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Technique for Cham 97's

Tony Warren

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For the first time in 45 years I do not own racing skis. I am skiing in Penticton BC at Apex Ski Resort. So I purchased a pair of 172 Dynastar Cham 97's.

The snow here can be epic, if there is hard-pack I am well equipt to deal with anything on offer. In the powder and chopped powder and crud I will ski the Cham's. Any technique hints to ski these boards? Initiate inside edge? Stand in the middle of the ski and edge 75% on outside ski?

Let me know what you think.
 

David Chaus

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Are you soliciting suggestions so you can compare the responses to what you actually experience for yourself, having a whole season to experiment and refine? Devious strategy to evaluate who's a good reviewer.
 

cantunamunch

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Are you soliciting suggestions so you can compare the responses to what you actually experience for yourself, having a whole season to experiment and refine? Devious strategy to evaluate who's a good reviewer.

Yeah, but the ski has been out for a while now, we've had our season and some too.
 

Tricia

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When I skied the Chams, I felt like I benefited from staying somewhat balanced. I didn't feel like extra tip pressure did much for me. Maybe I need to try them again. :huh:
 

Philpug

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First, 172 is short, it skis more like a 165..not a 165 slalom ski, but a regular 165cm ski. Second, stand on the ski and let it do it's job. With it's shape and taper in the tail, the radius is fairly short.
 

sinbad7

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I'm with cantunamunch. I found they like to be driven. That seems counter-intuitive given the large, spoon-shaped, rockered tip. They can be ridden, with weight centrally balanced above the (relatively tight) sidecut, but I got more out of them when pressuring the tips.
 

fatbob

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I thought they were fairly easy going (though acknowledged I'm one of Phil's 11/10 guys). Ski balanced and centred - active edge angle to turn, pintail makes it easy to smear. The 97 would be a fine all-mountain ski for 97% of skiers out there I think. 172 seems short particularly for a technical skier.
 

Josh Matta

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For the first time in 45 years I do not own racing skis. I am skiing in Penticton BC at Apex Ski Resort. So I purchased a pair of 172 Dynastar Cham 97's.

The snow here can be epic, if there is hard-pack I am well equipt to deal with anything on offer. In the powder and chopped powder and crud I will ski the Cham's. Any technique hints to ski these boards? Initiate inside edge? Stand in the middle of the ski and edge 75% on outside ski?

Let me know what you think.

any ski with tradional sidecut on some part of the skis basically skis roughly the same as any other skis with tradional sidecut. Curious are these your first non straight skis?

When I go from SL skis to my all mountain skis my technique does not change, only my tactics and duraration rate and timing and change.

in the laws of natures skis perform best with nearly 100 percent of your balance on your outside ski which does not change from 'racing" to cham 97. I would also avoid the tail on the Cham series as its basically does not exist.
 

Read Blinn

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in the laws of natures skis perform best with nearly 100 percent of your balance on your outside ski which does not change from 'racing" to cham 97.

Just curious, because I've had little opportunity to ski real powder, but I assume you're talking about balance, not weight. I'd always heard that weight should be more evenly distributed in deeper snow. The only time I've skied real powder in the East (only about 14 inches), distributed weight seemed to work well. (Of course, I was on my old 4x4s, which spent most of their time submerged.)

Maybe we're not talking deep powder, though. That Cham's only a 97.
 

Josh Matta

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first I personally hate saying weight because its impossible to make yourself weigh more or less. You can manilupate the amount of weight going places, and how, and to what intensity but if one thing that stays the same in skiing is your weight. Where you apply your weight can change but you can never make yourself weigh more by "pushing".

well 3d surfaces do changes things the OP I assumed was talking about harder surfaces....

yes in 3d snow the balance will be more evenly distributed more so on skinnier skis, less so on fatter(and more rocker and dense snow) It is much easy to balance on your inside ski in powder IF your are set up to be balanced on the outside ski. Basically I think of every turn everywhere as early balance to the outside ski, and I start pressuring the inside ski if snow will not platform enough to support my balance on the outside ski. Their are turns in powder where I am basically as outside ski dominate as I would be on hardpack.

I do not want to take away just how active the inside ski is in on every snow surface, I personally never think about what my outside ski is doing(some might have to think about) I just make sure my balance is there, my inside ski/leg is getting shorter lighter and tipping into the turn.
 
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Read Blinn

lakespapa
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Right. I think we're on the same page — where weight is distributed.

Hope to get enough snow this season to play with these ideas. (But this season's purchase is a 66mm ski. :ogcool:)
 

Tony S

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For the first time in 45 years I do not own racing skis. I am skiing in Penticton BC at Apex Ski Resort. So I purchased a pair of 172 Dynastar Cham 97's.

The snow here can be epic, if there is hard-pack I am well equipt to deal with anything on offer. In the powder and chopped powder and crud I will ski the Cham's. Any technique hints to ski these boards? Initiate inside edge? Stand in the middle of the ski and edge 75% on outside ski?

Let me know what you think.

Going from a race ski to these in soft snow you will be so busy giggling that you won't have to worry about technique.
 
