Skis for very petite women...

[slyfox4]

It would be great if they both carried more for demos. Lahouts does demo I believe, but I think they had already sold out of the Camox Birdie so didn't have any for demo. They were trying to get more, but not sure if that happened. I'm surprised Fanatics only had the one, will be great if they have more options for demo next year!

I think they're trying to get more Crows in for the women's line up next year, so I'm pretty pumped about that. I know that they had a fun little demo day at Pico this week where they were able to see some of the new stuff for 19-20. Luckily I have their cell phone numbers so I can bombard them with text messages to find out when the new skis are coming in

 

[lisamamot]

Good discussion . . . but a note to those who come across this thread who are petite and just starting to consider buying skis, it's fair to say that lisamamot and Missyski are way taller than I am at 5'0". The longest skis I've enjoyed were 168cm fat powder skis with a lot of tip and tail rocker in 15+ inches of fresh powder at Alta.

Very true - I am sooooo not petite in height at 5'9", but I consider height/weight ratio the most important factor when voicing in regarding how a ski performs. If you are skiing a ski that is commensurate with your height I feel like you will have a similar experience. My goodness, I cannot imagine you on a 168!

 

[marzNC]

My goodness, I cannot imagine you on a 168!

They were powder skis with LOTS of tip and tail rocker when it was deep at Alta. For example, Dynastar Cham 97 @166 (R13) or the Samba @166. Not the optimal size but there wasn't anything shorter available during late season.

Mid-150s is my starting point, but I'll go up to 10cm shorter or longer for demo rentals or a free demo day depending on the conditions and width underfoot. That was true even when I was an advanced intermediate. I learn a lot from skis I don't like for whatever reason. Last season at Taos, I had the BP88 @145 and they were surprisedly stable at high speed on a long relatively steep groomer (Stauffenberg). I meant to get the 152cm since my own all-mountain skis are 159cm. But given that bumps are the reason to travel to Taos, people tend to use shorter skis than at other mountains. My instructor for that Women's Ski Week was quite clear that she thought 156cm was too long for the K2 Alluvit 88 I got the first day (5 days of demos included for Women's Week). My Ski Week instructor (~6 ft) last week was on brand new carvers (mid-70s) that came to his chin for the classes with no fresh snow. Granted he was teaching and often instructors go short.

Ski design really does make a difference. I demo'd hand made skis at Wachusett last season from the Mad Russian. Notice where the binding was mounted. There was a LOT of ski in front of my toe piece. But very easy to turn on hardpack and a few inches of fresh NE powder on the sides of a blue.

 

[jgj]

Just back from Utah. Skied my Blizzard Shivas (156) in 19 inches of new on top of 11 inches the night before. They skied beautifully in the early untracked and also in the later cut up wind blown heavier snow. I like the weight of the ski as my weight (103) gets thrown around a lot in variable conditions. My Shivas are an older model (front and back rocker) tho and I know they have changed it. Love love these skis