The following week I received two pairs of the Ski and Board Tights, size Large and X Large. I tried both on and sent the XL’s back. They are supposed to fit snugly. When I first tried them on they were a bit confining compared to what I am used to wearing for long underwear, which is I/O Bio thin merino. But it made sense that they needed to be snug and supportive to be able to benefit from them. After my first use I was amazed to feel good throughout the day of riding at the Village and especially at the end of the day, when I normally have knee pain (post exercise), there was none! I don’t know the exact science behind them, but they were developed with the Steadman Hawkins Clinic by Mr. Gustafson, a skier who wanted to reduce his knee pain after years of hard skiing. It is my opinion that with the development of the S1 Ski Tight and Board Tight, he succeeded – with flying colors!

Me, showing off my Opedix Ski and Board Tights on top of Albright Peak, Grand Teton National Park. Click on image to increase size.

For the past several weeks I put the tights to the test…snowboarding, skiing and ice climbing…from several trips into the Tetons (on the Middle, Albright, Nez Perce) all day skinning and riding to ripping multiple Tram laps (both skiing and snowboarding) at Jackson Hole to  climbing hard ice and mixed routes in Highlight Canyon outside of Bozeman, MT, to “skiking” (skinning and hiking) Snow King, hiking and riding Glory Bowl on Teton Pass, I have put these tights to the test and they are AMAZING! They “Unload” the joint (read about it here), according to the website and research. All I know is that when I wear them I no longer experience knee pain, which I have been having for the past 5 or so years, especially in my left knee, which has had 2 ACL repairs and is missing a significant portion of the Meniscus. My knees have been through the ringer…six knee surgeries in total to repair and rerepair/replace most of the ligaments in both of my knees as well as the precious meniscus. Of all the issues from torn ligaments, it is the meniscus damage that causes the most pain. Keep that meniscus as in tact as possible. With our active lifestyles we do harm to our joints. Based on how well these tights have performed and actually eliminated my knee pain with extensive use over the past several weeks, I think that they will add years to my active lifestyle. I have a few clients who suffer from excruciating knee pain who I want to have try these. I bet that they will suffer less. Isn’t that what we all want? Less suffering? I  sure do! And to have a lot less suffering for $190 is a deal!

The pain I was experiencing after a day of riding or skiing, especially resort riding (more vertical on generally firmer snow) was getting so bad that I was no longer enjoying riding unless it was untracked powder. So that basically eliminated the Village (Jackson Hole) and other resort riding. I am happy to say that I rode and skied the Village several full days this winter in the S1 Tights and had no knee pain. This is really remarkable. I highly recommend the Opedix Ski and Board tights and look forward to trying the running tights and also the posture shirt, which will hopefully cure my “climber’s” posture (overdeveloped lats and underdeveloped pecs).

Goats caught on film mating high in the Teton Mountains!

On one trip using the tights with Darrel Miller of Storm Show Studios on Nez Perce’s West Hourglass Couloir, I took this photograph of Goats Mating in the Tetons. The one on the bottom may even be a native big horn sheep. Word has it that the mountain goats, pictured mating in this rare image taken in Lupine Meadows, may threaten the native Big Horn Sheep. Story on goats invading the park here.

On this outing I was skeptical of Darrel’s mode of uphill transport, snowshoes. They do not glide and generally sink in more than skis or a splitboard. I met up with him as he was breaking trail up Garnet Canyon. I took the route on the Morain between Taggart and Bradley Lakes and contoured into Garnet after the initial steep section above the morain’s end. I was fortunate to find a couple of sneaks down into Garnet and was happy to have my new Scarpa F1′s, with their forward lean lock throw, which allowed quick transition from uphill to down without removing my skins. Up high, as we were entering the west hourglass couloir on Nez Perce, the snow became firm and steep and I was not comfortable skinning so removed my skis (splitboard) and began postholing through the crust. I watched with envy as Mills stomped up the couloir, with much less effort than I, on his snowshoes.  I did not have a pair of splitboard crampons that fit, like these, from B and D Ski Gear, which I am soon to get. Crampons are vital for skinning in firm conditions!

Back to the Tights…There are a couple of minor annoinances: no zipper/pee hole and the waist closure is a simple shoe string type tie with elastic waistband. For $190 I would like to have a zipper to pee and a better waist closure, like an overlapping Velcro closure. At least reduce the size of the elastic where the knot is to be tied for ease of tying! I did have better results with the knot staying tight by using the surgeons knot, shown here on this fun shoe lace tying site.

Bottom line: if you want to reduce or eliminate knee pain during activities like snowboarding or skiing or want to prevent knee pain from developing in the first place, buy the Opedix S1 Ski and Board Tights.

End Knee Pain with these tights!