I have acquired, for free, some skis. I think they’re oldish, but still carbon so not wooden planks 🙂 1 set is short(er than my height) and the other set is taller. Both have steel-edged straight edges. I’m going to try to use them, just for chuckles, in the hills behind my flat. I need to purchase some boots. Have bindings changed much in 10 years or so (I assume they’re that old, cant find online links to them) or will a correctly sized set of modern boots do the trick?

Not wishing to spend masses, just fancied a play with my freebies.

Pic would be handy or name of skis and bindings. I would think that they will be quick release bindings and will fit modern boots without a problem if they are set for roughly the same size boot as you take. There is normally a bit of adjustment either way. If you do get them to fit, make sure the bindings are set low (screw adjustment front and back set to maybe 3 or 4 depending on your weight) so that you come out easily as I’ve seen too many knees knackered in very low speed fallls

Assuming you haven’t skied before, it will be a sharp and very tiring learning curve as the snow will probably be a wet and heavy. Not easy conditions even for an experienced skier.

Have fun 😀

Sounds like they would be XC skis if they are taller than you. How wide are they? Modern XC skis have a different binding to old ones, at least they did in the States. Post some pics.

Have a chat with the folk at snowHeads, they are very knowlegeable about these things.

Modern XC skis have a different binding to old ones

They would have to be VERY old for that but just in case they are that old, or for Nordic, touring etc. a pic would help.

picture will help.

You should find on the ski the width of the head hip and tail of the board. That should help a lot.

They would have to be VERY old for that

My father in law just got new bindings put on his old XC skis. They were probly 25 years old, so yeah if that counts as very old 🙂 They didn’t have reindeer fur on the bottom, so not THAT old 🙂

I’ll get a photo or two up when I get home later, they need shifting out of the living room for this months flat inspection anyway so it’s a good time to get a photo. AFAIK neither ski type has a width, IIRC one is a 175 and one is 190. Will post a pic before I get crossed wires.

Thanks for he advice about setting things loose etc, will look into that in more detail before starting out, my knees can be dodgy at the best of times so I’ll take it very easy to start with! The last bit of snow I was in, at the weekend, was absolutely rock solid having melted a bit and re-frozenm, that alone looked like it would hurt if you hit it!

Ski’s located…

Small Skis

Large Skis

Anyone any the wiser?

Skiing on older (non-carver) skis is tough for a beginner, even harder if the edges are dull and the snow is uneven. You might have a laugh but you run the risk of doing youself a real mischief, especially if you’ve not skied before.

The binding should be fine with newer boots as long as your boots are a similar size to the previous owners. As older skis had to be drilled to fit the bindings, there’s only limited adjustability.

Set the bindings on their loosest setting. It’d probably be worth taking boots and skis to a ski shop (but not on a Saturday afternoon). I’m sure in a quieter time they’d be happy to check things over and make sure the the bindings are safe.

If you go ahead get someone to video it. The £250 from ‘You’ve Been Framed’ will sweeten the 6 weeks in plaster! Enjoy!

Cheers for that!

I intend to start small, no obstacles, very short distance-to-flat and see how I get on. Will undoubtedly have the other half laughing at me, with phone. I’ve done a few sessions on snowboards, good at kitesurfing so understand the whole edging/carving process if not the technique on skis and I’m fairly beginner competent on waterskis so I’m hoping the combined lot will reduce the likelyhood of serious injury. Only time will tell!

What can i say. Don;t adjust bindings if you don;t know what you are doing would be my only advice. BAsically you will be incredibly lucky to have a boot sole length that fits into the current binding. However if you are you need to make sure the forward release pressure is set properly. There are a multitude of markers for this on every type of binding but basically its the pressure exterted on the boot to keep it in and uses an elastomer or spring in the binding. If its pushing too much the binding will not release and your tendons/ligaments will instead. If its too loose your ski will fall off hopefully. You also need to adjust the toe height to make sure the boot rotates on the teflon (or similar) pad properly. Only after you have done that do you adjust the DIN which is the ‘pressure’ you need to exert to make the two things above go. See. Lots of ways you can get it wrong. I once treated someone who almost lost his leg cos he got some skis, whacked the boot in and off he went. Hit a fence at a rate of knots and nothing released – except he dislocated his L hip, snapped his R femur, compound fractured his R tib/fib, smashed his head, broke his nose and couldn’t work for 28 months – lost his job, got divorced and was declared bankrupt….seriously.

