Snow skis, where to buy?
Discussion
Ok, this is a little O/T but I know many PHers ski so was looking for a little advice.
I'm going again this January and it will be my fourth time. Previously I've always hired (skis, boots and poles), but now think it'll be cheaper in the long run to buy my own gear. Anyone know any good places in the South West? Or is it cheaper to buy when you're out there? (I'm off to the Pyrenees this time)
Also, any recommendations as to skis to get? I'm pretty confident at it now and find red runs the norm with black ones a little more challenging.
cheers
I'm going again this January and it will be my fourth time. Previously I've always hired (skis, boots and poles), but now think it'll be cheaper in the long run to buy my own gear. Anyone know any good places in the South West? Or is it cheaper to buy when you're out there? (I'm off to the Pyrenees this time)
Also, any recommendations as to skis to get? I'm pretty confident at it now and find red runs the norm with black ones a little more challenging.
cheers
where are you in the South West ?
Snow and Rock are very good, especially with boots and will take time to fit them properly. In my experience you will also get good advice on what to buy, as you want to make sure you get the right equipment for your ability.
Your own gear will make a big difference, the boots especially.
Snow and Rock are very good, especially with boots and will take time to fit them properly. In my experience you will also get good advice on what to buy, as you want to make sure you get the right equipment for your ability.
Your own gear will make a big difference, the boots especially.
carva ski's. They will be twice the price in the resort when you get there (french prices)
your cheapest would be your local dry slope, or find out when olympia ski show is on, the Bham one is next week....
I still can't justify buying them on these grounds:
Its an arse to cart them to the airport. its an arse to collect them from the plane.
I knacker the rentals every year with skiing across roads, off pisting into rocks or getting them scratched as I carry them around/locker them.
Boots however are a great idea.
your cheapest would be your local dry slope, or find out when olympia ski show is on, the Bham one is next week....
I still can't justify buying them on these grounds:
Its an arse to cart them to the airport. its an arse to collect them from the plane.
I knacker the rentals every year with skiing across roads, off pisting into rocks or getting them scratched as I carry them around/locker them.
Boots however are a great idea.
If you can get to the ski show in London you'll get great savings by getting last years gear
Stooz does make a point about lugging them round the airport but that pales into insignificance when you leave someone at the resort hire shop to nip off for an hours skiing while they get themsleves sorted
Stooz does make a point about lugging them round the airport but that pales into insignificance when you leave someone at the resort hire shop to nip off for an hours skiing while they get themsleves sorted
Hi, I used to be a ski tech and sales-bod so i feel i'm quite qualified to talk about this!
do you have any idea what you want to buy in terms of exactly what gear you want and any idea what model of skis etc?
how would you describe your ability?
i would definitely buy boots. set aside around 2 hours for boot fitting alone. don't worry to much about boot flex, focus on comfort alone. also ignore the sizing on the boot beacuse it varies wildly from maker to maker, pick what fits.
stand in the boots for as long as possible in the shop. walk round the shop for at least half an hour with the boots on. ask if you can pay for them and take them home to wear but arrange for a full refund should they not fit properly. I used to tell people to take the boots home and sit and watch TV that evening with them on. if they get sore just doing that, then they don't fit so take them back.
tell me about your ability and your height, weight, preferred style of ski-ing, conditions you prefer (on piste, off piste, icy, powder) and i'll give you some recommendations
do you have any idea what you want to buy in terms of exactly what gear you want and any idea what model of skis etc?
how would you describe your ability?
i would definitely buy boots. set aside around 2 hours for boot fitting alone. don't worry to much about boot flex, focus on comfort alone. also ignore the sizing on the boot beacuse it varies wildly from maker to maker, pick what fits.
stand in the boots for as long as possible in the shop. walk round the shop for at least half an hour with the boots on. ask if you can pay for them and take them home to wear but arrange for a full refund should they not fit properly. I used to tell people to take the boots home and sit and watch TV that evening with them on. if they get sore just doing that, then they don't fit so take them back.
tell me about your ability and your height, weight, preferred style of ski-ing, conditions you prefer (on piste, off piste, icy, powder) and i'll give you some recommendations
Probably will be cheaper to buy in the long run if you go a few times a year but remember servicing costs, you'll need a bag which you might get shop to throw in & also some airlines charge to take skis.
