High end Junior skis

[Swede]

These guys make nice JR freeride skis:

https://www.extremskis.com/

 

[RBjammin]

Below is a pic of what I skied yesterday with my 8 year old at Alpental. International or Nash as we like to call it is a nice double black with an intimidating rocky entrance.

One of the top 5 runs in the PNW! One of my kids is aggressive like that, but the others are learning. My 11 year-old fell in love with Powder Bowl at Crystal this year.

He skis on the J Skis Max "Arcade" which we love. Another adult ski shrunk for kids. He also likes to jump of anything he can find and these are good for that too.

 

[dovski]

One of the top 5 runs in the PNW! One of my kids is aggressive like that, but the others are learning. My 11 year-old fell in love with Powder Bowl at Crystal this year.

He skis on the J Skis Max "Arcade" which we love. Another adult ski shrunk for kids. He also likes to jump of anything he can find and these are good for that too.

My 8 year old also likes chair 6 at Crystal. Now whenever we go to a new hill he wants to go to the steepest and deepest run, which is awesome. His oldest sister is in the free ride program at Alpental and just wants to drop in off cliffs. Needless to say this has completely changed the dynamic of our family ski trips

 

[RBjammin]

My 8 year old also likes chair 6 at Crystal. Now whenever we go to a new hill he wants to go to the steepest and deepest run, which is awesome. His oldest sister is in the free ride program at Alpental and just wants to drop in off cliffs. Needless to say this has completely changed the dynamic of our family ski trips

I just have to remind them when they give me crap about the drops and jumps that gravity's tax is much higher post 40.

 

[dovski]

I just have to remind them when they give me crap about the drops and jumps that gravity's tax is much higher post 40.

Yeah little bodies seem to bounce whereas ours seem to break

 

[Smear]

Just pulled the trigger on the first set of powder skis for my 11 year old daughter. A bit unsure if I went totally overboard on sizing. Völkl Mantra jr 158 cm (now with some chamber in the middle) with squire bindings for a girl 5 feet (152 cm) and 90 lbs (40kg). How are people sizing these type of skis?

She skis GS and SL twice a week in two hour sessions, and we usually also go out one more day during the weekend and ski on family holidays. Does not have solid technique yet, and skis rather slowly and timidly. But if she continues to ski 3 times a week for some more year(s), I hope this will improve with time and that she eventually gets better than her dad (started as a 27 year old, so she has a head start...).

I sized up thinking our most frequent use at the moment will be low angle untracked powder. Either by walking up mountains on xc equipment with climbing skins and alpine equipment in my backpack or just the snow outside the groomers at the ski area close to our family cabin. Then too long should not be much of a problem, It's typically more of a problem to have enough flotation to get enough speed to actually have to turn.

She does not particularly enjoy skiing ungroomed snow or powder at the moment. So this is a dad's desperate attempt of turning her into a future powder buddy ;-)

Thinking they will age well as being a more all-mountain ski including cruddy groomers as they become more appropriately sized, and then as a park/rails/play through woods and rocks at local home resort as they become undersized. Would be nice to not have to deal with regular edge damage of the GS and SL-skis...

Well the little thing now has 2xSL, 2xGS, classic XC skin skis, XC skating skis, metal edged mountaineering skis and skating roller skis so I guess that makes this her 9th pair. Perhaps we have to hide these from her mom...

 

[Alexzn]

There is no such thing as long Jr skis Kids grow, skis do not. A racer kid would be able to turn a slightly longer ski anyway.

 

[dovski]

There is no such thing as long Jr skis Kids grow, skis do not. A racer kid would be able to turn a slightly longer ski anyway.

You say that but we had a friend who got his really short 13 yr old daughter, who maybe skis 5 days a year, some Mindbender 106Cs that were about a foot taller than her. Poor kid looked like she was skiing on two long boards .... needless to say not the best fit. Unfortunately I see a lot of parents getting extra long, extra wide skis for their kids and that really ends up being way to much ski for them.

