Have decided to replace my skins for my Black Diamond skis as although they still stick well, they are very manky! The shop said they could not reglue them, the DIY job Mike did several years back has more than served its purpose! Anyway the long and short of it is that I won’t have those skis back till the weekend so we decided to take our fat boys out for a spin, or rather a slow plod given how heavy they are! PS shop then said the skins were discontinued, did not want to make any up, and so have decided this summer to try a re-gluing effort ourselves.
As it was still bitterly cold we waited till late morning before heading out. Decided to drive up to Sievez and make our way up to Les Chottes restaurant for coffee (decided against lunch as the likelihood was it would be packed out with freezing skiers). Strange getting used to skinning in wider skis, it impacts my gait and I found it more comfortable to take smaller strides. However, the platform felt very secure given the additional surface area of the skins. Found the marker bindings easy to use after Mike had explained them to me again. Would be happy to use them skinning off the resort especially when the downhill would be easier with Fatboys.
Enough of the technicals, couple of fantastic / hairy moments:
– a vulture flew overhead us as we were skinning up. Had a great view of him. What a special moment
– lunch spot at a sheltered cabin in the sun
– being rescued by Mike after my ski hit my ski pole as I was schussing down a difficult icy path in the trees and ended up pointing backwards downhill in a very awkward position
– safely navigating said icy path through the woods
– drinking a wonderful bottle of 2008 Chateau Angludet (Margeau) with our rabbit casserole
We nearly got to Les Chottes, however as we still had our thermos of tea which we drank when taking off our skins, we decided not to ski down to the restaurant as it seemed a bit pointless! Also didn’t fancy skiing down and then skinning back up again just for a hot chocolate. Cheap day on the mountains.