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Tony Warren

Tony Warren

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Are you soliciting suggestions so you can compare the responses to what you actually experience for yourself, having a whole season to experiment and refine? Devious strategy to evaluate who's a good reviewer.

I am not that cunning. My other skis are Nordica Spitfire Pro with a bunch of letters. I love these things, they are great on packed snow all the way to blue ice. But I really have no idea what to expect when I step on my Cham's.
 
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Tony Warren

Tony Warren

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Just curious, because I've had little opportunity to ski real powder, but I assume you're talking about balance, not weight. I'd always heard that weight should be more evenly distributed in deeper snow. The only time I've skied real powder in the East (only about 14 inches), distributed weight seemed to work well. (Of course, I was on my old 4x4s, which spent most of their time submerged.)

Maybe we're not talking deep powder, though. That Cham's only a 97.

I have skied chest deep feathers on 201 slalom skis. I just stood in the middle of the ski, weighted each ski equally and initiated with my knees angulating at the same time and went fast. I suspect this will be the same with the Chams. As a geezer, most of the powder I skied was it was what we skied until things were packed down enough to set courses.
 
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Tony Warren

Tony Warren

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I guess the answer is what I expected. Ski them like I would ski all skis. Slightly different ski weight/balance distribution. Initiate as appropriate and ride them around and adapt them and my technique to the conditions, terrain and how fast I want to go.

I am really looking forward to having loads of fun on these new toys.

I want to thank you all for your suggestions. Keep them coming.
 

skibob

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Going from a race ski to these in soft snow you will be so busy giggling that you won't have to worry about technique.
I am glad I'm not the only one that does this. On the occasions i get to ski true powder, I can't help but laugh out loud. Get funny looks every once in awhile. But its so damn fun I can't keep it bottled up.
 

markojp

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Just go skiing. You'll figure it out quickly.
 

Chris V.

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Getting back to the original question:

Any technique hints to ski these boards? Initiate inside edge? Stand in the middle of the ski and edge 75% on outside ski?

I demoed the Chams for an hour or so last year. To a large degree, good skiing is good skiing, and you'll be able to use any technique appropriate to conditions. I agree with what Tricia said, "I felt like I benefited from staying somewhat balanced. I didn't feel like extra tip pressure did much for me." Chams have a relatively short part of the middle of the ski with traditional sidecut and camber. That means if you want to carve cleanly on packed snow, there's going to be a premium on staying centered (fore and aft). That middle part of the ski is what's capable of carving. As Josh Matta said, the tails aren't going to grip for you. Pressure will be mostly on the outside ski, as with any other pair of skis.

The benefits of the long rocker tip, reverse sidecut in the tip, and long pintail come to the fore when you're in soft snow. Release of the old turn and initiation of the new turn are very easy in those conditions. There, of course, pressure will be more equal between right and left skis, as with any other skis. The big rocker in the tip will give superior flotation. Stay centered fore and aft.

The Chams may be something of a rough ride over firmed-up crud, because the long rockered tip is going to ride up over the ruts rather than blast through them. But you'll certainly be capable of going over the nasty stuff, and the skis' design should minimize issues with getting stuck in frozen ruts.

Probably 95% of skiers will be smearing all of their turns on skis like these. (Not recommended in truly hard packed conditions.) But the skis are capable of holding an edge, and it's well worth working on carving technique even though that's not what they're principally designed for.
 
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Tony Warren

Tony Warren

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Getting back to the original question:



I demoed the Chams for an hour or so last year. To a large degree, good skiing is good skiing, and you'll be able to use any technique appropriate to conditions. I agree with what Tricia said, "I felt like I benefited from staying somewhat balanced. I didn't feel like extra tip pressure did much for me." Chams have a relatively short part of the middle of the ski with traditional sidecut and camber. That means if you want to carve cleanly on packed snow, there's going to be a premium on staying centered (fore and aft). That middle part of the ski is what's capable of carving. As Josh Matta said, the tails aren't going to grip for you. Pressure will be mostly on the outside ski, as with any other pair of skis.

The benefits of the long rocker tip, reverse sidecut in the tip, and long pintail come to the fore when you're in soft snow. Release of the old turn and initiation of the new turn are very easy in those conditions. There, of course, pressure will be more equal between right and left skis, as with any other skis. The big rocker in the tip will give superior flotation. Stay centered fore and aft.

The Chams may be something of a rough ride over firmed-up crud, because the long rockered tip is going to ride up over the ruts rather than blast through them. But you'll certainly be capable of going over the nasty stuff, and the skis' design should minimize issues with getting stuck in frozen ruts.

Probably 95% of skiers will be smearing all of their turns on skis like these. (Not recommended in truly hard packed conditions.) But the skis are capable of holding an edge, and it's well worth working on carving technique even though that's not what they're principally designed for.


I've got the right tools for firmer groomers, so I have that nicely covered. Thanks for the review, perhaps smearing is the right thing for me to start controlling my speed better. I am too damn old to be taking on crashes at speeds over 50 mph.
 

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