Ron goes green

[Gary]

What do Kermit the frog, my Mercury Mariner and Ron's latest addition to his ski arsenal have in common?

Sometime it takes true trial and error to formulate a winning combination....just ask Thomas Edison.

A true visionary knows when to "fish or cut bait".  One realizes that if you're tall, a Lotus is fast but ya really can't fit into that little speed demon....

Still, there's something heroic about the skier who recognizes the balance between performance and comfort AND is willing to pay the physical and emotional price to committ to their belief.

Me, I was just happy to play my role in supporting Ron's decision, well cause.....this one made great sense and good ski fodder. 

The rest of the story.....well....I'm saving that part for Ron. 

Gary

[Ron]

another case of mr. cassara doing and excellent job of spending others  dollars! 

Long story bett or told at the boat but I am going to a more all mountain softer snow oriented boot. I bought a s11 but I am not so sure this is the right one for me. I will be seeing Billy today to evaluate. I am also thinking of a Falcon 10 or Dobie if it can be really softened up. I no longer want stiff boots, there really is no reason for them unless you are racing or skiing only hardpacked stuff. A good laterally stiff boot that is upright and neutral is what I want. I will keep my atomics for skiing out here on the crappy hardpack stuff.

[Ron]

OK, just got back the boot king, billy kaplan. We chatted about where and what I am skiing now and he agreed that the S11 is a more appropriate choice. This is a really nice boot. It fit right out the box, with no fitting other than the adjusting the cuff. The new orthodic he made is fantastic and has a little bit more volume so this boot seems just right. It comes with the insert that reduces volume and drops the width from 103 to 100. Right now, I am fine, I find that i don't need the boot to be very tight as my foot feels so solid on the bottom of the boot. We also took out the built-in spolier out and I am so much more upright. It will be interesting to see if its too much when on the snow. The other thing I liked was the balance of the boot. The Atomics were great but these just feel much more stacked over my arch.  The boot has less of a rise to it, meaning its not as raised up off teh ground as the race style boot. Only snow time will tell.

[rlspalding]

I just bought the doberman Pro 130. Primarily because they were the best fitting. However what you posted seems a little different from the articles Ive read on realskiers.com and from what Ive read on the PMTS forums? Do stiff boots have to be more uncomfortable by definition just because they have harder shells?

It seems the articles on realskiers.com and what PMTS agrees with seems like the trend is to go with a stiffer boot? I was just wondering what your thoughts on that were being that it sounds like you went from a stiffer boot to a softer boot. I guess where Im confused on the whole boot stiffness is that PMTS seems to agree with stiff boots because when you flex into the boot, they say you are not trying to "bend" or "deform" the boot, you just need the pressure on the tongue of the boot.  So when I flex in a stiff boot (my dobermans) they physically bend very little, but if I put the same pressure on a softer boot, it will bend or deform more. Does this matter?, is the pressure on the boot tongue not the same so would the result not be the same?  If Im putting the same pressure on the tongue of each boot, it should feel the same to me, the only difference would essentially be how far my knee can move?

Thanks for your clarification on this.

[jim-ratliff]

rlspaulding:

I'll wait for Ron to reply to your post, but I can give you some pertinent information.  Ron recently changed his primary skiing focus from east coast to Steamboat, and from primarily groomed slopes to lots of off-piste and tree stuff, and to Watea 94's as his primary Steamboat ski  As part of this, I think he felt that he wanted boots that were a little less stiff and that gave him more feel for the softer snow.  And he may, in fact, have another pair of boots that are his primary east coast boot that goes with his supershapes.

jim

[Ron]

I know this is old but yes, this is another sore subject with me. I don't really understand the need for overly stiff boots. Unless you are a racer who is making a few runs at a time using 100% of energy and don't care about anythig else why? Like Jim said, I changed over from east coast hard pack to west-based soft snow, trees, ungroomed broken, trees and such. i went from a Atomic RT TI 100 boot to a head sx11. Although is still plenty stiff and more importantly, a nice upright and neutral stance with good lateral stiffness. I love a softer flex that allows me to move and bend when needed like in pow and stiff broken. I ski upright so I don't need a boot to hold me up, it's inherant in my stance, so if i am banging a nasty bumps or coming through some pow and hit a rock or a frozen marmot, my boot can bend as needed and allows me to recover better and in the end, I have less fatugue and more fun!  6 straight days at Jhole and another 6 straight at the boat!

