What is advantage of 12 meter slalom ski verses 16 meter ski I ski like slalom?

[paulsalzburg]

The question is in the title.
What is the advantage of a 12M ski vs 16M?

 

[AltaSkier]

The 12M ski can tear an ACL 25% faster than the 16M.

 

[Brian Finch]

A 12m ski will get you thru a course; a 16m ski will let you hip drag for your mates on the chairlift.

 

[S.H.]

A 12m ski will get you thru a course; a 16m ski will let you hip drag in the back seat for your mates on the chairlift.

FIFY

 

[puckbeeoutlander]

A 12-meter ski is gonna give you quicker turns and more agility. It's like driving a sports car through those gates. On the flip side, a 16-meter ski is more stable at high speeds but won't be as snappy in the turns. Depends on what kinda ride you're lookin' for, but if slalom's your jam, I'd lean toward the 12-meter.

 

[Brian Finch]

A 12m ski will get ME thru a course; a 16m ski will let ME hip drag for your mates on the chairlift.

FIFY

YMMV

 

[ScotsSkier]

Easy. A 16m ski is not in any shape or form A slalom ski…. And just because a ski has a 12 m readies does also not make it a slalom ski. A slalom ski is a purpose designed tool to ski slalom. And radius can vary typically from 11-13mu

 

[S.H.]

A 12m ski will get ME thru a course; a 16m ski will let ME hip drag for your mates on the chairlift.

If you come ski where my mates are, I'll follow you

 

[slowrider]

I like 12m skis for off piste. It keeps me honest & humble.

 

[Henry]

Modern skis with a 12 or 13 m sidecut are much more stable at speed than skis like that years ago. My 12m skis are stable at any speed I'd go on any skis. I'm not the fastest skier at all, but the 12s with their 66mm waist work great for me. The deeper the snow the wider skis I choose. Wider skis won't have the tight radius.

 

[Brian Finch]

FWIW, I’m running 16 skis for medium radius carved turns.

 

[Brian Finch]

12m / 165cm

 

[Brian Finch]

16m / 175cm

 

[Tony Storaro]

The question is in the title.
What is the advantage of a 12M ski vs 16M?

Easier to transport in small cars.

 

[Cheizz]

@paulsalzburg what is your question behind the question here? What kind of skiing do you want to do? From there, we can help figure out what radius would be most helpful. Until now, it's all about the radius of the ski, which is only one of many factors. So a bit more background to your question would help a lot.

 

[François Pugh]

For carving arc-2-arc turns on a hard surface, with the shorter radius ski, the turn you dial up will have a shorter radius for a given ski-tipping angle and you will have to tip the shorter radius ski less for a given turn. That means you will boot out sooner on the shorter ski and the ski will be quicker, like having fewer turns lock to lock on your steering wheel. The down side is that you will be able to carve clean longer turns with the longer radius skis. If you go fast with a short radius ski the turns you will be able to make will greater than 12 m in diameter (because physics); a 12 m turn would require too much force and the ski would drift a bit (or a lot depending on how much tighter you are trying to turn for your speed). That's why SL skis have a shorter radius than DH skis. Each ski has an ideal-sized turn that it can will make and a range of good turns around that ideal size. The 12 and the 16 are at (or very near) the top of that range.

 

[tomahawkins]

View attachment 210120
16m / 175cm

So one goes left and the other goes right. Got it. (Nice turns!)

 

[paulsalzburg]

Please imagine you as a beginner going to intermediate skier. But not a professional or expert skier.

Please imagine you will skiing a 12 meter slalom ski. And imagine you will skiing a 16 meter ski. Please describe what your feeling every step of the way.

Please be as detailed as you can.

 

[Cheizz]

Assuming they haven't put me on very stiff skis but on beginner/intermediate-appropriate skis, I imagine the 12m radius ski will have me turn quite quickly, but may feel a bit squirrely/unstable going faster in a straight line, in bigger turns or at higher speeds. The 16m radius ski will give me more control and stability overall, but takes away some of the agility in very short turns. Which I might make in terms of meters, but not necessarily in terms of high frequency.

For overall skiing (i.e. not specialized in very short turns) I would go for the 15-16 m radius ski, assuming that you're trying to get me on a Salomon S/Max 8 (R16@175) and not a Head Worldcup Rebels e-Race Pro (R15.8@175).

Like I said earlier: Radius is just one factor, and in this scenario/ability level not the most important one, IMO

 

[François Pugh]

The 12 m radius ski will make turning easier; the 16 m ski will make speeding feel safer. All other things being equal. They never are.