Ski Equipment
Five Winds Members use a variety of equipment with success. Learning what works for you is part of the challenge of skiing on ungroomed trails. Snow and weather conditions vary, even within a day. The terrain is also challenging: picture yourself sidestepping over rock edges, selecting your way down relatively short, but rugged – and treed – hills, and crossing dips, such as those hidden streams at the bottom of hills.
Skiers who are new to Five Winds are welcome to start out with the equipment they have. It can be a good idea to see what equipment other people are using before spending money on acquiring new gear. Other club members will happily give you advice on what works best for them and what doesn’t.
Here are some guidelines that might be useful for the new Five Winds member.
Backcountry skiing
If you are shopping, be sure to tell any salesperson about the kind of skiing you plan to do. Try looking for the letters “BC” on skis, boots,
While you may want to start out using the gear you have, be careful about putting off essential purchases for too long. The selection of equipment in stores diminishes as the season progresses and it can be hard to find the right ski and pole lengths or your correct boot size.
Skis
Skis should come up to the mid-point of your forearm when your arm is raised or slightly higher. The ski width at the shovel, that is, at the widest part of the ski, should be 60mm or 65mm, but can go wider.
Metal edges aren’t necessary but have advantages in some conditions. Skis with synthetic bases are most common, but wood skis are often popular with Five Winds skiers who sometimes find them at garage sales. Like synthetic, a wood ski with a tarred base (some shops will tar wood skis) works well at below 0 degrees C, and may require less waxing than synthetic.
At 0 degrees C and above, any waxable ski can be difficult. Glide will be better than a waxless ski, but grip can be lacking. A waxless synthetic ski really comes in handy here and is a good choice if you are only buying one pair of skis.
When buying synthetic skis for soft (ungroomed) snow, get a ski with single camber, which means roughly that when you hold them in one hand you can squeeze the bases together completely at the middle. The “paper test” doesn’t work in this case, except to demonstrate that your weight does completely flatten the skis when you are standing with weight on both of them at once.
Poles
Poles can be shoulder–height or somewhat shorter. It’s worth buying strong (i.e., not inexpensive) poles when buying either fiberglass or aluminum. Bamboo poles found at garage sales work well. The tips just need occasional sharpening with a metal file (for skiing on lakes without a lot of snow cover). Baskets should be the “snowshoe” type that circles the pole, but don’t need to be oversized.
Boots and bindings
Boots should be high and be fairly rigid. Think of your hiking boots. The binding system should be either 3-pin, which gives a lot of torsional control, or a Salomon or New Nordic Norm (NNN) system binding, in which the bar on the toe of the boot is wider and stronger than in regular gear.
