Toshi's thread
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The time comes to think of the kids’ skis for next season.
Aya was on 70 cm Amazon-special “Yuki” skis. As I posted about above their construction was crap and the core is stripped out where the brakes and heel part of the bindings attach. Aya is small so may well still be in her 14.5 Mondo boots next season, so I ordered her some 80 cm Blizzard Pearl Jr skis, as they seem to adjust down to the 194 mm BSL that I need. (The next size up already in my shed is 92 cm and at her size that’d be far too big for age 4.)
Yuna was on 108 cm Pearl Jrs herself this year. She’ll probably move to Mariko’s current 120 cm Dynastar setup for next year. We likely already have boots in the shed that’ll fit her, too, from her current 19.5. Easy enough.
Mariko is tougher. She’d like to race alpine but that program seems too much of a commitment: 8:30-3:30 instead of 9-3, unsupervised hour long lunch, and competitions all over the state albeit optional. I think sticking with Devo for another season will suit her just fine and she’ll get better all around.
She’s currently 53” and 60 lb. Next season she’ll probably be 55-56” and 65-70 lb then, so her 120 cm long effective edge length Dynastars will need to be supplanted by 135-140 cm planks, which is a hole in the current ski-shed lineup. Something not super soft (but still kid appropriate given her light weight) would be good. 140 cm would be fine with a bit of rocker to shorten the effective edge. Too bad there exist basically no good reviews of kid skis, only manufacturer blurbs…
Ones that I found in this size range that are all-mountain oriented (not center mounted park grom skis or frontside only ones) and not super soft “my first skis” fare:
Rossignol Black Ops Dreamer
Volkl Mantra Jr
Volkl Revolt Jr
K2 Mindbender Jr
Blizzard Cochise Team (note distinction from the Twin w/binding variant that seems of the “my first ski” kind)
Blizzard Rustler Team
Blizzard Sheeba Team
@rideit or @Nick do you have any experience with such pre-teen kid ski varieties such as the above? I think I’ll give Powder7 a call to see if they have any thoughts, too.
Aya was on 70 cm Amazon-special “Yuki” skis. As I posted about above their construction was crap and the core is stripped out where the brakes and heel part of the bindings attach. Aya is small so may well still be in her 14.5 Mondo boots next season, so I ordered her some 80 cm Blizzard Pearl Jr skis, as they seem to adjust down to the 194 mm BSL that I need. (The next size up already in my shed is 92 cm and at her size that’d be far too big for age 4.)
Yuna was on 108 cm Pearl Jrs herself this year. She’ll probably move to Mariko’s current 120 cm Dynastar setup for next year. We likely already have boots in the shed that’ll fit her, too, from her current 19.5. Easy enough.
Mariko is tougher. She’d like to race alpine but that program seems too much of a commitment: 8:30-3:30 instead of 9-3, unsupervised hour long lunch, and competitions all over the state albeit optional. I think sticking with Devo for another season will suit her just fine and she’ll get better all around.
She’s currently 53” and 60 lb. Next season she’ll probably be 55-56” and 65-70 lb then, so her 120 cm long effective edge length Dynastars will need to be supplanted by 135-140 cm planks, which is a hole in the current ski-shed lineup. Something not super soft (but still kid appropriate given her light weight) would be good. 140 cm would be fine with a bit of rocker to shorten the effective edge. Too bad there exist basically no good reviews of kid skis, only manufacturer blurbs…
Ones that I found in this size range that are all-mountain oriented (not center mounted park grom skis or frontside only ones) and not super soft “my first skis” fare:
Rossignol Black Ops Dreamer
Volkl Mantra Jr
Volkl Revolt Jr
K2 Mindbender Jr
Blizzard Cochise Team (note distinction from the Twin w/binding variant that seems of the “my first ski” kind)
Blizzard Rustler Team
Blizzard Sheeba Team
@rideit or @Nick do you have any experience with such pre-teen kid ski varieties such as the above? I think I’ll give Powder7 a call to see if they have any thoughts, too.
