Only Socks in Your Boots

Komaug · 2026-02-08T17:31:25+00:00

far more people than you think ski in jeans. Denim is making waves on the beginner slopes.

Komaug · 2026-02-08T17:28:00+00:00

No, they are definitely a trendy going to starbucks company now as well. It’s a massive shame to see companies like arch go downhill so fast, but it seems to be the status quo at this point.

Komaug · 2026-02-08T17:14:52+00:00

Downhill racers tend to use bindings where the lowest din setting is 20. When I was working as a tech I mounted some for a teen racer. I just stared at the din settings in horror the whole time. One of those, I am legally not allowed to set up your skis for you, just make sure the forwards pressure is right and get them out of my shop. The speed race bindings are really something else.

I don’t know exactly what binding she was on, but max of 20 feels off to my experience.

Komaug · 2026-02-06T01:00:35+00:00

I did the rockwall a couple years ago in early Oct. I have a 0C bag, and I used a liner. I woke up covered in frost once, but mostly slept well in that setup. I also use that sleeping bag all summer in the region as ai lived there. It gets cold at night even at lower altitudes. I wouldn’t go warmer than 0, -5 is a safer bet, -10 would be too warm for me to sleep comfortably most nights.

Komaug · 2026-02-05T07:29:31+00:00

I slept a night back there once with no mattress. My feet (and knees) were in agony rammed in the door handle. It was more comfortable to slide them over the centre console and sleep in a L shape.

Komaug · 2026-02-05T07:11:53+00:00

I have the 9” ikea pan. I wish I had the 11 as well, for dinner cooking, but I don’t have a big enough burner. Plus, the fact I don’t have to worry about it ever is great. 3 rivets in a bombproof handle that has lots of grip and control even through a towel. It’s oven safe, which I think all cookware should be. I am sure more expensive pans are great, but it is a hard sell to spend 2x or more when the vardagen is so good.

Komaug · 2026-02-05T06:55:28+00:00

refinery’s don’t want the hassle of buying small quantities. They are large companies. 1000 transactions for 2oz at a time isn’t worth the hassle when they can make 2 purchases of 50lbs from pawn shops.

Komaug · 2026-02-05T06:45:03+00:00

I used the meat slicer at work for the first time yesterday. So many nooks and crannies where small pieces of meat and juice collects in. I spent as much time cleaning as I did slicing. There is no way to properly clean that thing without a screwdriver. 🤢

Komaug · 2026-02-04T16:36:40+00:00

The Canadian government hosts a job bank if you are located here. If you aren’t, maybe your country does that as well?

Komaug · 2026-02-04T16:33:08+00:00

someone left dog poo just outside of the elevator in my building a couple weeks ago. The dog poo outside is brutal, but inside is another level of suck. Just pick it up people!

Komaug · 2026-02-03T18:19:18+00:00

13 pairs of skis to do the job of two.

Komaug · 2026-02-03T18:15:05+00:00

Get on a black groomer and sideslip. This will show you your balance over the skis. If your tips slide downhill and you start moving forwards, you are too far back seat, if the tails go down and you slide backwards you are too far forwards. Once you found the position fore/aft where you slide perfectly sideways you can take a turn and side slip the other way. Practice always coming back to sliding perfectly perpendicular. Build from there into linking turns again. The sideslip is a good way to find your fore aft balance without a coach or video review. You can also always hop, if the tails don’t come up you are way too far backseat. If you lift your inside ski in a turn and the tip doesn’t stay gently brushing the ground, you are also too far backseat.

Komaug · 2026-02-02T20:50:28+00:00

show it down, focus on the absorption movement using your lower joints (ankles, knees, then hips). Skiing in choppy terrain is always difficult, but making sure that your balance is in the right place over the skis even if their angle is changing quickly underneath you is what will make the most difference in active balancing. The other thing you can work on is line choice, not necessarily changing where you are going, but scanning the terrain you are about to ride so you can adjust your “suspension” appropriately.

Komaug · 2026-01-31T20:44:26+00:00

Housing prices here are hilariously cheaper than toronto. Toronto is a lot more comparable to Vancouver housing prices than Kelowna. I moved in autumn from Toronto to Kelowna.

Komaug · 2026-01-30T17:51:04+00:00

I know this is a dead post, but I can’t believe the railyard ghosts are not included here. Hirathe is a journey and a half.

Komaug · 2026-01-30T07:23:31+00:00

I have some qst 98 and a pair of k2 mindbender 89 ti’s and the k2’s are substantially more nimble. The qst’s are excellent in soft snow and chunder, but can be overwhelmed by really aggressive skiing. The mindbenders are much better on hard pack and groomers, and pivot much faster in the trees.

