• 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.

Choosing skis for kids

Getting Ready

Angel Diva
I called one ski shop for some suggestions for my kiddos and was kind of surprised at the advice I got especially regarding length. Does anyone have a person they trust to ask such questions?
 

Jilly

Moderator
Staff member
Ask away here. We have lots of experience.

So age of kiddo's, height, weight, experience and where you are planning on skiing.
 

Getting Ready

Angel Diva
Son is 10. 55 inches tall and 74 lbs. He is an advanced skier who likes speed on groomers and moguls mostly but will ski trees with his sister. Rec was for Salomon XDR 80 at 140 cm.

Sister is age 12, 58 inches tall and 118 lbs. She is a solid intermediate and prefers feeling in control to speed. She loves to ski trees. Rec was for Rossi Black Ops Dreamer 150 cm. She also has her eye on my Yumis....

Looking for a solid all mountain skis since our plans are up in the air. One part of the family owns a ski home in UT and the other in VT. Who knows what Covid will mean but leaning toward UT at the moment.

Would love to get two seasons out of the skis but not at the expense of them being overwhelmed or worse getting hurt esp during Covid times.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Son is 10. 55 inches tall and 74 lbs. He is an advanced skier who likes speed on groomers and moguls mostly but will ski trees with his sister. Rec was for Salomon XDR 80 at 140 cm.

Sister is age 12, 58 inches tall and 118 lbs. She is a solid intermediate and prefers feeling in control to speed. She loves to ski trees. Rec was for Rossi Black Ops Dreamer 150 cm. She also has her eye on my Yumis....

Looking for a solid all mountain skis since our plans are up in the air. One part of the family owns a ski home in UT and the other in VT. Who knows what Covid will mean but leaning toward UT at the moment.

Would love to get two seasons out of the skis but not at the expense of them being overwhelmed or worse getting hurt esp during Covid times.
Are you thinking the recommendations are too long or too short? I'm actually about the same size as your daughter, a few pounds lighter, a little taller. My narrower skis that I used in the east are 148cm, 78 underfoot. My all-mountain skis are 159cm, 85 underfoot.

My daughter switched to tele so never used the next pair of skis I bought for her when she was about 4'11 and 105 lbs, which were 149cm, 70 underfoot. I ended up using them for a while before I decided on some narrow skis for mid-Atlantic skiing.
 

SarahXC

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
The lengths didn’t seem too long to me. My kids are the same age and the younger also the more aggressive skier. She is a little lighter at about 65lb. The 11 years old is about the same height and weight as your daughter. I have the small going on her sister’s from last year 145cm 78 underfoot and the older one is having a chance on my old 161cm 88 mm underfoot ski. I feel these lengths are a tad long—will be on the snow in about a week to find out and hopefully they are ok. I think the lengths you mentioned would have been ideal fwiw.
 

Moonrocket

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
My daughter was pretty similar in specs to your son when she got Volkl Mantra Jr skis. They were awesome skis for her. She took them everywhere - Colorado double blacks, trees, powder etc.

she just outgrew them this year and has some yellow Armada skis we got out of the neighbor’s garage that their son outgrew. But she’s only 90 lbs and charges hard.

ETA the mantras are 138 cm
and the Armadas are Tantrums in 147 cm she is 62” tall
 
Last edited:

SarahXC

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Well the kids have enough days to report that the lengths are working. The younger on the 145 Belle78 loved them from the first run. Demoed a 140 (90mm Rossi Sassy 7) for her one day when there was lots of fresh snow and she wanted to try a wider ski. 2 runs and she asked for her normal skis back—she found them too slow edge to edge for her taste.

The older one going onto the 161 Belle88 straight off the break since last year after the first two days she felt like she was struggling with her form so had her use a more rockered 158 (Dps Nina 99) for a week or so and when she tried the 161 again (to find more edge hold on a cold crusty day) her skiing on it was much improved and she felt comfortable. She skied the 161 well that day and also on moguls the following day so I felt good about that.

Not sure if all this detail is relevant to anyone else but I found not much about letting kids that were not beginners try a longer ski (besides don’t do it lol) so maybe it helps?!? I think being willing to change their skis up to something shorter/easier (even temporarily) if the longer wasn’t working was important.
 

Getting Ready

Angel Diva
The lengths seems to be working for my two as well. The younger had a little struggle the first two runs going up to a 140. But he is now obsessed with his skis. “Best Christmas present ever!”

My daughter is skiing a 150 the Rossi Dreamer. Has more rocker then than my son’s skis. She is loving them. She is less of an aggressive skier than her brother and these kit the right spot.

Sadly we have to put the skis away for until mid Feb for out next long trip bc our local hill doesn’t feel safe enough.
 

SarahXC

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Glad the lengths are working for your family also. Sorry to hear the local hill is feeling unsafe though... Argh! Busy or masking or ...?
 

Getting Ready

Angel Diva
Busy and not very spread out. I get it. It isn’t really equipped for that and doesn’t have the money that other bigger places do. Going to try to take advantage of remote school to have an extended mid winter ski break. Unfortunately my job doesn’t allow me to work from out of state.
 

SarahXC

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Yes, sometimes the smaller places are just barely squeaking by in a normal year much less trying to cope now. Enjoy the extended midwinter trip!
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Not sure if all this detail is relevant to anyone else but I found not much about letting kids that were not beginners try a longer ski (besides don’t do it lol) so maybe it helps?!? I think being willing to change their skis up to something shorter/easier (even temporarily) if the longer wasn’t working was important.
Being able to let kids demo longer skis is certainly the best idea.

My daughter didn't have a choice when it came to using longer skis. Meaning 10cm longer than the previous pair. Since she was a solid intermediate by the time she was 8, I bought used skis on the long side so that they would last a couple seasons.

A story . . . For one group lesson during early season, the supervisor separating people into groups was skeptical because DD's skis were above her forehead. She'd carried them into the teaching area. He had her hold them up next to her. I said that she'd been skiing the black run at Massanutten the day before. He didn't know me then and I could tell he wasn't sure what type of skier I was (didn't have my boots on yet) since many parents who send their kids to Mnut ski school don't ski. He asked her to put on her skis and make a few turns in the teaching area. She executed perfect C-turns on the way to the bottom of the magic carpet. What he said into his radio was "the little hotshot will be with Elizabeth." My daughter got a solo lesson that day. The instructor turned out to be his wife and she was very experienced. DD had a ball, and I think the instructor did too. After that, Joe had no trouble remembering both of us.
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
26,233
Messages
497,567
Members
8,503
Latest member
MermaidKelly
Top