Nathan's New Skis

OMG what's going on? A non-german blog title? Oh the humanity!

So today I tested the Kastle (kayst-lay) James 175 skis.

I jumped on them this morning and they felt very different to any other ski I've ever ski'd. It took me awhile to get used to the very different feel but by lunch time I was very comfortable on the skis. When I got home for lunch I checked the skis and sure enough, their binding was mounted at the centre of the ski. This is the first time I've ever ski'd a centre mounted ski and it certainly is a very different feel.

After lunch I hit the slopes again with a new mindset on the skis, their feel was different because of the way the skis were mounted. After a few more hours on the ski I was completely comfortable and scooting around the slopes. Weirdly enough, Mariya saw me blast down the trail on the last section on the way home. She said I was absolutely flying and completely awesome!! Ok, I think she was humouring me.

Even with a centre mounting these skis were far superior to the Salomon 2012's so Mariya and I headed off to the Ski shop to discuss an option for purchase. When we arrived at the shop I indicated to the Sales guy (Jeff, we like Jeff) that I was keen to buy a pair of the Kastle skis. He said he would call his Kastle rep in Salzburg and see if he could arrange a pair to be delivered. But then he decided he'd look in the shop front windows to see if they had a pair on display. And guess what? They did! Everything's working out for Nathan! So after some serious negotiations with Jeff, where he basically just told us he was going to drop the price by 200 euros, I purchased the Kastle skis and had them mounted at the Freeride setting rather than the centre mount.

So tomorrow I will ride the skis for the first time in the Freeride mount position, I think it will be quite a big improvement for me as it's the way I have always ski'd in the past. I'm pretty stoked and looking forward to tomorrow's skiing!

So yea, I missed all the cool stuff that actually happened today. When I woke up, Mariya told me to look out the window. I figured it was going to be another bluebird day like yesterday, score! Well even better, I looked out the window and it was bucketing down snow, double score!! The conditions today were perfect for skiing, there was a good bit of snow that had already fallen and the sky continued to spew all day long. Amazing conditions and by far the best skiing I've encountered in my entire life. Move over Canada, you've just been schooled by the Austrian Alps!

For dinner, Mariya made an amazing assortment of marinated pork steaks, rotkraut and mushroom gravy spaetzle. What can I say, the food in Europe is amazing and Mariya is some kind of food magician savant thingy.

Another great day in the Austrian Alps with many more to come.

Guess what? Wir sint im Osterreich! Next trip here everyone comes!