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20 Jan 2006, 02:16
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#1
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Born Sinful
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Loughborough, UK
Posts: 4,059
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Snowblading
Ok. Until today I'd never heard of this. For those of you who haven't either, it's like skiing but minus the poles and with shorter skis. Oh and both ends curve up so you can go backwards etc.
Anyway, there are lots of other ski related things I've never done either. Number one would be skiing. I've never boarded either. I can't ice-skate. I can't rollerskate/blade. I can't skateboard. I can windsurf and I can sail though.
So this evening, off we went to the Snowdome in Tamworth. There are similar venues in other places. Basicly it's a concrete slope with a couple of centimeters of real snow (ie. manufactured but actual water ice) on top. Thursday is "Blade Runners" night (see what they did there). You're on the slope from 8 - 11 and you can have an hour's tuition as well if you want. Obviously I went for the tuition.
For someone who considers himself utterly shit on any slippy surface, I have to say this snowblading lark is pretty simple. Ok I've never been on any snow navigating equipment other than a sledge, so after 3 hours I'm hardly doing jumps and going down the slope backwards, but still I've got the basics. The tuition was enough to help me get my balance and know how to turn. Surprisingly, stopping is somewhat harder. You can't just "snowplough" like when you learn to ski, as they're not long enough to stop you quick enough so you're forced to do a parallel turn. This is the one bit I was having trouble with, and I often went for a snowboard style stop instead (parallel 90 degree skid, lean over to the slope and touch down with a hand) especially when someone got in the way and I didn't think I could avoid them. Falling over doesn't hurt so long as you slide, so you can't really lose.
Anyway I guess the point of all this is that you should know it's fun, and that by the 3 hour mark even I was happily zigzagging down the slope, even if I did tend to fall over at the bottom.
Try it kids, you might like it.
Although quite a few bits of me hurt now...
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20 Jan 2006, 02:47
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#2
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Wick
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: #ABIGBOX
Posts: 107
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Re: Snowblading
A year or so ago I went on a skiing trip that had 5 days skiing and 1 day of snowblading. As someone who had never skiied previously and i def enjoyed the snowblading more, found it a lot easier than skiing. Oh yeah i found that, tried the snowplow and was like 'umm ye well this isnt working' so i kinda turned myself sideways and fell over. After a while i managed to do it without falling over lol.
woo woo 100th post spaced out over nearly 5 years!
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20 Jan 2006, 03:18
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#3
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NEWSBOT
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: The enby cave!
Posts: 4,872
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Re: Snowblading
im told its considerably more dangerous than normal skiing, by those that know.
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20 Jan 2006, 04:18
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#4
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Born Sinful
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Loughborough, UK
Posts: 4,059
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Re: Snowblading
I imagine it is.
a) You're less stable (no poles to support, shorter blades so more twitchy)
b) The blades don't safety-detatch except under extreme force so more risk of leg injury
c) The blades are tethered to your ankle because they don't have brakes like skis, so would carry on down the mountain without you if they did come off. This has the disadvantage of meaning that even if they DO come off if you fall, they can still do you an injury
However, my mate (who's done both) reckons they're easier to steer, you don't risk twatting yourself with a pole when you go over, you're much less likely to cross them over when learning than with skis, and when you do fall over cos they're shorter you can usually control it better.
Oh well, I found it fun.
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Worth dying for. Worth killing for. Worth going to hell for. Amen.
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20 Jan 2006, 04:34
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#5
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Swansea
Posts: 798
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Re: Snowblading
I go skiing quite often, started going with my secondary school and been with friends/parents a few times (I try and go once a year, but I cant go this year ) but about two-three years ago we decided to rent snowblades for the day and I agree they are great fun. When skiing, try to have at least one day with snowblades now.
You cant snowplough yes, but parallel turns are much easier to do with the shorter skies. Its also much easier to do 360 spins as you are going down the slope. The only mildly annoying bit is that when you are "shoosting" (going down the slope straight skies) the blades shake a lot and if your not careful you can end up falling, which is every annoying when the reason for the shoost was there is a long flat area at the botton of the hill that you want to cross and then you have to walk.
Snowblades are well worth trying for anything into (or thinking of getting into) skiing or snowboarding.
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20 Jan 2006, 09:16
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#6
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1up on you
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Birmingham, UK
Posts: 4,007
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Re: Snowblading
Snowblading kicks ass, must of done them about 5/6 years ago for the first time in the USA. I love them because it means that you can do a lot more jumping etc, it also feels as though you go alot quicker which i doubt is true.
Its also a good way to learn paralell skiing, my mate picked up skiing alot quicker on snowblades as oppose to normal skis
oh ye snowdome rocks!
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pig
[ 1u p]
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20 Jan 2006, 11:14
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#7
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Drink is Good
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 2,122
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Re: Snowblading
when i went snowboarding, i saw loads of kool kats flying down some black slopes on these snowblades i wanted a go, unfortunately i didnt have time as i was trying not to kill myself on the mountain when i was snow boarding(had never been before)but i still say id prefer snowboarding to snowblading just looks more fun;(
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20 Jan 2006, 11:49
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#8
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Insanely Insignificant
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Bournemouth
Posts: 1,056
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Re: Snowblading
Skibobbing FTW.
I've always wanted to try snowblading, mainly because i love all extreme sports, but being as i'm a piss-poor skier was worried it might not be worth it. Think it may be worth a stab in the dark now though.
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20 Jan 2006, 13:35
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#9
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dazed and confused
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Defford
Posts: 379
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Re: Snowblading
I've been skiing for around 6-7 years now, maybe longer, thanks to my high school having it's own mini dry ski slope. I love snowblades, they are great fun and I tend to feel more confident doing 'tricks' on them, I tend to hit the jumps and moguls more when on blades than on normal skis. Generally though I don't use poles when skiing anyway, so that bit doesnt make much difference, will be looking into buying either my own skis or blades at some point in the future, and my own boots, those rental ones can be utter shite at times.
Also, 360 turns for the win, my record is 6 in a row on skis and 5 on blades.
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