Love/Hate Relationship With Any of Your Ski Gear?

[maverick2]

We've made it a tradition to ski on Easter for most of the past 10+ years, so found ourselves a little out of sorts this weekend. Took a little stroll down memory lane, and realized most of our biggest ski weekend frustrations can be blamed on one piece of equipment. I'm curious if any of you happen to have any components (or even ski buddies/partners) in your skiing operation that drive you nuts, but you can't seem to get rid of. Ours happens to be a Yakima Skybox. Affectionately known as Cletus (these past 2 years I'm beginning to think that Cletus might be mis-named and actually be a "she") the skybox joined our family about 10 years ago when we first saw the merits of owning a quiver of skis and immediately found Cletus on Craigslist for $150. (Apparently the previous owner didn't believe in full disclosure and failed to mention that Cletus was possessed.) Cletus is like that weird aunt or uncle that every family seems to have -- everyone generally looks forward to his/her presence and family gatherings wouldn't be the same if he/she weren't there, but at least once a year, you've got to hold Gramma back from lunging at him from across the table with the carving knife. Cletus generally makes our ski outings pleasant and run smoothly, but once each year w/o fail Cletus manages to let his dark side loose with zero advance warning, and it's usually at an inopportune time. Some of the more memorable ski hill parking lot events with Cletus include:

• standing my 5 year old daughter on top of the cab in her ski boots so she could hand us our gear from the off-side opening because the on-side key/latch assembly seized up (permanently),
• me cutting two hand-sized holes thru the skin of Cletus with a mini-leatherman so I can get my hands inside to operate the latch releases manually when Cletus decided to hold all of our gear hostage on what was going to be the best mid week powder day all season, and
• me standing there with Cletus gripping my right hand like a bear trap on a 10F degree day, while I waited for someone else in the parking lot to walk by and operate Cletus' latch while I lifted the lid with my left. This one occurred this year, and I think was Cletus' revenge for the leatherman incident. (I had come back to the rig by myself late in the morning to swap skis, was hanging onto the edge of the open skybox with my right hand as I set my skis against the side of the rig with my left, and Cletus chose that moment to coax his rear spring into failure. I had a solid grip on Cletus with my right, so when the spring failed, the lid slammed down on my hand (no gloves) and split the plastic around my hand, allowing the latches to engage on either side of my hand and leaving jagged plastic digging into the top of my hand.) It hurt like hell standing there, but at the same time I couldn't help but marvel at Cletus' cunning and timing.

On the plus side, Cletus has yet to actually prevent us from skiing on any day, I get to engage in an annual game of trying to outsmart Cletus with modifications to the skybox to prevent repeat performances, and I learned why skyboxes are covered with skiing bumper stickers (they work GREAT to disguise the holes you occasionally have to cut into the side of your skybox, although I've since upgraded to camo duct tape because it's easier to keep track of in my ski bag than half-a-dozen bumper stickers).

Anybody else have a love-hate relationship with something or someone that tags along for most of your ski outings?

 

[Tony S]

Great post

 

[KingGrump]

Looking at the background in your pic, I can tell you are a handy dude. And there lies your misery.

 

[slowrider]

Cletus looks like Moby Dick.

 

[cantunamunch]

Cletus looks like Moby Dick.

I didn't think the Cletus/Cetus allusion was accidental either.

 

[maverick2]

Looking at the background in your pic, I can tell you are a handy dude. And there lies your misery.

Weird. My wife has made a very similar statement. (Quite often in fact, and often expletive laden...) There might be a little truth to that...

 

[Scruffy]

Looking at the background in your pic, I can tell you are a handy dude. And there lies your misery.

Quoted For Truth.

 

[KingGrump]

Weird. My wife has made a very similar statement. (Quite often in fact, and often expletive laden...) There might be a little truth to that...

You look at a piece defective equipment as a personal challenge. I used to be like that in my younger days.
As my hobby evolved into work, I look at the overall cost of repair to a piece of defective equipment. Lots of different cost components in that. Especially crew down time. Tools and equipment are cheap. Labor is expensive.

Full disclosure: I owned a construction company prior to retirement. Mostly public sector work.

 

[Ski&ride]

You look at a piece defective equipment as a personal challenge. I used to be like that in my younger days.

I resemble that remark.

My day job is sitting at a desk. I do relish the change of focus doing gear repair.

Unlike home repair that maybe absolutely essential, a piece of defective gear, as long as it doesn’t prevent the activity from happening, the remedy can wait...while the challenge continues!

The key, as the OP noted, is it doesn’t stop them from skiing that day! The day that happens, the defective gear will be replaced by more reliable one!

 

[ScottB]

You didn't ask for advice, but......

Boxes are expensive and I was given a free one from a friend who bought a new one. It works perfectly well, and the first time it has a "major" malfunction, it will be replaced with a new one.

I also recently read that if you mount the box backwards (bulge in the front) you get less drag and better gas mileage. I am going to try that for a week before I retire my box for the season. As an engineer with a similar affliction as you (OP) I can relate to your experience.

