New skis ⛷️ , new fun!

As I wrote a bit back, I had a really, really bad fourth quarter in 2023. As new years approached, and we were getting ready to go on a ski trip, I wasn’t even sure if and how much I’ll be able to ski.

And I felt so out of it that I didn’t even buy a ski pass for the whole week, just bought one day to see if a) I still like, and b) my knee can deal with it. And, of course, it was good.

It was good enough that I ended up skiing the entire week, and my knee got better during the week. WTH?! I don’t understand this anymore, but it was good. Good enough that this early year trip put me back on track and I started doing sports again.

But the main point is, that during this ski week, and talking to the teacher, I realised that my ski equipment is getting a bit old. I bought everything roughly ten years ago, and while they still hold up OK, my ski skills have improved since then. I said to myself, 10 years is a good run, I’ll replace this year the skis, next year the boot & helmet, etc.

I didn’t expect much from new skis - I mean, yes, better skis, but what does “better” mean? Well, once I’ve read enough forum posts, apparently the skis I selected are “that good”, which to me meant they’re not bad.

Oh my, how wrong I was! Double, triple wrong! Rather than fighting with the skis, it’s enough to think what I wand to do, and the skis do it. I felt OK-ish, maybe 10% limited by my previous skis, but the new skis are really good and also I know that I’m just at 30% or so of the new skis - so room to grow. For now, I am able to ski faster, longer, and I feel less tired than before. I’ve actually compared and I can do twice the distance in a day and feel slightly less tired at the end. I’ve moved from “this black is cool but a bit difficult, I’ll do another run later in the day when I’ve recovered” to “how cool, this blacks is quite empty of people, let’s stay here for 2-3 more rounds”.

The skis are new, and I haven’t used them on all the places I’m familiar with - but the upgrade is huge. The people on the ski forum were actually not exaggerating, I realise now. Stöckli++, and they’re also made in Switzerland. Can’t wait to get back to Saas Fee and to the couple of slopes that were killing me before, to see how they feel now.

So, very happy with this choice. I’d be even happier if my legs were less damaged, but well, you can’t win them all.

And not last, the skis are also very cool looking 😉