Portable ski equipment carrier

Claim 1

Apparatus for carrying skis, ski poles, and ski boots, said apparatus comprising in combination: a. a handle; b. a boot tree including: i. an upright column having an upper end and a lower end; ii. a base plate having an upper surface and a lower surface, the upper surface of said base plate being rigidly attached to the lower end of said upright column, said upright column being perpendicular to said base plate; iii. means for fastening a pair of ski boots to said upright column; c. a ski holder including i. a bottom plate for supporting skis, said bottom plate having a lower surface and an upper surface; ii. a first vertical side attached to one edge portion of said bottom plate and a second vertical side attached to an opposed edge portion of said bottom plate; d. hinge means for pivotally connecting a first edge portion of said base plate to an upper edge of said first vertical side, said base plate forming a pivotally connected top plate for said ski holder, whereby said base plate can be pivoted to raise said base plate in order to allow skis to be placed in said ski holder and to lower said base plate to clamp the skis in said ski holder; e. fastening means for rigidly fastening a second portion of said base plate to an upper edge of said second vertical side to secure said base plate in fixed rigid parallel relationship to said bottom plate when said fastening means is engaged, said second edge portion being an opposite edge portion of said base plate, said upright column always being perpendicular to said bottom plate when said fastening means is engaged; f. first and second ski pole holding clips attached to opposed ends of a first side surface of said base plate and third and fourth ski pole holding clips attached to opposite ends of a second side surface of said base plate for supporting first and second parallel ski poles, said fastening means being positioned to avoid extending of any portion of said fastening means between either said first and second ski pole holding clips or said third and fourth ski pole clips, thereby avoiding interfering with any ski pole held by any of said ski pole clips; and g. a first resilient pad attached to the upper surface of said bottom plate and a second resilient pad attached to the lower surface of said base plate, said first and second resilient pads being sufficiently thick to engage the respective edges of skis placed in said ski holder so as to securely but non-rigidly clamp the skis into said ski holder between said base plate and said bottom plate.