mustski
Angel Diva
Imagine if we took a shot every time one of these things happened!
-
Women skiers, this is the place for you -- an online community without the male-orientation you'll find in conventional ski magazines and internet ski forums. At TheSkiDiva.com, you can connect with other women to talk about skiing in a way that you can relate to, about things that you find of interest. Be sure to join our community to participate (women only, please!). Registration is fast and simple. Just be sure to add [email protected] to your address book so your registration activation emails won't be routed as spam. And please give careful consideration to your user name -- it will not be changed once your registration is confirmed.
How women choose skis?
- Thread starter newboots
- Start date
MissySki
Angel Diva
I wonder if sometimes it's that the salesperson isn't confident enough in their knowledgebase to stray from the parameters someone else has outlined as being the best fit based on height etc.? Perhaps they are worried about a liability issue if they recommend one thing and the manufacturer's recommendations doesn't match? I'm sure there could be a number of reasons why many don't do this. In terms of salespeople in general, well I'm often not super impressed with the service I receive anywhere. Ask me how often my morning Dunkin Donuts run turns sour because they can't even make my coffee according to the order they wrote on the cup themselves! (I like skim milk, they mark it skim, then I often end up with cream somehow.. The best is when they argue it's skim milk when I ask for it to be corrected because cream DOES NOT sit well in my stomach, and the coffee is bright white.. I'm sorry, you work in a coffee shop, do you not know that cream goes white like the cup you just handed me, while extra skim stays dark and essentially makes my coffee look like iced tea?? But I digress lol) I just feel like we always think a salesperson should know best, but in many cases I find something completely different, even when it's really obvious things.. Obviously my coffee example is way far away from someone in a specialty sports shop that should have more knowledge and experience if they are working there, but you'd assume that many places and don't end up seeing it in practice.
It's great that in your case you had someone who took it upon himself to go beyond that, and obviously was knowledgeable. Certainly we are all built differently in bone lengths regardless of our overall height, and this certainly should be taken into account for bike sizing!
Cyprissa
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I’m 5’5 but have a very short (29’) inseam and crazy long torso so bike fitting is super fun for me too. I need a very small frame and an extra long stem to accommodate nice stretched back position in a women’s specific bike. Men’s bikes also still need tweaking.
kiki
Angel Diva
I golf and find that women golfers buy more gear, replace their gear, get multiples of gear, WAY more than men. Most of us DO like to shop, to match, to talk about the tech and in general, fuss with the STUFF, more than men. Sad fact but true.
kiki
Angel Diva
I use mens clubs for golf and in the store when buying them the sales people just fight with me telling me its not for me. Maddening.
This kills me. You are almost two inches taller than me but my legs are almost three inches longer than yours. That is a crazy five inch swing in torso length. Objectively, 5'3" to 5'5" would be mostly considered a minimal height difference but with our differences in proportions we could never even look at certain types of items in the same sizes.
It is why I will always bang the drum for us to:
1) know our proportions and how it affects us on skis.
2) know how different ski/binding/boot set-ups affect our balance on skis.
3) Have the most options available for initial set-ups as possible (even if the most options right now are men's vs. women's).
Ideally instead of gender based there would be an initial set-up for long torso/short legs vs short torso/long legs. Actually, in my ideal world a boot fitting would include an inseam/height measurement ratio to help determine whether a skier (of any gender) needed a heel lift, and a thigh/calf measurement ratio to determine appropriate forward lean.
It sounds crazy but have you seen the precision involved in bike fitting? They use so much more data to get it right it's insane. It actually embarrasses me that the ski industry is so behind in terms of getting people set up properly.
Cyprissa
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
My husband has a custom built road bike and the number of measurements involved was astounding! Seriously, even his shoe size made an impact on bike fit.
MissySki
Angel Diva
This is interesting..
I wonder if anyone compiles this data in the boot fitting world? Doesn't seem like it.. I have long legs for my height, and a short torso. I've been fitted with and without heel lifts. Actually I've been fit in a ton of different ways based on the fitter, and none seem to ever be the same, just lots of trial and error, many times things go downhill not up. I also have to say that even after a ton of bootfitting in the past say 5 years, I still don't totally know what works for me in general, it all seems to be voodoo and magic sometimes haha. Right now in these current boots things are pretty good and include a heel lift, but would these rules apply in every boot? No idea! It's so frustrating.. I'd really love if there were a ton of measurements to make a better starting point for more of us, because so far from my experience, the general rules of thumb haven't worked well for me. My current setup came from a reference of a bootfitter from @ride_ski, and the shop analyzes your weight distribution in boots during the fitting with a computer program as a starting point and goes from there. These boots have been my best so far for balance in my skiing, and have helped tremendously with issues I previously had with fore aft balance in bumps and difficult terrain etc.
