What skis?

[nippontiger 8]

Was thinking of buying a new pair of skis. Usually I try to get out on powder days, but dont tend to stray too far from the lifts - bit of slackcountry, easy trees from top lift at Kagura, chopped up powder by the afternoon, that kind of thing - not up to any serious backcountry or big mountain stuff right now. Dont hit the park or serious moguls much. Currently on an 85 mm waist ski, would going up to something like a line prophet 115 (115 mm waist, slight tip rocker) be a bit overkill? Any recommendations?

[Slippery Jim 65]

Demo first to see if you like that kind of ski. Try something around 100-105 underfoot, if that's comfortable then try a 115 or so. Lots of good choices in those ranges.

[mitchpee 10]

115 sounds like overkill for the type of skiing you do. If you want to go with the prophets go with the prophet 100. Will be a much better resort/slackcountry ski and will hold up well in the deep stuff still.

 

A few others to consider:

 

Movement Sluff

Black Diamond Zealot (at the widest)

Volkl Gotama

 

Gotama may be your best bet. Pretty stiff and wide enough to handle the pow but will still be able to hold an edge on the groomers and slay the chopped/crud pow. Just ask me if you want to know what they ski like

[nippontiger 8]

The Gotamas look like an excellent choice! The reason I mentioned the Prophet 115 is because I might be able to pick up a pair cheap-ish. I dont have a huge budget, so I'm kind of limited to what I can pick up maybe 2nd hand or in a sale. I'll certainly keep an eye out for some Gotamas on sale.

It seems the manufacturers are all over rockered skis this last year or two. Pretty much all of K2's skis this year have some degree of rocker, as do Line's wider skis. The Gotama too. Manufacturers claim rocker gives you better float and easier turn initiation. Is it all just hype, or is it really worth buying a rockered design? Could skiing on rockered skis actually encourage advancing skiers to develop sloppy technique?

Also, regarding wider skis, if you read "reviews" and manufacturers websites, it seems that this years 115's will ski just like last years 100's etc. Is the technology really advancing in such a way as to make that so, or is it just clever marketing? Manufacturers seem to claim every ski they make from 80-115 waist will do everything from float in the powder to cruise the groomers, and the reviews are often not much more useful.

Thoughts?

[s3phis 0]

When I was testing out the 2011 skis, I fell in love with the Head iTitan super shapes. I ended up keeping them for this season and keen to really start pushing them out throughout the winter snow.

 

I'd recommend asking at a rental store if you can switch skis throughout the day. Most of the rental stores are okay with it.

[Slippery Jim 65]

Manufacturer's claims are about as reliable as resort snow reports.

And you can't rely much on other people either, unless they're skiers you know really well and have skied with an awful lot (and even then...).

That's why I say demo, and with Ryoma, find a place that will let you swap out during the day.

Personally, I like rocker, but some of the claims for it may be just a tad overdone.

No ski is a bargain if it doesn't work for you, and you can't know that without skiing it, or even make a good guess without having some basis of comparison.

[mitchpee 10]

Originally Posted By: Gary

The Gotamas look like an excellent choice! The reason I mentioned the Prophet 115 is because I might be able to pick up a pair cheap-ish. I dont have a huge budget, so I'm kind of limited to what I can pick up maybe 2nd hand or in a sale. I'll certainly keep an eye out for some Gotamas on sale.
It seems the manufacturers are all over rockered skis this last year or two. Pretty much all of K2's skis this year have some degree of rocker, as do Line's wider skis. The Gotama too. Manufacturers claim rocker gives you better float and easier turn initiation. Is it all just hype, or is it really worth buying a rockered design? Could skiing on rockered skis actually encourage advancing skiers to develop sloppy technique?
Also, regarding wider skis, if you read "reviews" and manufacturers websites, it seems that this years 115's will ski just like last years 100's etc. Is the technology really advancing in such a way as to make that so, or is it just clever marketing? Manufacturers seem to claim every ski they make from 80-115 waist will do everything from float in the powder to cruise the groomers, and the reviews are often not much more useful.
Thoughts?

Definitely they are hyping their skis up but rocker well lives up to the hype. I have skied hundreds of skis and I will tell you rocker makes a huge difference in the deep stuff. Not sure if you will be hitting jumps/cliffs into pow but much easier to stomp with rocker. In general though way easier to stay above it/carve etc. It really is worth it. Trust me.

[nippontiger 8]

Certainly not up to hucking cliffs and the like right now, but I think my skiing improved a lot last season, so who knows where I'll be at the end of this season or next. Some Gotamas just went up on Yahoo auctions starting 40k, think they're 08-09 season. Seem a bit long for me at 183 - Im 5'7 and 70 kg. Im not sure what year Volkl started to use rocker in the Gotama.

I'll try to demo some rockered skis if poss. I remember last year just at the end of a run on a fairly flat part - going slow into a small pile of powder - one ski dived into it, and even though I was going ridiculously slow, I managed to tweek the lateral knee ligament very slightly - nothing serious but I could feel it for a month or so. Perhaps some rocker would help prevent that kind of thing. Or maybe I should just learn to ski better!