New skis for intermediate skier trying to gain confidence - Help please!

[FayGoneAstray]

Hi! I'm an intermediate skier and I'm looking at getting new skis for next season. I am 5 foot 1 and weigh just over 100 pounds and ski weekly at Whistler while my kids are in ski school. I currently ski on Black Pearl 88s (152 cm) that are 3 or 4 seasons old and I'm looking for new skis as a new treat to look forward to after a looooong (and ongoing) pandemic winter. Whistler just closed. Sigh.
While I like the Black Pearls 88s I got them after a season on used old rentals after not skiing for around 25 years!!! So I don't really have much experience on anything else.

I stick to blues and I"m overly cautious and slow. My husband says I'm a better skier than I think I am and a lot of it is down to confidence. I'm now not wanting to get left behind as my kids skiing progress and everyone seems to be much better skiers. I go a bit off piste into bumps and a bit of trees only when coaxed and sometimes into the Whistler bowls. I'm really going to focus on trying to get my skiing into the more advance level next season. I don't know how to carve yet.
Based on my own research I'm considering - Yumi, Black Crows Captis Birdie, Rossignol Black Ops Stargazer. Any advice? other suggestions? Help this mom gain confidence and not get left behind!!

 

[newboots]

Hi Fay! I love your username!

I will jump in and say it before the rest of the crowd gets here, make sure your boots are right! Not loose or "comfy." The right boots give a skier so much confidence because you can control your skis so well! It would be worth it to go to a shop with a great bootfitter for a "checkup."

I don't have experience with enough skis to offer suggestions. Best of luck!

 

[MissySki]

Definitely agree with @newboots, are your boots professionally fitted?

I’d add the Nordica Astral 84 to your demo list, they are a really fun and forgiving ski. Very nice to work on technique with, and they do great in bumps and trees as well if you are working on them too. If you want to work on carving you want something easy to get on edge and the wider you go that’s more difficult to start.

The other thing I’d say though is to sign up for a lesson or series of lessons if you can. I think something like that will likely help you gain confidence more than just the ski you’re on. Feeling that you have the skill to ski the terrain you want to in control and safely will definitely help boost your overall confidence as a skier.

 

[Jilly]

Boots and the women's camp weekend next season.

I'm not a fan of the wider skis on groomers. So anything in 80-84 would be my daily driver at WB.

 

[FayGoneAstray]

Thank you all for your input so far! I got my boots fitted by a boot fitter in Whistler so I hope I"m good (I have very problematic feet!) in that department. So maybe the Astral or Yumi at 84 width should be top of the list if my Black Pearls are 88? Women's clinics at WB def on my list for next season. As this year was so weird I opted for no lessons.

 

[marzNC]

Hi! I'm an intermediate skier and I'm looking at getting new skis for next season. I am 5 foot 1 and weigh just over 100 pounds and ski weekly at Whistler while my kids are in ski school. I currently ski on Black Pearl 88s (152 cm) that are 3 or 4 seasons old and I'm looking for new skis as a new treat to look forward to after a looooong (and ongoing) pandemic winter. Whistler just closed. Sigh.
While I like the Black Pearls 88s I got them after a season on used old rentals after not skiing for around 25 years!!! So I don't really have much experience on anything else.

Welcome back to the slopes! My hiatus was about 10 years, although I didn't ski regularly until the last ten years after my daughter was past the beginner stage. I'm also petite, 5'0", 110 lbs, over 60.

As a second pair of skis consider the Turn Radius as well as the width and length. The skis I use for groomers in the east are Head Absolut Joys, 78 underfoot. They are also 7cm shorter than my all-mountain skis. Makes it easier to work on technique on groomers since my home hill is quite small and is usually all manmade snow. I've found that getting better with fundamentals with the help of lessons does translate pretty easily to skiing my all-mountain skis at destination resorts out west.

You might consider the BP82.

A brand that I tend to stay away from is Volkl. While the Yumi is the only Volkl that was somewhat fun when I took a few short demo runs, I've enjoyed other skis in that size/design category more. When I was an adventurous intermediate 15 years ago, I couldn't easily turn any Volkl that existed back then.

 

[Christy]

I'm going to disagree with others here. I wouldn't go narrower than what you are on now. I also ski in the PNW (down in WA) and have skied Whistler dozens of times. I think you will want to stay at 88 or higher for all the snow (and crud) Whistler gets. I am currently on Black Pearl 98s and I think they are perfect for the PNW. They are perfect on groomers, in snow, in crud, and even do well on firmer groomers when it hasn't snowed lately. I have narrower skies but I use those when I travel to the Rockies where they get less snow and I'm more likely to be skiing hardpack. I used to be on the BP88s and liked those too--I actually think those are quite a good PNW ski.

But really it's about what you prefer. Such a bummer Whistler closed since having the on-mountain demo tents was so handy. I strongly urge you not to get another ski without demoing, especially a narrower ski.