Most skis are carvers nowadays - Salomon X Screams or Crossmax are pretty good - I wouldn't worry too much about pilot type bindings (fixed to ski at the side rather than on top) which they'll no doubt try & sell you. As said already worth trying to get to the Ski show where you usually get some good deals on last years skis etc.(which are usually just last years graphics). If you're going to Andorra I would expect it to be cheaper in my experience not too much difference in price nowadays between Snow & Rock type shops & resort prices ( France anyway)certainly not twice as much. Worth getting boots in the UK so you've got some come back. Snow & Rock were very good with fitting my g/f boots she went back about 5 times.Lockwoods very good too but unfortunately in Leamington Spa.
Most skis are carvers nowadays - Salomon X Screams or Crossmax are pretty good - I wouldn't worry too much about pilot type bindings (fixed to ski at the side rather than on top) which they'll no doubt try & sell you. As said already worth trying to get to the Ski show where you usually get some good deals on last years skis etc.(which are usually just last years graphics). If you're going to Andorra I would expect it to be cheaper in my experience not too much difference in price nowadays between Snow & Rock type shops & resort prices ( France anyway)certainly not twice as much. Worth getting boots in the UK so you've got some come back. Snow & Rock were very good with fitting my g/f boots she went back about 5 times.Lockwoods very good too but unfortunately in Leamington Spa.
The ski show is 13th-17th October in Olympia.
www.dailymailskishow.co.uk/skishow.asp
There weren't as many bargains last year as I have seen but I still managed to save a packet on some skis for the wife.
Re Stooz's comments: I can see where you're coming from, but hire skis are usually f
ked by half way through the season. So you'll probably get away with it in January, but not necessarily. Boots that fit make the biggest difference though.
www.dailymailskishow.co.uk/skishow.asp
There weren't as many bargains last year as I have seen but I still managed to save a packet on some skis for the wife.
Re Stooz's comments: I can see where you're coming from, but hire skis are usually f
ked by half way through the season. So you'll probably get away with it in January, but not necessarily. Boots that fit make the biggest difference though.tuscan_thunder said:
tell me about your ability and your height, weight, preferred style of ski-ing, conditions you prefer (on piste, off piste, icy, powder) and i'll give you some recommendations
[stooz barges to front of que...]
6'4" 19 stone, style: red slope, smooth parellel semi circle turns, no "swishing" skid turns
take some serious pounding on jumps and heavy falls, so prefer them to stay on.
prefer bashed runs to off piste and high speed straight stability.
stooz, geez you're a big lad!!
ok, i'd go for a volkl ski. with your weight and the sheer force you'll be able to generate in fast turns a salomon is going to be too soft in length with the pilot binding.
as you seem to like to give skis a good pounding, but not a lot of 'swishing' the volkls will grip well. they have the best edge grip of any ski i've ever seen. the whole range has tremendous grip. they are less good in powder snow compared to the wider salomons and the real 'shovel head' things like Heads.
The Atomic Supermax is a good ski but i think it's absolutely hideous. when you're spending £400 then I don't want a ski i have to hide.
Volkl Motion ski, maybe the five star one (name slips from memory) or maybe the P50 would be the ones to go for. the binding comes with the ski so no worries there. really good skis, build quality of them is immense, edge finishing and lacquer finishing is superb. quite lightweight.
to test skis in the shop, you need a reasonable amount of flex lengthways. hold ski vertically and shove the middle of it. it should be 'firm'. you then need to try to twist the ski. it should be very difficult to turn if it is an advanced ski. if it twists easily, you're looking at a beginners/lower intermediate ski: good for 'softer' skiers but no use for harder skiers.
hope that helps, but any more questions, just ask
::edited:: the binding on this ski is a Marker binding. brilliant bindings, release characteristics are great, and, depsite being a touch heavier than a tyrolia, they are better made.
