I've been a fan of the Beluga since Hansi first put a pair in my hands and said, "go ski these and don't come back until you understand why they rock." It didn't take long. At first blush they don't look like much. A fat, double camber, waxless XC ski with no metal edge. So you look and say- slow, won't turn for crap, and they'll break in a week. Then you go ski on them and say- oh these just made winter that much better. They are the perfect out the door and go have fun ski. I've spent more time exploring everything from the woods behind my house to the backside of Wildcat on these (even racing them in the first and only running of the Wildcat Valley Inferno)- and I love them.
The only issue- they do break. I've broken a few pair, but having run a shop I always had extra's at my disposal. In fact when Garmont discontinued the ski I got a call from their Marketing Director who said we've got like 40 pair left- do you want them, we'll sell them cheap- I said yes and the entire inventory made their way from Williston, VT to Pinkham Notch. I sold quite a few pair, and bought quite a few pair myself. I also, selfishly, felt good that there would always be a stock of them hidden safe up in the Notch for my future plundering.
Well I left GGTOC and a year later the lodge and shop burned to the ground, with the stock of Belugas sharing the same fate as all the other inventory. No one was injured in the fire, but a great many fantastic skis spent their last minutes melting in a major snowstorm. In fact the storm was so bad they couldn't get fire trucks to the scene for quite awhile- by the time they did the building was just a metal roof sitting on the ground.
Anyway- this loss meant that my secret stash of strange skis was lost and I needed to find another one. I called shops all over North America to no avail. Some were curious as they had seen the ski in the catalog but had never known anyone that had any interest. I think my search for the skis did more to promote the skis than had been done when the ski was actually in the line!
At this point I had two pair left. That was nearly a decade ago. One pair met a cruel end when I miss judged my ability to jump over a stone wall, not quite clearing the wall and snapping a tail. Leaving me with my lone pair. I've taken quite good care of them bouncing back and forth between a pair of Karhu Catamounts and the Belugas just to try and keep the mileage down a bit. Still searching from time to time for another pair of Belugas.
Then just yesterday I came across a recently cut section of woods. It was stumpy and had trees down and looked rather sketchy. Exactly the type of terrain the fat Beluga does well on, however I couldn't bring myself to just letting the skis run, fearful of dropping into a hole a snapping the skis. Likely this kept me from hurting myself, but it also got me to thinking that I need to ramp up my search for a Beluga replacement.
This morning I see a post from Hansi talking about skiing with his kid, and how it ranks with some of his all time favorite days skiing. I certainly can relate to that. I realized I hadn't been on his blog in some time, then there it was- a post talking about the Beluga and the fact that he had possibly found a replacement! I couldn't believe the timing- and I am now genuinely excited!
So he just got his and I'm waiting to hear what he has to say. Assuming a thumbs up, it'll be time to pull out the CC and place an order!
No comments:
Post a Comment