On Sun, 17 Feb 2013 13:00:07 +0000, PipL wrote:

On Sat, 16 Feb 2013 21:58:18 +0100, Ace wrote:

My off-piste tools of the last
couple of seasons are Salomon Czars, and you can really see the front
67cm (it says it on the ski) lift well up from the snow on a flat
piste. Makes carving 'interesting' as and when the front part engages
the snow part-way through a turn ;-)

I guess there must be a lean angle at which the entire ski suddenly engages
with the snow, yes?

Not so much a function of lean angle but of forward pressure. If your
weight's just a little bit back only the back half of the ski is
really being pressured (and therefore bent into an arc) so the front
doesn't really engage, but get properly centred and the pressure bends
the front too, bringing the pre-bent portion into play as well. So
yes, suddenly engaging with the snow.

In effect, though, it's a good thing, as it really makes you
concentrate on keeping well centred, which is a_good_thing, not just
for carving like that but also essential for decent off-piste
technique.

(Ignore all the wannabees that talk about leaning back in powder - all
they're really seeing is the action of angling the skis upward to
raise them above the snow, or else in the case of the new skis the
rocker doing that for you, but the skier's weight wil still remain
centred around a 90deg angel to the ski. ITMS).

Well, I was thinking of just having the one pair, assuming that I won't always
be driving.

Yeah, IKWYYM. Not such an issue for us, especially these days. I think
I've got four pairs of skis I actually use, and J's got five, at the
moment, plus a oerfectly serviceable pair of old twintips that we can
lend out to smaller friends and family, such as is the case today.

(I'm laid up with a bit of a cold today, and frankly CBA to go out
with them today, despite the sunshine).

--
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