>> Edited by tuscan_thunder on Tuesday 28th September 11:17
ok, i'd go for a volkl ski. with your weight and the sheer force you'll be able to generate in fast turns a salomon is going to be too soft in length with the pilot binding.
as you seem to like to give skis a good pounding, but not a lot of 'swishing' the volkls will grip well. they have the best edge grip of any ski i've ever seen. the whole range has tremendous grip. they are less good in powder snow compared to the wider salomons and the real 'shovel head' things like Heads.
The Atomic Supermax is a good ski but i think it's absolutely hideous. when you're spending £400 then I don't want a ski i have to hide.
Volkl Motion ski, maybe the five star one (name slips from memory) or maybe the P50 would be the ones to go for. the binding comes with the ski so no worries there. really good skis, build quality of them is immense, edge finishing and lacquer finishing is superb. quite lightweight.
to test skis in the shop, you need a reasonable amount of flex lengthways. hold ski vertically and shove the middle of it. it should be 'firm'. you then need to try to twist the ski. it should be very difficult to turn if it is an advanced ski. if it twists easily, you're looking at a beginners/lower intermediate ski: good for 'softer' skiers but no use for harder skiers.
hope that helps, but any more questions, just ask
::edited:: the binding on this ski is a Marker binding. brilliant bindings, release characteristics are great, and, depsite being a touch heavier than a tyrolia, they are better made.
>> Edited by tuscan_thunder on Tuesday 28th September 11:17
tuscan_thunder said:That's be great! I'm 6'0" and 12 stone. I like to try new stuff each time I go, but prefer bashed pistes, red runs normally. Find mogals etc. tricky and can't jump. Last time I was really getting into fast downhill with loads of parallel turns to control the speed. The skis I had last time were Head carva ones (can't remember exact model) and I really liked these. Seemed to suit me very well.
tell me about your ability and your height, weight, preferred style of ski-ing, conditions you prefer (on piste, off piste, icy, powder) and i'll give you some recommendations
I live in Somerset, about 20 miles south of Bristol. In-fact there is a dry-ski slope about 5 mins from my house! Never been there though.
stooz - you're quite right about knacking the skis, I suppose if they're your own you'd be less inclinded to ski across roads etc
KITT,
ok, you'd be about the same as me. i've got myself a set of Atomics at the moment.
there is a new atomic on the go, which, (terrible memory for names and numbers) is blue and replaces the C 16 series. this would be a great ski to go for. light weight with nice flex. quite a stiff ski torsionally, with a titanium layer and carbon cross weave but still reasonable lengthways flex to allow nice carves.
there are volkls which will be quite similar to these atomics. i really can't remember the name of them! but they're a pale blue colour, should retail at around £300 including binding.
i'll nip home at lunch and try to dig out my catalogues and get the model numbers etc.
at least hope this gives you a rough idea.
both these skis are complete sets with bindings included. should be around £300 all in, but if you're buying boots as well you should easy get 10 per cent off full price. Agree snow and rock are good, i used to deal with them when i dealt with skis and they were brilliant. couple of the other ski techs had been trained by S+R and they were good. you should get good advice there.
get back to you later with mroe info on model numbers etc
ok, you'd be about the same as me. i've got myself a set of Atomics at the moment.
there is a new atomic on the go, which, (terrible memory for names and numbers) is blue and replaces the C 16 series. this would be a great ski to go for. light weight with nice flex. quite a stiff ski torsionally, with a titanium layer and carbon cross weave but still reasonable lengthways flex to allow nice carves.
there are volkls which will be quite similar to these atomics. i really can't remember the name of them! but they're a pale blue colour, should retail at around £300 including binding.
i'll nip home at lunch and try to dig out my catalogues and get the model numbers etc.
at least hope this gives you a rough idea.
both these skis are complete sets with bindings included. should be around £300 all in, but if you're buying boots as well you should easy get 10 per cent off full price. Agree snow and rock are good, i used to deal with them when i dealt with skis and they were brilliant. couple of the other ski techs had been trained by S+R and they were good. you should get good advice there.
get back to you later with mroe info on model numbers etc
stooz said:
thanks tuscan_thunder - tiny question - what length of ski should I get?
well, in the shop if you hold the ski up against you, it should be eye level. anything between eye level and chin height is fine. as you're a bit bigger (no offence, i'm 6' 1" myself) then that extra few inches will help with 'float' and you'll have enough force to push that extra length around. obviously a size 10 6ft woman would be better with a ski just below chin height to get the most from the ski
OK - me next me next.....