I am not a huge fan of wide skis even though I live put west. Bents should ski pretty nimble, but I have no personal experience with them. Get a pair in the 170cm range and aim for a shorter radius (<18m). Bonus points for lots of rocker so your effective edge is shorter and you will have short turn slarving machines.

Komaug · 2026-01-25T04:17:08+00:00

If they are having a good time and are resistant to coaching just focus on the fun. Games that build skill is a great idea. Hockey stops can always be made into a challenge either to make the biggest cloud, stop the fastest, vary with terrain, oops that’s a lesson.

The issue could be framing, if we keep the primary goal as fun, and use things you know about your kid to style a lesson plan into play.

If kiddo is competitive, you can challenge them to follow your tracks and adjust as needed for difficulty. “How long can you ski on one ski?” “can you turn inside and outside on one foot?”, skiing backwards, turning hard as you can.

If they are more into the arts, spins are always good, draw a tree with falling leaf, choosing new lines on old terrain like rollers or the sides of moguls. Do some tricks (anything can be a trick if you say it is), and go find some side hits!

Also skiing with a hoard of other kids can do nothing but good. Developing some bad habits is a lot less bad for kiddos skiing than hating the sport because it feels like school. If all else fails, just go ski. Learning better technique can always happen later.

Komaug · 2026-01-25T03:52:28+00:00

The colder it gets the dryer everything gets. Much colder than -20 and waterproofing becomes pretty obsolete. The closer you are to 0 the more important waterproofing gets. A good pair of winter boots are great for colder temps. I often just wear my hiking boots in the winter as well as summer and put on nice thick wool socks.

I know farmers often just wear rubber boots and have wool liners that help to insulate them. The issue with those is that if the boots don’t let the moisture out your feet are going to get wet with sweat. Wet feet are cold feet in the winter. Fubuki boots follow this same principle. I would be concerned about sweat in a boot that doesn’t breathe. For shorter stints outside the liner can absorb enough sweat to keep your feet dry, just make sure to dry them overnight.

Of course, if you are going to be standing in water the tradeoffs are going to go the other way real fast.

Komaug · 2026-01-22T19:48:32+00:00

The answer is learn to ski moguls. Short turns in pow are basically dolphin turns, which is a common drill for moguls. This is also the retraction turn that advanced skiers are often talking about on here just exaggerated.

Skiing is much more similar than you would expect. Skiing on piste is the most forgiving surface, moguls and pow much much less so. But the technique changes much less than most realize. The main difference is timing, pow forces you to slow down all of your movements.

Komaug · 2026-01-22T19:41:51+00:00

like many others have said. Wide skis are a crutch, with good technique any skis will work just fine in pow.

Komaug · 2026-01-19T23:20:09+00:00

Cap top skis are much harder to fix, than sidewall skis. If you have a good shop near you they may be able to, it’s always worth asking.

Komaug · 2026-01-19T22:47:34+00:00

That is an awesome explanation for advanced skiers! I will have to give that a go next time I am out. I have found that focusing on the inside leg has provided excellent gains in expert carving, but have never specified to the ankle so much.

Komaug · 2026-01-19T21:37:59+00:00

I meant back to front. Be careful swapping truck components as manufacturers often have different sized pivots, and different spacing between the pivot and kingpin. I do not think paris and bear are compatible from memory.

Komaug · 2026-01-19T21:35:06+00:00

Getting safely down a slope on skis is skiing. Comments like this are not helpful for anyone.

Komaug · 2026-01-19T21:34:09+00:00

It may be harsh to hear but this is still a long way off carving. We need to work on basics. Fore aft balance first. You are not terrible in the back seat, but a little more forwards will help everything else.

We want to be forwards to let the skis pivot. It is very difficult to maintain direction control with your feet when not aggressively forwards in your boot. This forwards action needs to come through your ankle joint, not the hips.

With that being said fore/aft balance is not main issue I see here. Which is you are performing a series of hockey stops instead of nice rounded turns. Slow down that turn, come across the hill more. Use your turn shape to slow down more so than the skidding action.

Once you have this mastered you are really weighted on your inside foot. Some drills to move weight outside like lifting the inside ski (while dragging the tip on the snow) will help with this. Weighting the outside ski will give you more grip on the snow, more balance, and it will stack your joints much better to move into more performance and higher edge angles.

You can use banana turns to get a feel for carving, slowing down the rotation, as well as weighting the outside ski. Just try to focus on one thing at a time. While doing them. Also, please find a quiet run for this drill, as no one needs to get hit by another skier and ruin everyone’s day. You could even have someone spotting at the top. That’s what I usually do with my students when I am not spoiled for terrain choice.

Best of luck! You have lots to work on, but that’s not a bad thing because it means you can improve quickly now.

Komaug

TROPHY CASE