Seriously, make them into a sledge. Don’t try to fit yourself onto them via boots. Unless you would put someone who has never been on a bike before into SPDs and set them off down a hill?
I feel like a real kill joy, but you’ll knacker a knee if you don’t know what you’re doing, have proper fitted boots, etc

Hit a fence at a rate of knots and nothing released – except he dislocated his L hip, snapped his R femur, compound fractured his R tib/fib, smashed his head, broke his nose and couldn’t work for 28 months – lost his job, got divorced and was declared bankrupt….seriously

No doubt, no doubt, I’m aware of the dangers and we’ve all heard the worst case scenarios, but then with a little caution and discussion nothing is that complex! Start loose, slow and low!

catshoe – I learned SPDs alone on the pennines, taught myself to kitesurf, waterski and wakeboard – lived to tell the tale just fine, I’m adventurous but duly cautious! I know when to lob myself at the floor and wouldnt let myself get into a situation I couldnt handle.

This guy was on what i would barely describe as a slope. It was an almost flat paddock slope for beginners but its amazing how much speed you can pick up when you don’t know what to do.
My flatmate at the time, very good skiier, snapped his tib/fib at the boot top teaching beginners as well. Its not speed that does it, its the twisting force and the inability for a 2m long plank to twist quickly enough.
But hey, ignore the advice of someone that used to fit skis, work on ski patrol and teach skiing. Go for it. Good luck but what you are doing is f ucking stupid…

Keep your knickers on NZCol 😉 I appreciate your point of view, will seek further advice as you suggested (as I already said) but I never asked if it was a good idea or not, thats my call to make. I’ll be sure to post here if I injur myself so you can have a chuckle 🙂

(Incidentally I just had a play with them on the garden (5 degree slope) and couldn’t get the feckers to move, I suspect due to the fairly worn bases. Edges are still nice and sharp.)

Sorry about that a bit harsh. Have seen some prety bad injuries and a few deaths in my time and just feel that the risks may not be totally understood.
if the skis are railed i.e. concave they will not turn and i would put money on them both being like that. if they are not waxed they will be grabby, just find a bigger slope 😉

they are both downhill ski for the mid 80 I would say. As said above, parabolic skis are easier to learn on. Learning on non parabolic is doable, a bit more tough and you run the risk of injuring yourself (more due to the cleats than the skis)

Hope it helps.

OK, If you are derermined try this first.

Get a biggish flatbladed screwdiver to adjust the bindings. Place the skis parrallel approx shoulder width apart. Now tilit the skis inboard to about a 45 degree angle, so the inside edges dig into the snow. Very carefully and slowly increase preassure on your toes , by twisting your knee. trying to force the toe of the boot out of the binding. If you cannot do this then then the bindings will feeck your knees. reduce the loading till your toe releases.

As for the heels , put your poles in front of you and len on them and try to pull your heels out. again lower the number till your tendons can release the bindings

Much appreciated all, will continue the hunt and setup, though a large amount of the snow has melted overnight!

Judging by the above you need one of these

Go out and enjoy youself (after taking the binding advice above). I would imagine if it is a normal field it will be quite difficult to gather much speed anyway…… video footage of the first few attempts would be good 😀

It’s been a long time since I fitted bindings (yep, I was properly qualified), but:
If you look on the side of your boot sole you’ll see an arrow pointing down – this should align with a mark on the side of the ski. If you align the mark and the boot doesn’t fit in the binding you can move the rear binding forwards or backwards a bit using the adjuster, but you cannot move the front binding and if the rear adjustment doesn’t sort it out you’re fairly screwed as you’ll need to move both bindings either closer together or further apart and you really need special tools for this.
IF you can get the boot into the binding OK (without your foot in it) give it a bit of a shove sideways and check that it moves out and then goes back to the centre. If it does this OK, hit it harder sideways and the boot should pop straight out of the front binding and maybe the back as well.
There will not be any height adjustment as boots and bindings have standard sized ends, so they all fit each other.
Adjust the tension spring so that the boot realease easily otherwise your learning experience will be short!

Skis have changed a LOT since then. And BTW, if they’re any good they will have a wood core. Have a look at your local club for some cheap old boots, but TBH I wouldn’t bother, as old skis and boots are a good way to get hurt, especially if you don’t know what you’re doing.