5'9", 12st6, prefer on - piste, more than happy carving turns on red, comfortable on black, OK on ice but a little less confident, find powder tricky, just getting to grips with moguls, don't really go for jumping, skiing on roads etc...... like going fast, trying to get as smoothe as possible with long carved turns etc.
5'9", 12st6, prefer on - piste, more than happy carving turns on red, comfortable on black, OK on ice but a little less confident, find powder tricky, just getting to grips with moguls, don't really go for jumping, skiing on roads etc...... like going fast, trying to get as smoothe as possible with long carved turns etc.
KITT, for what it's worth I agree with Tuscan Thunder. For your size a pair or Volkl's sounds perfect - something like the 7.24 Motion/PRO. Volkls are made for unfeasibly large Austrians to rail carved turns on hardpack snow and ice all day long..
As for size, things have gotten progressively shorter over the last few years, for instance the Volkls above come in 170,177,184,191 lengths. I reckon you'll overpower anything too short so would go for the longest length you can get (which is likely to be either the 184 or 191in Volkl - probably 184 for you I would have thought)
I'm from the west country myself, and have had trouble tracking down the skis I want at the right price locally, so in the pasti I've got skis from edge2edge (in Crawley but do mail order), who sell new and also their ex-hire skis's (they do Volkl)
www.edge2edge.co.uk/acatalog/Edge_2_Edge_Online-EX_RENTAL-SKIS.html
Stocks are being cleared ready for next season, and it might be a little late, but worth a try.
In the past I've tried to pick up late ski deals from the shows, but I get incredibly angry at all the tyre kicking halfwits that these shows tend to attract so stay away from them now.
Cheers
Mike
>> Edited by miken on Tuesday 28th September 11:46
As for size, things have gotten progressively shorter over the last few years, for instance the Volkls above come in 170,177,184,191 lengths. I reckon you'll overpower anything too short so would go for the longest length you can get (which is likely to be either the 184 or 191in Volkl - probably 184 for you I would have thought)
I'm from the west country myself, and have had trouble tracking down the skis I want at the right price locally, so in the pasti I've got skis from edge2edge (in Crawley but do mail order), who sell new and also their ex-hire skis's (they do Volkl)
www.edge2edge.co.uk/acatalog/Edge_2_Edge_Online-EX_RENTAL-SKIS.html
Stocks are being cleared ready for next season, and it might be a little late, but worth a try.
In the past I've tried to pick up late ski deals from the shows, but I get incredibly angry at all the tyre kicking halfwits that these shows tend to attract so stay away from them now.
Cheers
Mike
>> Edited by miken on Tuesday 28th September 11:46
guydw said:
OK - me next me next.....
5'9", 12st6, prefer on - piste, more than happy carving turns on red, comfortable on black, OK on ice but a little less confident, find powder tricky, just getting to grips with moguls, don't really go for jumping, skiing on roads etc...... like going fast, trying to get as smoothe as possible with long carved turns etc.
do NONE of you guys like powder??????!!!!
haha, yeh, i'd be pointing you at a volkl or atomic again (...should be on commission....)
the volkl should help your confidence on ice as the edge grip is soooo good.
BUT, for moguls Salomon is best. they're wider the whole way down so you can get away with a slightly shorter ski (surface area) they're designed by the french for french snow and they excel is softer snow and moguls and powder are their thing.
long fast carved turns will feel best with a more 'waisted' ski such as a volkl.
hmm.. depends on whether you want to become better on ice or on powder and if you want to do a lot of work on moguls.
i'd say, ice-y stuff stick with the volkl or atomic ranges, softer stuff and lots of moguls, go with salomon- crossmax 8 or 10, if you're super aggresive then the X-scream would work better.
with the salomon you can go to roughly chin height as they are so wide, lets you turn more tightly
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