Old vs. New

[campgottagopee]

Just wondering if anyone else has ever done this (i'm sure you have, but I'm bored). I was skiing this past winter on my Hod Rod Top Fuels really impressing myself as to how easy they are to turn. Made a few runs thinking man these skis are awesome and easy to ski. I got to thinking what it would be like to go back to the "real" skis, so I did. I jumped in the truck, ran home, grabbed my 210 "yellow sleds" then back to the hill. You talk about work!!! I mean, geez, I really needed to pay attention to what the hell I was doing. All that up/down stuff, weighting/unweighting, edging and so on really reminded me that skiing seems "easy" now compared to back then.

So I ask you. Has anyone else tried that? If so, what kind of results did you find.

 

[nycskier]

I was thinking about that to. I think it would be fun to try on "old school" skis and see what it is like.

I know Ascutney has a vintage ski race. Where skier put on vintage skis and race. I saw pictures of it and it seemd super cool. People were coming down on old wooden skis and it looked like a blast.

 

[Greg]

I didn't really go back to old school straights, but I was forced to ski my K2s once this season cuz my AC3s where getting tuned. It was interesting that I skied them a helluva lot better than I ever did when they were my primary skis, but overall I didn't like them.

 

[campgottagopee]

I'll be glad to loan you a pair----gots lots of 'em tucked away. If you've never tried them you really should. IMO it's totally different skiing.

 

[Grassi21]

I didn't really go back to old school straights, but I was forced to ski my K2s once this season cuz my AC3s where getting tuned. It was interesting that I skied them a helluva lot better than I ever did when they were my primary skis, but overall I didn't like them.

I liked the boots that night Greg. ;-)

 

[JimG.]

Just wondering if anyone else has ever done this (i'm sure you have, but I'm bored). I was skiing this past winter on my Hod Rod Top Fuels really impressing myself as to how easy they are to turn. Made a few runs thinking man these skis are awesome and easy to ski. I got to thinking what it would be like to go back to the "real" skis, so I did. I jumped in the truck, ran home, grabbed my 210 "yellow sleds" then back to the hill. You talk about work!!! I mean, geez, I really needed to pay attention to what the hell I was doing. All that up/down stuff, weighting/unweighting, edging and so on really reminded me that skiing seems "easy" now compared to back then.

So I ask you. Has anyone else tried that? If so, what kind of results did you find.

I jumped on an old pair of 203 K2 KVC COMPs a few years back. After my eyes adjusted to the neon graphics, I got pretty much the same results you did. That said, I adjusted to them pretty quickly and actually remembered why I liked them so much when they were new.

 

[campgottagopee]

I jumped on an old pair of 203 K2 KVC COMPs a few years back. After my eyes adjusted to the neon graphics, I got pretty much the same results you did. That said, I adjusted to them pretty quickly and actually remembered why I liked them so much when they were new.

Yup, same thing that happened to me. Took me about 2ish runs to find the "sweet" spot but then I started crankin out some wicked fun GS turns. And man-o-man can those babys hold a line. Brought back good memories because those were the skis I passed my full cert PSIA exam on. But, like everything else, that has change too.

 

[JimG.]

Yup, same thing that happened to me. Took me about 2ish runs to find the "sweet" spot but then I started crankin out some wicked fun GS turns. And man-o-man can those babys hold a line. Brought back good memories because those were the skis I passed my full cert PSIA exam on. But, like everything else, that has change too.

I actually used mine for a whole weekend about 7-8 years ago in early May at Killington. Ski technology was evolving rapidly at that point and even those skis weren't like today's.

But my old K2's seemed like planks. I had actually tried them out a weekend before hiking up Eisenhower at Hunter and by the end of that day I felt pretty good. But those weren't big bumps.

Superstar had trenches. Getting back into any facsimilie of a line took a few runs. But I felt pretty good at the end of the day and the next.

 

[campgottagopee]

I actually used mine for a whole weekend about 7-8 years ago in early May at Killington. Ski technology was evolving rapidly at that point and even those skis weren't like today's.

But my old K2's seemed like planks. I had actually tried them out a weekend before hiking up Eisenhower at Hunter and by the end of that day I felt pretty good. But those weren't big bumps.

Superstar had trenches. Getting back into any facsimilie of a line took a few runs. But I felt pretty good at the end of the day and the next.

I most definatley would not want to take those Atomic yellow sleds back into the bumps. Just don't think I could muster enough strength to make it much fun.

That's where I think the technology we have now has really (obviously) saved/helped skiing as we know it today.

 

[threecy]

I remember the year after I started skiing on shapes, I needed to help out ski school and teach a one off beginner lesson. As any instructor knows, you don't teach a beginner lesson on your good skis unless you don't care about what they look like afterward...anyways, getting back on my old straight teaching skis was a nightmare!

A similar comparison can be made to going from shorties back to regular skis...big difference!

 

[Geoff]

The last time I used straight skis was Thanksgiving, 1999. Killington was having a huge meltdown and the only terrain was Rime under the Glades triple with grass and rocks in every trough.

The first 10 'turns' pretty much didn't happen. I rolled the ski over and nothing happened. By my 20th turn, I'd flipped back to straight ski skiing technique and didn't think about it.

 

[ctenidae]

i took my Dynastar SkiCross 7's with me one day last year. They're the skis I re-learned to ski on. Compared to my Head Monsters, they were like overcooked egg noodles.