Meta, knowing your situation and experience more now from this and the other thread, I propose this wild idea. Get a cheap last generation alpine rental fleet ski to learn on and really experience the telemark turn in area. Delayed lead changes, monomarks, etc. It worked for me. I got some Salomon X...

Agree with Phoenix re scales in area. Even for up high/down hard. You don't indicate what your current rig is. My first mention is I don't ski the east. I did head out from Adirondack Loj on misery sticks once...rerouted to road to Marcy Dam. Point being all I know is what I see on ,"TV". It seems t...

Hah, Lhartley. Impulse buyer, impulse seller, impulse sale remover, me. Done as you with lotta boots, will again.

Brand new, skied about 8k. Opted for performance fit. Dumb. Should have bought 44. Could keep trying but wish for these boots a life of purely giving pleasure. $160 plus shipping from CA. Could hand off somewhere around Tahoe or North Bay Area, where I live. PM or: oneword...Charley H White at proto...

No ski recommendations, Alex (others know current models better), but some considerations and my preferences for multiday trips. First, kudos. This is the highest and best thing you can do on skis, I feel. Be aware I ski in the California Sierra and most expeditions have been in spring. Open terrain...

With no knowledge of the effects of force moment, Hook's Law, or Young's Modulus (you know the site for that), I have to say the one difference between SB and SBX2 is the pivot point. The more rearward pivot of the SBX2 makes it harder to lift the heel, ergo less neutral, more active, and all that m...

Smitty, you know well what I know weakly about those data sheets. Can't find the like button yet, but will work on it. Always thought Swix cleaner was like naphtha. BTW in the US, I think you can find naphtha as charcoal lighter fluid. I say that because you can't buy painters naphtha here in Califo...

I won't get surly with Mink oil, Rod. Pretty sure what it is. "Alchemy," for me is scientific sounding names used not to inform but lead the listener to give up and assume the speakers is ontop of a complex scientific understanding, so they don't need to. It all erupted for me once when trying to fi...

Well I have never handled those kicker skins, and never done polar expeditions...but dream of them! Here's a notion. The BD metal looks affixed to the strap in its middle. You could screw IT to the ski at the front of the curvature with flathead SS screws as mentioned (with counter-sink to metal if ...

Great stuff, all--thanks. And, Al, I did laugh! Foot volume has always mystified me when I'm asked. How would I know? There's no store Brannock for it. Till recently it's just been the seller's eyeball notion. What I can search up is to measure from heel-at-floor to heel-at-floor. If # = foot length...