dave_n

@mattP No arguments from me. I'm a boat skier. But " rather see no skiing than cable skiing in the olympics " ?? Surely any skiing in the olympics would have an enormous impact on our sport. @SkiJay Good idea.

Best chance of 3 event ever being in the olympics is cable skiing. No boat, no potential driver error. Still mechanical drive force though. Cable slalom is so different from boat skiing it's almost a different sport. Reasonably popular in Europe. Probably of little interest to many on this site.

@jwroblew I have two old 404 compatable Reflex shells. One's 48mm and the other is 49mm. Hope that's of help.

Does this remind you of anyone ?

@eleeski Leave my shoelaces alone.

@Brian M. Brian, that looks like it would work even better than the design I've used. You're right, it would still be a breeze to swap handles/ropes.

Double boot set-up seems very popular to the west of the Atlantic. In the UK you're more likely to see a RTP on the rear, even at high level. If I stop to think about the possibility of my rear foot coming out of my RTP and my ski windmilling around a few times without releasing, it makes me a little uncomfortable. Although this is feasible, I've never heard of it happening. Does it happen much ?

@Texas6 The mesh I used is from the bag that a new wetsuit came in. I've had the wetsuit 2 years and it 's never been back in its bag once. I've now seen the same material used for swimming bags and also the bags that some of the Oneil winter stuff comes in. ( neoprene gloves etc. ) The mesh is easy to cut with scissors but you CAN'T tear it. Hope that helps.

@footloose42 Yes, sewed the mesh onto the handle with thin shoelaces. Just parted the rope and passed the lace through without damaging the rope at all. All took less than 1 hour. Got a new handle last week, put one on there before I skied with it. Putting a soft guard on may funnel your hand in, as someone suggested, but it keeps your head out. Never notice it there when I'm skiing, even with the centre webbing, and changing handles is a doddle.

Skiing in Lacanau, France recently I used a friend's handle a few times. The handle had a guard fitted into it. After using it half a dozen times I realized that I hadn't noticed the guard getting in the way once. I couldn't think of a reason not to use one on my handle so after an hour playing around with an old wetsuit bag, a piece of webbing and a couple of small shoelaces, I've got one. I'm ugly enough already without sticking my head through my handle in a fall. We've all heard of a death or serious injury resulting from getting tangled up with a handle. I don't know why I waited so long to fit one.

I think that one day in the distant future all the top skiers will wear helmets. Once that happens, all club and competition skiers will want to wear one. Not a bad thing I suppose.

@Leopold . I'd have to agree with lhoover about Bennetts Ski School, La. I've been going there since 2007. Great place with excellent coaching. I know that Jay and Anne makes sure that the youngsters are very well looked after.

Parrish may look good on a log with bindings, but he's not going to run -41 on it.