Ski Quiver Questions, Part 1 (Ep.77)

18 comments on “Ski Quiver Questions, Part 1 (Ep.77)”

1. Good info. Thanks y’all.

2. Great information as always. Regarding the end of the boot discussion, blowing up a touring boot in the resort. Do you consider the Atomic Hawx Ultra XTD 120 a 50/50 boot or touring? Am I going to blow this boot if I use it all day on Highline or the West Basin at Taos?
   Thanks

3. One boot quiver is the S/Lab, just works so well; feels inescapable with a six ski quiver with shift/ Vipec/tecton binders all around….

4. One boot to rule them all !

   That way any time you feel like doing a short skin, off you go. I have one resort ski, one touring ski and the rest of the quiver is just light enough where a short skin is fine and just heavy enough to rage in the resort (2000-2100 grams). So allows for better quiver use.

   Solves any binding headache

   The boot is the most important piece of equipment and takes me quite a while to get dialled… I don’t have the time to dial in 2.

   That said I have a pair of light boots that I dig out for longer touring days…

5. Oh and touring boots are better for apre ski! Which is the best reason of all

6. another good discussion.

   as to JE’s “terrible world” of just one ski boot : welcome to the world of telemark… ( maybe ‘telemark’ is norwegian for ‘terrible world’)

   but it got me thinking about another question : what ski has changed your skiing, or the way you think about skiing ? i think we all have had a eureka moment when we “got it” . and not to disqualify that ski as a response, but beyond that, a more recent ski that really impacted your approach to skiing.

   i think mr. whitling should be recused from responding… thanks

   • Tired of my constant Deathwish apology or something!? Surprise! I’ve totally had that eureka ski, and it wasn’t made by Moment. My second year of skiing I got a pair of Atomic Blogs and that ski gets most of the credit for making me actually enjoy this sport instead of frustration quitting.

     • excellent ! thank you for playing. long live the Deathfish !!!

7. Here’s a new ringtone for you guys
   https://soundcloud.com/user-567244916/right

   • This is clearly a new form of aural terrorism. You are diabolical.

8. Great episode.
   Just out of curiosity – why no Black Crows in any of your quivers?

   • Mostly because we haven’t been able to ski many of their skis, though I know the Corvus narrowly missed the cut in a few of our reviewers’ quivers. We’re working on arranging more reviews of their skis this season.

9. Great episode. One comment I will make in regards to one boot quiver: TONS of skiers think touring or backcountry is the cool kids thing, based on ads I see for jackets where the models are ripping skins etc. But so many people with touring stuff just don’t tour that much. So they get an alpine boot with walk mode, aka 50/50 boot, and some frame bindings, and skin very rarely because it’s not easy. But they look so cool!
   It’s annoying to schlep 2 boots, but I deal with it: Nordica GPX 130 inbounds, Scarpa F1 or Maestrale RS touring. Now I cannot imagine riding lifts with a touring boot and vice versa, which I used to do all the time.

   I do disagree with your dismissal of folks requesting large/small reviewers and non-Colorado reviewers. I am in New England and plenty of skiers have a daily driver for local skiing and another ski for soft days and trips West. Blister is not useful for choosing a New England daily driver or even touring setup, but I guess you don’t care and most of the ski industry doesn’t. That’s why I see so many people skiing blue ice on 100-wide skis with no metal which just isn’t fun.

   If you don’t think it’s important to have large/small reviewers, than why important to have female reviewers for women’s models???

   Overall fun episode.

   Would love a future episode on home ski repair: core shots, compressed edges, tip/tail delam, etc. Also what is your take on summer storage wax?

   • Hey, glad you enjoyed the episode! And it sounds like we’re in general agreement on a whole lot of things.

     But I do want to reply to your claim that “Blister is not useful for choosing a New England daily driver or even touring setup, but I guess you don’t care and most of the ski industry doesn’t.”

     First of all, given that we have heard from too many New Englanders to count who have purchased daily drivers based on our reviews — or east-coast Blister members who we helped select skis for — I’d say your claims have no basis.

     And while I have no interest in speaking for the rest of the ski industry, as for us, we do care, and we have a long positive track record to show for it.

     So, a question for you: what specific ski have you demoed or purchased that one of our reviewers said would be ideal for how & where you ski … and our assessment turned out to be way off?

     When someone writes us (as they do pretty much everyday) to say that they ski primarily in the midwest or on the east coast, we go through a range of questions with them. They then purchase the skis or boots or bindings, etc, and then they later report back. And I can say that our track record is over 99% in terms of people who say that they are psyched. So the people who are actually spending their own money on our gear recommendations evidently disagree with you.

