Slalom.Steve

I've been using an O'Neill Slasher vest for about 2 years. Really like it, but as vests do, it's stretched a bit and now when I'm sitting in the water it rides up. Can I wash it in hot water to shrink it down like a cotton tshirt, or will that damage it?

I'm not but my buddy is (non-skier) and he was asking about it. I'm not even sure what the top of skis are made of, or if they're sealed/finished in any particular way that would make paint not "stick."

@BraceMaker what kind of paint would you use for the top?

Random curiosity question: Is it possible to customize a ski by painting it (and having the paint not come off with use)? If so, what paint would you use? Top and/or bottom of the ski, though mostly thinking top as to avoid affecting the actual performance on the bottom. And same question for bindings, and if possible, any different for rubber vs. hardshell?

@mbabiash can you describe how they're different, or who may benefit more from which?

Curious if anyone has ridden both and how you would compare them?

Is he on BoS? He should be a coach on GiveGo, he'd be my next pick for sure!

Who is this Matteo Ianni fellow? At first when they said Matteo I just assumed it was Matteo Luzzeri but then realized it wasn't. I found his (Ianni's) commentary and perspectives to be super insightful! (also did anyone catch when he was lauding Lightfoot's ability to commentate for hours on end? He said " " :D). The combo of him and Freddie is probably the best "booth lineup" I've heard!

@Rw3 @swbca I use the HRT and kick in, but I bought the lace version, as someone told me it's better for kicking in than the BOA. But then I took it a step further and replaced the laces with the bungee laces from the lower part of a T-Factor boot. It works great, cause the bungee can stretch a bit when you're kicking in but tighten back down once your foot is in. Once I get it set on a good tightness I just leave it, maybe very occasionally a small tighten if it feels like its gotten looser. (I tuck the excess cord at the top under one of the lower laces, but took it out to make the picture clearer)

It seems the majority of people don't really like much stretch. So why is the Optimized 2.0 used at so many tournaments?

All of the recent talk about rope brands has highlighted for me an aspect of ski gear that I do not understand, and that is rope stretchiness. There are ropes that are stiffer and ropes that stretch more, ok. But what is "good" and what is "bad," what is "forgiving" vs what is "performance," how does one distinguish "higher quality" from "lower quality," etc? It seems like the general vibe is that stretchy ropes are more forgiving on the body but less ideal for pure performance. But then why is Masterline's top-of-the-line competition rope the most stretchy one (the Optimized 2.0)? And if stiff ropes are better for performance, why do people say to replace ropes once or even twice a year or else they become "dead." I've also seen some comments that certain ropes are lower quality because they are too stretchy, but again, I don't understand the correlation, when there are expensive stretchy ropes too. It's not my intent to have this turn into a debate about specific brands being better or worse, or whether a brand's pricing is fair or not (that's being handled elsewhere lol). I just want to better understand in general the pros and cons about rope stretch or stiffness. I ask in part just to know more about gear, but also because I'll need a new rope before too long and have no idea what to target. I'm skiing 32-34mph, 15off and taking looks at 22off, I'm 34 years old and in good health. I've been on the Masterline regular mainline rope (not pro or optimized).

@aupatking - Not at all doubting it, but curious how do we know with Freddie?

Well, right on cue, D3 released a video of Freddie on the Neo. Doesn't mean much unless he starts using it in tournaments though. https://www.instagram.com/p/CfUYZJYp2u0/

Hmm I'm size 10.5 and I use a Large. It's fine except for right across the ball of my foot, the side by my little toe kinda hurts after 6 passes or so. BUT, I know that part of my foot is a bit wider than usual (like I have issues in that spot in a variety of shoes on both feet, but size 11 shoes slide at my heel). Any sense if your foot tends to run wide or narrow? I may be inclined to try the XL, since you could just cinch the laces real tight, but I'm not sure.

@UCFskier - true story! Needless to say, they didn’t buy it lol. Got arrested for underage possession.

BigSpray is like that time when I was 17 and the cops pulled me over and found a bunch of beers in my trunk and I told them they were my Dad's... "What's that, mister officer? The beers are cold and loose in a backpack? Well... that must be because there... he was at a work party! Yeah yeah, earlier that night, and he must've brought home the leftover beer!... So he put them in the backpack that... he takes to all his work parties! But then! He forgot them in the trunk!" :D As we all certainly know, the first piece of gear that really needs to be dialed in when getting back into skiing (or... not getting back into skiing?) is ropes, and you gotta try all the new unknown brands right away and post your opinions of them online.

I've been surprised how little talk there's been on here about the Neo. Doesn't seem like too many people have tried it yet? I have not, just FYI, but I like keeping up with the ski news.

@mike_mapple - I didn't even realize there were tall versions until your comments! Lots of sites don't even list it as an option. That would be perfect, but... I wear a Small and looks like they only do a Medium Tall and a Large Tall?

@Minelickskier cool thanks! I actually have the Slasher already and really like it except it's a bit too short on me, and I've heard the Hyperfreak is longer. I also looked around and it seems O'Neill stopped making the Hyperfreak in 2021 anyways though.

Yeah it still all seems too odd. Particularly calling it "Z Lines." Hey I'm gonna start a ski company called D4 and a boat company called MisterCraft... but like, no relation to anything, just my own vibe here! :# @BigSpray you keep saying you've been on since 2011, but you have 14 total posts and all or nearly all of them have come in the last month commenting on S-Lines and now Z-Lines. Interesting time to become a passionate poster... Feels like Dave and now Z-Lines has been alienating a lot of ML customers and Russell came in to try to save face.

Last I heard Stokes didn't even have an estimate of restock time for the Evo.

Anybody have experience comparing the O'Neill Slasher to the O'Neill Hyperfreak comp vests?

There is definitely room for improvement, the video quality and video editing was really bad for sure. But to try to find a bit of balance: 1. I don't know that we can complain about our sport being small and not being on ESPN, then complain when sponsors are willing to pay money to be advertised during skiing events. Is it annoying? yes. Is it a necessary evil to have financial backing? yes. I would love if we had to mention Red Bull in between each pass lol. It was a bit overdone but I'm not really gonna hold it against them. 2. I agree Dano's announcing is very bad for TV/webcast, but probably very good for the live/outdoor loud speakers. Particularly for anyone who's not a full-on ski fan and on the beach talking with people, playing in the water, etc, the "over-hyped" announcing draws attention to the water and creates excitement, and outdoors from a wide-range speaker it doesn't come across as yelling in your face like it does in your living room. What they really need is two different feeds. 3. I see criticism for the judging in regards to Freddie, but it seems to me more a failure of the video crew that they failed to capture Freddie's turn at 6? If the judges had an adequate video to review, I imagine they'd have made the right call, but at least from what was shown on the webcast, I don't see how anyone could tell, so I can't say that they did a good job or a bad job.

Relevant other thread to reference: /forum#/discussion/19906/what-zero-off-settings-do-you-use/p1

@SkiJay, when you gonna release the "Zero Off Whispering" book? :D For how much I've read about it, I feel like I still don't really understand. Or more accurately: I understand "what ZO does" on paper, but I don't understand how that translates to the actual feel on the water, or what the hell setting I should use lol. I feel like the danger even with trying a variety of settings to find "your setting" is you may just be best at whatever setting you were using previously, since your technique will have adjusted to that setting.