Ski Pants Repair (The North Face)
January 19, 2010
For whatever reason, every time I fall, I fall on my right side and it ends up in a way that my skis would cut my left pant leg around the boot. It's gotten to a point that during my last trip to 7springs, snow has gotten in through the slits so much that I had a snowball the size of a grapefruit around my ankle the whole time.
I know the easy answer would be to buy new ski pants (I have, and I messed up the new ones the same way as well). I can also become a better skier and not fall as much, which I am in the process of doing by skiing more and looking for lessons. But for a long-term solution to protect my ski pants, should I get gaiters to cover up the slits and still use the same functional ski pants? Would gaiters help make ski pants more durable around the boots? Should I get different brands of ski pants? Am I the only one with this problem?
My ski pant came with reinforcements around the ankles. Never knew why. Now I know.
duct tape!!
Im sure you can even find a color to match. I actually did this for a pair that had a rip on inside liner and it never came off. But was higher and being on inside did not have contact with snow. However, I am guessing probably just higher quality pants would do the trick. Compare how the material feels on better brands versus cheep pants. Generally a much tougher tighter weave. also as mentioned above probably is reinforced seams and at wear areas.
Go to a fabric store and get some nylon patches. Some glue on, some iron on (with a very cool iron, far below Nylon's melting point)
Also, for what it's worth, not falling will not solve this problem. Correct, aggressive skiing will inevitably lead to your raised edge cutting the inside of both legs of your pants.
When you are buying, look for pants with a tougher material reinforcing that part of the pant. And when they still tear, patch them.
Thanks guys! I am going to look into the duct tape route since it sounds easier (I'm lazy:) I will look into patching it up with fabric once I have more time since most of my time is spent on this forum and planning more ski trips
It also makes me feel better that I am not the ONLY person in the world doing this. My ski buddy was making fun of the snowball around my ankle the whole trip.
Skiobsessed:
Agree with the other posters. Don't feel bad. Been skiing well over thirty years (in the industry for nearly half of those), I STILL get cuts in the cuffs of my ski pants! Duct tape (in black) works great. There are also ski pants out there that have rubber reinforced areas on the inside cuff. Never splurged on a pair given that I go through a set of ski pants about once every three seasons!
For whatever reason, every time I fall, I fall on my right side
That's kind of an interesting problem to have.
It's a habit of mine to fall on my right. Ever since I started skiing, I feel more comfortable turning right. As a result, I usually turn right when I catch too much speed or become uncomfortable with the terrain and end up falling on my right.
The instructor at WISP told me that when I turn, I don't flex my ankles enough. He also told me that I don't stay on top of the inside ski which causes it to ski out in front of me. My instructor at Whitetail gave me a drill to work on. I think it's pivot/slide or something to that effect? He was teaching the group to separate the upper body with the lower body. Our skis are perpendicular to the mountain, but our body is facing the fall line. He then showed us how to flex his ankle and slid and turned. I had trouble doing it on my left side (with my left foot being the inside ski). During my last trip to 7Springs, I actually worked on this drill for close to 30 minutes (30 minutes is already too long for me since I just want to go down the mountain) and I was having the same problems as well.
