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October, 2024

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*HALP* beach bum turned ski bum

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katastrophe
Posts: 9 - Karma: 32
Hi y'all!

My name is Kat and I just moved from Florida to Colorado last July! Having (just barely) survived my first winter (tbt to when I used to call winter anything under 70 degrees) I am really looking forward to taking up skiing next season.

Now since I've moved I have met so many amazing people with a great enthusiasm and love for skiing, but the only problem is that most of them are boys with waaaay more experience than me who don't really seem to take my interest in skiing seriously. Feeling left out of the boys club, I began to feel discouraged of my hopes of becoming a bad ass female skier..UNTIL I MET YOU LADIES.

Seriously god bless the internet because discovering this forum is the best thing eveeeeeer!! I've basically read almost all the threads on this forum already and I have to say y'all are some hilarious, inspiring, and impressive mother fckers!!! I felt so empowered by y'all so I decided to make an account so I could empower myself with the knowledge I need to become a bad ass lady skier like yourselves!

So with that being said, I have soooo many questions. I don't really know where to begin so I'll start off with the fact that I have never been skiing before. In Florida the only skiing we do is water skiing. I've also never been snowboarding. I have been snow tubing, but I doubt that constitutes as helpful experience. I actually just saw snow fall for the first time in my 19 years on this earth last November which may come off as a shock to a lot of y'all who grew up learning to ski at a much younger age. But nevertheless I am very serious about learning the ropes and I could use every piece of advice I could get from y'all.

Since I'm living in Colorado I would ideally like to take lessons from a resort here so I was wondering if y'all had any recommendations for best places to learn how to ski in Colorado? Also I've gotten so many mixed reviews about the different ski passes, so I was wondering what you ladies had to say about what passes get the most bang for your buck. I'm mostly paying for everything for myself so I'm trying to keep my choices as cost effective as possible. I am a student here in CO so I know I qualify for some discounts but do y'all know of some resorts that have special deals if you buy passes at a certain time or will give any special discounts and such?

As for equipment, I'm probably going to rent my first time out to get a feel for what works best for me. But I have also heard mixed reviews as for whether I should rent all throughout my first season or invest on my own pair of skis as soon as I can? I am a poor college student so I wary of how I would be able to afford ski lessons, a pass, and equipment right away but if it is more cost effective to invest in my own equipment in the long run I guess I could become an even broker college student.

Like I've said before, any and all advice is appreciated (and desperately needed) so feel free to take me under y'alls wings and mentor the fuck out of me.

Thanks,

Kat
Apr 5 2015 4:39PM
18 1
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erica
Posts: 3450 - Karma: 24,083
STOKED to read this! First of all, congrats on your move to the mountains and it's never too late to start skiing :), and in the end its all about doing it because you love it (which you will).

I'm not in CO so I can't speak to your passes, but most will offer college discounts. If you're getting a season pass also its WAY nicer to have your own gear- renting adds up! Not a bad idea to check out https://www.newschoolers.com/forum/thread/792365/Lady-s-B-S-T to see what some of the ladies here are selling, there are some good deals in there!

I'm sure someone would be stoked to help teach you as well, or just send it and teach yourself, cheaper and honestly trial and error can help you learn a lot. I for one have never taken a ski lesson in my life and am doing just fine. Both when I learned to ski and snowboard someone brought me but I did most of the learning on my own.

However watch out, skiing WILL eat all your money, however I think that everyone who has fallen in love with the sport would rather spend disposable income on ski gear than anything else, and would rather be broke and a skier than rich and without :)

I'll keep popping my head in here to answer any other Q's you have!!

-Erica
Apr 5 2015 5:44PM
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erica
Posts: 3450 - Karma: 24,083
STOKED to read this! First of all, congrats on your move to the mountains and it's never too late to start skiing :), and in the end its all about doing it because you love it (which you will).

I'm not in CO so I can't speak to your passes, but most will offer college discounts. If you're getting a season pass also its WAY nicer to have your own gear- renting adds up! Not a bad idea to check out https://www.newschoolers.com/forum/thread/792365/Lady-s-B-S-T to see what some of the ladies here are selling, there are some good deals in there!

I'm sure someone would be stoked to help teach you as well, or just send it and teach yourself, cheaper and honestly trial and error can help you learn a lot. I for one have never taken a ski lesson in my life and am doing just fine. Both when I learned to ski and snowboard someone brought me but I did most of the learning on my own.