[Gary]

I know this boot stiffness thing is a topic that's always subjective...here's one mans opinion.

We are all different sizes and shapes, we all ski in a stance that given our current ski skills is "that" position in which we can control the ski shovel, center and tails controlled by fore/aft balance on our skis.

I tend to ski from a very neutral stance, centered over my ankles. When I engage the shovels of the ski through pressure on the tongues of the boots I try to do this with as little forward pressure or movement of my center mass forward. I actually feel this motion through the bottom of my feet, toes to arch to heel. When I'm engaging the shovels, this my attack position. For me, my knee caps need to be just over the very tips of my boots to achieve this position. Now, a taller person, one with more leg fulcrum or a shorter person with a shorter? leg fulcrum may need less, same or more center mass over the front of the boot to find their attach position. Keep in mind, height may not necessarily play a role in my comments about leg fulcrum and center mass but are are to be taken in context of a potential part of the formula.

Stiff or soft or somewhere in between, if you can't get your center mass properly placed to engage the shovels, then you'll be dskiing off the tails, rotating your body, flailing your hands or twisting your feet to make the skis respond. And hey....maybe that's OK for you...but to ski centered, fluid, connected, smooth....it's a sweet thing when it happens.

Find a boot that allows you to feel centered with the ability to freely move your center mass fore and aft without body gymnastics.

Did ya ever notice how when the weather is extremely cold your boots stiffen up and it's more challenging to engage the shovel's? Stiff for some of us (and it's all relative) may not always be a good thing.

We're all engineered differently....gett ing the right boot fit and correct flex pattern are keys to more controlled skiing in all conditions.

Best,
Gary

[midwif]

Hiya Gary and welcome back

Interesting that you bring this up. I spent the last couple of days at the Blue camp experimenting with more forward lean. When I wanted to go faster and could not, I often felt as though I was somewhat back seat. Some of the turns I felt were the best, were the ones I  had my COM further forward, counter balanced and counter acting. I worked toeards feeling those shovels better. A work in progress.

Flex of the boot forward gives you that ability in the groomed and shock absorption in other areas.

Working with Max Sherwood was enlightening in different ways from HH, though I will say that one cannot beat being one of HH's group. You learn to SEE what is going on with your own skiing and others. Whether I can retain that, without him nearby, will be the seasons question. Video during  the two footed release showed yours truly doing a great "O" shaped release and turn. (thank you HH) Yet when more dynamic,  yours truly was giving up counter acting and consequently losing any built up forces of the turn. (thank you MS). The lateral stiffness of my current boots has helped l me earn to edge. To the point where Max told me to stop edging so much and concentrate elsewhere. Never thought I'd hear that. And yes, fell on my ass a few times while tipping and not counterbalancing enough, especially on the 'berm'.

While skiing with essentially the same movements as HH, Max who is taller and longer legged, definitely does so from a different vantage point.

[Ron]

Lynn, did you play with your bindings and bring them as forward as possible? You can "cheat" the binding and actually get it to 2.5cm forward. It sounds like that may help to keep your shovels engaged a little better. Gary has his 84's +2 and it really made a huge difference going that forward. I moved my 94's +2 as well.  The countering is so huge and under-utilized by so many.

[midwif]

Ron
No, have not cheated or played with my bindings yet!!!  :DI think I need a lesson in moving the railflex binding before attempting myself. Good thought though.

[Ron]

did you at least put them in the +15 position? that you can easily do.