Upper intermediate vs expert skis

[Dr Cucumber]

Just curious, what is the difference in performance between an advanced intermediate and expert ski. I currently ski a pair of Fisher RX8s (classified as an upper intermediate to advanced ski), and wondered in what circumstances the RX8s would let me down? Is it to do with stability at speed? Or other? I have read that it is difficult to find faults with the RX8.

I am also interested in learning about the 'stiffness' of the ski; Does increased stiffness generally mean a less forgiving ski?

To provide context to this discussion, I am generally talking about a skis performance on piste in Australian conditions.

Cheers,

Dr Cuc.

[JakeK-T]

i don't think they would let you down anywhere in Australia... except maybe the T park

[Dr Cucumber]

Ok, on piste in any resort, anywhere in the world?

[Tobi]

On piste on any resort in the world will show VERY different conditions.

In pow you'll need phatter skis.

Then again I ride one plank what would I know?

[Seth]

On piste they would be fine anywhere.

[Paul Oberin]

Originally posted by Dr Cucumber:
Just curious, what is the difference in performance between an advanced intermediate and expert ski.

I am also interested in learning about the 'stiffness' of the ski; Does increased stiffness generally mean a less forgiving ski?

To provide context to this discussion, I am generally talking about a skis performance on piste in Australian conditions.

As others have commented on the RX8 I won't need to go back over that, except to say as a real enthusiast of Fischer skis including the RX8 and the RC4 SC, I was very curious myself as to what the difference was between these two skis, which are so close together in price.
So at the ski test days I made a real point of trying to answer that question in my own mind, I found that the RX8, although a great all round ski has good edge hold on ice, I could get them to slip when really pushed hard, where as the RC4 SC didn't let go even at very high speed on slick ice when pushed very hard.

Ski, and also Snowboard manufacturers have to come up with a design that will allow a ski or board to be fairly stiff longitudinally along the axis from tip to tail so as to hold an edge, yet at the same time allow a lot of flex so they are reasonably user friendly, these two requirements appear to be contradictory and do present quite a challenge.
One of the best examples I have seen of this is on the current Elan wave series of skis, the lump or thicker part of the wave would make it very hard for the ski to twist, twisting would allow the edge to let go, and yet the thinner part of the ski at the bottom of the wave does let the ski flex up and down to make it cope with undulations such as moguls, other companies try and do it with the internal core construction and some use add on devices like the Rossignol Mutix. Atomic are very good at this with what they call B4 profile, it really works well.
Fischer have got it worked out also, but I am not sure how they have achieved it, they called it "Frequency tuning", all I know is it does work.
K2 in the early years were not good in this regard, and were not good on ice, but that has changed within the last 10 years and K2 are now as good as the other good brands, especially the Crossfires, buying Volkl has seen them really improve in the last couple of years.
Head seem to have it sorted now, but only two years ago they seemed to have lost their way, the first generation of "Liquid technology" skis were over dampened in my opinion and this made them slow to react, they seem to have got that part right now in the latest models.

Stiffness in a top end race ski does make them way less forgiving, especially in moguls and very deep powder, but then they are not designed for those conditions.

The biggest challenge at the moment appears to be getting the wider skis to be stiff enough to have a respectable amount of edge hold on ice, yet be supple enough off piste, again K2 and Atomic seem to be the leaders here, although a few of the wider Atomics coming out are fairly ordinary on edge hold, a new model which should be released later this year should fix that problem.

[ 15.05.2008, 10:09 PM: Message edited by: Paul Oberin ]

[Dr Cucumber]

Thanks Paul - I knew I could count on you for a detailed response.

I'll be sure to stop in and say G'day next time I'm in Wodonga - even if it is only to get the DIN on my bindings checked. I've phoned around a bit in Perth, and cant find anyone qualified to do the job here :(

Incidentally, have you heard about the plans to build an indoor ski facility here in Perth?? Not on the same scale as Dubai, but big nevertheless (400m+ runs). See link below:

http://www.snowpark.com.au/index.htm

I'll now trawl through and see if I can find the post on RX8s.