Ski equipment you've owned

[Greg]

teachski's post in here sparked the idea for this thread. What ski equipment has everybody owned during their skiing 'career'?

After two outings on rentals, I started back around '95 with a new pair of 190 cm Elans with Salamon Quad bindings. I think they were $100 for the set. I also had a pair of $100 Alpina boots. They actually fit pretty good though (I have a very narrow foot), and I got 4+ seasons out of them. The boards were terrible. My buddy bought a pair when I did and his snapped right in half (between the bindings!) at Mount Snow. Mine lasted a bit longer until the next season at Killington when one of the tips started to split. Some duct tape got me through the rest of that trip.

Around '97 I replaced the Elans with a pair of 205 cm Blizzards and had the old Salamon bindings installed. They had what was called a turn-control-system which was effectively a slight taper at the waist, but they were still more or less straight skis. They were big, heavy and cumbersome, but they were also indestructable. It was actually a great ski to bring me into the intermediate level.

In 2000 I made the jump to shaped skis - 190 cm Dynastar Max Ones. I also replaced my Alpinas with a pair of Salomon Evolution2 9.0 (I still use them) and Salomon S900 Poweraxe bindings. After skiing on the Blizzard sleds, it was nice to get back on a shorter ski. The Max Ones were an upper intermediate level ski which while shaped, was very narrow. They served me well for a season and a half and I progressed quickly on them.

In early 2002, I went with an advanced level ski - 183 cm K2 Axis X Pros. I had a new pair of the S900 Poweraxe's installed on them. Shorter ski yet, but these things provide the stability to crash through just about anything. Looking forward to getting on them again this year.

So...what is your 'ski equipment history'?

I just got my first pair of skis this summer. They are Axiums (sp.?) and where $400 for the skis, bindings, boots, and binding installation.

[riverc0il]

currently skiing volkl p40 (193) with soloman xwave10 boots.

used to have rossignol 9.9 9x's (19... but broke them on a powder day at magic. i don't recommend them. used to have a pair of 204 K2 racing skis in high school. so glad lengths are shorter these days!

boots... used to have nordica something or other. a distant memory of the past.

need to get something really got in the bumps and natural snow. don't have the money this year tho!

[teachski]

Here is what I said in that other post:

I started on wooden skis with beartrap bindings and leather lace boots in the mid 60's. I had several more pair of beartrap hand me downs and lace boots and used rental GLM's with Spademan bindings before I finally got my first pair of (used) HEAD standards with step-in bindings and Rosemont buckle boots. From there I went to a (used) pair of Rossignol Freestyle J skis with a bright orange pair of very leaky and cold ALPINA boots (their first year out). My first NEW pair of skis came when I was a freshman in college. I bought myself a pair of HEAD SL163's/S404 bindings with money that I was supposed to spend on books(we all chipped in $20 and bought one set of books to share). Through the mid 80's to 90's and after the HEADS got run over by a van at the residential school where I was working I bought several different pair of K2's. I was a pretty loyal K2/solomon binding person for a while. I also went through several pair of boots, usually the cheapest ones I could find at the ski shop. In the mid 90's I bought a pair of VOLANT skis on pro-form/ they had a marker binding. I also bought a pair of Dachstein Pro 66 boots and had them custom fit. In the late 90's I bought some BLIZZARDS (straight ski-worst ski I ever owned), and skied them 4 or 5 times then went back to the Volants. In the early 2000's I was convinced to try "shaped skis" and bought ELAN Integra 6.0's. I liked the shaped ski, but found this ski didn't have enough for me and went to the Rossi Bandit X in the spring of 2003. I owned a pair of Dalbello boots, which I fondly refer to as my "fat lady" boots, for a year. "Fat Lady" because they had a really large cuff with a ratcheting closure...my calf didn't fit other boots. I lost 75lbs and traded those boots for Solomon Evolution 8.0 boots which I love and am currently using. I am currently looking at a pair of Volkl 6*'s that I think I am going to buy.
Note: I've been skiing since 1966. I started on my 5th birthday.