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Josh Matta

Skiing the powder
Pass Pulled
Joined
Dec 21, 2015
Posts
4,123
BTW, what’s “breakable crust” for most of you, is just...crust for me at 120# ;)

(Or, I can just wait an hour till it’s all “broken” by normal sized folks. :)

Just saying.

The one kind of snow I found more demanding for us light weights are “almost” refrozen chopped up powder. We got bounced around a lot more when the heavier folks can just power through. (Until it totally refrozen, then it’s just challenging for all)

I ski with someone who is 125lb. There are very few times that we both will not break though but it does happen that she wont break though, literally once in the past 2 year I can think of a day that she wasnt break though and I was. The vast majority of people on this board have never skied breakable crust, and those that have very few willing continue to do so especially in eastern trees.

Almost refrozen chopped powder is easy for her but she ski men's midfat with metal in a long enough length that she has for and aft stability. She does nt overthink things.
 
Thread Starter
TS
S

Ski&ride

Out on the slopes
Pass Pulled
Joined
Mar 15, 2018
Posts
1,633
she ski men's midfat with metal in a long enough length that she has for and aft stability. She does nt overthink things.
Most people don’t “over think” it. They just go for wide skis for eastern conditions because it’s more stable. ;)
 

Josh Matta

Skiing the powder
Pass Pulled
Joined
Dec 21, 2015
Posts
4,123
I mean she is on 88mm 166cm or 93mm 169cm most of the time, she has skinnier and she has wider and even much wider but she pretty much skis on those. Eastern condition would be misnomer for stowe as well. We get over 300 inches of snow year, with many day of wind loading.
 
Thread Starter
TS
S

Ski&ride

Out on the slopes
Pass Pulled
Joined
Mar 15, 2018
Posts
1,633
Eastern condition would be misnomer for stowe as well.
I agree, of all the northeast mountains I frequented, Stowe and Jay are much closer to western condition more often than the rest.

My western ski is 89x163.
 

James

Out There
Instructor
Joined
Dec 2, 2015
Posts
24,419
Here’s a promising demo list of 75-80mm skis for me to take to some man-made WROD next fall. ;)

— Stockli Laser AX 78/Motion 85

— Nordica Navigator 80

— Liberty VMT76/78/(w)

— Volkl Kanjo

(There’re still one or two late suggestions, some DPS’s that I haven’t got around to look into yet)


Me: 5’4, 120lb, advanced “all mountain” skier. Not young, but still fit and fairly athletic.

I put “all-mountain” in quote because this is a strictly eastern 1-ski quiver. So no consideration for 18” blower powder. :(

Requirements, short version: skis will be used in anything from flash freeze groomer to spring thaw bumps, add a lot of trees.


That said, here’s the emphasis:
  1. I don’t ski at mach speed. And with my (lack of) weight, stiff groomer carvers are OFF the table.
  2. That said, it should still carve. I turn a lot. I can fit 5 turns where others make one. I just don’t rail it at high speed.
  3. I don’t purposely ski refrozen groomer. But if I calculate wrong and found myself on one, it should still grip on hard pack, at least at moderate speed.
  4. Trees and bumps, A LOT.But only when they’re soft. I ski the “roundabout” line in the bumps, ie the slow line. And I don’t even ski them slow line fast. But I do strive to ski them smoothly and fluidly. (I would classify myself as a technical finesse skier)

Basically, trying to strike a balance between decent edge grip (stiffer) and bump-friendliness (softer). Bonus point for skis that are torsionally strong underfoot but with soft tip/tail.

I like to say I only use groomer to get to the trees. But in the east, the trees are quite often just unskiable toboggan runs. Realistically, it’s 50/50 groomer vs bumps/trees.

Again, keep it under 84mm in the waist and 160 in length (162 if there’s tip “riser/rocker”), for reason outlined in the original thread.
That's the romper list?
 
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Guy in Shorts

Tree Psycho
Skier
Joined
Feb 27, 2016
Posts
2,168
Location
Killington
Pretty sure that these may be too wide even for Superstar on a warm day but who am I to judge.

IMG_5622.jpg
 

Wilhelmson

Making fresh tracks
Skier
Joined
May 2, 2017
Posts
4,328
Also a lot of medium jackets while lots of the skis for sale are 185ish. Just observing. It could be random.
 

East Coast Scott

Getting off the lift
Skier
Joined
Apr 3, 2021
Posts
251
Location
Maine
I think Glen Plake said it the best... "Wider ski's may make you ski better, but don't make you a better skier" or something like that :)
 

SSSdave

life is short precious ...don't waste it
Skier
Joined
Sep 12, 2017
Posts
2,516
Location
Silicon Valley
...oh such embarrassment to be a bro in a lift line with puny little skis! ogsmile
 

Sibhusky

Whitefish, MT
Skier
Joined
Oct 26, 2016
Posts
4,804
Location
Whitefish, MT
I remember when my 78's were my powder skis.

I do think wider skis, especially on hard snow where they can't penetrate the surface, are ultimately more tiring to ski.

And the reverse is true when you can get a ski that floats higher in the fluff as opposed to submarining. It's more tiring.

For those in tiptop condition, they don't notice. The rest of us notice.
 

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