Ski Selection Thread

[JFskiDan]

To quote GSS - “long skis truck, short skis suck”. Sorry, his words, not mine. But your skis are too short for you. 

[saltyant]

Well the overwhelming consense is that 170 is too short. I made a rookie mistake and bought the brand first, and length second. Online guidance states that these should be reversed. Oh well. This is spilled milk at this point and I am going to have to deal with the 7 cm deficit for the next several seasons. My focus on ski selection was primarily on brand and stiffness, and I underemphasized the importance of length. I took width into greater consideration and found 81 to work well.

Is my life over now? Hopefully not. My guess is the resulting impact based on my "low level intermediate" skiing ability will be marginal, and the major issue will be the ridicule on this forum for weeks to come.

[saltyant]

1 hour ago, indiggio said:

I hear Camelback is a great place to get a season pass!

This is truth! Camelback's a top contender.

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

9 minutes ago, saltyant said:

This is truth! Camelback's a top contender.

You said you were getting a blue pass in February and don't worry about the length of your skis..if you got 177s people would have said to get the 184s.  

 

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

 

Bunch of jealous haters. 

[saltyant]

Just now, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

You said you were getting a blue pass in February and don't worry about the length of your skis..if you got 177s people would have said to get the 184s.

Ok, if i get a blue pass i may have to ski incognito to hide from all the haters.

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

1 minute ago, saltyant said:

Ok, if i get a blue pass i may have to ski incognito to hide from all the haters.

OK SandyAnus

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

3 minutes ago, saltyant said:

Ok, if i get a blue pass i may have to ski incognito to hide from all the haters.

OK SandyAnus shouldn't you be getting first tracks at Camelback.  I'm at blue waiting a few more minutes to boot up. 

[saltyant]

Just now, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

OK SaltyAnts

so steeze what issues will i encounter today at Camelback from having short short skis?

[saltyant]

1 minute ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

OK SandyAnus shouldn't you be getting first tracks at Camelback.  I'm at blue waiting a few more minutes to boot up. 

Still in bed. I lost my motivation for first tracks after this devastating blow last night.

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

1 minute ago, saltyant said:

so steeze what issues will i encounter today at Camelback from having short short skis?

I'm not even answering this you're starting to sound like a broken record.  Have fun and if any cougars wanna suck your Ding a ling because of your new skis tell them not until you get in 25 runs. 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

1 minute ago, saltyant said:

Still in bed. I lost my motivation for first tracks after this devastating blow last night.

Wow JfDan is parked next to me he gets after it.  Go skiing Salty if you have off work. 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Ok that's all I'm posting till this after time to freeze. 

[saltyant]

1 minute ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

Ok that's all I'm posting till this after time to freeze. 

Ok have fun. Too bad I cant ski the true mountain with a buddy today. 

[GSSucks]

30 minutes ago, saltyant said:

Well the overwhelming consense is that 170 is too short. I made a rookie mistake and bought the brand first, and length second. Online guidance states that these should be reversed. Oh well. This is spilled milk at this point and I am going to have to deal with the 7 cm deficit for the next several seasons. My focus on ski selection was primarily on brand and stiffness, and I underemphasized the importance of length. I took width into greater consideration and found 81 to work well.

Is my life over now? Hopefully not. My guess is the resulting impact based on my "low level intermediate" skiing ability will be marginal, and the major issue will be the ridicule on this forum for weeks to come.

I have a ski stretcher at my house, I dont think we will be able to stretch the 170's up to a 177, but Id bet we could be able to get them in the 175 range. For a good case of beer Ill let you borrow it and we can kill this debate. 

[RootDKJ]

Can we lock this thread now?

[saltyant]

23 minutes ago, GSSucks said:

I have a ski stretcher at my house, I dont think we will be able to stretch the 170's up to a 177, but Id bet we could be able to get them in the 175 range. For a good case of beer Ill let you borrow it and we can kill this debate. 

Thanks GSS but I'm stuck skiing Camelback today (see above hints) so I wont see you and I need 177cm's before I even boot up today. Do you think the shop will be able to stretch them out for me? I appreciate your offer and if the shop cant do it what's your favorite brand of root beer?

[saltyant]

1 minute ago, RootDKJ said:

Can we lock this thread now?

No one asked me before locking one of my rad Camelback threads......

[GSSucks]

24 minutes ago, saltyant said:

Thanks GSS but I'm stuck skiing Camelback today (see above hints) so I wont see you and I need 177cm's before I even boot up today. Do you think the shop will be able to stretch them out for me? I appreciate your offer and if the shop cant do it what's your favorite brand of root beer?

The Loft should be able to help you out, if they cant get it sorted let me know. 

[eaf]

You guys are unreasonable.

First, he's trolling you. He appears to trust the shop better and thinks that he knows better what skis he needs, and you're all locked into wide and long period.