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Out with the old jankiness
in with LEDs. Two selectable color temperatures.
One of the chandelier tops, the very top part that is flush to the ceiling, was chock full of dead bugs. Not swallow bugs, just flies and the like. I will spare you all the photo of that. I sprayed the outlet box up there thoroughly with chemicals.
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The lights were the last thing I think was requested by Vacasa before the very long-delayed onboarding photo shoot.
In prior weeks I'd changed side and coffee tables, updated the side table lights to be uniform and modern, added white comforter covers for all of the beds, plus the other stuff (swallow bug removal, the second and last treatment of which will be in 8 days; paint; couches indoors and deck furniture for outside; the decks and railings themselves; swallow extravaganza; heat pump).
In prior weeks I'd changed side and coffee tables, updated the side table lights to be uniform and modern, added white comforter covers for all of the beds, plus the other stuff (swallow bug removal, the second and last treatment of which will be in 8 days; paint; couches indoors and deck furniture for outside; the decks and railings themselves; swallow extravaganza; heat pump).
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I called Powder7 today and Blizzard is sold out at their distributor, apparently, so what stock they have is what is available. They didn't have Sheeba Team in 140 cm (Mariko's favorite color pattern) but did have the Rustler Team in 140 cm.
I asked them re demo bindings (120 mm range of adjustment) versus just the inherent 30 mm in the heel piece on non-demo bindings, and 30 mm should be enough to cover her for next year + even what she should be in as an adult based on the size of my wife. Thus I ended up with this for her:
Yellow bindings to be like my yellow Look Pivot 14s. (Look Pivots proper are out of the question for her since they have about 6 mm of adjustment capability for BSL! plus most of them don't go down low enough in DIN for what she'll need, which is about 3.5.) Those bindings are GripWalk compatible via that GW bit in their name, so she can get comfier-to-walk-in boots next fall, potentially Nordica HF Elite W fancy rear-entry ones.
Hell, even if she goes for Apex boots at some point then she'll fit. 281 and 291 BSL for Mondo 23 and 24 Apex boots, longer than one would expect because the exoskeleton is exo and all.
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Sane price because auto and that interior wood treatment.A sane price for a Turbo. A 996 Turbo, mind you, but still.
41k-Mile 2001 Porsche 911 Turbo Coupe
Bid for the chance to own a 41k-Mile 2001 Porsche 911 Turbo Coupe at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #68,267.bringatrailer.com
is nature healing?!
Did this engine suffer from the IMS bearing failures? No mention of that in the description..
No IMS issues on the "Mezger engine" Turbos.Sane price because auto and that interior wood treatment.
Did this engine suffer from the IMS bearing failures? No mention of that in the description..
*le swoon*
bringatrailer.com
No Reserve: 350-Powered 1978 International Harvester Scout II Traveler
Bid for the chance to own a No Reserve: 350-Powered 1978 International Harvester Scout II Traveler at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #68,558.
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Yeah, that pretty legit, The stock engine and trans in those were the weak link, one clean brute for sure.*le swoon*
No Reserve: 350-Powered 1978 International Harvester Scout II Traveler
Bid for the chance to own a No Reserve: 350-Powered 1978 International Harvester Scout II Traveler at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #68,558.
That is a strange wide solution for handlebar vs other cargo bikes I have seen?
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you have a cat?
Doesn't he have a few? I thought there was a grey one somewhere.
Maybe the orange one isn't his?
wait, I remember now. maybe?Doesn't he have a few? I thought there was a grey one somewhere.
Maybe the orange one isn't his?
Ooof, it sucks getting old.
Do you need Search and Rescue or are you resigned to being snowed in until spring thaw?
Packed up last night and drove back home! I was worried the heavy snow was starting to stick so called it. (Thus me being able to post, from home.)
