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Why are there "women specific" skis?

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CalG

CalG

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I bought a pair of skis a number of years ago -- just this year those skis self-identified as "women's skis" . Can I still use them?

How are the bases? I mean, did you ever abuse them? That will require full confession and perhaps banishment!
 

Bolder

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In all seriousness -- and this may or may not be a serious thread! -- there may be some beneficial differences in flex, as (and I'm guessing here) that a typical 5'7" woman is lighter lighter than a 5'7" male. Even compared to an adolescent male.

Yeah, I know that "women specific" might seem condescending to some but I think it shows that action sports companies are trying to reach more women. As the father of a 10 year old girl who finally got out of the "pink" stage, I do wish the graphics were more neutral, however.

I remember when the Santa Cruz Juliana bike came out, with a shorter stem and geometry that was geared toward women who tend to have shorter torsos/longer legs. My wife rides men's (or "unisex"...) mtbs and road bikes, and the first thing she does is get the shortest stem that will fit. So there's some basis is physiology, I think.

In my view, the more women who are riding mountain bikes, skiing, climbing, surfing, the better.
 
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Philpug

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This thread inspired the thought

https://forum.pugski.com/threads/wide-womens-all-mountain-skis.9085/

Do women ski differently then men due to physiology? Do women fit a different height to weight ratio? Or

What is the difference between a woman skier, and say an adolescent male skier?

You also asked the same question in this thread: "Most pioneering women's skis of all time". post 39 and answered in post 40 and 41. That thread also referenced "Shrink it and pink it: What makes a women's skid diifferent" which delves deeper into what makes a women's ski different.
 

François Pugh

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Women specific skis exist because there is a market for them.

That being said, on average women have a different weight distribution, so from an engineering point of view their skis should be different in terms of where the waist of the ski is and what the flex distribution along the ski is. Whether or not women skis are designed properly to account for this difference is a different question.

BTW the latest skis from what I've heard are self-identified as "fluid". ogwink
 

Philpug

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Women specific skis exist because there is a market for them.
Considering that the number ONE selling ski in Specialty retailers for the past few seasons has been the women specific Blizzard Black Pearl, the market agrees with you.
 

Wendy

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While I agree that women have different geometries that may require a different flex, mounting point, or geometry, manufacturers of women’s skis also seem to hold to the belief that all women are shorter than men. Most women’s skis I’ve demoed have been too short. (I’m 5’10”). There are some exceptions.

What was interesting is that in the demo shops at Alta, every guy immediately went to the women’s side of the ski rack, and offered me a women’s ski in a 165, or 169, etc. I had to direct them to the other side of the rack every time.

And although I have wide hips, I have a long torso like a guy. So, I ride unisex bikes....women’s frames have top tubes that are too short.

So I also find that unisex skis work better for me on the whole. However, compared to a guy of similar size, I probably do better with a slightly softer flex. And I dislike women’s pastel ski graphics. So there’s that.
 

Mike Thomas

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Women ARE shorter than men, and those who are not more often than not still want shorter skis. If you can't sell a 177cm women's ski, as a shop, you do not buy a 177cm women's ski. If shops don't buy them, manufacturers stop making them. It's not a conspiracy. Same with the demo tech, if 99 out of 100 women want skis that are chin height... you skip the step of offering a longer length only to put it back and get a short length.
 

Philpug

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Women ARE shorter than men, and those who are not more often than not still want shorter skis. If you can't sell a 177cm women's ski, as a shop, you do not buy a 177cm women's ski. If shops don't buy them, manufacturers stop making them. It's not a conspiracy. Same with the demo tech, if 99 out of 100 women want skis that are chin height... you skip the step of offering a longer length only to put it back and get a short length.
And quite frankly, that women who skis a 177 has some pretty good experience in having difficulty in getting anything that is women's specific for her size and more often than not. she is open to the unisex version. When I worked at Wick's, they would order every women's boot in a 27.5...every year. Do you know what the backstock of women's 27.5's were? There were over 30 pair of them. We would be lucky to sell one or two pair a season. That women who needs a 27.5, knows she has big feet and most would be open to any boot. I am not saying don't stock any 27.5's...just not every boot, maybe a couple for that women who must have a boot with script writting and misspelled words like Luv or Absolut or Attraxion.
 

YolkyPalky

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And quite frankly, that women who skis a 177 has some pretty good experience in having difficulty in getting anything that is women's specific for her size and more often than not. she is open to the unisex version. When I worked at Wick's, they would order every women's boot in a 27.5...every year. Do you know what the backstock of women's 27.5's were? There were over 30 pair of them. We would be lucky to sell one or two pair a season. That women who needs a 27.5, knows she has big feet and most would be open to any boot. I am not saying don't stock any 27.5's...just not every boot, maybe a couple for that women who must have a boot with script writting and misspelled words like Luv or Absolut or Attraxion.