Second, he's freaking right to ski 170 as a beginner (if he's really a beginner). He's gonna keep the skis for only a season or two and then will decide whether to go longer or shorter. Beginners are not supposed to be skiing stiff and long, it's pointless. He would be just going straight all the time and beating his speed records. Not only is he OK with his 81/170, but his radius is also medium at 16. A 14 would be even better.

Third, you all actually know that his choice is OK very well as I've seen some very sound comments here from people who actually take time and write a good paragraph or two. Except that those paragraphs often need to be taken with a grain of salt because salty isn't you. Meaning take your extreme numbers and downscale a bit for his abilities and weekend daytime skiing conditions.

Finally, he didn't try 177, and he can't extrapolate what he felt at 170 to longer skis. He removed guesswork from the equation and chose to buy something that he'd be able to ski with confidence over the season. All of the numbers are academics, advising someone to buy a ski based on how tall he is is bullshit. Weight matters much more than height. W/o trying you can't know how the ski will behave. There are also a lot of numbers that are not published like torsional stiffness. Atomic sometimes writes longitudinal one, but never torsional. And that affects ice grip. Flex distribution also means a lot. He could've I guess asked one of you who already skis RTM, picked his brain and adjusted for himself, but nobody here skis RTM. And so this thread is completely pointless.

[saltyant]

10 minutes ago, GSSucks said:

The Loft should be able to help you out, if they cant get it sorted let me know. 

Thanks. Wow what a relief. 

[enjoralas]

16 minutes ago, eaf said:

You guys are unreasonable.

First, he's trolling you. He appears to trust the shop better and thinks that he knows better what skis he needs, and you're all locked into wide and long period.

Second, he's freaking right to ski 170 as a beginner (if he's really a beginner). He's gonna keep the skis for only a season or two and then will decide whether to go longer or shorter. Beginners are not supposed to be skiing stiff and long, it's pointless. He would be just going straight all the time and beating his speed records. Not only is he OK with his 81/170, but his radius is also medium at 16. A 14 would be even better.

Third, you all actually know that his choice is OK very well as I've seen some very sound comments here from people who actually take time and write a good paragraph or two. Except that those paragraphs often need to be taken with a grain of salt because salty isn't you. Meaning take your extreme numbers and downscale a bit for his abilities and weekend daytime skiing conditions.

Finally, he didn't try 177, and he can't extrapolate what he felt at 170 to longer skis. He removed guesswork from the equation and chose to buy something that he'd be able to ski with confidence over the season. All of the numbers are academics, advising someone to buy a ski based on how tall he is is bullshit. Weight matters much more than height. W/o trying you can't know how the ski will behave. There are also a lot of numbers that are not published like torsional stiffness. Atomic sometimes writes longitudinal one, but never torsional. And that affects ice grip. Flex distribution also means a lot. He could've I guess asked one of you who already skis RTM, picked his brain and adjusted for himself, but nobody here skis RTM. And so this thread is completely pointless.

 

 

But on the other hand, what would the lift lines be like with the 170 vs the 177? Lift lines are the most important factor in lyfe. One could sound pessimistic and say that he could have gotten down the mountain faster and MAYBE be one person further ahead in line on the 177s due to the spread of the body weight vs mass over the larger square footprint of the 177 vs the 170.  But I say Salty should just console himself with the fact that on the 170s EVERY SINGLE LIFT LINE he stands in for the duration of the time he owns those skis will be roughly 7cm/2 shorter, pending binding placement of course. That's gonna add up over the average of 130 runs per day that he does, and really make the 170 a no-brainer for what's most important.

 

Edited December 29, 2017 by enjoralas
saw a missing space

[enjoralas]

Salty, nice purchase. The 177 probably would have been better, but you won't even notice it over the useful life of those skis to you. And you're not skiing on total crap now, so when you're ready for your next set you can afford to take your time and hit free demo days and test all kinds of brands and widths and lengths and really dial in on what you like best. In the meantime, these skis are gonna kick ass for you and you're gonna have a hell of a season. Also, I feel like you only purchased them from where you did to avoid buying Root his sixer, which is totally against the bro-code so I think you still owe it to him. As it is written so shall it be done.

Now shut up and ski.

[saltyant]

Thanks enjorales. Very insightful post and lol at the lift line writeup. Fine, I will buy you guys a 4 pack of beer next time I ski at Blue. That would be sooner if I had a certain pass. Now I'm in my car near the Stevenson lift and booted up, ready to go test these 170s out for their inaugural run. 

[eaf]

1 minute ago, saltyant said:

Thanks enjorales. Very insightful post and lol at the lift line writeup. Fine, I will buy you guys a 4 pack of beer next time I ski at Blue. That would be sooner if I had a certain pass. Now I'm in my car near the Stevenson lift and booted up, ready to go test these 170s out for their inaugural run. 

Nobody bites, huh