Each pivots independently about the axis of its shaft, the vertical part. Front wheels connected via a cross bar underneath.
it works ok. The weirdest part is the ATV style turning without leaning feeling. I like to get it up on the outside wheel for kicks.
A Children’s Treasury of photos from my time in the snow up at GGCSP.
Snau last night. Was snowing quite hard so I made the call and we bailed. The funny nose down attitude of the car is because the jacks were fully extended in the front due to a slightly sloping campsite.
Parked it out front here overnight then did the surprisingly long process of unpacking, cleaning it (didn’t get dinged for any of the security deposit—was very muddy near entry due to snow/mud hike), refilling propane ($6 worth at U-Haul), dumping the tanks ($18 at a Golden RV park as both GGCSP and Cherry Creek SP had their dump sites closed!), then parking it in the rental company lot and getting it unhitched. I had gassed up right before picking up the trailer and did so after, and the damage was 9.4 mpg. $70 of fuel for our trip up to the foothills.
Unhitching was actually not trivial: brand new trailer and brand new E2 weight distributing anti sway hitch. Something in the hitch was just not letting my big polished metal ball go. A rental company employee helped me out and still it took much jiggling and jacking. Anyway, where was this story going hmm
Sights from the campsite and on snowy Raccoon Trail. It wasn’t all snowed in, just more picturesque there.
Kids liked being in the trailer. It was about what I expected: cramped, poorly put together, and with the noisy furnace as warned by gff. Not having a mud room type area to shed muddy footwear was a pain. I put down a sacrificial bath towel stop the stairs but still it was a bit of a mess.
The bunks and converted dinette worked well enough for the kids, but the noise and the 60 x 72” pseudo Queen made it not ideal for us adults. The lack of water in the winterized trailer was also a pain, admittedly my fault for choosing this time of year. Manual leveling jacks are a pain. The slide also malfunctioned a bit on this new trailer! Bottom part of it came in about 1” less than the top ultimately, causing the bottom trim inside to foul on the ground a bit when it was put in. Quality.
Will I do this again? Kids want to for some reason, but I think I’ll stick with the hotel and mountain house life.
Snau last night. Was snowing quite hard so I made the call and we bailed. The funny nose down attitude of the car is because the jacks were fully extended in the front due to a slightly sloping campsite.
Parked it out front here overnight then did the surprisingly long process of unpacking, cleaning it (didn’t get dinged for any of the security deposit—was very muddy near entry due to snow/mud hike), refilling propane ($6 worth at U-Haul), dumping the tanks ($18 at a Golden RV park as both GGCSP and Cherry Creek SP had their dump sites closed!), then parking it in the rental company lot and getting it unhitched. I had gassed up right before picking up the trailer and did so after, and the damage was 9.4 mpg. $70 of fuel for our trip up to the foothills.
Unhitching was actually not trivial: brand new trailer and brand new E2 weight distributing anti sway hitch. Something in the hitch was just not letting my big polished metal ball go. A rental company employee helped me out and still it took much jiggling and jacking. Anyway, where was this story going hmm
Sights from the campsite and on snowy Raccoon Trail. It wasn’t all snowed in, just more picturesque there.
Kids liked being in the trailer. It was about what I expected: cramped, poorly put together, and with the noisy furnace as warned by gff. Not having a mud room type area to shed muddy footwear was a pain. I put down a sacrificial bath towel stop the stairs but still it was a bit of a mess.
The bunks and converted dinette worked well enough for the kids, but the noise and the 60 x 72” pseudo Queen made it not ideal for us adults. The lack of water in the winterized trailer was also a pain, admittedly my fault for choosing this time of year. Manual leveling jacks are a pain. The slide also malfunctioned a bit on this new trailer! Bottom part of it came in about 1” less than the top ultimately, causing the bottom trim inside to foul on the ground a bit when it was put in. Quality.
Will I do this again? Kids want to for some reason, but I think I’ll stick with the hotel and mountain house life.
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I didn’t include much on the actual towing, now that I read it. The Land Cruiser worked ok.