However watch out, skiing WILL eat all your money, however I think that everyone who has fallen in love with the sport would rather spend disposable income on ski gear than anything else, and would rather be broke and a skier than rich and without :)

I'll keep popping my head in here to answer any other Q's you have!!

-Erica
Apr 5 2015 5:44PM
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katastrophe
Posts: 9 - Karma: 32
nsfairySTOKED to read this! First of all, congrats on your move to the mountains and it's never too late to start skiing :), and in the end its all about doing it because you love it (which you will).

I'm not in CO so I can't speak to your passes, but most will offer college discounts. If you're getting a season pass also its WAY nicer to have your own gear- renting adds up! Not a bad idea to check out https://www.newschoolers.com/forum/thread/792365/Lady-s-B-S-T to see what some of the ladies here are selling, there are some good deals in there!

I'm sure someone would be stoked to help teach you as well, or just send it and teach yourself, cheaper and honestly trial and error can help you learn a lot. I for one have never taken a ski lesson in my life and am doing just fine. Both when I learned to ski and snowboard someone brought me but I did most of the learning on my own.

However watch out, skiing WILL eat all your money, however I think that everyone who has fallen in love with the sport would rather spend disposable income on ski gear than anything else, and would rather be broke and a skier than rich and without :)

I'll keep popping my head in here to answer any other Q's you have!!

-Erica


Thanks for the reply Erica!

So I've never tried on a pair of skis so I was wondering how I should go about buying my first pair of skis? Should I rent a pair at least once to test out the feel or should I go to a ski shop or do you have any other suggestions? As for bindings, is there a benefit to buying skis with or without bindings (buying bindings separately)?
Apr 5 2015 7:11PM
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nosnowsnakes
Posts: 301 - Karma: 133
Welcome to skiing!

I would definitely rent first. How much would it suck to drop a ton of cash on a bunch of gear only to find out you actually hate skiing? (Not likely, but just sayin')... Also it'll give you more time to find the best set up for the best price.

When you do decide to start buying your own gear, start with the boots. Boots are going to make or break the experience and having a terrible pair of boots is about the only thing I can think of that will make you hate skiing before you get the chance to discover why it's so great. Seriously. Boots. They're more important than pants.

I would suggest looking into lessons. You could probably do fine without them but it's a great opportunity to cut the learning curve and get right to the fun part of skiing. Even a single lesson to get you acquainted with everything will make a huge difference. I've seen trial and error lead to frustration and quitting and that's a bummer.

A lot of smaller resorts offer specials where you can sign up for a certain number of lessons (usually 3) and get a season pass for the rest of the season for free and many of them come with a rental equipment package. I would check and see if anyone around you offers these because you'll probably end up saving money and learning to shred much faster. I did a quick search on the googles and found one at Copper Mountain that was 3 adult lessons and a season pass for $199 which is a bitchin' deal.
Apr 5 2015 7:38PM
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notspoicey
Posts: 1167 - Karma: 1,706
katastropheThanks for the reply Erica!

So I've never tried on a pair of skis so I was wondering how I should go about buying my first pair of skis? Should I rent a pair at least once to test out the feel or should I go to a ski shop or do you have any other suggestions? As for bindings, is there a benefit to buying skis with or without bindings (buying bindings separately)?


If you're trying to find the right pair of skis to buy, you would want to demo them. Most rental shops just have the same model skis in different sizes so demoing gives you waaaaaaay more options and the equipment is better. On bindings, it depends. If you're just buying your first pair of skis I wouldn't worry about it. Have fun and good luck!
Apr 5 2015 7:41PM
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katastrophe
Posts: 9 - Karma: 32
nosnowsnakesWelcome to skiing!

I would definitely rent first. How much would it suck to drop a ton of cash on a bunch of gear only to find out you actually hate skiing? (Not likely, but just sayin')... Also it'll give you more time to find the best set up for the best price.

When you do decide to start buying your own gear, start with the boots. Boots are going to make or break the experience and having a terrible pair of boots is about the only thing I can think of that will make you hate skiing before you get the chance to discover why it's so great. Seriously. Boots. They're more important than pants.

I would suggest looking into lessons. You could probably do fine without them but it's a great opportunity to cut the learning curve and get right to the fun part of skiing. Even a single lesson to get you acquainted with everything will make a huge difference. I've seen trial and error lead to frustration and quitting and that's a bummer.

