Serious question, no snickering: waterskis mounted up alpine...

[CarveMan]

How many G.N.A.R. points for waterskis on the Rond?

[mobygrape]

this thread is full of win!!!

peds that write up was magical!

[east or bust]

Where are the vids?!

[peds]

East or bust, sorry dude, I tried with a digital camera taped to my rucksack, but little success. I'll see if I can borrow a gopro on a good powder day as soon as I can!

Thanks mobygrape, I appreciate the comment I'd be thrilled if you were check for updates every now and then!

CarveMan, don't think that the visualisation of that hasn't been in my mind, but I'm not sure those are points I'll ever claim... I've only ever done the Ronde in conditions where edges are a big, BIG plus!

[peds]

We need video.

^^^I know right. Good write up.

Where are the vids?!

Howdy ho, bredren.

Ask and ye shall receive.

http://altitudinalnoodles.wordpress....guille-060214/

This is the second time I've tried editing a video (the first try is available if you rummage around a bit in the link above), apologies for poor camera work and all that (any hints and tips on using the camera are very much appreciated, I might see if I can buy one off someone second hand for future use). Sorry for the occasionally shitty skiing too, but give me a break, I'm on water skis.

[PlayItLeo]

Dooooood! Nice work.

[east or bust]

Solid stoke!

[ShreddingthaGnar]

Hell yeah, git sum!

[jfost]

where TF are all the other people?

was everyone else shredding ze piste or something?!?

[DeathVan]

Absolute Rad!

[Angle Parking]

On the hunt for a pair of water skis now. Very cool!

[peds]

Cheers chaps! It's going to be another good day here tomorrow, but I'm only taking the slightly-more-sensible Pontoons up. The Beelines will have their day on something bigger in the future.

Angle Parking, I'd really recommend it if you've got some old bindings lying around and a couple of quid to drop on eBay, and you don't mind sacrificing the occasional powder day in the name of science.

where TF are all the other people?

was everyone else shredding ze piste or something?!?

Nope, there were wonderful things going on everywhere else in about 8 inches of decent snow, all over the Grand Montets and the south couloirs of Brevent, lots of people heading up to the Midi, and even a group who had started a tour from the midstation of the Midi (where Plan d'Aiguille is) up to a nice 45 degree couloir nearby, but for some reason me and the other dude you see in the video were the only two who had found themselves going down from the midstation. You kind of have to play your cards right to get the goods here... It was a funny start to a proper powder day, as there wasn't much accurate info available on what lifts were going to open and when... we've got five or six different areas here, so you've got to make a decision pretty early on as to where you want to go. The info for Plan d'Aiguille said opening at 11am, so most people would have decided straight away to go elsewhere, at least a bus ride away, but they actually opened at 0915. This attracted hundreds of coach-traveling tourists (here to see the view from 3800m for the bargain price of 50 euros), making a massive queue, and scaring off most skiers... so you just had to dive into the queue, really. I had a full-on morning at a different area, Brevent, noticed with binoculars that no-one was skiing Plan d'Aiguille, then got a bus across town and joined the queue (stopping off at home to switch skis). I was there for about 40 minutes before getting on the lift.

[east or bust]

I think I might actually put together a setup for fun. Found some skis for 30 bucks on craigs, throw on some old rental bindings from the shop and call it a day.

[peds]

Did you go for them east or bust, and do you know what they are made of? I would certainly consider the construction of them before buying, my scant research two years ago revealed that a lot of water skis (more modern ones, usually) are of a pretty flimsy build compared to snow skis, and binding screws ripping out would be a problem. Look for something that's just a big chunk of solid, heavy, wood.

[east or bust]

Didn't go through unfortunately, I waited too long and someone else snatched em.

Echoing what you said, they were definitely an older pair ("vintage") and looked pretty planky. Next time at the shop will be the first week in March so I'll keep looking locally until then.

[east or bust]

DING DING DING, scored these out of the trash. FCKNA stoked!!!

[peds]

Holy christ, those look incredible. Are they good and heavy?

Loving the metal trim, when you mount them you should try and leave that on.

Only another 6 or 7 months before they can be used...

[east or bust]

They are definitely good and heavy. Going to take a fair amount of work to seal them up, there are a couple rough spots that need some TLC but I'm loving the look of these right now.

They measure exactly 170cm, underfoot ~165mm. No grooves in the bases so tracking should be interesting to say the least.

Those pics are encouraging though!^^

[Island Bay]

Love it! Don't forget to come back with progress reports.

Trademe - the local NZ online auction website - has lots of cool, old waterskis a la these, just in case anyone is tempted.

[rabbit]

DING DING DING, scored these out of the trash. FCKNA stoked!!!

These were skied this winter. In way too little snow...

[east or bust]

These were skied this winter. In way too little snow...

That's awesome. I have some questions for you.

1.) How did they ski???
2.) What's with the mount not centered?
3.) Those are tele bindings?!


Edit to add that's exactly where I was going to mount my binders, alpine though.

[peds]

rabbit, they look incredible. Great work.

How much of a rocker do they have? Obviously I haven't seen your skis so I don't know what shape they are, but I made the mistake of mounting the bindings too-far forward on the first try, because of such an early-rise rocker on the front with hardly any at the tail. Just something to consider before you drill them.

[east or bust]

Funny you ask, I don't know about rabbit's pair but mine only have tip rise, completely flat underfoot.

Oh, and the tip rise doesn't match on my pair somehow. I don't know what that's going to do to ski-ability but fuck it.

[rabbit]

1.) How did they ski???
2.) What's with the mount not centered?
3.) Those are tele bindings?!

1. Too little snow to say. Gotta do something about the wooden bottom. It all got a bit rushed and they were skied without tar on the base. Not good, at all. They need to be treated with pine(?) tar, just like with old wooden skis.

2. Back in the day, powder specific skis were mounted on the inside edge because of their extreme width.(80mm). I thought I should try it out with these and I think I over did it. That style of mounting works better with an old-school, bouncy, short-turns technique imho.
These are getting re-mounted. Probably a little further back, as well.

3. Yes. R/R-skis are super fun tele-skis.

Note to anyone thinking of having a go at the threads title; 'Plastic' water-skis are much easier because you wont have to tar the 'bases'.

Hard to beat the look of these, though.

@peds: mine seems identical to 'east or bust's pair.

[east or bust]

'Plastic' water-skis are much easier because you wont have to tar the 'bases'.

I was thinking about just sealing them back up with some sort of spar varnish, polyurethane, or epoxy. Still not sure if this would be best for durability or glide but it is the best for waterproofing.