What do you recommend as skis...

[VSG]

for an old fossil still skiing straights?

What would be the ideal transition ski, in terms of carvers, shaped skis?

I've heard that suddenly moving from old school to new skis can throw an old fossil like me out...

What would be a good compromise? smile.gif

[Paul Oberin]

Don't go to radical with the sidecut, or turn radius, try something along the lines of a 16 to 17M turn radius ski, and most importantly get a lesson to really get shown how to get the most out of them right away.

[The Wang]

I agree with Paul - lessons would be a great idea VSG. You need to ski shaped skis very differently.

[Taxman]

Something that skis straight - Stockli Stormrider XL. Doesn't like to turn that much at slow speed, but once it gets moving it accepts all turn shapes and finessing through the turn. And they are not as beefy or demanding as Stocklis are generally reputed to be.

VSG, try to demo a pair, I'm sure you will be hooked. See Fred at Snowbiz (next to Eiger), Nuggets Crossing at Jindabyne - behind the bakery.

[SnowFlake]

An extra idea is to hire skis. Some stores will refund the hire if you buy new skis from them. Made the change after 'seeing' experts do arc to arc turns carving both skis and all that. At 60 years old + migrated from GS 195s to Sl 165s.

[Caboose]

snowboard ..... graemlins/boarder.gif :D

[Old Boarder]

Originally posted by VSG:
for an old fossil still skiing straights?
Try these
http://www.lightningboards.com/LongBdMe.jpg

from http://www.lightningboards.com/longboards.htm

:D

[snowman]

Originally posted by Caboose:
snowboard ..... graemlins/boarder.gif :D Ill 2nd that

[Seth]

Originally posted by Principal Douglas:
You need to ski shaped skis very differently. I disagree. It still comes down to how you stand on the ski (which should be no different) and how you turn the ski (with your legs, no difference there).

The biggest difference is how much more fun they make carving with the shorter radius turns that become so much easier.

Just get out there and give them a go.

[Taxman]

I don't totally disagree, with PD's statement. I only came back to skiing 5 years ago after a 20 year layoff. The last skis I was on in the early 1980's were "mid" skis (fairly straight and skied head heigh) and I came back to skiing skis as short as my first pair of compact skis from the 1970's, but with side cut. The main difference I noted was skiing with two feet (i.e. more weight on the inside ski) and skiing with the feet furter apart.

[Seth]

Originally posted by Taxman:
The main difference I noted was skiing with two feet (i.e. more weight on the inside ski) and skiing with the feet furter apart. Ah no, pretty much all of your weight should still be on the outside the ski.

[Taxman]

Semantics maybe, however, the wider stance seems to encourage more weight on the inside ski. On "carve" skis on occasions (usually doing some drill and getting out of balance) I have completed turns on the inside ski. Ski weight distribution may also have something to do with turn initiation, up-unweight, cross-under, cross-over etc... My turn initiation tends to be less dramatic that it used to be (more cross under than over).

Seth, I don;t have the (skiing) technical background to go into this with any detail, but I certainly ski modern skis with a more even weight distribution than I recall when skiing straighter skis.