SallyCat
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
So agree. I love all the stories here of women who've found great bootfitters; I'm jealous, and glad to know they exist. My experience has been more of a mixed bag. A really expensive bag full of ill-fitting boots. I ended up just trying to learn a lot on my own and then finding a shop that had the boot or boots I thought might work. The weight distribution analysis you describe sounds interesting, though. What shop did you use for that?
I recently asked a shop to let me try on a higher-flex version of the exact same boot I now wear. They insisted on measuring my foot, so I said ok-- I'm going to measure 27, but I wear the boot in a 26. They guy just looked at me like he couldn't comprehend what I was saying.
Him: "You can't fit into a 26."
Me: "I wear a 26 comfortably, I just want to see what this higher flex feels like"
<<baffled face>>
Him: "But, this is a men's boot; women's lower calves don't work in men's boots"
Me: "It works just fine for me; I'm tall, and I like the higher cuff"
<<Baffled face>>
Him: "But...
Me, flexing boot: "Hey, that was great, I like this higher flex. Thanks for letting me try it on."
Him: "But..."
Part of my frustration was realizing how many different parameters affected the outcome and the fact that no one seemed to keep track. There will be a different (fore/art) result if you are in a Lange v a Head boot because they have different forward lean and that all can be negated based on the intrinsic ramp delta of the boot or god forbid the binding on the ski (all of which are different and difficult to find). But no one discusses this, so if you demo a ski and are sensitive to delta no one says "this binding has x delta, might want to be cautious".
I've been working my way through what seems like every parameter of my set up and figuring out what it does (too big boots buckled on the 5th rung vs padded and buckled on the second rung nearly took me out for pete's sake) and am pretty happy these days, but I find for those of us sensitive to delta, so many things contribute to the on snow feel it's unreal.
newboots
Angel Diva
I wonder if the bike fitting, with all its measurements, works more easily because none of the body is hidden inside a huge plastic case! I hate fitting even shoes. I never know how they will do in the real world, after wearing them for hours and they get hot and swell a bit.
(Sitting alone in an office this moment. Shoes off.)
Maybe that’s why the heat-molding idea appeals to me. My boots are okay. Hard to get on, snug, no significant pain unless my toenails are too long. That could mean they aren’t small enough, but I don’t know. They seem okay to me.
(Sitting alone in an office this moment. Shoes off.)
Maybe that’s why the heat-molding idea appeals to me. My boots are okay. Hard to get on, snug, no significant pain unless my toenails are too long. That could mean they aren’t small enough, but I don’t know. They seem okay to me.
My guess is bike fitting is so much better because there is so much more money in biking. The athletes don't seem to be hurting for money the way skier's seem to be and it generally seems to be a much more lucrative field (I haven't ever heard of counter culture bike bum drop outs).
If your boots are OK stick with them. I only started on my boot journey from hell because boots kept trying to kill me (or at least cause permanent foot gangrene).
As for shoes, there is a good reason I own 10 pairs of Dansko's in 8 colors, many in patent leather to match any conceivable color of suit I might want to wear. No shoe issues anymore!
newboots
Angel Diva
I always wonder. This bit of wobble in my skiing, that moment of discomfort. I have the same fretting about shoes. I used to wear any old thing on my feet; now it's a different story.
Aha! Yes! The only shoes I can stand to wear any more are Reiker, Picolino, and the like. ($$) I should probably get some Danskos; maybe they will end my search, too!
CarolB
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
We had to evacuate our house this summer due to a forest fire coming at us (wind turned at the last minute- neighbours lost their homes though). Even though my old sports gear is insured, and I could get better brand new stuff, I still took my old skis with me. I love those things. In fact, I basically have 3 pairs of them in different sizes. Complete nerd.
This is hilarious.
CarolB
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I wanna "cut through the Chatter Monkeys" (or something like that) with that crazy Gal. She sounds fun! Of course, I'd take my Old Roxy Joyriders though because they're really pretty
SnowHot
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
@santacruz skier can attest to the fact that I'm super busy at the ski shop from bell to bell. Women like it when they find another woman they have confidence in regarding hard goods.
The crazy thing is, even though there are still some guys who hesitate to talk to a female in hard goods, that usually only lasts for a minute before they realize that the chick knows a thing or two.
But still....women to women...This is probably why I get so many emails/PMs asking for personal advice. Always happy to give it when I can.
The crazy thing is, even though there are still some guys who hesitate to talk to a female in hard goods, that usually only lasts for a minute before they realize that the chick knows a thing or two.
But still....women to women...This is probably why I get so many emails/PMs asking for personal advice. Always happy to give it when I can.
