$250 could equip ski beginner

Press, 26 May 1977, Page 25

$250 could equip ski beginner

Ths good news for skiing enthusiasts in these inflationary times is that the prices of new gear have generally held, oY at worst risen marginally, from last season. Nearly ail the increases which have been made were due to the devaluation of the New Zealand dollar and two or three price decreases were actually in line tor the customer before they were precluded by devaluation. According to an authority at one leading Christchurch ski shop it is still possible to buy “quite good ski gear" from a large range without spending huge sums of money. “It is possible to spend a lot of money and we love you if you do but a beginner can get quite reasonable gear for around the $250 mark,” he said. Our informant said that it was even possible to “pare that $250 figure down a bit” but pointed out that a customer was not necessarily buying well on the long term deal by getting cheaper gear. ‘‘You can ease your way into ski-ing through playing around with your spending a bit by say getting good boots one year and good ski? the next year when you are better able to afford it.” If a buyer wants to get into second-hand gear —

and there is some quite good quality gear available — then a beginner could probably outfit himself with the basic requirements, skis, bindings, boots and poles, for about $l5O. No startling new innovations are in evidence this year but a number of improvements in equipment and changes in trends are apparent. There has been a continued improvement in the fit of boots around the ankle cuff and the benefits of leather, which draws moisture off the boot, have been recognised in the fact that more of the medium-quality range are now leather-lined. “As well everyone seems to be switching over to four clips, Instead of five, and wire loops are apparent in all but the cheapest boots.” More, colours are available in boots with blue still very strong. Caber going back to black boots and beige, deep brown and bottle green also nopular. It is still necessary to spend around $lOO to buy a reasonable intermediate boot but the customer is now getting better value for his money than a few years ago because of the improvements in material and design. Manufacturers are try-

ing harder and harder to design lighter boots and Dolomite has brought in low-heel boots, which it claims brings the wearer closer to his skis and in closer touch with the snow. The newest thing in skis is the compact wnich lies somewhere in between the short ski and the long ski. It provides good stability and is ideal for the learner who has been on short skis and wants to get a bit more involved in the sport. A person who had been ski-ing on say short skis 180 cm long would move up to a compact ski between 190 cm and 195 cm in length. Compact skis will probably also attract more experienced -skiers and our informant expects it to “bring in customers from both ends.” Binding prices for one brand, Look Nevada, are actually cheaper this year. Ski trendies are probably keen to use the “bent” poles in use overseas but the peculiar shallow S shaped pole are actually specifically designed for downhill races when the skier is positioned in a crouch.