@kiki what do you like for Whistler?

 

[Djburrito]

I bought a pair of Black Crow Captis Birdies this year and absolutely love them. 90mm under foot and really responsive. I feel so much more confident on them than on my previous skis. Have you done any demos? I agree with @Christy 's urging if you haven't.

 

[kiki]

Agreed with @Christy that for WB I would not go below the 88 you are on.

my day to day ski for WB which I find perfect is the Renoun 90’s.

have you been able to demo the new black pearls? I’ve heard good things about them.

ps maybe next season we can meet up!

 

[Cantabrigienne]

Hi! I'm an intermediate skier and I'm looking at getting new skis for next season. I am 5 foot 1 and weigh just over 100 pounds and ski weekly at Whistler while my kids are in ski school. I currently ski on Black Pearl 88s (152 cm) that are 3 or 4 seasons old and I'm looking for new skis as a new treat to look forward to after a looooong (and ongoing) pandemic winter. Whistler just closed. Sigh.
While I like the Black Pearls 88s I got them after a season on used old rentals after not skiing for around 25 years!!! So I don't really have much experience on anything else.

I stick to blues and I"m overly cautious and slow. My husband says I'm a better skier than I think I am and a lot of it is down to confidence. I'm now not wanting to get left behind as my kids skiing progress and everyone seems to be much better skiers. I go a bit off piste into bumps and a bit of trees only when coaxed and sometimes into the Whistler bowls. I'm really going to focus on trying to get my skiing into the more advance level next season. I don't know how to carve yet.
Based on my own research I'm considering - Yumi, Black Crows Captis Birdie, Rossignol Black Ops Stargazer. Any advice? other suggestions? Help this mom gain confidence and not get left behind!!

Hi Fay! I'm your height but a lot chunkier @125lb and I LOVE my Yumis. However, I don't think they'll offer that much improvement over your BP88s.

@kiki and I keep meaning to meet up but it hasn't happened yet! But hopefully next year all 3 of us can meet! To be very specific re: the Women's Camps next year, it sounds like you'd be a good fit in the "spicy" level 4 group, but regardless, get yourself into Esta Evans' group - she is excellent at getting women off the intermediate plateau. (I downgraded myself to the regular 4 group one time and skied badly on purpose during ski off to make sure I was with Esta....our group was skiing tougher stuff that the supposedly higher level "spicy" 4s by day 2!!)

 

[MissySki]

I would always demo before buying. Ski choice is so subjective, and the conditions you usually ski are important so not everyone can recommend based on that because we don't all ski in the same region. It's great to build a list of skis to demo from others' recommendations though

 

[santacruz skier]

I am currently on Black Pearl 98s and I think they are perfect for the PNW.

Refresh my memory..... are the Black Pearl 98's formerly the Samba ?

 

[FayGoneAstray]

I would always demo before buying. Ski choice is so subjective, and the conditions you usually ski are important so not everyone can recommend based on that because we don't all ski in the same region. It's great to build a list of skis to demo from others' recommendations though

Yes would love some suggestions to narrow down the list to look into. I'd love to demo. I hope that the demo huts reappear next season and they will have my short ski size, however! I may need to stick with what I've got and focus on lessons before considering new skis.

 

[Christy]

Refresh my memory..... are the Black Pearl 98's formerly the Samba ?

I think so--I bet @contesstant knows. I know they were the rebranded something else.

 

[kiki]

Yes would love some suggestions to narrow down the list to look into. I'd love to demo. I hope that the demo huts reappear next season and they will have my short ski size, however! I may need to stick with what I've got and focus on lessons before considering new skis.

A few of the shops will let you do demo rentals (I know this is expensive) and then apply up to three days of the cost of that as a credit towards your new ski if you buy from them.

 

[Djburrito]

Yes would love some suggestions to narrow down the list to look into. I'd love to demo. I hope that the demo huts reappear next season and they will have my short ski size, however! I may need to stick with what I've got and focus on lessons before considering new skis.

You can also go to a ski shop and see if they do demos. That's how I handled it this year and the people I worked with were great. Really knowledgeable about what would probably work best for my abilities. I tried the Black Crow Captis Birdies, Black Pearl 88s, and Santa Ana 98s because they didn't have the 93s. They were all good skis but the Black Crows just felt like they were part of my feet.

 

[contesstant]

I think so--I bet @contesstant knows. I know they were the rebranded something else.

Yes, they replaced the Samba.

 

[scandium]

Definitely demo! I think you should put the new version of the Black Pearls on your demo list as they have been stiffened up, as well as the Astral 84/88, and the Santa Ana 88.

 

[santacruz skier]

Yes, they replaced the Samba.

And I still love my Sambas......... Really fun in chop and ungroomed.....

 

[Jilly]

I could be made to deal out a pair of SA 88's in 165. Skied 1 1/2 days so far....not really happy with them.

Should have held out for Brahma 82's....