Should I keep my 4FRNT MSP CC skis?

[Alyson]

Hi everyone,
I am new to this forum and very excited to be here! Here is a little (or a lot) about me: my name is Alyson, I'm 41, 5'7" 120 lbs (pretty strong, I'm a personal trainer) and I live in the New England. I am an intermediate (maybe advanced?) skier - confident on blues and blacks. I learned to ski as an adult and have been skiing consistently for the last 4 years.

So, to my question -- my EX boyfriend got me a pair of Blizzard Black Pearl 88's 159cm for Christmas 2020. I didn't LOVE them and thought they were a bit too short as I ski on 165's (rentals) when I visit my friend out in Jackson Hole. This year my neighbor was raving about her new 4FRNT MSP CC's and said I would love them so I puchased them at the 165cm length. I was under the impression these skis would be great to use in the Northeast AND when I go to Jackson Hole. However, when I took a group class yesterday at Mount Snow the instructor said they were too big underfoot to ski in New England. This was also backed up by many of my friends that I then reached out to.

So, I'm not really sure what to do! I was going to sell my Black Pearls (partly bc i get angry bc my ex bought them for me) but now it seems that I should return the MSP CC's! I would love a ski that performs great on the east coast and also out west - is that possible?

I hope this post makes sense as I do not know all the ski "lingo". Any advice and ski recommendations would be extremely helpful. I will most likely bring the MSP CC's to Jackson hole as I'm going for a week on Thursday. A big part of me doesn't want to get rid of the MSP CC but I can not afford to keep both skis and I mostly ski in New England.

Sorry for the long post! Again, really excited to be here!! And thank you in advance!

Alyson

 

[Jilly]

You've discovered why we have quivers. One ski for the east and one for the west. Your instructor is correct, in my mind, these ski are too wide underfoot. Sell the BP'S. Too many negatives there. Now look/demo some skis in the 75mm waist range to use here in the east. Keep the 4Fronts for a trip west!!

 

[marzNC]

Welcome! So the 4FRNT MSP CC @165 is 132-99-121. That means 99mm underfoot. It really is meant to be for soft snow conditions out west, preferably powder off-piste. It's not a good "one ski quiver" (OSQ) for someone who is mostly skiing in the northeast. Clearly popular since it's sold out on the 4FRNT website.

The BP88 @159 is too short for you. That's the length that I ski as a petite woman who has become a solid advanced skier in the last decade (lessons help a lot). I'm 7 inches shorter and about 10 pounds lighter. Height, weight, and skiing ability are all important factors for picking the right length for a given ski model.

Read on for my experience demo'ing and buying skis after I started skiing more regularly in more than one region.

Back when I started demo'ing skis, 4FRNT had a tent at a demo day in NC. Back then I was an adventurous intermediate who skied any blue groomers out west based on having skied for a couple seasons as a young teen. What he said was that the skis liked to go fast. He suggested pointing them down and "let them run." Meaning, don't bother to try making turns much on a short slope that takes at most 3 min for an advanced skier to finish. Those skis were 90 underfoot.

The all-mountain skis that I fly with for trips out west are 85 underfoot and 159cm long. While I could use them in the northeast, I have another pair of narrower and shorter skis for small mountains with hard pack snow in New England or hills in the southeast with all manmade snow. My home mountain is in northern Virginia.

My first "all-mountain" skis had specs that were 127-75-108. That was a good "one ski quiver" (OSQ) as an improving intermediate. I skied them in 6-8 inches of fresh powder more than once before I moved on to other skis.

 

[chasinghorizons]

Hi everyone,
I am new to this forum and very excited to be here! Here is a little (or a lot) about me: my name is Alyson, I'm 41, 5'7" 120 lbs (pretty strong, I'm a personal trainer) and I live in the New England. I am an intermediate (maybe advanced?) skier - confident on blues and blacks. I learned to ski as an adult and have been skiing consistently for the last 4 years.

So, to my question -- my EX boyfriend got me a pair of Blizzard Black Pearl 88's 159cm for Christmas 2020. I didn't LOVE them and thought they were a bit too short as I ski on 165's (rentals) when I visit my friend out in Jackson Hole. This year my neighbor was raving about her new 4FRNT MSP CC's and said I would love them so I puchased them at the 165cm length. I was under the impression these skis would be great to use in the Northeast AND when I go to Jackson Hole. However, when I took a group class yesterday at Mount Snow the instructor said they were too big underfoot to ski in New England. This was also backed up by many of my friends that I then reached out to.

So, I'm not really sure what to do! I was going to sell my Black Pearls (partly bc i get angry bc my ex bought them for me) but now it seems that I should return the MSP CC's! I would love a ski that performs great on the east coast and also out west - is that possible?

I hope this post makes sense as I do not know all the ski "lingo". Any advice and ski recommendations would be extremely helpful. I will most likely bring the MSP CC's to Jackson hole as I'm going for a week on Thursday. A big part of me doesn't want to get rid of the MSP CC but I can not afford to keep both skis and I mostly ski in New England.

Sorry for the long post! Again, really excited to be here!! And thank you in advance!

Alyson

I'm gonna be the contrarian here and say, it depends on you. 99 wide will be a little harder to get edge to edge than an 88, but that doesn't necessarily mean it will be HARD. I was on some 106 wide skis on some pretty hard, fast, arguably icy (west coast) snow recently, and I was surprised how well they carved for being so wide. I'm personally willing to take a smidge more slowness edge to edge for the added stability in roughed up snow. Now I know the east coast is a whole different beast - I grew up skiing in the mid-atlantic with the occasional Vermont trip - but 99 is not 106 and part of me thinks you should try it because you're right, it could make a great one ski quiver. I did a lot of hard looking at the MSP CC this year too (LOVE Noelle Phares!) and there are a lot of great reviews from east coast skiers out there. And I know 4frnt has their headquarters in Vermont and still advertises the MSP as all mountain, so presumably they do a lot of east coast testing.

I also think you should ditch the BP 88 as 159 definitely sounds way too short for you. I'm 5'1" and my skis are in the 155-166 range. If you're doing blues and blacks with any kind of speed, you're gonna want to go way longer for more stability. Aim for roughly the top of your head height-wise, maybe a little more or less depending on rocker.

 

[chasinghorizons]

I'll also just add that a lot of a ski's "ease of use" depends on shape and construction - arguably even moreso than waist width nowadays. A lot of the all mountain - freeride category of skis might be wider underfoot, but have certain elements that make turn initiation easier. I personally would have no hesitation using my 96 wide Faction Dictator 2.0s as an east coast ski, and I also found that ski significantly easier and more pleasant than the 84 wide Volkl Yumi that I demoed (which I KNOW on paper makes no sense as the Yumi is reputed to be very easy going, and it was decently maneuverable and stable, but to me it also felt planky and I was very aware of every one of its 154 cm underfoot, whereas the Dictator and Stargazers felt like natural extensions of my feet).

I've also heard that the new Volkl M6, despite being 96 wide, feels more like a 70-something underfoot and has plenty of east coast love too. Ultimately, it's whatever YOU feel comfortable with. Did you feel like the MSP CC felt too wide when you tried it? If not, don't let ppl talk you out of it. Ski design is changing. I think a lot of people say they don't like wider skis because they feel harder on their knees. But you, as a fit and strong personal trainer, may not have that issue. Do what makes sense for you.