Are women's specific skis necessary?

[just jane]

One of the things that drives me nuts is that cold-weather gear for women often isn't as warm as the men's versions - and IME, women tend to run colder than men and need more insulation, not less (obviously not true across the board). I did get a new pair of ski pants a couple of years ago and they're fine. Not too tight, plenty of pockets - so I did not have a problem there.

I really wish that there were better color options. My road bike is black with girly-pink writing, and originally had a white saddle and white bar tape. It made it look so PINK. I hate pink. I swapped the saddle and bar tape out for black as soon as I could and that definitely helped - but I still don't love the graphics. I love the bike though. My commuter bike is unisex and it looks AWESOME. It's bright green and I love how it rides AND how it looks.

I'll have to keep in mind the tip about shopping in the boys' section.

 

[altagirl]

I don't know that I've ever noticed that with the insulation. I guess DH and I both tend to select uninsulated shells and then layer whatever we need underneath them. I use a LOT more and warmer layers than he does, so I totally agree with you there that women like more insulation - but it seems easy enough to find. I do like having the option to change up my layers to match the weather, so shells have always made more sense to me. I can wear a down jacket under my shell all winter, but can't wear a heavy insulated jacket in spring conditions.

Hah, and I know we've had the discussion here before, but obviously colors are very much personal preference. I have a bike that is ALL bubblegum pink - with very high end pink anodized Chris King components - pink saddle, grip accents, you name it. And it's a unisex bike with no women's specific parts (even the pink saddle is unisex). One of my good friends also has a unisex bike that has a shiny pink frame. I've had a neon green one too and loved that. I think as a general rule I'm just attracted to the bright and bold skittles colors... but I'm a big fan of bright pink. But there's no reason to make yourself only shop women's gear if you find other gear that fits, that's for sure.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

I have to wear black pants and my orange jacket when instructing so when I'm off for the day/skiing elsewhere I have become a big fan of looking like a skittle.

DH doesn't care about colors and tends to dress more conservatively but I've always been a fan of bold bright colors. I am not a fan of flowery designs but love bold colors. Even my Jeep is bright blue.

I have maroon ski pants, a red snowboard jacket for colder days, a multi colored burton pullover snowboard jacket for warmer days. I do have entirely many black 1st and 2nd layers so last season I started to change that. I now have 2 red ones and a couple very colorful t'shirts

As far as skis I tend to focus more on the construction of the ski and how I like skiing on it but if the top sheet is cool than that's a bonus for me. My skis are split down the middle. All are functionally perfect to me but 2 of them are women's skis and have non exciting top sheets. My 2015 Kenjas and 2016 Charismas aren't terribly exciting looking but I love how they ski so that's more important to me. My Atomic Redsters are a unisex ski and the colors are bold and bright. My Volkl 90Eights are bold with colorful spats of color on them so not only do I love how they ski but I love how they look also.

I'm thankful for women's things as they tend to have more choices when it comes to colors. I only buy women's clothing and I personally haven't noticed if I've been colder or not. I think women's specific skis might be more necessary for lighter skiers or for people who just prefer a lighter ski. However, for me I find happiness in both unisex and women's skis. Both can have great functionality and cool top sheets so that's a double win in my book.

 

[Christy]

Oh oh oh! @justjane reminded me of something that drives me nuts. Sleeping bag degree ratings. These must be determined by men. They are an absolute joke. Every bag I've ever owned has overestimated how warm it is by 20 or 30°. I use my 0° bag in August, and I'm still wearing warm layers. Yes, I do run cold, but a lot of women I know have the same feelings about this.

 

[Christy]

I'm not sure if I ever contributed to the ski portion of this thread, and I'd never skied a men's or unisex ski until this winter. I went into the demo shop at Sun Valley and asked for something that would be good for conditions. They recommended this Stockli laser SC, which is a men's ski and marketed as a race ski. I hesitated and told them I wasn't very strong or aggressive, I didn't usually ski a men's ski, etc. etc. They gave me blank looks and shrugged and said, we put everyone on this ski. And I LOVED the ski. It might be an anomaly, but it did open my eyes to the fact that maybe I shouldn't be hung up on getting women's gear.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

One day last season at my small home mountain I looked at the ladies demo skis and realized I'd outweighed many of them so I looked over to the mens/unisex side went hmmmm. I though that with my weight and strong legs it was likely I might find something on the mens side that I'd like. Found a couple of pairs of skis I liked and it opened up a whole new world for me, twice the number of skis from which to choose

I'd like to demo the Stokli Laser SC one day.

 

[Pequenita]

Oh oh oh! @justjane reminded me of something that drives me nuts. Sleeping bag degree ratings. These must be determined by men. They are an absolute joke. Every bag I've ever owned has overestimated how warm it is by 20 or 30°. I use my 0° bag in August, and I'm still wearing warm layers. Yes, I do run cold, but a lot of women I know have the same feelings about this.

As far as sleeping bags go, though, I am glad women's versions are shorter because I was stuffing all of my clothes into the bottom to take up space and attempt to stay warm.

 

[altagirl]

Oh oh oh! @justjane reminded me of something that drives me nuts. Sleeping bag degree ratings. These must be determined by men. They are an absolute joke. Every bag I've ever owned has overestimated how warm it is by 20 or 30°. I use my 0° bag in August, and I'm still wearing warm layers. Yes, I do run cold, but a lot of women I know have the same feelings about this.

Totally agree on this. When we camp in Moab, I'm usually cold at night no matter what. The last time it was down around freezing at night? I put one zero degree bag inside the other, on top of a 3" sleeping pad, had a dog snuggled with me AND slept in my gigantic hooded puffy jacket with a hat underneath, leggings and wool socks. Zero degrees? I don't even know what that would look like. Maybe I'd need a whole pack of dogs in the tent...

 

[sibhusky]

I think those ratings mean you won't actually die until that temp is reached, not that you'll be comfortable.

 

[just jane]

I was actually thinking of sleeping bags when I wrote that. Women's sleeping bags don't seem to be rated as cold as men's. Also, I think I've seen that trend with boots? Which is a laugh because my feet are generally ice blocks - I need more insulation there than anywhere - and DH's are heaters. I don't think we're unusual that way.

 

[heather matthews]

I think it's physiological.Guys generally have more muscle mass than us and that helps generate heat apparent or at least contributes to the feeling of warmth.Think of all the times when a guy just has a t shirt on and we have about five layers and are still cold!

 

[elemmac]

I was actually thinking of sleeping bags when I wrote that. Women's sleeping bags don't seem to be rated as cold as men's

For some companies this is true, they'll use the same insulation in both men's and women's bags, but rate them differently based on the fact that women generally run colder than men. On the other hand, some companies will actually put additional insulation in the women's model and rate it the same as the men's.