I'm on the flipside of that coin Phil, I'm a 24.5 Mens Mondo (7.5 Wide shoe size so I drop down one Mondo point for a tighter fit and customize if need be), and sure there are many shops that will carry 1 pair of 24.5 for a few models, but many won't even order that small, heck some boots aren't even made smaller than 25.5, and then the salesmen tells me "well, we can get you into a woman's boot, it's really just the same but with pink/purple letters" LOL. Fortunately I was able to find a 24.5 Salomon Xpro 120 at a recent trip to Utah at Cole Sports.
 

Uncle-A

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Women specific skis exist because there is a market for them.

That being said, on average women have a different weight distribution, so from an engineering point of view their skis should be different in terms of where the waist of the ski is and what the flex distribution along the ski is. Whether or not women skis are designed properly to account for this difference is a different question. ogwink

I remember that the manufactures would say that the woman's "center of gravity" is different than a man's and the ski was designed for them. I do not know if that is true but they did use that as a sales tool for the woman's ski.
 

L&AirC

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There is no reason for women specific skis other than the market will support it. Same with boots. I could be mistaken but if you look at race skis, FIS or not, there aren't women specific. There are however race skis that meet the women's criteria and the men's criteria. The buyer and race requirements decide which to get.

I believe the real difference between skis and women specific skis (non race skis) is the top sheet. They might make them slightly different or even lighter (if the pound they take of is a deal breaker - you probably aren't in shape to ski anyways). If if they make them softer or lighter, I'm not sure how they can do that without giving something else up. If they could, the would do it for the unisex skis as well. Who wants to lug around heavy skis from the parking lot?

There are too many variables between people of all sexes to say this one or that one is better for t certain group. I'm 5'7" and 160#. Adult men of this height easily vary from 125# to 190#, so using the reasoning that it's because women of the same height are lighter doesn't work. Physical abilities and skiing abilities vary just as much and size and strength have nothing to do with ability.

You also need to consider strength and ability and not just size and sex.

Buy a ski that fits your requirements and not the one someone in marketing thinks you should have. If you don't like the graphics, cover them with stickers.
 

Snowflake2420

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This thread inspired the thought

https://forum.pugski.com/threads/wide-womens-all-mountain-skis.9085/

Do women ski differently then men due to physiology? Do women fit a different height to weight ratio? Or

What is the difference between a woman skier, and say an adolescent male skier?

Glad my post inspired another thread haha

I can't speak to ski design, but as a shorter woman I've benefited from lighter and smaller womens equipment. I don't need to ride the biggest, burliest mens skis. In my experience I appreciate having a lighter core for a powder ski than say maybe a mens model may have, and the skis are definitely not "light" by any stretch of imagination. Being a smaller person I just have less leverage. Practically speaking womens labeling is just another way to say smaller person skis. Perhaps the manufacturers feel pressure to keep womens skis since its top to bottom in their line up and don't want to change over their entire line or cut it off at a certain ability level for fear of confusing existing and prospective customers?

More recently I think gear on the whole has improved as mens (and womens) skis are moving toward how can they be lighter, stiffer, easy to ski, which has made womens skis more like mens. We are moving away from stereotypical thinking of mens skis need to be the heaviest, biggest, baddest boards and womens skis as floppy noodles with some edges thus making the opportunity for unisex skis possible.
 

LuliTheYounger

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Pretty big difference with womens' vs. juniors' skis in my experience. I never grew out of my JRs and stayed on them through high school, and by the end the way those ski were constructed just wasn't nearly beefy enough. I never grew in terms of weight or height, but I got stronger & started putting more power into them than they were meant to handle. There's plenty of overlap with other categories, but "women's ski" is a pretty coherent category if you're looking for something that's shorter than a typical men's ski and burlier than a child's ski.
 

Tricia

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You also asked the same question in this thread: "Most pioneering women's skis of all time". post 39 and answered in post 40 and 41. That thread also referenced "Shrink it and pink it: What makes a women's skid diifferent" which delves deeper into what makes a women's ski different.
I was going to post those links, as well as the one I was quoted in from CNN


Women specific skis exist because there is a market for them.
ogwink
:micdrop:

I remember that the manufactures would say that the woman's "center of gravity" is different than a man's and the ski was designed for them. I do not know if that is true but they did use that as a sales tool for the woman's ski.
I've been a believer, for a very long time, that all women are built differently, just as women and men are built differently. THAT is why there are so many different types of skis, women specific or not.
 

MarkP

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I bought a pair of skis a number of years ago -- just this year those skis self-identified as "women's skis" . Can I still use them?

Depends... how do you self-identify and do you care if your family disowns you for possibly crossing the identifying line?
 

KingGrump

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I'm on the flipside of that coin Phil, I'm a 24.5 Mens Mondo (7.5 Wide shoe size so I drop down one Mondo point for a tighter fit and customize if need be), and sure there are many shops that will carry 1 pair of 24.5 for a few models, but many won't even order that small, heck some boots aren't even made smaller than 25.5, and then the salesmen tells me "well, we can get you into a woman's boot, it's really just the same but with pink/purple letters" LOL. Fortunately I was able to find a 24.5 Salomon Xpro 120 at a recent trip to Utah at Cole Sports.

If you can't find 24.5 men's boot in the ski shops you frequented. You are shopping at the wrong places.
 

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