Chickapple
Certified Ski Diva
Hi! I'm looking to buy skis and would love any advice or recommendations that you Divas have to offer!
A bit about me and how I'll be using the skis....
I'm 5'5" about 115 lbs, just turned 50.
I grew up in Maine and skied there then and in college, then took a 20 year hiatus when I moved to Ohio and thought you couldn't ski here...but then a few years ago I found out that you can! No real mountains, haha, and the "expert" trail at our hill is barely intermediate by usual standards, but it's still a lot of fun, and it's been a blast getting my kids into skiing (my son is starting racing this year!).
We take at least one trip per year to a bigger mountain in the East (Holiday Valley, Sugarloaf, Okemo), and expect to keep doing this in future years.
I have never skied out West, although aspire to try it in future years - after my first year of Mountain Host I will get a pass that can be used at Vail resorts in the West, but we don't have the financial means to be spending a lot of time out there! So, overall, I think the correct term for my anticipated skiing will be primarily "on piste" (?).
This coming season I will be serving as a "Mountain Host" at our local hill which will involve skiing 8 hours per week on groomed trails, almost exclusively machine-made snow (it’s Ohio!). As long as the mountain is open during my shifts, I will be there, so my skiing will include icy, rainy, etc conditions.
Back in my Maine skiing days I was skiing on 190s (Atomic Arc) - when skis were long and skinny! - and I was quite solid on intermediate as well as some expert trails. Currently when we go back East I am not quite back to feeling comfortable on many expert trails, although I plan to continue rebuilding my skills and hope that I may even be able to ultimately be a stronger skier than I was in my younger days! We’ll see. I like to challenge myself, and I enjoy skiing moderately fast, but I like to remain in control and I am not a risk taker (my family makes fun of me in general for being all about safety ;P)
I have done seasonal rentals since restarting skiing here in OH, but took the plunge to buy boots last year (Atomic Hawx Prime 95x, which worked well) and now I'm taking the next step to buy skis.
I demo'd two pairs last year at Sugarloaf -
Volkl Blaze 86w, length 159
Nordica Wild Belle 84, length 156
I liked the Nordica better - seemed to turn better for me. However, I wasn't ready to commit to buying, and also wanted to look for a better deal. My local ski shop currently has a big sale to get rid of last year's gear so I hope to purchase from them within the next week. Although I'd love to be able to demo before buying, even if I waited until ski season they don't offer demos around here. So, I will have to purchase without demoing.
at the local ski shop they recommended the following, given my background and goals:
Atomic Cloud Q12
Elan Wildcat 82C
Also I think they mentioned Elan lipstick
The person helping me seemed knowledgable but I don't know much about modern skis myself so I didn't really feel confident to judge whether I could trust their advice. I would love to get the expert opinions of you Divas here!
Given all I've said, what do you think?
In addition to which skis, I’m also interested in advice on length
If I’ve left out any info that would be helpful in offering advice (hard to believe given the novel I’ve written here, haha) please ask.
Thanks so much!!!!
A bit about me and how I'll be using the skis....
I'm 5'5" about 115 lbs, just turned 50.
I grew up in Maine and skied there then and in college, then took a 20 year hiatus when I moved to Ohio and thought you couldn't ski here...but then a few years ago I found out that you can! No real mountains, haha, and the "expert" trail at our hill is barely intermediate by usual standards, but it's still a lot of fun, and it's been a blast getting my kids into skiing (my son is starting racing this year!).
We take at least one trip per year to a bigger mountain in the East (Holiday Valley, Sugarloaf, Okemo), and expect to keep doing this in future years.
I have never skied out West, although aspire to try it in future years - after my first year of Mountain Host I will get a pass that can be used at Vail resorts in the West, but we don't have the financial means to be spending a lot of time out there! So, overall, I think the correct term for my anticipated skiing will be primarily "on piste" (?).
This coming season I will be serving as a "Mountain Host" at our local hill which will involve skiing 8 hours per week on groomed trails, almost exclusively machine-made snow (it’s Ohio!). As long as the mountain is open during my shifts, I will be there, so my skiing will include icy, rainy, etc conditions.
Back in my Maine skiing days I was skiing on 190s (Atomic Arc) - when skis were long and skinny! - and I was quite solid on intermediate as well as some expert trails. Currently when we go back East I am not quite back to feeling comfortable on many expert trails, although I plan to continue rebuilding my skills and hope that I may even be able to ultimately be a stronger skier than I was in my younger days! We’ll see. I like to challenge myself, and I enjoy skiing moderately fast, but I like to remain in control and I am not a risk taker (my family makes fun of me in general for being all about safety ;P)
I have done seasonal rentals since restarting skiing here in OH, but took the plunge to buy boots last year (Atomic Hawx Prime 95x, which worked well) and now I'm taking the next step to buy skis.
I demo'd two pairs last year at Sugarloaf -
Volkl Blaze 86w, length 159
Nordica Wild Belle 84, length 156
I liked the Nordica better - seemed to turn better for me. However, I wasn't ready to commit to buying, and also wanted to look for a better deal. My local ski shop currently has a big sale to get rid of last year's gear so I hope to purchase from them within the next week. Although I'd love to be able to demo before buying, even if I waited until ski season they don't offer demos around here. So, I will have to purchase without demoing.
at the local ski shop they recommended the following, given my background and goals:
Atomic Cloud Q12
Elan Wildcat 82C
Also I think they mentioned Elan lipstick
The person helping me seemed knowledgable but I don't know much about modern skis myself so I didn't really feel confident to judge whether I could trust their advice. I would love to get the expert opinions of you Divas here!
Given all I've said, what do you think?
In addition to which skis, I’m also interested in advice on length
If I’ve left out any info that would be helpful in offering advice (hard to believe given the novel I’ve written here, haha) please ask.
Thanks so much!!!!