On Tue, 11 Dec 2012 19:07:59 +0000,
(The Older Gentleman) wrote:

Mike Clark wrote:

In message
Michael Chare mUNDERSCOREnews@chareDOTorgDOTuk wrote:

Have skis got longer again?

I have been using 165-168cm skis for the past few years and I find this
length very good. - I don't normally cross them!

I was looking in Snow and Rock and the skis they had were generally a
bit longer.


Depends on the type of skiing you want to do. Recreational piste skis
are generally shorter similar to either Freestyle or race Slalom or GS.
But off-piste, All Mountain or Freeride skis generally are medium to
long. My short touring skis are 172cm Freeride skis, previously I'd
skied lengths of 175 or 180, but the 172 although shorter are wider
underfoot so offer me a similar amount of floatation in soft snow.


Heh. I remember skiing on 210s, back in the 1970s.

My first skis, in ~1994, were 205s. Seems incredible, but there really
was a general belief that longer was better, although very few people
could demonstrate why that should be the case, except at racer level.

As it happens, this was about the period when things were changing,
and so my next few skis went down through dtages of 203, 198, 195,
188, 183, 177, then back to 192 (my Salomon Czar fat long rocker
off-piste skis), as my skiing improved. When I teach now most
beginners are on 160 or shorter, and the progress we can make is
incredible.

Of course, it could just be down to my skills as a teacher...


--
Ace
Ski Club of Great Britain http://www.skiclub.co.uk/
All opinions expressed are those of the poster and in no way reflect those of the Ski Club or its members