9.29.2010

new skis!!!

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After MUCH deliberation I finally decided on the Volkl Kiku 162s (137/106/122).

If you care why I chose them, please read below. If not, just look at the picture and know I'm going to be having a ridiculously awesome time with them.

So my current everyday ski (pretty much everyone who lives in the mountains has multiple pairs of skis depending on what type of skiing you're planning on doing and/or what the conditions on the mountain are) is a pair of Salomon Pocket Rocket 165s I bought for $100 because it was a good ski to get started on (as you may recall up until last season I was purely a snowboarder). Having moved up the curve with the help of friends who are awesome skiers I decided I needed* to get another pair of skis that allow for better shredding of the gnar.

The Kikus are a fat, rockered ski that adds a bit more stiffness (trait of Volkls in general) than the K2 Gotbacks and Line Pandoras I was looking at. I have the 'unfortunate' issue of being in between ski sizes so the next tough decision was what length to get. My choices were either 162 or 170-172. Since my height is 162 (all these #s are in cm) and I've dropped some weight since moving out here (I'm going to chalk that up to not sitting at a desk all day rather than the beer and burger diet) I decided to go a tad shorter and know that it just means I'll be more agile in the trees and on the bumps. This length is probably more appropriate for my size anyway as I took the usual path of learning something new (make it as challenging as possible and then everything else is cake) so I'm pumped to get out on these bad boys.

As far as bindings go I'm not 1000% committed yet but I'm pretty sure I'm going to get a pair of Marker Barons. Then I can skin up to better pow and for early morning fresh/exercise (yes, I enjoy walking up the mountain too).

Anywayyyyyy... it might be 75 degrees and sunny but I'm stoked for the season and to see how much better I can get on skis. The goal is to be able to charge through trees pretty quickly and ski moguls while looking like I've been skiing my whole life. Oh yeah, and NOT get injured... that'd be nice.


* the same way chicks in NYC and London 'need' another multi-thousand dollar handbag

9.22.2010

soooo it's been a while...

Tons and tons of fun has been had this past month. The only reason I didn't share it is that I didn't have my camera cord to download picts (and all posts are much better with picts!).

The short version: tons of hikes, leaves are changing (and crazy yellow!), it's starting to get a bit cooler (temp-wise, though of course awesomeness is always increasing as well), oktoberfest fun, lots and lots of fun with Lucy (click here for a bunch of picts!) and friends!

Every once in a while I like to think about where I was or what I was doing a year ago, two years ago, and so on. Today I realized it has been a LONG freaking time since I was at home on this day... 2009: Indonesia (watching my first water buffalo sacrifice!), 2008: Tokyo (working crazy intense 18+hr days after Lehman filed for bankruptcy), 2007: Paris (I ran my now infamous 20-mile training run through the Bois de Boulogne which resulted in ITB injury and muscle imbalances I'm still fighting to neutralize), 2006: New York City (I got my UK Visa and was getting ready to move to London), 2005: Munich (Oktoberfest!). 2010: Vail (home, playing with Lucy)