Hey ladies!
A little background: I'm 41, 5'4, 150lbs. I'm going into my 4th season as a skier, I go at least once a week. Up until the middle of last season I was stuck on greens, but my skiing elevated quite a bit after a weeklong trip to Montana, with my ski instructor sister, last winter. When I came back to my home mountain, Crystal Mountain, I found the blues to no longer be as challenging as they had been, in fact many felt rather easy. When I purchased my skis at the end of my first season, I erred on the side of getting them short and went with 152(3?) Blizzard Black Pearl 88's. I like skiing fast, but these vibrate under me when at ~30mph. At this point, they don't feel like enough ski.
My plan was to stick with the BP 88, or maybe go up to the 97's at 159 (we can get some pretty heavy powder days). After speaking with someone on curated and two guys at local shops, they were all recommending I go with a different ski, such as the Santa Ana 93, the Volkl Secret 92, the Sheeva 10, or the Mindbender 98; one of them even recommended I move up to 165 instead of 159 To say the least, this has my head on a swivel. I feel even more directionless than I did when I was debating between the BP 88 & 97 at a length of 159.
I'm not sure what else I need to add, as I'm relatively new to skiing, so I don't know how to describe different snow qualities... I know that in an ideal world I should demo before purchasing, but the cost of demoing and then buying on top of it is slightly cost prohibitive. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
A little background: I'm 41, 5'4, 150lbs. I'm going into my 4th season as a skier, I go at least once a week. Up until the middle of last season I was stuck on greens, but my skiing elevated quite a bit after a weeklong trip to Montana, with my ski instructor sister, last winter. When I came back to my home mountain, Crystal Mountain, I found the blues to no longer be as challenging as they had been, in fact many felt rather easy. When I purchased my skis at the end of my first season, I erred on the side of getting them short and went with 152(3?) Blizzard Black Pearl 88's. I like skiing fast, but these vibrate under me when at ~30mph. At this point, they don't feel like enough ski.
My plan was to stick with the BP 88, or maybe go up to the 97's at 159 (we can get some pretty heavy powder days). After speaking with someone on curated and two guys at local shops, they were all recommending I go with a different ski, such as the Santa Ana 93, the Volkl Secret 92, the Sheeva 10, or the Mindbender 98; one of them even recommended I move up to 165 instead of 159 To say the least, this has my head on a swivel. I feel even more directionless than I did when I was debating between the BP 88 & 97 at a length of 159.
I'm not sure what else I need to add, as I'm relatively new to skiing, so I don't know how to describe different snow qualities... I know that in an ideal world I should demo before purchasing, but the cost of demoing and then buying on top of it is slightly cost prohibitive. Any help would be greatly appreciated!