Blizzard Spurs Water Skiing

I've been skiing the asymmetric Blizzard Spur as my powder skis for a bunch of years now and kept getting comments about them being water skis on the lift.

That commentary got old very quickly but at least now I got a better wise ass response: YES they are actually.

Blizzard Spur 192cm



Details:

The skis are on demo Tyrolia Attack bindings, hence two skiers. DIN was not adjusted, I have them at 11 I think, if anyone needs it I can check. We didn't have a screwdriver because why would we be prepared when we screw around like this? I did use leashes which I learned from water ramping. Paracord tied to brakes and then with a shackle to front or back of ski boot grab loops. We did not have a ski pop off at all and none of the crashes (there were plenty when figuring this all out) hurt or created any crazy twisting on our legs or knees at all.

The group (not me - my second time water skiing) had a lot of water ski experience both skiing and towing and although it's been done there's not a how to guide so we first thought dock launching would work. That's a no. It was entertaining to see my buddy plop time and time again into the water and nearly lose his shorts repeatedly but basically we couldn't generate enough pull to hit the water and ski without also pulling his arms off at the same time and we weren't about to try to pull him across the dock but that's an idea for the future on a ski carpet.

What worked was exactly the same thing as with water skis but idling the boat and pulling slowly to help the skier get the skis settled and under control before hitting it. No fins means they want to scissor every which way to start. It wasn't some absurd amount of attempts to get up either. I think 4 or 5 each once we started doing the water start. Skiing outside the wake brought a ton of pressure to the inside ski which caused one crash but once we knew about it we could handle it better.

For those that haven't done water ramping you are perfectly fine with just a standard water ski life vest (at your own risk just my experience!). Put the skis on first and plop in. If you don't trust that just hop in with boots and get a feel for it climb out put skis on and ease in. Water won't destroy your boots and I use an old liner with socks. Buddy used old boots without socks.
 
topic:NotEnoughSkiing said:
I've been skiing the asymmetric Blizzard Spur as my powder skis for a bunch of years now and kept getting comments about them being water skis on the lift.

That commentary got old very quickly but at least now I got a better wise ass response: YES they are actually.

Blizzard Spur 192cm



Details:

The skis are on demo Tyrolia Attack bindings, hence two skiers. DIN was not adjusted, I have them at 11 I think, if anyone needs it I can check. We didn't have a screwdriver because why would we be prepared when we screw around like this? I did use leashes which I learned from water ramping. Paracord tied to brakes and then with a shackle to front or back of ski boot grab loops. We did not have a ski pop off at all and none of the crashes (there were plenty when figuring this all out) hurt or created any crazy twisting on our legs or knees at all.

The group (not me - my second time water skiing) had a lot of water ski experience both skiing and towing and although it's been done there's not a how to guide so we first thought dock launching would work. That's a no. It was entertaining to see my buddy plop time and time again into the water and nearly lose his shorts repeatedly but basically we couldn't generate enough pull to hit the water and ski without also pulling his arms off at the same time and we weren't about to try to pull him across the dock but that's an idea for the future on a ski carpet.

What worked was exactly the same thing as with water skis but idling the boat and pulling slowly to help the skier get the skis settled and under control before hitting it. No fins means they want to scissor every which way to start. It wasn't some absurd amount of attempts to get up either. I think 4 or 5 each once we started doing the water start. Skiing outside the wake brought a ton of pressure to the inside ski which caused one crash but once we knew about it we could handle it better.

For those that haven't done water ramping you are perfectly fine with just a standard water ski life vest (at your own risk just my experience!). Put the skis on first and plop in. If you don't trust that just hop in with boots and get a feel for it climb out put skis on and ease in. Water won't destroy your boots and I use an old liner with socks. Buddy used old boots without socks.

Very cool. Thanks for sharing. Might have to give that a try down here
 
do regular water skis release?? i dont know shit about it lol. looks rad though. i dont know blizzard spurs but is they asymmetrical ski a benefit for this??

**This post was edited on Aug 27th 2024 at 1:24:13pm
 
Yea typical water skis you just slip into and it's like a rubber bootie that's attached to the ski permanently. I'm sure there's multiple designs with different ways to do it. You flip out of them if you crash typically. Water skis float. Ours definitely do not float.

Once you get good most people ski a mono ski and not traditional 2 skis and that's a totally different ballgame.

I don't think the shape did anything besides being a huge powder ski. Water skis are a magnitude wider (5-8" so a 127 underfoot to a 203 underfoot in mm) but generally much shorter topping out around 170cm.

Maybe next trip I'll bring a bunch and see what works.

I would say the actual skiing was on par with my very brief normal water skiing experience in general. This was my third ever run ever water skiing, so my total time in the sport is like 20 minutes. My assumption is just about anyone should be able to do this if I could. It squarely goes into the stupid human tricks for the gram category.

14624704:partyandBS said:
do regular water skis release?? i dont know shit about it lol. looks rad though. i dont know blizzard spurs but is they asymmetrical ski a benefit for this??

**This post was edited on Aug 27th 2024 at 1:24:13pm
 
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