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Santa Ana 88 or 93s

mountainwest

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Tune is everything.
I like to ski a new ski raw then tune them. The difference in how they ski is amazing.
Do you tune your own skis? I would love to learn, I just have no place to do it. We don't have a basement or a garage. Hopefully we can build one one day.
 

SnowHot

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Do you tune your own skis? I would love to learn, I just have no place to do it. We don't have a basement or a garage. Hopefully we can build one one day.
I do have the equipment and knowledge to do my basic tune up needs, but for a full tune, we have a great sponsor on our site that does a killer tune. I like a Belle grind with a 1/2 tune on everything that is all mountain and a 1/.75 on carving specific recreational tunes.
When I review skis I often find that "raw" skis tend to have a flatter base bevel, which can make a huge difference in how they perform.

I have not hesitated to go to a manufacturer and tell them to fix it before someone else gets on it. Most of them know me ( and our other reviewers) enough to take a second look at the tune before the ski is sent out again.

Example: When we were skiing at Copper a few years ago with Pinto, SkiNurse, me and Chris Davenport, I was on a ski longer than I usually ski as was SkiNurse. (she was on the length I would normally ski). We took a run with Chris and I was blown away with the ski we were on. SkiNurse was not as happy with hers. I took hers out after our first run and brought it back to the booth, told them to check the base bevel. The guy in the tent blew me off, but Chris told him, "If someone from this crew tells you to check the tune, you check the tune." He came to me later to tell me that the ski in question had a flat base bevel and needed to be reset.

When I got on it after the tune was fixed, I loved it!
 

mountainwest

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I do have the equipment and knowledge to do my basic tune up needs, but for a full tune, we have a great sponsor on our site that does a killer tune. I like a Belle grind with a 1/2 tune on everything that is all mountain and a 1/.75 on carving specific recreational tunes.
When I review skis I often find that "raw" skis tend to have a flatter base bevel, which can make a huge difference in how they perform.
Oh wow, I must admit that I had no idea that there were different kinds of tunes that you could ask for. What is a Belle grind? What do most shops give you if you don't ask for anything specific?
 

SnowHot

Ski Diva Extraordinaire

SierraLuLu

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
As a California skier with similar specs to the OP, I’m curious too! I hadn’t heard much about or considered the 88’s so it’s great to hear everyone’s replies. I’m also wondering which length to buy if I end up landing on the 93’s because while I’m 5,4” and intermediate/edging on advanced, I prefer the maneuverability of shorter skis and have never skied on anything longer than 156 before (I’ve also never skied on semi-fats or anything with as much rocker). I’ve heard that with the Santa Ana’s it’s better to go a little long but 161 seems intimidating to me.
 

SnowHot

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
If the 93's I'd consider the 161 for you.
 

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