Women's GS Ski Recommendations

[mnrunner89]

I'm in need to new GS skis this year as I've just learned the bindings on my current pair are too old and are unsafe to ski on. I could just get new bindings, but seems a waste on a 10 year old pair or skis. I'm currently on the 163 cm Volkl Race Tiger Jr. Ski and like them very much. I'm 5'2" 160 lbs, but am not as strong as I used to be, so I need something that will perform without having to exert an extreme amount of strength just to flex the ski. I felt like the 163's were about right for our tight "GS" courses in the midwest/mid-atlantic region with a 17 m radius being pretty spot on for most courses. It's a bit hard for me to control the longer skis at my size, but I think I could probabably go a little longer than 163, maybe like 168 if that's a thing. I was just wondering if other female racers here could recommend GS skis that might fit my profile. For referecen, I race in a competitive beer league and usually earn gold in the in Nastar, but never platinum in the 20's age group (now age 32, but ski about the same.) A lady about my size who worked in my local trusted ski shop recommended I go with a the Nordica Doberman jr ski or the Atomic Red jr ski due to my size and current strenght levels, but others are saying stay away from juniors and go w/ a 170 m cheater ski instead, so I wanted to get more opionions from other women, since it seems to be mostly men or larger people telling me that.

 

[Jilly]

I really don't understand why you have been on a junior ski. You might be on the shorter side, but you weigh more than me. I ski a "cheater" SL ski. So a cheater GS, like the Hero LT in a shorter length should be good.

But paging @volklgirl and @snowski/swimmouse who both do Nastar.

 

[kmb5662]

I'm not a racer, so take my recommendations with a grain of salt but in addition to the Hero LT as mentioned above you may like something like the Atomic Redster G9, which has an 18cm turning radius. The shortest length available is a 165cm length.

SkiEssentials

www.skiessentials.com

 

[BackCountryGirl]

I'm on a head junior GS Ski. I think they're 176 and 23 meter. I really love them. I am 135 and 5'3". I think junior skis are a good choice for anyone under about 150 lbs. I don't race but I coach racers so being on the same sort of gear that they are on is important. I get why you're on a junior ski -- I'd look for the stiffest junior you can find (does Atomic make juniors?) -- if you ski a 6 or 7 or 8 din, you're probably fine on a junior ski but they may play put faster.

 

[tinymoose]

I'm on a head junior GS Ski. I think they're 176 and 23 meter. I really love them. I am 135 and 5'3". I think junior skis are a good choice for anyone under about 150 lbs. I don't race but I coach racers so being on the same sort of gear that they are on is important. I get why you're on a junior ski -- I'd look for the stiffest junior you can find (does Atomic make juniors?) -- if you ski a 6 or 7 or 8 din, you're probably fine on a junior ski but they may play put faster.

Atomic makes junior race skis. Although, I have no idea how any of the junior race skis compare as far as stiffness. I had Fischer prior to my current pair (Head), and I didn't notice a big difference in stiffness between the two.

I'm also on Head junior skis, but they're SLs. Mine are only 150 in length, but I'm only 5'1" and 95 lbs. I got SLs for versatility since we do both modified GS and SL in our adult race clinic (when we had it... RIP). It's exciting to see/meet others who race on here. I'm not very good at it, but I enjoy it. Learned to ski as an adult, and I just run Nastar for fun, but I've gotten up to consistent bronze in the last two years, which is an improvement over where I started! I also started taking the race clinics largely to just improve my skiing overall, which I think/hope it has!

 

[volklgirl]

I was on the 180 World Cup Racetiger GS (back when it was a 21 m ski), and found it’s a really smooth, forgiving ski, but I no longer have the strength to power them through a turns beer league course. I’ve since moved to the cheater Atomic Redster X9s. At 175, with a 15 m radius, it’s beefy enough to handle the speed, but turny enough to go clean in a cranker course.

You’ll want to demo them, though, as they’re sort of beefy and sizing down may be a necessity. They’re super fun to free ski, too.

