Missed It By That Much, Then Scored

I have been skiing on the same pair of used skis for about 6 years, and at times I toyed with the idea of getting new ones. Not new ones, but a different pair of used ones. Five years ago I bought a pair of used rental skis, and they have worked fine for me. I don’t think the type of ski makes that much of a difference. Even when I switched over to shaped skis, I didn’t feel that much of a difference.

Anyway, I figured I’d keep my eyes open for yard sales or a ski swap, maybe find a pair for $10-20. Well, as luck would have it, as I was driving the kids over to HH’s house, we passed a small yard sale with a pair of skis. Now I don’t know anything about skis these days, they all look the same to me, so I wouldn’t know a good deal if it slapped me in the face. After dropping the kids off, I stopped at the yard sale and checked out the skis. They were Volkls (German made - one thing I like about skis is they are generally not made in China) and were in decent shape, and only $15. They seemed to be more shapely than mine, and I found this to be true after taking some measurements. I’m not sure how this translates into performance, but it must mean something.

I didn’t have any money, and there were no people around - payment was by the honor system. I did, however, have to go back to HH’s to drop something off, so on the way, I stopped at the bank and got some cash. On my return trip, I was going to pick up the skis, but figured it would be easier to get them on the way home, which would be five minutes later. Well, wouldn’t you know it, on the way back, the skis were GONE! I was floored. I did notice a car in the driveway, and thought that maybe the owners had come home and taken the skis inside - it was about 7:00PM. I was going to knock on the door, but didn’t want to seem like a nutcase.

Bummed out and dejected, I went home, figuring it just wasn’t meant to be. After thinking about it all night, however, I resolved to go back and see if they put them back out there. Sure enough, the next day, I went back and the woman was actually out there putting the skis back on display. I was stoked. I chatted with her for a few moments, whereby she told me that they were top of the line skis (yeah, right) at one time but had a small ding on the bottom. I assumed anybody would give me that sales pitch, but figured she was a neighbor, so if it was really bad, I could always go back and give her a karate cop to the head.

I called Henderson’s to see if the ding was fixable, and they said most definitely. I brought them in and asked if it was worth it, and JH, the owner, said they are great skis, he recognized them. Good news, my neighbor was telling the truth. So I left the skis to get fixed and tuned up, and now I have a new pair of skis, all for $15. My kind of deal. Now I just have to figure out what to do with my old ones.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Jan Sundstedt for the pic.