A lot of smaller resorts offer specials where you can sign up for a certain number of lessons (usually 3) and get a season pass for the rest of the season for free and many of them come with a rental equipment package. I would check and see if anyone around you offers these because you'll probably end up saving money and learning to shred much faster. I did a quick search on the googles and found one at Copper Mountain that was 3 adult lessons and a season pass for $199 which is a bitchin' deal.

Thanks for the advice!
Any recommendations on brands for boots I should look into?
And do you have the link for that deal for Copper Mountain, I couldn't find it on their website.

ginIf you're trying to find the right pair of skis to buy, you would want to demo them. Most rental shops just have the same model skis in different sizes so demoing gives you waaaaaaay more options and the equipment is better. On bindings, it depends. If you're just buying your first pair of skis I wouldn't worry about it. Have fun and good luck!

Sorry this might seem like a really stupid question but what exactly is a demo? I've seen it used all across this website and I figured it just meant to try out the equipment but I've seen people discussing about demos as like events? I feel like I'm missing something here ..
Apr 5 2015 8:25PM
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taylor_gang
Posts: 309 - Karma: 260
Hey!
You're funny and honest so I think you're in the club here already.
I for one am from the east coast, however, I know a lot of rental shops out here can do a "season long rental" so you pay X amount of dollars (obviously cheaper then renting day to day.. depending on how many days you will have in you during your first year!) to hang on to them for the ski season. The shops that I am familiar with will hook you up with rental boots, rental skis and fitted bindings, poles, and a rental helmet. Obviously be wary of renting a helmet, just because. But that's besides the point.
So yeah, that could be something you may be interested in if places out west do that sort of thing.
Anyway, welcome!
Apr 5 2015 9:50PM
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katastrophe
Posts: 9 - Karma: 32
taylor_gangHey!
You're funny and honest so I think you're in the club here already.
I for one am from the east coast, however, I know a lot of rental shops out here can do a "season long rental" so you pay X amount of dollars (obviously cheaper then renting day to day.. depending on how many days you will have in you during your first year!) to hang on to them for the ski season. The shops that I am familiar with will hook you up with rental boots, rental skis and fitted bindings, poles, and a rental helmet. Obviously be wary of renting a helmet, just because. But that's besides the point.
So yeah, that could be something you may be interested in if places out west do that sort of thing.
Anyway, welcome!


Aww well I appreciate the welcome :*)
And thanks for the tip on season long rentals, I just did a quick google search for CO and it turns out there's a couple shops here that have some great deals. This definitely helps since I was a little skeptical as to how I was going to be able to afford a pass and gear all at once but this makes it waaaay more doable for my first season. OMG this is so exciting!!!

thx u rock
Apr 5 2015 10:43PM
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nosnowsnakes
Posts: 301 - Karma: 133
Here's the link for the Copper Mountain lesson/pass deal :

http://www.coppercolorado.com/winter/ski_and_ride_school/SRSU.html


I can't make any recommendations on boots because it all depends on what fits your foot. Go to a couple shops and try on a bunch of pairs and don't feel pressured to buy anything. Once you have a few pairs picked out that are comfortable on your feet come back here and we can try to give you some advice on which ones to get.
Apr 6 2015 1:52PM
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skiara.
Posts: 670 - Karma: 1,710
Hell yeah so glad you found us!!

What part of Colorado are you living in because that will also help determine what pass you'll want!

Watch some ski vids all summer and get stoked for next season!
Apr 6 2015 8:03PM
1 0
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katastrophe
Posts: 9 - Karma: 32
nosnowsnakesHere's the link for the Copper Mountain lesson/pass deal :

http://www.coppercolorado.com/winter/ski_and_ride_school/SRSU.html


I can't make any recommendations on boots because it all depends on what fits your foot. Go to a couple shops and try on a bunch of pairs and don't feel pressured to buy anything. Once you have a few pairs picked out that are comfortable on your feet come back here and we can try to give you some advice on which ones to get.


Thanks for the link and I'll definitely try that!

__skiaraHell yeah so glad you found us!!

What part of Colorado are you living in because that will also help determine what pass you'll want!

Watch some ski vids all summer and get stoked for next season!


I'm currently living in Fort Collins!
And I've slowly but surely become obsessed with ski videos haha
Apr 7 2015 1:52AM
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Mingg
Posts: 13977 - Karma: 49,314
How tall are you?