 

[Smear]

The 158 cm Mantra JR arrived yesterday. They seemed pretty hefty and the rocker is kind of subtle both in front and back, so they won't ski super short for their length. So not sure how she will like these. But as @Alexzn said, there is no question that she will grow into them eventually... ;-) On the other hand the running surface is about the same as her "undersized" 144 cm GS-skis, so perhaps it's not so bad.

I'm sure that they will work well in the "low angle untracked powder"-scenario but being used only for that is not realistic with our family logistics. When we are going for a week at the west coast and the whole family of four want to bring multiple pairs of alpine skis, XC-skis and AT-gear then some compromises has to be made and not room for more than one pair of alpine skis pr kid. Dad's quiver is more important

Forecast says no snow for next 10 days and freezing cold after a thaw period. Will hide them until there are proper conditions to try them in ;-)

Spent some quality time in the basement with a panzer file and superfine sand paper to bevel the topsheet at 45 degrees, similar to what I would do to a race ski. All the skis I've seen of this type has had a badly chipped topsheet, hope this will help some. Kind of wonder why they can't do this at the factory, but when they don't bother on high-end race skis, then of course not on a cheap pair of junior skis. These are by far the most sold semi-wide JR ski here and go for ~200$ new without bindings.

 

[dovski]

The 158 cm Mantra JR arrived yesterday. They seemed pretty hefty and the rocker is kind of subtle both in front and back, so they won't ski super short for their length. So not sure how she will like these. But as @Alexzn said, there is no question that she will grow into them eventually... ;-) On the other hand the running surface is about the same as her "undersized" 144 cm GS-skis, so perhaps it's not so bad.

I'm sure that they will work well in the "low angle untracked powder"-scenario but being used only for that is not realistic with our family logistics. When we are going for a week at the west coast and the whole family of four want to bring multiple pairs of alpine skis, XC-skis and AT-gear then some compromises has to be made and not room for more than one pair of alpine skis pr kid. Dad's quiver is more important

Forecast says no snow for next 10 days and freezing cold after a thaw period. Will hide them until there are proper conditions to try them in ;-)

Spent some quality time in the basement with a panzer file and superfine sand paper to bevel the topsheet at 45 degrees, similar to what I would do to a race ski. All the skis I've seen of this type has had a badly chipped topsheet, hope this will help some. Kind of wonder why they can't do this at the factory, but when they don't bother on high-end race skis, then of course not on a cheap pair of junior skis. These are by far the most sold semi-wide JR ski here and go for ~200$ new without bindings.

The Mantra Jr is a great kids ski. My son skied on them for years and still talks about them. He also like his Head Kore 87 JR skis and now has a pair of Faction Prodigy 2.0 JR skis which he really likes. All three of these skis have proper construction and a full sidewall. All three of these skis do a great job supporting kids as their skills progress .... your daughter is going to love her Mantra Jr's

 

[Wilhelmson]

158 is definitely on the long side but a lot of girls grow quickly around that age.

 

[AtleB]

Its that time again, need to start looking at new skis for my oldest (12yrs and around 5ft/100lbs)
Most recent ski (current): Faction Prodigy 1.0 Jr
Before that he has been on Faction CT jr, K2 Poachers
A big question is off course when to start looking at adult skis, I have still been primarily looking at jr specific skis.

Has anyone got any kind of experience with the DPS Jr skis (Grom 99 and Grom 87)?

 

[tromano]

Finally got my 12 year old a fat ski. She's 100lbs and 5' and level 8+. On some of the deeper days this season, I could tell she could benefit from something wider than her older Fischer carving skis. Got her a Salomon qst blank jr. Those are 93 underfoot wood core. Only a few days so far. She definitely is a carver, with 6 years in devo programs and I see she is learning to slarve on the blanks, but still getting the hang of it.

I am actually really impressed with the beginner level skis my 10 year old kids are on this season. Elan jett jr. They are both 60ish lbs and 10 yrs. Those skis have really grown with them both from strong level 7s to solid 8s this season. My son in particular has never carved much before this season. His twin sister would smoke him in gates since they were 5. But this season he has technically really improved his skiing significantly. Now they are both just ripping short turns on expert terrain with those skis and really keeping up.