     Finally, it’s worth noting that our primary ski & snowboard reviewers tend to ski in a ton of different places. Some grew up skiing in New England. Some were back skiing in New England last year. I first skied in the midwest. I’ve skied Stowe. I’ve also skied a zillion other places in the northern and southern hemisphere — as have many of our reviewers.

     And this was the point I / we were making in the podcast: if you ski a lot of days in a whole lot of different places / countries / hemispheres … you will likely end up encountering a massive range of snow types, slopes, terrain, weather, etc. I certainly have. So while some people like to imagine or say that, “East Coast snow is (always) like A. Utah snow is like B. Tahoe snow is like C. Austria is always D. Japan is always like E. New Zealand is always like F. Oregon is like G. Etc.” they are just wrong. Those are oversimplifications.

     So again, if you’re going to accuse us of not caring or being useless to New Englanders, then (1) you might need to explain our successful track record with that demographic, and (2) see for yourself. Become a Blister member, tell us you’re looking for a daily driver or a touring ski, and let’s go from there. After the exchange, if you aren’t impressed with our recommendations (and the rationale behind those recommendations), I’ll refund your money.

     • Hey Jonathan,

       Definitely enjoyed the episode, but I agree with FZ Anorak that your quivers are not very useful for those of us who live in non-Colorado ski environments. That isn’t to say that your REVIEWS are bad. To the contrary, they are the best resource for ski buying on the internet and I have bought my last two skis without demoing based on your reviews alone (which is about as big a compliment as you could get).

       But your quiver picks gravitate towards what works the best in Colorado, and that is not necessarily what works the best in Tahoe, where most of the time (but not always) the snow is heavier, or the East coast where most of the time (but not always) the “snow” is actually ice. Even though you and your other reviewers ski in lots of different places, you don’t consistently ski on ice or heavy snow, so you are not going to pick a ski which primarily excels in that condition.

       Bottom line: love the reviews, love the discussions on skis and all things skiing. But if you want to improve the quiver articles, find some way to make a Tahoe and East Coast ski quiver.

10. Ha! I knew that would get a response! “Blister is not useful for choosing a New England daily driver or even touring setup, but I guess you don’t care and most of the ski industry doesn’t.” is a total exaggeration. It just gets frustrating to hear reviewers skiing in, say, Colorado and then extrapolating to VT. Just have someone in New England review skis?
    I meant an East Coast quiver, but again you keep emphasizing that the quivers are personal. It would be useful to hear the personal 2,3,4,5,n ski quiver choice for someone who primarily skis the east. I find your reviews useful, but in context. In fact, I chose the Solly MTN explore 95 as my touring ski because you describe it as a 50/50 ski. 50/50 Colorado translates to eastern touring ski for me.
    Keep the podcasts coming. Get more diverse reviewers. You keep hearing it, and keep giving the same answer with the caveat “I don’t want to be dismissive, but…” if you need to say that, you are being dismissive.

11. Listened to the episode last night driving home from DEN and liked it a lot. Mostly because Sam called something I wrote “astute” and Luke mentioned the Line SD104. But easily the most interesting thing in the episode was Jonathan’s preference for committing a felony over having one boot for all his snow sliding. I really DO think the single most important thing that Blister does every year is the the single ski quiver for inbounds use. That isn’t to say that all the other reviews and recommendations aren’t important. But to those of us that are in the choir of supporters for Jonathan’s stated goal in starting Blister, having a go-to ski for the average 20-days-a-year joe, from an unbiased and and informative source, IS IMPORTANT.

    Now that I’ve laid that baseline notion, here’s the pitch. That same ideal is going to be just as important for boots soon, if it isn’t already. Inbounds uphill travel and novice backcountry travel is getting big. You’re telling me I can buy one setup and get some winter cardio climbing before lifts open? I can do one or two inbounds laps and shred off the lift the rest of the day? I can do some basic touring even though it’s heavy? I can wear one boot for all that stuff? And that boot is comfier getting to and from the car/locker/bar? That mentality is here and that’s why boots like the Stryder, XT Free, Ranger One, Cochise, et cetera, et al, are so important. Cheers y’all, thanks for all you do.

12. Great addition to do this post quiver selection discussion. Listened today on my way back from 2 days skiing in Lenk/Adelboden. Skiing the Sakana’s that I bought solely based upon the Blister review, and I love them, so much fun, would never have bought something like that if it had not been for the insights from Blister. Now, for all those wanting location specific reviewers, how do you think I feel living in Europe? Don’t even get a European reviewer let alone reviews specific to Euro conditions. Does it matter? Not a jot. I lived in Boston for 3 years and skied in VT, ME and NH, loved it all and never felt that I was just skiing ice. Conditions vary, read the small print, terms and conditions apply!