Slalom.Steve

I seem to be in the minority, but I think the exterior is cool as hell.

Done

Anyone know what Travers was upset about? Seemed to be complaining to the driver.

Interesting, USWSA has Freddie listed as USA:

Looks like a lot of the top skiers aren't in the Open Men's running order. Freddie Winter, Brian Detrick, Dane Mechler, etc. - anyone know why? COVID concerns?

Ah my apologies! One of the many things I couldn't do during the early days of the concussion and during the anxiety was keep up on BoS, so I'm way behind! (and I should have searched first anyways) If this thread should just get deleted, I'm fine with that (I can't delete it myself, right?)

Background to the question: On June 18th, I got a concussion from a ski fall. It seemed mild (I even finished my set, then on the way home developed a headache), and I was expecting a quick recovery. During the 2nd week of symptoms, I got pretty emotional, sad over the total loss of ability to "do life" (and SKI!) and worried about the injury and recovery. Then on July 4th, I got an intense anxiety attack, and despite starting medications, continued to have attacks for the next 10 days. These were some of the most emotionally difficult days of my life. I have some history of anxiety issues, but never anything like this (though it seems occurrences like this are not uncommon for underlying brain issues after a concussion). Now 7 weeks later, the anxiety has been stable since those 10 days, but I still have a mild headache all day. I seem to be able to do almost any activity without making symptoms worse, so that's encouraging, but the headache means the brains still healing and I still can't ski. Question itself: Does anyone ever wear a helmet for slalom skiing? I know the jumpers do, cause what they do is psychotic lol, but I've never seen a slalomer with a helmet. I am intrigued by the idea of wearing one though, at least for the rest of this season, assuming I get back out with a month or so to go, and possibly to wear one in future years as well. It's one thing to get injured and not be able to ski; it's another to get injured and not be able to ski, work, exercise, watch tv, do anything at all; and it's whole other ball game to get injured and thrown into intense anxiety for 10 days. I DO NOT want to go through that again. One possible issue: would a helmet even help in most ski concussions? If the injury comes from the ski hitting your head, then yes, but if the injury comes simply from a rapid change in speed of the head during a crash, would a helmet even do anything? Below is a video of my fall, and it's basically a faceplant followed by tumbles. Would a "skateboard-style" helmet have even really helped? I think I'd have needed a jump-style helmet, with a piece in front of the face as well to break the water before my head hit. But would those helmets give enough visibility and mobility for slaloming?

@BCM how intense are you working out besides skiing? I'm a fairly scrawny guy, only 2nd season in the course, and definitely didn't do enough offseason training. I'm skiing about 3x a week, and my body is sore and fatigued enough that the idea of doing anything else right now seems crazy lol.

Last year I was at Laurie's Quarry, this year at Hidden Beach (not an official AWSA club).

@MDB1056 certainly a good point lol. I just get a kick out of the technical side of things, my brain thinks in variables and spreadsheets. I'm sure I'll figure out a preference over time, I'm just trying to avoid having to ditch a mostly-new glove that didn't work out, as I'm on a pretty tight budget. I've yet to have any issues with callouses, maybe because I grip more in my fingers? (and I'm only running 15off, 30-32mph). My current gloves are Straightline Tournament, medium. Amara grip, don't really know if they are thin or thick. There's no holes, some wear on the palm, but my main reason for another pair is I think I need to size down to a smaller glove. These get pretty loose now when wet. There's two boat shops about 40mins from me (Skipper Bud's and Munson Ski). My understanding is that neither has a prolific selection - Bud's only has HO gloves, Munson I know has Radar, not sure what else. But I'm gonna swing by both tomorrow and see what feels good.

Me: "Instead of telling me your favorite pizza place, can you explain how using different flours affects the crust of a pizza?" BoS members: "Pizza Hut." "Naw, it's Papa John's." "I love Jet's Pizza." :D seriously, I do appreciate all your responses, but specific models is not what I'm looking to learn, and we're mostly just duplicating threads now, as debate about specific glove recommendations are covered in a variety of other threads. I'm looking for the general characteristics of different materials/constructions, regardless of brand. So if you like the thin Amara MSN, what is it about a thin glove in general vs a thick glove that you like, and has there been any trade-offs? What is it about an Amara glove in general that you prefer to Kelvar, and were there any trade-offs? etc.

