Doug Coombs tuning video

[Brewski2]

Might be a rerun but I couldn't find it. Classic.
http://www.thesnaz.com/wp-content/up...6/02/qandp.wmv

[mmmthmtskier]

http://tinyurl.com/2ym6ev
Got a "404", try this one...
And thanks, good get...

[The Kids Are Alright]

"maybe its the most screwed up tune in the world, but im used to it. So it works". Fuckin classic

[alto]

The grip. See that grip? That's three degrees right there."

Yes! Worthy Rerun.

Who's laughin over there?

[orange]

Loved it. Seemed like that personality everyone wants to have, but never get, so they fake it. Classic video.

[springsproject]

great post. I like how he casually strolls in with beer in hand.

[GapersGoHome]

great post. I like how he casually strolls in with beer in hand and buzz in head.

fixed it for you.



...great tuning methods. 80% sidewall, uh, um, 20% edge, there... that's how you know you get 3 degrees.

[dre66]

"i always hit rocks... and when I'm guiding my clients hit more rocks than i do - they're really clueless"

[skiingsamurai]

Ok, this made me laugh.
In all honesty I didnt get to know who Doug Coombs was before his death. The first time I heard his name it was in a warren miller movie when he was doing some gnarly shit in Chamonix. I thought to myself, that guy is nuts, id never ski that. Its just so steep. I honestly regret not getting to know who he was and what he was about.
I never knew the man was that cool.
I showed that vid to a non-mag friend who loved Doug. Everything Doug did, my friend does, literally. He didnt stop laughing till the end when I think I saw a tear in his eye

on a lighter note, I wonder how he would recommend fixing the binding I ripped out of my ski today

[jepilot]

on a lighter note, I wonder how he would recommend fixing the binding I ripped out of my ski today

dude, you can't keep fuckin' yourself up. I want to be able to ski with you this season.

[thesnazdotcom]

I'm glad people like this video. I'm thankful that before he left for France, I got a few minutes of film of Doug being Doug.

He'd told me about the Q and P for years, devised (way back when he worked there) as a way to get people in and out the door of Teton Village Sports with a tuned pair of skis for five bucks. I'm not sure if the rest of the shop was as psyched as he was about the Q and P. And I heard he wasn't too kind to skis. But I also knew that Doug loved to tweak his ski gear, loved the tuning room, liked the camera, and that the Q and P, at the very least, would be entertaining to watch. Which it was.

By the way, this was his last night in Jackson, before leaving for France for three or four months. Most people would be way too stressed to agree to a video shoot the night before such a long trip. Doug took it in stride, welcoming the challenge of it. He walked in and we did the whole thing in one take; I just edited it down a bit when he walks back and forth.

One of my favorite lines in the video is him showing off the "80% sidewall, 20% metal" shavings in his hand. It hints at the mathematician in Doug, the tech geek. He loved figuring out ways to make his skis and boots work better. He used to tell me about going to the grocery store in Bozeman, MT, where he went to college, to steal the plastic panels in the kiddie seats of the grocery carts. He and his buds would heat the pieces of plastic, bend them, and put them into the backs of their boots as spoilers. He always put spoilers into the backs of his boots, to keep himself forward. (Though I never saw that he needed the help). Most recently, he shimmed his boots with the curved pieces of plastic in kids' soccer shin guards, which he bought cheap in GART Sports.

Though I'd heard about the dubious nature of his ski tunes from some of his TVS coworkers, I still asked him to give my skis the Q and P before we skied the Grand together, in 2003. It was kind of a dirty trick on my part, because I knew he wouldn't turn me down. He knew that his personal attention to my skis would help boost my confidence, and even though I was feeling pretty solid on my skis that year, it would just help.

Though, at first, it didn't. When he returned the skis to me before we headed up, he told me he'd given them a 3 degree bevel. I wondered how such sharp edges would feel on the possibly funky snow we'd find on the east face of the Grand. I didn't think I'd ever skied a 3 degree bevel before. Would they hook up? It's not really the place to catch an edge.

I asked Doug if I could have a warm up run, do the Pinnochio Couloir on the Middle first, just to see what the skis would do. At camp on the Lower Saddle, he vaguely agreed.

The next morning, I followed him and Bill Dyer up the Grand's Stettner Couloir. No warm up. Nothing to do but not think about it.

We clipped into our skis on the summit, right next to the geographic marker. Doug skied off the summit block, Bill followed. The rocks were emerging, there was a little steep alley of weird snow. You could sidestep/sideslip it, or you could point it for a sec, then crank a hard turn onto the east face. This being the Grand, the audience being Doug and Bill, I pointed em down and cranked my first tele turn. The skis bit, the turn felt sweet, and I came to a stop in front of my partners.

"There's your warm up," Doug said with a grin.

Doug wasn't scared of testing gear on the Grand. In the Otter Body Experience, you may notice his Dynafit bindings. That run was the first time he skied on those bindings and those skis -- the K2-stickered BD Havocs, which I'd given him. Hell of a place to test a completely new set-up.

I really fucking miss that guy.

David

[Tri-Ungulate]

Nice memory David. Thanks for sharing it with us. Though I didn’t know him as well as most, my best memory was when I first met him in La Grave several years back. I’d been skiing with a bunch of mad Scandos that week, and while they were great company, it was nice to meet some fellow Americans on the Téléphérique. The two guys were totally kickback and mellow, good company. We got to chatting; I introduced myself, and was greeted with “I’m Doug, this is Chad.” After more animated discussion, it wasn’t until I spied his UIAGM pin, that I made the connection – oh, that Doug. They were totally cool guys, funny and generous, and good folks to ski with, out having fun on their day off from guiding.

I was skiing in India when I heard the bad news – it traveled around the world in a day through the skiing community and hit me like a shot.

He is missed, for sure.

[FreakofSnow]

Once, twice .........and thrice

Good rerun, hadn't seen it for a while

[Bronic]

Bump. Just cause this is great

[angrysasquatch]

Here's a working link

http://s189.photobucket.com/user/Col...qandp.mp4.html

I need to get me a gnarly bastard

[plugboots]

“I’m Doug, this is Chad.”

It's almost like tri-ung took the pic. Just great people. fuck

[n0t1ap]

Awesome thread revival. Another bump to the top.

[icelanticskier]

No helmet? How did they ski?!

rog

[Damian Sanders]

Seriously, don't tune skis like that and then ski steep ice. Please.

[Tri-Ungulate]

It's almost like tri-ung took the pic. Just great people. fuck

Holee Shit! Thanks plugboots, that pic actually sent chills down my spine, it really is exactly how they looked the first time I skied with 'em, right down to them sitting on the downside of the telepherique. Seems just like yesterday. I was just in La Grave last month, thinking about 'em.

[skiing-in-jackson]

I watched just now and laughed all the way through. It's really funny.
The QNP harkens simpler and fun times skiing.

[SB]

good bump

[willywhit]

I watched just now and laughed all the way through. It's really funny.
The QNP harkens simpler and fun times skiing.

links no worky , what's up ? Now I really wanna see it.

[skiing-in-jackson]

Yeah... I don't think the link up there works. I just watch it on youtube. It's on there somewhere. Good stuff.

[F#*k you cat]

Doug Coombs
the Q and P
Photog the Snaz
@Teton Village Sports