Another "help with 2nd ski / quiver starter" thread

[twomartinis]

So I read through a bunch of "which 2nd ski threads" and I enjoyed this one from Chuy; but everyone's got unique circumstances.
Here are mine

I'm a 5’-9" 170 pound middle-aged intermediate skier, looking for a playful all-mountain 2nd ski. My piste/groomer/carver is 170cm and 69mm underfoot. My wants and uses will be:

• wandering off groomer looking for fresh snow around the edges, occasionally a bit of glades and off-piste. Maybe a little jump if it gets in my way
  
• some bumps - no good at it but always give it a go once or twice
• powder days, when and if that happens (east coast NY/MA/VT)
• and last but not least, chasing my 8, 12 and 14 year old sons around, plus a fair bit of backwards skiing with the little guy

I'm guessing something slightly shorter, wider and rockered? 80-ish underfoot? Not going out West, I suppose that would be the 3rd ski...
Someone [from the East coast] please school me now!

 

[Tony S]

What's the 69mm ski you have now? In what ways is it not answering the need? Where do you ski, very specifically?

Basically, the bullet points in your list are not really very far from "piste/groomer/carver," especially reading between the lines a little. So trying to figure out if you really want another ski or a few bump lessons.

 

[François Pugh]

You could do worse than one of the wider (80 mm and up) Volkl Deacons.

 

[BMC]

So I read through a bunch of "which 2nd ski threads" and I enjoyed this one from Chuy; but everyone's got unique circumstances.
Here are mine

I'm a 5’-9" 170 pound middle-aged intermediate skier, looking for a playful all-mountain 2nd ski. My piste/groomer/carver is 170cm and 69mm underfoot. My wants and uses will be:

• wandering off groomer looking for fresh snow around the edges, occasionally a bit of glades and off-piste. Maybe a little jump if it gets in my way
  
• some bumps - no good at it but always give it a go once or twice
• powder days, when and if that happens (east coast NY/MA/VT)
• and last but not least, chasing my 8, 12 and 14 year old sons around, plus a fair bit of backwards skiing with the little guy

I'm guessing something slightly shorter, wider and rockered? 80-ish underfoot? Not going out West, I suppose that would be the 3rd ski...
Someone [from the East coast] please school me now!

Based on what you’re saying I think an early to mid 90mm ski. Skis that come to mind are the QST92 and Fischer Ranger 92. Both would cover pretty much all you’ve described, and be well differentiated from your current skis.

I own the QST 92 and have it set up for sidecountry with Kingpin AT bindings. I’ve never skied it with full alpine bindings - consequently I don’t think my experience will reflect what the ski will show on very hard groomers. I think I’ve used it enough though to say it excels in bumps other than the bone rattlingly hard variety, really do excel in soft snow, and trees, and kill it in fresh snow dumps. The one caveat from my experience is very very hard groomers but (a) I think that reflects the bindings more than the ski and (b) you already own a ski for ice.

Most manufacturers have a similar style ski in their line. I think you’d just choose based on colour preferences (I like the deep blue in the Fischer!!), brand loyalty, your weight (some skis with more metal etc just better suit heavier skiers - not so relevant for you though) and aggression level.

 

[PinnacleJim]

Older and bit lighter eastern skier here. I typically have two skis I regularly use. A narrow carver for days with no new snow, and a wider ski for days with fresh snow or in the spring. The wider ski still needs to have good hard snow grip as this is the east, not the Rockies. Even with fresh snow, the firm base is going to show itself. Sounds like you have the narrow ski covered. For the second one, I would look for something with a width between 85 and 95 and I would stick with a length around 170. As had been said, lots of choices out there. I currently have two skis that serve as my wider ski: a Fischer Motive 95 that I picked up as a leftover about 5 years ago and a K2 Mindbender 90 that will replace the Motive when it finally is too beat up.

 

[Dwight]

Noridca unleased twin tip or something from Jski

 

[DocGKR]

An 85-90mm All Mountain type ski: Rossi Experience 86Ti, Fischer RC One GT 86, Kastle MX88, Salomon Stance 90, Liberty Evolv 90.

 

[Andy Mink]

X2 for the Rossi Exp 86Ti. If you want a bit wider, Rossi Sender 94Ti. Both have an easy going personality with enough power to hook up on harder snow.

 

[tch]

A while back, I bought a pair of Black Crows Captis w/demo bindings from a forumite for almost exactly the situations you cite. I'm 5'7", 170 lbs so v. close to your size. I liked it a lot and skied it in glades and bumps and soft snow for a year until I "down-widthed" my western skis to Brahma 88's and now I'm having trouble justifying owning two ~90mm waisted skis. The Captis is softer and more playful than the Brahmas by a decent margin but still pretty good on the groom.

Some of the skis mentioned above are more carve-oriented, and while you don't want to give up too much, you don't seem like you really want a wide carver like the Kastle or Salomon Stance. If you are at all interested in trying something different, I would be happy to pass on my Black Crows. They would be a good test of whether you really want a softer ski. I'm not really trying to sell you something, but if you want a fairly cheap experience/data point, PM me.