next pair of skis, the K2 Apache Stryker, continued my love affair with K2.  For my whole ski life I had been on 195cm to 205cm skis.  While the Fours were a 'shaped' ski for their time, they were nothing compared to the shapes we were seeing in the dawn of the 21st century, shapes which were being skied shorter.  So, at a ski swap I was able to pick up a cheap pair of used 2010 Nordica Hot Rod Nitrous in 178cm, to see what a short, very shaped ski could do.  At 6'4" the 178 was perhaps a little too short, but I loved them nonetheless.  I'd officially been broken of K2.  My next pair of skis was the Nordica Hot Rod Pro Helldiver, which is my current everyday ski at 90mm, and last spring I picked up the Nordica El Capo at 107mm to outfit with AT bindings, so I can play on a wider ski and hit the BC more.

As for boots.....anyone remember or ever use Scott Boots?  Well I did.  My Uncle taught us to ski.  Great skier.  Maybe not as great at identifying the next big thing or great investment though.  He was a Scott lover, embracing the light weight of the hard plastic shells and the foam liners.  Used them for quite a few years early on, but eventually I kept cracking the shells and had to move on.  Back to those racing days, and with a Raichle distribution center in my home town of Brewster, NY, I swung by there to pick up a pair of Raichle Rx-8.  Rear entry and prolly pieces of shit, but remember, I was coming from Scott boots, so these things were the tits.  From there it was on to real boots, Lange.  The racing heritage and narrow lasts fit me to a T.  A couple of pairs of Banshees got me through a lot of years.  When my ski enfatuation turned to Nordica, so did my feat.  I picked up the Nordica Hell and Back Hike Exps, which I used up until this year, where I'm using the Black Diamond Factor Mx.

So that's my story, for anyone that made it all the way through.  Tells us yours, if you care to reminisce.

JTG4eva! wrote

So that's my story, for anyone that made it all the way through.  Tells us yours, if you care to reminisce.

I prefer picture books... here are two critical points in my Personal Equipment Evolution.  



The V20/M46/XRI's are the last setup I was on before I went fulltime on a Snowboard circa '95.  The Shaman/FreeRide/Quandrant setup is what I primarily ride in bounds now.  I have been riding 50/50 Ski/Snowboard since 2012.  

Most of my skis before I went fanatical (circa 87) were hand-me-downs.  When I started highschool, my old man made me get a job to support my ski habit.  At that point, with some income, I really started to become a gear-head.  Most of money went to skis and bikes.

Prior to the V20's, I had Blizzard Thermo SL's with Geze 952's.  I consider the Thermo SLs to be my first "real" pair of skis.  For boots, prior to the XRI's I has a pair of Dachstein V4's that fit perfectly... I rode them into ground, and then switched to the XRI's... to be honest, I never really liked this XRI's.

Great idea for thread. I got bored a few years and did a blog post on the evolution of my snow sliding equipment to that point:
http://jonnyjay.blogspot.com/2010/11/sbrs-historical-jay-peak-ski-quiver.html

Since then, I have sold the Prophets and got a pair of Line Sir Francis Bacons for lift riding, plus Voile Charger BCs and Fischer S-Bound 112 for the shwacking.

I didn't do a post on boots, so here goes: I started skiing in the late 60s and my first set of boots were some random lace-up things. As I got more serious, I advanced to leather boots with buckles, Heirlings, maybe? After freezing my feet badly, I got a pair of used Lange Standards, which served me well for a few years. If you remember Jet Stix, I made my own version with plastic thigh guards from an old pair pants. I padded these with foam and stuck them between the shell and the liner of the Langes. After finding that they worked their way out while skiing, I bolted them into the boots.

Here is a pic I found, the boots I had were like the ones on the right:



I fond that picture on an interesting blog about the history of Lange, click here.)

The first pair of boots I bought with my own money were the coveted Nordica Astral Slalom, also known as the Nordica Banana, for obvious reasons. Beautiful fitting boots, with full leather inside the liners:



When they finally died, I continued the Nordica theme with the five-buckle version of the Gran Prix (80s vintage). Couldn't find a picture, boy they were stiff. Around this time I started to tele, so got some Merrell Ultras, which I still use. Followed up the Gran Prix with Salomon X-Wave 8s, now I have the Full Tilt Classic (with optional 8 flex tongue), plus Crispi XA four buckle tele boots. I never owned a pair of rear-entry ski boots, despite growing up in that era.

I'm going backwards.

I suspect I'll die with a lurk in my hand and feet lashed with leather straps to some crudely bent spruce planks with real animal skins lashed to the bottom.

MikeK wrote

I'm going backwards.

I suspect I'll die with a lurk in my hand and feet lashed with leather straps to some crudely bent spruce planks with real animal skins lashed to the bottom.

That setup works for the people of Altai:

It's all those damn Knights' fault!










But man, that does look fun!

MikeK, your tribe:

http://www.filmweb.no/trailere/article1254528.ece?clip=1

No embed code, sorry.

Had a pair of Hanson Exhibitions and wore the Hanson T-shirt with the dirty old man flasher guy. Wish I still had that shirt. Had the red softer ones. They weighted 14 lbs. the pair. Wax injected. UFB.
Neoprene innards, used to spray silicone spray on my socks to get them on. Think they may have sold the small can of spray as an accessory.