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Advice on skis wanted.
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In article , Chocolate Moose wrote: I'm pretty much an expert alpine skier and am putting together my first AT setup. I've only been backcountry skiing once a long time ago and seem to remember that weight was my biggest problem. Anyway, I bought a pair of Scarpa Lasers so that part's done. Now I'm looking at skis and I don't want to sink a lot of money into something I may not use a lot. (I have a good resort setup.) Shopping around, I've found the following "deals" and want to know what folks here think of these choices: K2 Ascent 8611 (2003) - $199 -- Can't find much about these Atomic Tour Guide Superlight (2003) - $169 _ Both of these are reasonable skis, a bit on the light side though, but that may be just fine if you don't want to "huck". They will get thrown around in heavy crud, but are good spring corn skis. The Ascent gets better reviews as a turner. Atomic Tour Carv Alpin (2002) - $119 -- leaning toward these because of weight & $$ _ You should check out the reviews on all 3 of theses skis at Couloir magazine[1]. These skis sacrifice quite a bit of performance to be light. Depending on exactly what you want to do these might be appropriate, and at that price you don't really loose out much if you decide they aren't right. That's only 3 days rental... _ However, light skis are always a sacrifice in performance, but generally I find that the ablity to climb quicker and faster (ie. still have some gas in the legs to use on the ski down ) compensates for this. The one caveat to this is that there is no substitute for width underfoot in difficult conditions. If you're going to ski in a lot of windblown crud and crust, I'd look for something at least 75mm underfoot. You can always save weight by getting the skis shorter. Get your BC skis at least 10 cm shorter than what you use at the resort, you'll be even happier if you can talk yourself into getting 15 or 20cm shorter skis. Fisher Big Stix 69 (2003) - $199 -- Can't find much about these - - HEAVY, these are pretty nice standard alpine skis. They ski pretty well although I like the Big Stix 75 better, but they are heavy. If you want to go with a standard alpine ski you can find lighter ones than these. I'm planning (right now at least) to use these with Dynafit bindings. _ A pretty good choice. You should check out Lou Dawson's web site, lot's of good info about AT gear and Dynafit bindings in particular http://www.wildsnow.com/ _ We could probably give you better advice if you tell us where you ski and what kind of skiing you want to do. _ Booker C.Bense [1]- http://www.couloirmag.com/gear/revie...skis_nov01.asp -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBP6ln1mTWTAjn5N/lAQG+7gQAgvKTdvVUgBheUzzp0smvXKEXuY40Ujet B4ign3lC3P0gFM7eMRGhogrsu1FQqY7d43HuSK2ghWDuOh0gYP LO6iGDx/nuwHOn ySQOH4zqeMr/VNBNm/WPgBJutpJgVHchVsQOXDgbAueLwuQyLcsHUe9FG5YBh2bi 2RAZmEvxYHg= =jbFd -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- |
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Chocolate Moose wrote: Yikes. 10cm?? I'm 150lbs, 5-8 and skiing on 170cm skis (Elan Mantis 10 midfat all-mountain). Seriously?? 160cm? I'm 5'11', 200 lbs and am skiing on 178s. I'm considering going to 170s Don't be afraid of short skis, unless you need to go really, really fast. Short skis are lighter and are more maneuverable in tight spots. I know that it's hard to consider really short skis if you are indoctrinated with the long ski dogma. Over the last twenty years my ski length has gone: 160-185-195-204-190-178-(170??) This was a progression from beginner on short skis to competent skier in the long ski school of thought then to backcountry skiing. 160 cm should be fine for you. Don't be afraid. You should see if you can try a pair. -Greg |
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In article , Chocolate Moose wrote: bbense+rec.skiing.backcountry.Nov.05.03@telemark .slac.stanford.edu wrote in : Get your BC skis at least 10 cm shorter than what you use at the resort, you'll be even happier if you can talk yourself into getting 15 or 20cm shorter skis. Yikes. 10cm?? I'm 150lbs, 5-8 and skiing on 170cm skis (Elan Mantis 10 midfat all-mountain). Seriously?? 160cm? _ Well, modern skis care about what you weigh, not your height. At 150 lbs you're going to have problems bending longer skis in crud unless you ski very fast. The KEY to skiing crud and powder is having skis that bend laterally, but not torsionally. If you're truly going to be doing only BC skiing on these boards get 160's if at all possible. I'd only get longer if you plan on carrying a heavy pack. I weigh 35lbs more than you do and regularly carry a 20lb pack BC skiing and I ski on 150s sometimes and would never pick a BC ski longer than 175 or so. _ My resort alpine skis are 185cm and 190cm. I do resort telemark on 180's. For sane people BC skiing is much more about control than speed. Save falling for area skiing. _ We could probably give you better advice if you tell us where you ski and what kind of skiing you want to do. Probably end up getting most use in the Sierras and Utah. Pretty different conditions. G Again, this is kind of a flyer for me to see if I like the whole idea or not. _ The light skis you listed will be GREAT for Sierra spring corn and "perfect" Utah powder. They will perform less well when conditions get worse ( and they always do if you're BC skiing.) For the skis you listed I would definitely consider getting 160cm at your weight, probably not any shorter though, 170 would probably be okay as well. However, a ski you should look seriously at is the 162cm Mira, this is a great allround ski that isn't too heavy. You can get them fairly cheap right now at sierratradingpost.com. http://www.sierratradingpost.com/pro...?base_no=72024 _ The price is a bit more than the other skis you were looking at, but I think you will really like these skis much better in western conditions, particularly if you're interested in turns rather than tours. You'd better hurry though, every time I look at that web page, I'm tempted to get a pair... _ The big advantage of going shorter is that you can get a wider ski for the same weight that will work in more conditions. Especially if your just starting out, shorter skis will be more fun and you won't "outgrow" them since they'll always be perfect for spring skiing and extending the season. If you've got skis that are light and easy to carry, you're much more tempted to hike for that late season corn. Later on you can decide to go longer and beefier if that makes more sense. IMHO, the only drawback to having skis too short is that they have a slower top end speed[1]. Too long and you'll be cursing them and having no fun. The downsides to getting skis "too short" are so minimal for BC skiing compared to having them "too long" that I would always err on the side of "too short". _ Lastly, pop over to the Life-Link site and look at the pictures of the guys that ski Himalayan peaks. Either they are really tall or their skis are pretty short. http://www.life-link.com/ _ Booker C. Bense [1]- The one place when "top end speed" can be a problem is in really deep powder ( like 3-4 feet ), but at least in the "low" Sierra most BC skiing is not of the bottomless powder variety unless you ski during storms. IMHO, that's the time to hit the resorts. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBP6qnLGTWTAjn5N/lAQGOGAP/QAZZnh/YH4SlUco+0DRrKfTaTWbHVo+2 QwwURbSMt6h+B1Te1hnxintP2tCA4sVqg4KRGu55e6RPcE+scI BeNjxI6GPOJmve HRtr4KDqmPMT/upX8UfQcZSjgDMJ+AvbE4kE4tNS+K6Qwe9Oo3yQf5ak9ZI3zFo k ciQFp4nZgGw= =133W -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- |
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