Very helpful - thank you! I think the R13 makes sense. I'd prefer to make gains quicker, especially due to the short Ohio season and my limited availability to ski during that time. And like you said, they don't have to be my forever skis.
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Carving Skis
- Thread starter edgy
- Start date
Regarding length, I’m 5’5” (sometimes measured as 5’5.5”), weight fluctuates between 140-150lb. We measured my chin as being around 150cm. Since I consider myself more high intermediate advanced, would it be better to do the 156cm or would the 150cm be ideal as a carving ski and since I’m still learning to carve?
I see a like new used pair from a few seasons ago at 150cm and wonder if that would be worth a shot for the price. I’m only finding the 156cm discounted new.
If anyone knows good places to find used or discounted skis I would love any tips there too. If this has been discussed in another thread feel free to redirect me.
Susan L
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Both lengths will work for you. I am 5’3” 145#. I started out with 154cm (78mm) and 156cm (72mm) skis but as I improved, I actually went shorter to 148cm (68mm). I don’t find any instability in carving or at speed at all at the shorter length and I won’t grow out of the skis and find it too easy.
I'm 5'5.5 (5'6" on a good day) and 145 - 148 lbs. My carver is a 160 (Stockli Montero AS). I think you could comfortably ski a 150, but you might get longer use from a 156 as you advance.
You could go either way, so consider basing your decision on whether you want to do a lot of short radius turns, or open things up a bit. If it were ME, I'd get the 156, and I'm about your height and currently weigh 140. The pair I own are actually 162, and with the lack of rocker, feel a bit long in tight situations.Regarding length, I’m 5’5” (sometimes measured as 5’5.5”), weight fluctuates between 140-150lb. We measured my chin as being around 150cm. Since I consider myself more high intermediate advanced, would it be better to do the 156cm or would the 150cm be ideal as a carving ski and since I’m still learning to carve?
I see a like new used pair from a few seasons ago at 150cm and wonder if that would be worth a shot for the price. I’m only finding the 156cm discounted new.
If anyone knows good places to find used or discounted skis I would love any tips there too. If this has been discussed in another thread feel free to redirect me.
scandium
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
How narrow are the runs you ski? My current home mountain has very narrow groomed ribbons of snow particularly in the early season so I prefer a shorter turn radius for that reason.Regarding length, I’m 5’5” (sometimes measured as 5’5.5”), weight fluctuates between 140-150lb. We measured my chin as being around 150cm. Since I consider myself more high intermediate advanced, would it be better to do the 156cm or would the 150cm be ideal as a carving ski and since I’m still learning to carve?
I see a like new used pair from a few seasons ago at 150cm and wonder if that would be worth a shot for the price. I’m only finding the 156cm discounted new.
If anyone knows good places to find used or discounted skis I would love any tips there too. If this has been discussed in another thread feel free to redirect me.
We have 300 ft vertical drop and our longest run is 2,200 ft. We do at least one trip a year somewhere bigger, either out east out west. But yeah, extremely short runs most of my season. I think I know where this is going
I am totally on board with the very short turn radius, just want to feel stable as well.
elemmac
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
@edgy - I’d scratch the 150 off your list and be choosing between the 156 and 162…leaning towards the 156 for your size and skiing goals. For reference, I’m your size, advanced skier and have demoed the R14 in a 165…I would personally buy it in this size. Given your ambitions to improve and willingness to put in the work, I think you’ll outgrow the 150 quickly.
Oh sorry, you said narrow! I suppose they are narrow compared to non-mini resorts. Our main runs we lap don’t “feel” narrow to me, but they’re very short. We have one run that is the traditional narrow type, like a mini version of the easy way down type greens at a bigger place. I see what you mean!
I’m sure there are others who can answer this better, but from what I can tell, the differences are: 1) the Ca has a layer of carbon which is softer than the layer of titanal in the Ti, and 2) the ski sidecut dimensions. The Ca waist width is 76 mm and the Ti width is 72 mm, and their tip and tail differ to depending on length.
So my impression was the Ca is for someone who wants a ski that has some stiffness, but not as stiff as the Ti so they can still bend it, and maybe it would be more versatile.
Ca=carbon. The the Ca skis has a Carbon matrix with what ever Trueblend is. Ti = Titanal, is mostly aluminum. So the Ti isheavier, which makes the ski heavier and more stable. Carbon has a tendency to chatter at high speeds.
If you're inclined to be a physics nerd: https://soothski.com/ski-properties-explained/2018/do-you-like-metal-or-carbon-in-your-skis/
If you're inclined to be a physics nerd: https://soothski.com/ski-properties-explained/2018/do-you-like-metal-or-carbon-in-your-skis/
I have the Ti version, and I love it.
True. Despite its deceptive name, Titanal is a high-strength, aluminum-based alloy, not pure titanium or even a titanium-based alloy. It is primarily composed of aluminum mixed with zinc, magnesium, and copper, designed to provide superior strength, stability, and vibration dampening.
I so agree with you @Divegirl. I have a BSc and Ti is Titanium. But we are I guess we're the oddity here. Ti stands for Titanal, which is mixed metal -
Titanal is a proprietary high-strength aluminum alloy developed by the Austrian manufacturer AMAG Austria Metall AG. Despite its marketing name, it contains zero titanium. Instead, it is composed of roughly 88.5% aluminum, 7% zinc, 2.5% magnesium, 1.7% copper, and a trace of zirconium
liquidfeet
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
A too stiff ski will hinder your skill progression, and potentially induce bad habits.
Story: a long time ago when I was learning as an adult, I bought a stiff short-radius carving ski. I figured I'd "grow into it."
I knew, intellectually, what I needed to do to carve. Tip the skis, don't turn them. When tipped, they will turn on their own.
This is true. A tipped carving ski will bend, and a bent carving ski will turn on its own. It's fun to get yourself to let the ski turn you instead of you turning it. You will learn what the turns made by that ski at a certain speed will going to be like, and you'll learn where the ski will take you. It's also fun to feel it bending. It can, depending on how you ski it, feel like a diving board going boingggg boingggg. Nice!
But I could not get that stiff ski to do anything like that because it was too stiff to bend at the speeds I was used to and willing to go. It would have bent when used by a racer who knew what they were doing, or a heavy person going fast who could tip the skis without pivoting them - a true advanced skier. But that wasn't me. I was a learner. And I didn't know what I didn't know.
So what I learned, by default, was to rotate the ski to point where I wanted it to go. This worked, the skis turned, but this technique produced out-of-control skidded turns on hard groomed snow. As I became more confident, I sped up, emboldened by the turns I could make, and ventured onto steeper groomers. I often wondered "is this safe?" It wasn't, but my ski club buddies praised me and I believed them. As seasons went by, I bought new skis but I had by that time deeply embedded that "quick pivot and skid" habit into my muscle memory. New skis did not fix me.
You do not want to do that. It took me forever after I became a ski instructor to rid myself of that terminal intermediate movement pattern. It's gone, but I lost years of potential technical learning because I wasted many seasons making those pivoted turns.
Get a softer ski, short (up to your mouth and no higher when stood on end), with camber, without early rise, with a waist in the lower 70s or upper 60s. With such a ski you can learn to tip without pivoting them, feel the clean sensation of the ski traveling along its length smoothly, and as you gain confidence you'll be able to feel the ski bend. You may even figure out how to produce the diving board boinggg as you make short rhythmic turns!
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liquidfeet
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Sounds good.
