back country ski purchases

SHINY NEW GEAR 

               

                On return from st Anton I had a meet up with bob and yet again we discussed the possibility of ski touring in Scotland, he hadn’t made his annual winter ski trip to the alps and was missing his skiing , I said well im game to buy some gear or book some courses but only if your coming and im not buying until you buy ! so a deal was struck we have talked about the freedom we could have in the Scottish winter mountains if we had the gear and knowledge to use it so now after all these years we were gonna make some purchases ,

                First up for me was new skis ( bob got his boots first ) We spoke at length with the knowledgeable staff at a new store in Edinburgh called freezepro about various different ski types, the range nowadays is huge and some skis are very snow type specific proper big deep powder fat skis or skinnier twin tipped carver all mountain skis , We were looking to get something all terrain Scotland doesn’t get much powder even in a good season so We required something we could control on icy steep slopes ( and possibly take to the alps for on piste skiing ) so I opted for a pair of black crow camox freebird at a lengh of 178cm, Bob opted for black crows also but he got the orb, I reckoned mine would be the best all rounder for me and I had skied on them previously at glen more lodge, we shall just have to wait and see if bobs decision was the better ! unfortunately the Edinburgh shop had none in store in my preferred size they did have a longer pair but the longer the ski the faster but also the more tricky to control I was sticking to 178cm , bob helped me out and searched the web and found a pair on sale at ellis briggam £145 off in sale the retail price was £580 so I reckon this was a bargain at £435 and I jumped at them, bobs orb freebirds cost him £425 so he was £10 less than me  

     

my ski's like me are getting shorter and fatter with age !

           Next was boots if your buying ski boots you really need to give them a good trial in store some brands sizes just don’t match your feet and you really need to get this right ! the wrong boots will ruin the hills for you , this is important for ski boots but especially for ski touring boots as you will be walking trails in them possibly climbing but definitely moving over varied terrain with skis on and off ( for example I am lucky I have an old pair of crampons that I can take with me to use with my ski boots in case I need to do a bit of scrambling on icy peaks in my ski boots )  so after spending a couple of hours in the freezepro shop in edinburgh I opted for the scarpa maestral boots , the shop does price matching and yet again bob had came up trumps and sourced a pair on the web for £382.40 the shop price matched this ( we both got the same boots and same size ! markers required for bobs car boot or my van ) and a I joined their loyalty points scheme and gained loyalty points on this purchase which came in handy later

                With boots and ski`s you need bindings! this is another difficult purchase that requires a fair bit of researching and I was very grateful again for bobs help and knowledge on this as the shop wanted me to go for a fixed style of binding a modern lightweight professional style but definitely at an expert level not required for me and bob , we would require something more stable and yet flexible for slope types. the type of this more old fashioned  bindings we opted for was a marker f12 for my skis bob chose marker F10s as his skis are slightly narrower at the foot area than mine. the retail price for these is £288 but yet again bob sourced me a pair on ebay at a buy it now price of £179.99 brand new, that’s another £100 saved ,His F10s were £192which he got in store costing £12 more than my ebay purchase, but it did mean that because I wasn’t buying skis and bindings from the shop then freezpro charged me £25 for fitting the bindings to the skis , so bob saved on that

              While I was in the shop with cammy this time! to collect my skis after the bindings were fitted I had a look at the shovels ,there’s lots of uses for a lightweight shovel in ski touring such as checking snow layering, making a shelter, finding your friends or other people who may be buried in an avalanche , but its even handy to have a lightweight shovel for the car in case you get snowed in , the shop has a huge range varying in price from £30 to £160 , I loved the look of the shaxe which is a combination of a walking axe and shovel I already have a walking axe so I didn’t need to buy a new one but this combo made for a lightweight walking axe and it would save me from carrying both ! but it was £125 reduced to £88 in the sale ,considering I could get the plane bottom of the range shovel for £30 this was a lot extra , I asked the shop assistant to give me a look at it ! he went into the store and found another brand of shaxe that he could give me for £65 and with the loyalty points of for my boot purchase it took that down to £46.87 a bargain price for such a fine looking gadget , bob opted for the basic shovel and price matched and used loyalty points getting his shovel eventually for the bargain price of £20 ! but he did buy a probe which I have yet to purchase so he saved on the shovel but bought a black diamond quick draw 2.4mtr tour probe at £27, so we were much the same spend in store for those

                The final piece of the jigsaw to get you out ski touring is your skins they are still called skins as they were originally made from seal skins!, but are now mostly mohair yet again freezpro didn’t have the made to measure skins for my skis but they had other brands that they could cut to suit , I opted to just get on line and buy the black crow skins that are designed for my black crow skis , the cheapest pair I could find online for my size of ski's was £156.50 including delivery which I had no option but to go for as I was going skiing that week and required those skins ASAP , they ended up delaying my trip north by a day ,Bob also opted to ordered on line the black crow skins to match his black crow skis at £142 so a bit cheaper than mine, but the delayed kick off all turned out well as me and bob got a chance to thoroughly discuss transceivers ! the cost of this hobby is mounting radically and we were both keen to cap it now so more equipment meant more expense that we were really struggling to justify to ourselves , but a transceiver is a vital bit of safety kit at £175 ( bob got the same one a BCA tracker 2 for £173 )the one that was on sale we liked , it wasn’t cheap but bob felt necessary so that was the final piece of new kit bringing the total amount spent to £1401.51 for me to take up back country ski touring , I need to buy a probe but can make do with an old tent pole for now ,Bobs total was £1361 so we were very close in our prices in the end
           The other kit you require I fortunately already had from piste skiing ,walking ,running,cycling and climbing etc! now I need to pack to go , my climbing backpack is suitable for attaching my skis to and hanging my helmet from and it takes my 2ltr platypus inside that pack I've already got my bothy bag packed in it , I checked the old crampons were suitable with my new ski boots and packed them in , I put in my gore tex jacket and a squashed into its bag down jacket , spare gloves a warm hat and merino wool helmet liner , vision is important to me so I packed my goggles my prescription spoggles and sunglasses , a buff & a fleece which will take my overall available layers to 6  . a flask of soup some sandwiches and fruit , I will be wearing merino wool long johns below my sallopettes so I wont need to pack waterproof trousers .with all that in the bag with the shovel ( the axe part hangs outside the bag ) there was virtually no space for my map and compass or my basic first aid kit , I already have a pair of ski poles bob is going to just use his walking poles, I'm not going to bother with my better camera or go pro or my garmin in reach sos device as I've binned the monthly contract on that so its no use as an sos beacon anyway without a contract ,
         thats it i think we are good to go !