 

[maverick2]

You look at a piece defective equipment as a personal challenge. I used to be like that in my younger days.
As my hobby evolved into work, I look at the overall cost of repair to a piece of defective equipment. Lots of different cost components in that. Especially crew down time. Tools and equipment are cheap. Labor is expensive.

Full disclosure: I owned a construction company prior to retirement. Mostly public sector work.

Yeah, my alter ego runs some heavy civil construction jobs up in mining country, so I'm familiar with the tradeoff. I tend to pick and choose my DIY battles and usually limit them to stuff I'm reasonably well-equipped to handle. We live a little off the beaten path, so parts runs are 1/2 day adventures at a minimum and getting labor/trades/operators out here gets spendy fast. As long as I continue to enjoy working with my hands, it all works out. (Especially now -- with a little more time at home on my hands than normal, I've got a lot of stuff in the works here.)

 

[maverick2]

I also recently read that if you mount the box backwards (bulge in the front) you get less drag and better gas mileage. I am going to try that for a week before I retire my box for the season. As an engineer with a similar affliction as you (OP) I can relate to your experience.

Yeah, fellow engineer here, too. I wondered about swapping ends on the box for less drag, but the way the hold downs work (at least on Cletus) they are directional and headwind will help hold them in place even if the hold-downs loosen up. If you turn the thing end-for-end, the headwind tends to work against the hold-downs...

One of these days Cletus will go to that big landfill in the sky. I'll delay that as long as I (reasonably) can though, because those replacement $$ can be used for necessary purchases like beer, skis, boots, lessons to help me keep up with my @#$%^&* teenage daughter now, more beer, ...

 

[François Pugh]

You didn't ask for advice, but......

Boxes are expensive and I was given a free one from a friend who bought a new one. It works perfectly well, and the first time it has a "major" malfunction, it will be replaced with a new one.

I also recently read that if you mount the box backwards (bulge in the front) you get less drag and better gas mileage. I am going to try that for a week before I retire my box for the season. As an engineer with a similar affliction as you (OP) I can relate to your experience.

Only problem I foresee is if you drive too fast; you could get some very nasty aerodynamic instabilities at illegal speeds.

 

[OnEdge]

Oooh - I have one of those. I have a Sky Box 16. Mine isn't as finicky as yours but:

- Every time I have to take it on or off the car, it's guaranteed to be 31 degrees and raining sideways in 25mph winds.

- I believe I can mount/dismount it single-handed, but I can't. So either me, it or the car gets hurt. Every time.

- The key has broken off in one of the latches, which sounds bad but has actually been great because I can now open and close the thing without having endlessly have the car keys dangling up there in some endless cold weather dexterity and memory exercise.

- Despite weeks of research and even an in-store test fit, grown up skis don't actually fit in there in any convenient manner, and most certainly not when everything has been painstaking packed in a ski bag. The Sky Box 16 should manual should include a page on tips on how to repack your bags curbside at the airport...

Every time I use that thing I walkaway muttering about how I'm so done with roof racks/boxes and that the next OnEdge family ski taxi will be a pickup. Good times!

 

[TheArchitect]

I absolutely hate the process of putting on and taking off my ski boots. I love them when they're on my feet as they're very snug, which is how I like them. I finally had to give in and get a heated boot bag this season.

 

[François Pugh]

I love my old race boots (I don't race; that's just what I call them), but hate the fact that they are cold. I fear I will have to replace them with warmer boots due to my poor foot circulation. The heaters and boot gloves are not enough.

 

[maverick2]

Oooh - I have one of those. I have a Sky Box 16. Mine isn't as finicky as yours but:

Yeah, Yakima decided that the "demonic possession" feature wasn't a good seller, so abandoned it after the first year. They were hoping to attract more of the snowboarder market with that add-on, but found it sort of hurt when it came to repeat sales.

 

[Doug Briggs]

I love my Atomic Hawx XTD 130s. These have been an everyday ski boot with day long fit and little need for adjustment during the day (if any). They tour beautifully and ski nearly as good as my race boots with superb performance.

My Thule box may end up like the OPs as the mechanisms that control the locks are getting a bit temperamental. All of the tape on my box is due to the previous owner. I'll say, I've gotten my $20 worth out of this box over 5 or 6 years. It gets use summer and winter.

 

[crgildart]

Plattypuss... Half the time I take it, it just takes up jacket space sloshing around and I never remember to take a drink out of it. Every time I don't take it, I find myself with horrible cottonmouth somewhere out on the mountain or in front of the super packed lodge I'd rather not deal with to get a drink.

 

[TheArchitect]

I love my old race boots (I don't race; that's just what I call them), but hate the fact that they are cold. I fear I will have to replace them with warmer boots due to my poor foot circulation. The heaters and boot gloves are not enough.

I have a problem with cold toes. I switched from Hotronics to Lenz 5.0 heated socks and have been very happy.