So today’s the first actual morning of skiing, and we’re getting ready to go out on the mountain. Got up pretty early this morning to go rent our skis, and something kinda odd happened. The first shop we went to had ski blades (just like skis, but shorter. they’re just what i’m used to skiing on) but my name was in the second half of the alphabet so they sent us to a different shop. Which was fine i guess but the second shop in question didn’t have any blades to rent me. They did however have one to sell me, for … thirty bucks? What? I looked at them pretty carefully and they’re in fine condition from what I can tell. Apparently the dudes are just trying to get rid of them, and that they stopped renting them to people pretty recently.

I thought this was kinda weird but didn’t think much about it until checkout, when the cashier rings me up and tells me:

“You’re now the proud owner of a pair of snowblades, a dying breed.”
“The other guy mentioned that too. Why’re they dying out?”

She then shoots me this incredibly exasperated look and says, “because they’re the most dangerous things on the mountain, easy”

“Huh?”

“Dude, it’s like going down a mountain on ice skates. They get stuck in too deep of powder, they don’t edge well on ice, and on most of them (like the ones I bought) the bindings don’t really release very well.”

Confidence inspiring, right? She sends me off with a pretty chipper “have fun” and now I’m vaguely concerned for my safety; I think I’ll take it relatively easy for a day or two just to make sure the blades will hold up; I’ve never used the brand before.

On the other hand, $30 skis! 90cm. Not a bad deal at all…

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