 

[mnrunner89]

Thanks all for the suggestions. This is all very helpful info. I keep hearing the Rossi and Atomic cheaters recommended, so it sounds like something like that or a stiffer jr ski would be a safe bet. When looking at the cheater skis, it looks like some of them have a 13-15 m radius. I'm just curious why I would want such a short radius for a GS ski. I already have 150 cm slalom skis that are like an 11-12 m radius and used to race GS in them too, but switched to the junior GS skis I currently have (got the 163 volkl racetiger jrs at the time bc I got them in good condition at a swap for very cheap and I only weighed like 115 lbs when I bought them) because that radius on the slaloms was just too tight making me over turn on the GS course. I'd imagine 13-15 m radius would have that same issue with these cheater skis, but people seem to love them, so I feel like maybe I'm just not understanding exactly how they'll ski. Will I have issues with over turning with cheaters with that radius or will they easily turn the radius I want and just are easier to initiate turns on? I guess I'm just struggling to understand the main differences between a masters cheater or a non-world cup gs ski and which one would make more sense for my situation. I think something around 17-18 m radius is what I'd need based on most of our courses. I get pretty good edge angle, but I just don't have the strength I used to any more, so I tire much more quickly if I have to really crank them to get them to flex, so I want something easier to flex where I don't need to exert such high level of strength to get them to turn when I'm going to fatigue really quickly.

 

[mnrunner89]

I'm on a head junior GS Ski. I think they're 176 and 23 meter. I really love them. I am 135 and 5'3". I think junior skis are a good choice for anyone under about 150 lbs. I don't race but I coach racers so being on the same sort of gear that they are on is important. I get why you're on a junior ski -- I'd look for the stiffest junior you can find (does Atomic make juniors?) -- if you ski a 6 or 7 or 8 din, you're probably fine on a junior ski but they may play put faster.

Thanks. This is helpful for reference. The lady in the ski store was about my size and said she skis the Nordica Jr ski and really likes it for her beer league. The two women working there recommended I look at at Atomic Jr or a Nordica Jr ski. I think I usually ski like a 10-12 din though if I'm remembering right (could be totally wrong on this), so would that mean maybe I should not be on a junior at that din setting? They told me to get the higher grade bindings if I go with the jr skis for U16 since I weigh more than a child which makes sense.

 

[Jilly]

In the Atomic Redster's - the G9 is the GS ski. Looks like Rossi has dropped the LT. The MT with the Ti might work. The Hero Master would be too stiff.

I ski the Hero ST Ti as my daily driver....I can make it do whatever I want in turns...

 

[mnrunner89]

Thanks. This is helpful for reference. The lady in the ski store was about my size and said she skis the Nordica Jr ski and really likes it for her beer league. The two women working there recommended I look at at Atomic Jr or a Nordica Jr ski. I think I usually ski like a 10-12 din though if I'm remembering right (could be totally wrong on this), so would that mean maybe I should not be on a junior at that din setting? They told me to get the higher grade bindings if I go with the jr skis for U16 since I weigh more than a child which makes sense.

Edit: I just checked my DIN settings and appears they are set in a 6-7 range. I was way off guessing 10-12 before. These were set when I wayed a lot less though, so they might need to go a bit higher now. A calculator online put me at 8.5. Would a binding with a max DIN of 12 be appropriate for me given my DIN setting is likely somewhere between 6-8.5?

 

[mnrunner89]

In the Atomic Redster's - the G9 is the GS ski. Looks like Rossi has dropped the LT. The MT with the Ti might work. The Hero Master would be too stiff.

I ski the Hero ST Ti as my daily driver....I can make it do whatever I want in turns...

The Rossi Hero ST Ti has been recommended to me by multiple people. Do you think it would work well as a GS ski for 17-20 m courses? (more in the 17-18 m range.) I was also looking at the Atomic Redster G9 in either a 165 or 171 length. Do you know if Atomics are fairly easy to flex?

 

[BackCountryGirl]

Thanks. This is helpful for reference. The lady in the ski store was about my size and said she skis the Nordica Jr ski and really likes it for her beer league. The two women working there recommended I look at at Atomic Jr or a Nordica Jr ski. I think I usually ski like a 10-12 din though if I'm remembering right (could be totally wrong on this), so would that mean maybe I should not be on a junior at that din setting? They told me to get the higher grade bindings if I go with the jr skis for U16 since I weigh more than a child which makes sense.

Hi. I wasn't with my skis when I wrote this and I remembered right. They are 176 and 23 meter. The binding goes up to 11, which is enough cushion for me. I think an 8 or even 8.5 on a 12 max would be okay. A shop might help advise you on that.

 

[mnrunner89]

Hi. I wasn't with my skis when I wrote this and I remembered right. They are 176 and 23 meter. The binding goes up to 11, which is enough cushion for me. I think an 8 or even 8.5 on a 12 max would be okay. A shop might help advise you on that.

Thanks. This is useful info.