I had to kick it into 1st (and plodded along a bit in low range even!) on the steep, unpaved way in: from Coal Creek Canyon Road then heading over the top of the park. On the way back via 119 and 6 it was fine, though. Lots of time in 4th gear at freeway speeds with occasional pulls in 3rd gear.
Not sure if it was a tension issue on the weight distributing hitch or just the 112” wheelbase + soft off-road suspension tune but on certain surfaces I got a lot of medium frequency small amplitude porpoising, front-back rocking. No sway issues at all, at least, and the trailer brake controller worked fine.
With the trailer unladen (4,260 lb and 596 lb hitch weight) and the Land Cruiser empty then the air bags on the rear axle kept it at normal height. With the trailer loaded up (no water in the tanks but lots of gear, noting a 6,000 lb GVW on the trailer so 900 lb or so hitch weight) and all 5 of us in the Land Cruiser then it couldn’t keep it at the neutral height position. This had happened before when towing my old Leaf on a U-Haul wheels up car carrier and jibes with the LC’s 1,500 lb payload rating.
So I definitely can’t tow anything heavier/bigger with this! All the more reason to toss the Land Cruiser up on Bring a Trailer once something else 3 rows and AWD catches my fancy and is available. Kia EV9, or a second ID Buzz to match the one I’m planning on for the wife?
I had to kick it into 1st (and plodded along a bit in low range even!) on the steep, unpaved way in: from Coal Creek Canyon Road then heading over the top of the park. On the way back via 119 and 6 it was fine, though. Lots of time in 4th gear at freeway speeds with occasional pulls in 3rd gear.
Not sure if it was a tension issue on the weight distributing hitch or just the 112” wheelbase + soft off-road suspension tune but on certain surfaces I got a lot of medium frequency small amplitude porpoising, front-back rocking. No sway issues at all, at least, and the trailer brake controller worked fine.
With the trailer unladen (4,260 lb and 596 lb hitch weight) and the Land Cruiser empty then the air bags on the rear axle kept it at normal height. With the trailer loaded up (no water in the tanks but lots of gear, noting a 6,000 lb GVW on the trailer so 900 lb or so hitch weight) and all 5 of us in the Land Cruiser then it couldn’t keep it at the neutral height position. This had happened before when towing my old Leaf on a U-Haul wheels up car carrier and jibes with the LC’s 1,500 lb payload rating.
So I definitely can’t tow anything heavier/bigger with this! All the more reason to toss the Land Cruiser up on Bring a Trailer once something else 3 rows and AWD catches my fancy and is available. Kia EV9, or a second ID Buzz to match the one I’m planning on for the wife?
Grand County already has an annual permit system in place. Haven’t heard of more draconian Summit-style restrictions… yet.This is probably just in time for Tabernash to ban STR's?
I shall look forward to a major FR dump in the next 1-2 weeks.Winter tires out
bro-tires back in
They're AT, not MT. They even have the mountain snowflake on the sidewall.I shall look forward to a major FR dump in the next 1-2 weeks.
Wife's minivan will be up a creek if there's more than a few inches, though.
Glad the kiddos enjoyed it, after-all, thats the goal.
Rent yourself a class A next time and it will be much more enjoyable. No towing, more room, better components, auto leveling, but mostly a real king size bed for the adults and more space for the crotch goblins and electric heat that is nearly silent.
A bit of sanity returning to the Porsche market?
bringatrailer.com
110k miles and driver condition, but that almost seems reasonable.
1996 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 Coupe 6-Speed
Bid for the chance to own a 1996 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 Coupe 6-Speed at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #69,598.
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110k miles and driver condition, but that almost seems reasonable.
I never noticed those ugly black bumper things on the front, I assume thats NA only?A bit of sanity returning to the Porsche market?
1996 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 Coupe 6-Speed
Bid for the chance to own a 1996 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 Coupe 6-Speed at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #69,598.
110k miles and driver condition, but that almost seems reasonable.