I've got a brand new pair of 157 Line Celebrities that I've been trying to sell. For a beginner I'd say they would be good for someone about 5'4 - 5'6.

They're 85mm underfoot which will be good for beginner, intermediate, and groomed trails. They're an all mountain, twin tipped ski so you could take them into park if you wanted to and you could learn to ski switch(backwards). I'm selling them for 120 + shipping. I'm not sure how much shipping out to Colorado would be, but I wouldn't mind going in 50/50 for shipping costs. Send me a PM if you're interested! Should also mention that they don't have bindings and bindings have never been mounted on them.
Apr 7 2015 5:06PM
1 1
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Cyanicenine
Posts: 966 - Karma: 2,294
You should definitely take advantage of the learn to ski packages. I don't know what they are like in colorado but in washington they include rental skis and boots, 3 + lessons and lift tickets all for a reasonable amount and they even discount a season pass if you buy the lesson package.

As for buying gear the best and cheapest way to get your first setup is to go to your local ski swaps. They usually happen in the fall. If you google for one in your area you should be able to find some. It's a really good way to find cheap gear. Especially boots. Ski boots are pricey and you really need to try a lot on to find a good fit. At a ski swap you can get $600 boots for $50. Even if they are a little worn, if you can find a good shell you could buy it and then an aftermarket liner for an affordable and decent first boot.

Even though you've never been skiing before rollerblading is pretty good cross training, so if you've bladed before or are looking to fast track your skiing you might consider picking up some skates.
Apr 7 2015 8:17PM
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katastrophe
Posts: 9 - Karma: 32
MinggHow tall are you?

I've got a brand new pair of 157 Line Celebrities that I've been trying to sell. For a beginner I'd say they would be good for someone about 5'4 - 5'6.

They're 85mm underfoot which will be good for beginner, intermediate, and groomed trails. They're an all mountain, twin tipped ski so you could take them into park if you wanted to and you could learn to ski switch(backwards). I'm selling them for 120 + shipping. I'm not sure how much shipping out to Colorado would be, but I wouldn't mind going in 50/50 for shipping costs. Send me a PM if you're interested! Should also mention that they don't have bindings and bindings have never been mounted on them.


I'm just shy of 5'8 so I don't know if that could still work or if my height is too out of range.

CyanicenineYou should definitely take advantage of the learn to ski packages. I don't know what they are like in colorado but in washington they include rental skis and boots, 3 + lessons and lift tickets all for a reasonable amount and they even discount a season pass if you buy the lesson package.

As for buying gear the best and cheapest way to get your first setup is to go to your local ski swaps. They usually happen in the fall. If you google for one in your area you should be able to find some. It's a really good way to find cheap gear. Especially boots. Ski boots are pricey and you really need to try a lot on to find a good fit. At a ski swap you can get $600 boots for $50. Even if they are a little worn, if you can find a good shell you could buy it and then an aftermarket liner for an affordable and decent first boot.

Even though you've never been skiing before rollerblading is pretty good cross training, so if you've bladed before or are looking to fast track your skiing you might consider picking up some skates.


I think I'm definitely going to take ski lessons especially since there's actually really good package deals here in CO. And I'll definitely look into the local ski swaps idea! Also thanks for the rollerblading tip, I never thought of that and it actually sounds like that could help a lot! I used to rollerblade all the time when I was little so hopefully that will transfer over well haha.
Apr 7 2015 11:11PM
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gengar.
Posts: 1042 - Karma: 1,641
WELCOME!!!

Colorado Native here - If you want the most cost effective bang for your buck pass - then the Epic is the way to go. You'll get unlimited access to all the resorts you will most likely find yourself learning at. Im talking Breck, Keystone, Vail, and Abasin.

You can also look in to getting a pass to Copper which is great for beginners!

Renting is a great idea for your first few tries. Once you know that you'll love it (you will) Boots should be your first priority! This isn't simply because rental boots hurt/suck/etc. But it will help you improve your skiing massively.

Also - take a handful of lessons to get the basics, but after that a friend that's been skiing for a while is just as good (if not better!) at teaching you the rest of what you need to know. (also cheaper$$$$)

You're gonna have a blast - skiing has the raddest people you'll ever meet!

Sam
Apr 14 2015 8:16PM
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