Looking to buy my second-ever pair of gloves. I've found a good number of discussions about or recommending specific gloves, and there's pieces of answers to my questions distributed here and there in those threads, but I didn't find a complete, general discussion, all in one place. So not looking for debate on, for example, which Kevlar gloves are best. Brands/models as reference is fine, but just seeking here the general characteristics of different constructions/materials. In terms of performance/grip, comfort/wear on the hand, and wear of the gloves/handle: 1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of inside-out vs. regular? - It looks like all of Radar's hi-end gloves are inside out (or "seamless"). All of Connelly's are regular. And HO has a version of each for their top gloves. 2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of Kevlar vs Amara palms? (tangential comments on HO's "BlueTec" palm also allowed, or some other material I'm not yet aware of :smile:) 3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of thin vs. thick gloves? THANK YOU!

But I'm a 15off, 30mph skier, so... not sure anyone should listen to me lol.

Maybe also comment what line length you consistently run? in case there seems to be more of a consistent answer among different skill groups. How tightly do you grip the handle? OR: How much do you wrap your fingers around the handle? 1 being the loosest, 4 the tightest, with reference pics below (yes, I have strangely short pinky fingers). 1: 2: 3: 4:

Wondering if there's any correlation with these "connected swing" ideals and Zero Off settings? Is there any setting that in theory or in practice better supports this approach? Or would there be a lot of variation in preferred settings even among skiers all striving for this?

Yes

Certainly not the greatest ever, but this one is pretty awesome IMHO. Captures my brother and me catching the early water last season.

this is my brother @Nautique99

...but will it include perfect dread maintenance tips? ;)

@hemlock yeah I feel like a little bit of suspicion is good lol. I know a drummer who is endorsed by Ludwig hardware, not because he particularly likes Ludwig, but because they're the ones willing to give him free gear lol. That said, I wonder if that becomes less and less of an issue as you get the the true peak performers, as they probably have more a pick of brands (ie, could get sponsored by several brands and gets to pick which they want). But I don't really know, it's certainly possible that they'd still get a better deal from one company than another. I added a couple more Men skiers to the list, just to get a larger dataset, if anyone can fill those in too :) HOWLEY, Joel PIGOZZI, Robert DEGASPERI, Thomas

1. What ski (ideally brand and model, but just brand is okay) do the world's top skiers use? *answers added for quick reference Men WINTER, Frederick: D3 - NRG R1 ASHER, William: HO - HO, now called a Will SMITH, Nate: D3 - ??? DESCUNS, Sacha: Connelly - Probably a GT DETRICK, Brian: Goode HOWLEY, Joel: Connelly - GTR HOWLEY, Joel: PIGOZZI, Robert: DEGASPERI, Thomas: Women JAQUESS, Regina: Goode MCCLINTOCK RINI, Whitney: Radar COSTARD, Manon: Connelly BULL, Jaimee: HO DUMALA, Samantha: D3 FRANC, Ambre: Goode 2. And does that influence your ski purchases at all? I'm a professional drummer and drum endorsements don't matter much to me, but with drums and cymbals, those just might sound better but they don't make you actually play any better (excepting for true trash-level quality). The only exception would be bass drum pedals, as those are more of physics/construction thing that does relate more to your ability to actually pull off complicated things. Skis certainly fall into that category, of directly influencing your ability to excel. But drums are also a lot easier to try out. I might be intrigued by a pedal based off an endorsement, but then I can just go to a drum shop and try 8 different models back-to-back and see what I like best. That's not as easy with skis, so do the choices of the pros influence what you go out to buy?

Amazing video! For quick reference, to my rookie eye the time stamps for the cuts that best show what (I think) you're talking about are here, especially the two * ones: 0:07 1:40 3:37 4:02* 6:28* 8:06

Sorry, just to clarify: I've skied very occasionally since I was a small child, but this year was the first year taking it seriously and skiing the course. PB of 4 at 15off at 32mph. I use a fairly new set of D3 Leverage Blackout Front and Countour RTP. I'm happy with them (though don't really have any point of comparison), so this post is more about increasing my knowledge in general than looking to buy something soon. Maybe once I can run a pass at tournament speed I'll think about new bindings (but now I'll already know all about them when that time comes!).

I'm pretty new to course skiing and learning about gear. Help me to understand boots/bindings. Here's my understanding - there's basically two types: hard shell boots, and rubber bindings. Hard shell boots are pretty unanimously considered to be "better" for course/competition skiing, but it looks like Nate Smith uses a more traditional binding? (sidebar, how do you size pics on BoS to be smaller? lol) Is that correct or no? What are the advantages or disadvantages of each? What boots do various top skiers use (type and brand/model), including whatever Nate has? Among hard shells and rubber bindings, who are the "big hitter" manufacturers, and within the manufacturers, what models do they have and what are the differences? I know nothing tell me everything! :D Thank you!

an enthusiastic "YEE-HAW!" is a fun one for a final pass.