"sjjohnston" wrote in message ...

If you do keep renting, look into the "performance" or "demo" rentals

Makes a lot of sense. I'm far from being an expert, but my abilities
improved a lot this season, and some of it came from the sense of
perspective from using different skis. I'd been told many times that
using x skis would let me do more, so I tried them with a demo
rental. Hated them. Tried some others, they were ok. Tried more, "hmm,
better". Tried several more, and finally found some that I really
enjoy. Went back to x to make sure, and still hated them. The
trouble is that if you were to ask me about the differences, I'm not
sure I could tell you. And who knows what the manufacturers will come
out with next year.

Demo rentals certainly cost more, but in this case I'd have been doing
myself a disservice by buying. For somebody like me who only skis a
couple of weeks each year it seems the way to go. BTW: I live near
Washington DC, so if I were to try skiing locally it might not make
sense to use decent stuff anyway, given the likelihood of leaving
pieces of it on the rocks. If I ever find myself living near Real (tm)
Snow then it would be a different story.

Giles