Not planning to get either twin a high performance or more specialized fr skis until we see another growth spurt. Maybe some twin tips if they want to learn park. I suppose I greatly question the need for high performance or specialized kids skis; unless the kids are actually competing. They seem unnecessary, and over priced.

Consider an 80lb kid on 67mm skis gets equivalent float to a 160lb adult on 120mm width.

 

[Philpug]

Kids should grow out of gear, not into it.

 

[crgildart]

If you're looking for beefier than a Jr but not quite as demanding as a men's ski might want to look at high performance women's models, race skis especially.

 

[dovski]

Its that time again, need to start looking at new skis for my oldest (12yrs and around 5ft/100lbs)
Most recent ski (current): Faction Prodigy 1.0 Jr
Before that he has been on Faction CT jr, K2 Poachers
A big question is off course when to start looking at adult skis, I have still been primarily looking at jr specific skis.

Has anyone got any kind of experience with the DPS Jr skis (Grom 99 and Grom 87)?

So my son is also 12, about the same weight and height as your son. He is also skiing the same ski. Previous skis he has liked are the Volkl Mantra Junior and Head Kore 87 Jr. We are looking to add a wider ski to his quiver and are thinking of the Nordica Enforcer 95 S Junior Skis. Anyone have any experience with these?

 

[markojp]

So my son is also 12, about the same weight and height as your son. He is also skiing the same ski. Previous skis he has liked are the Volkl Mantra Junior and Head Kore 87 Jr. We are looking to add a wider ski to his quiver and are thinking of the Nordica Enforcer 95 S Junior Skis. Anyone have any experience with these?

In the recent past, these were identical to the Jr. Rustler. Not sure about that now.

 

[dovski]

In the recent past, these were identical to the Jr. Rustler. Not sure about that now.

To be clear we are looking at the Rustler Team and the Cochise Team, these are their high end youth/jr skis that have identical construction to the adult skis, not the little kids skis with the Jr designation - which are just the cap construction and pretty much identical across many brands.

Looking at the dimensions these are clearly different skis as the Rustler Team has a 90 waist and the Enforcer S comes in 80 or 95. Blizzard Cochise team is another option for us and it has a 97 waist.

It is nice that many brands now have high end youth skis for the more advanced kids who need the adult construction/performance but in a weight, flex and dimension suited to a kid.

 

[Smear]

158 is definitely on the long side but a lot of girls grow quickly around that age.

Yes the conclusion was that the 158cm probably where too long. She used them 4-5 days this season, tried to convince her to try her little brothers 148 cm of the same type that he completely refuses to use (also oversized). But she wanted to use HER skis so, at least she has bonded to them ;-)

At one point she was going down a slope a bit to steep for her taste, covered with deep a bit heavy snow. She tried to force the skis around in Z-turns or forcefully wedging in protest. And her knees also screaming in protest... When the slope mellowed out it was ok.

Hoping that she learns to really carve her undersized 131 cm SL during the indoor season, then move her to appropriately sized 138 cm SL, learn to be able to use er new 157 cm GS without beeing afraid of the speed some time after new year. And then perhaps the 158 cm mantra's will not be too much anymore sometime next season

 

[robertc3]

So my son is also 12, about the same weight and height as your son. He is also skiing the same ski. Previous skis he has liked are the Volkl Mantra Junior and Head Kore 87 Jr. We are looking to add a wider ski to his quiver and are thinking of the Nordica Enforcer 95 S Junior Skis. Anyone have any experience with these?

My son skied the Enforcer 95 S and loved them. He skied the 140 and then the 150. They are a solid junior ski. He was, and is, a lightweight, but he does put a higher than average amount of energy into his skis. Those Enforcers were fantastic for him. Plenty of float, good edge hold, quick enough edge to edge, and good in the air. I would highly recommend them as a freeride competition ski for your little man.

They were the same as the Cochise Team. I am not sure if they still are, but they were a couple of years ago.