Spring is the time of year we see the most product come into the store that was purchased online.  We get it, there are thousands of sites selling hundreds of thousands of products at the end of the season and all they, (us too), want is to get their money out of the products to pay the bill for buying them.

Lots of customers we have, estimates are up to 90%, buy products that we sell online as well as from a local retailer like us.  So just to be clear, we are not trying to be jerks when we need to charge you for working on things you bought somewhere else.  My staff gets paid the same from me for fitting boots I sold or that you bought from cheapstuff.com.  I need to cover his wages and try to keep the lights on so we are not trying to “stick it to you” when we tell you it is $60 bucks to mold your boots.  Yep, part of that price is the premium you pay for having a qualified trained professional do the work for you.

I know that there are directions online to mold them in your oven at home, and some shops will do it for less than us.   I would contend you get what you pay for.  We like fitting boots we are good at it and have been doing customer molded boots and custom boot fitting for over 20 years, that experience we believe has value.

So if the boots you bought online don’t fit.  The way I see it is you have 2 choices,
Pay us to make them fit or take all the money you saved, stick it down in the boot and see if that makes it fit better.

Or will we look back in 20 years and say “Remember When”

I was talking to an old friend and former coworker who like me is closing in on 50 and has been in the outdoor/ski business for most of his career.  We were laughing about how it used to be when skis cost less than $300 for the new top of the line GS ski and we all skied on 205 GS boards and 210 Telemark skis and skied everywhere that we do today.  The revolution continues.

As it turns out, skiing is easier today than it was 20-30 years ago, skiers have not gotten all that much better, it’s still easy to spot the guys who can really get it done with a certain style and simplicity that doesn’t waste any energy.  What’s changed is the equipment; it’s made the terrain that used to be accessed only by the skiers who had a certain level of skill and technique, accessible for even a conservative intermediate.  In “our good old days” you had to be able to carve the ski in mixed and soft snow to get it to work properly.  Now it pays to know how to surf.

I remember reading an interview with a ski mag editor where he talked about how popular the really stiff high performance skis were with the intermediate testers in one of the big ski tests in the mid 80’s.  They finally figured out that the intermediate skiers loved these really stiff boards was because they could skid them more easily, the easier turning skis were too soft torsionally to skid well.  They carved great with much less effort than the “race skis” did, but since only the top level skiers “skied like racers” and carved the intermediate ski designs really didn’t work all that well for the customers they were building them for.  This was back in the days when ski areas were sanitizing all the skiing to make it more accessible to the intermediates.   Well the ski areas and groomers never quite got the sanitation job done.  Now it is just the opposite, skiers want more wild skiing because even for a skier who mostly skids turns, the new skis allow then to skid in almost any condition.

We were lamenting how much longer the freshies lasted back in the early 80’s, was it because there were fewer skiers, or was it that the ability of the skiers defined where they could ski and enjoy it, and not the gear?  Don’t get me wrong, I have fully embraced the new ski technology,  I joke that at least skis are getting better faster than I am getting worse.

Were those the good old days or are these the good old days?  What’s next?????

I just came from the yearly Trade show and the new standard is a ski about 112 underfoot, yikes 112 mm is huge by any standard but is now the new norm.

Thankfully for us at The Trail Head the only significant growth in skiing is in the backcountry arena.  It’s all about weight, boots approaching $1000 for a carbon fiber AT boot that weighs less than one of my old leather tele boots.  Skis are getting fatter and lighter, and new unique shapes I would have laughed at 10 years ago are the norm now.

We strive to offer the best gear at the best prices and it sometimes leaves us scratching our ever more gray hair trying to figure it all out.

Anybody have any thoughts???

Aaron has also worked for Adventure Cycling and Outside Missoula. He now works  freelance for more flexibility. His images and or stories have appeared in Montana Headwall, Outside Missoula, Sierra, Bike, Adventure Cyclist, Outside, and Men’s Journal. He has a keen sense for adventure and a great way of documenting it. Come join us for a fun and entertaining evening with Aaron February 8th 7:00 p.m. at The Trail Head downtown.

These little guys are stainless steel (no rust) have rolled not cut threads for stronger longer life. They’re small and light, they won’t go through your base. Best of all we can install them here in our ski shop. Our techs have been installing them for a couple seasons now and have figured out all the tricks for the best mounts. The more popular ways we’ve seen them mounted is several pairs of skis with one set of bindings to between them, or tele and a.t. on the same ski. Another option that has potential is two different positions a centimeter or two apart.

Stop by our shop today and take a look, these are probably our smallest product but has big potential.

Features:

110 mm waist and underfoot camber for powerful skiing on firm snow and mank

Rocker tip and Semi-Rocker tail for forgiveness, balance, and agile turning

Designed for higher speeds and longer turns than the AMPerage, more soft-snow oriented than the Verdict

3D Metal Sandwich with Titanal, paulownia wood core and ABS tapered sidewalls for race-like construction without the weight

Formula One Technology with three ribs and Torsion Box Construction for maximum torsional stiffness

Optimal use: 50% soft snow / 50% hard snow

Available in 182cm and 192cm

Dimensions:

135-110-123 mm (182cm)

136-110-125 mm(192cm)

Turn Radius:

27.0m(182cm)

29.0m(192cm)

With anywhere from 6″ to 12″ predicted in the valley and upwards of 8′ in the mountains there is a buzz about town again for winter’s real arrival. Every time I pass a computer monitor there is a weather map showing this storm’s progress. There is already talk of an impending sickness and the possibility of ski techs too sick to come in. The tire shops parking lots are full, people have snow shovels tied to the roof of their cars. Kids have been overheard using the terms “snow day”  and “no school”.

As I scan through the interwebs this time it looks legitimate. So gas up the rig, check your sick days, and don’t be surprised if the ski shop is closed due to an outbreak of “powderitis”.

The aim, says the Corvallis author, “is to inspire more people to go off-trail and visit the summits of the Bitterroot Mountains and gain a better appreciation of these glorious peaks.”

Research for the book required several climbing seasons, one of which included more than 600 miles of hiking and climbing. The book covers mountains in the portion of the Bitterroot Range along the west side of Montana’s fabled Bitterroot Valley, one of the most popular hiking and climbing destinations in the American West.

Michael will be at The Trail Head Wednesday, January 11 to give a talk and slideshow featuring shots of snow and skiing, all taken in Montana, mostly in the Chief Joseph area and the Bitterroots. He will also talk about the Bitterroot Ski Club, and will have copies of their new full color brochures and maps to hand out to anyone who wants them.

Please join us 1/11 at our downtown location at 7:00 pm.