advice on skis

here's one site that has it (it's pretty wide spread): http://www.realskiers.com/skier_ability_levels.html

Dave Mac wrote:Trencher, above 80mm waist do you reduce the edge angle?
I use an edge cut of 89 deg. Typical waist on my skis is about 60mm.

Dave, I was refering to tipping the skis on edge, rather than edge tuning. Sorry if that was confusing.

Wider skis take more leverage to tip on edge. This requires the skier to commit more to the turn. If you are not confident about moving you hips further into the turn, width may hinder progress.

As Bandit has pointed out, the size of turn a ski will naturally make is determined by the side cut radius (the curved shaped sides of the ski). A versatile ski would have a mid teen side cut radius. For someone working on their carving technique on piste, I would suggest lower teens for radius.

It is unfortunate at the moment, the ski makers are being very confusing about camber on skis. Everyone now knows that skis with rocker, instead of camber are good for powder, but a combination of rocker and camber, is the where ski design is going in the future. Mention of rockered, or decambered ski tips is often talked about in terms of helping novice skiers, but is something that is found on top race skis (and Head's regular race skis this season). If I were looking for new skis at this time, I would definitely look for a ski with a combination of camber. I haven't tried it yet, but these combination cambers are supposed to help in powder as well.

A couple of examples

autoturn tech from Rossignol
http://www.rossignol.com/US/US/rossignol-ski.html

Palmer's FLF
http://www.palmerproject.com/menu1/technology/flf-rocker-for-skis/smart-flf-rocker/

K2's speed rocker
http://k2skis.com/technology/skis

Trencher, I did understand you were referring to tipping the ski on edge. I was following up the point that about possible injury. I deducted from that that the edge force would be higher on a wider ski, ergo a more acute edge angle.

With the greatest respect to everyone, I do believe this is getting far too technical for the OP.
Personally, I picked the Scott Neo because I wanted whats known as a 50/50 ski, so I can ski anything anywhere, within reason, but sufficient for my 3 "Holiday Harry" weeks a season. I probably ski 75% plus on piste, but I do like going into the off powder and off piste every so often, more often the more I go. Therefore, I discovered that I wanted an all mountain ski, with "mid fat waist" of between 76 to 90mm approx. I also wanted a ski that would not sacrifice on piste performance, that would remain stiff enough on piste to carve nicely, and that had a reasonably short turning radius (14m in my case at 166). The Neo has a wood core and is stiffer than many all mountain skis. I have found as a result that it handles great on piste, and I am confident in the deeper stuff, as well as crashing through crud. I do NOT find it a problem to turn the skis on piste, or that it is any harder to do so. I probably dont get on edge quite like someone as good as Trencher does. But for what I wanted from my skis, the Neo's were perfect.
Other people will find other skis the same for their own personal needs.

Basically, what I am saying is to the OP is that if you have those requirements, you should consider the Scott Neo and other skis within that bracket, for example Atomic Blackeye Ti, Volkl CS30, and various others.

Bandit will tell you to try before you buy. I didnt. I went by what was recommended in taking to various retailers, and the Neo was the common denominator so I took the plunge, and they have been spot on for me. Others might find them not so suitable for them, but I do think this person is looking for a 1 quiver ski, and all mountain is the right bracket to be looking.

Best of luck. If you want to try my Neo's, see you in St Moritz on 16th Jan......

Again I have never tried before I have brought, all the skis I have brought over the years have done
what it has said on the packet and I have never spent a fortune on them.
Know what level you are and buy accordingly, shop around on the net for the best deals, it has served me well over the years.

Ian, I prefer to try 1st these days. I made a costly mistake when I believed what was written up by a large UK retailer, and made a purchase. I used those skis for 4 days then ebayed them. :roll:

I don't know if Dotan is assessing themselves at that level, or has been told that's the standard they are at. To me, someone who is at that specific level, and considering a ski such as the Watea 84 would not be concerned about developing carving skills.

bandit wrote:Ian, I prefer to try 1st these days. I made a costly mistake when I believed what was written up by a large UK retailer, and made a purchase. I used those skis for 4 days then ebayed them. :roll:

I don't know if Dotan is assessing themselves at that level, or has been told that's the standard they are at. To me, someone who is at that specific level, and considering a ski such as the Watea 84 would not be concerned about developing carving skills.

I can only speak from personal experience, it is the same with boots, give me a pair of skis and I'll ski on them ......... but as for spending four/five hundred pounds on skis that really won't make me a better skier, I paid £150 for a pair of new ladies Rossi's for Mrs W and she loves them.
As I have said before I don't blame equipment if I make a mistake, the morel shop around for the deals and do your homework it has always worked for me and saved me a lot of money.

give me a pair of skis and I'll ski on them

Y'know I follow these ski threads with interest, trying to pick up some knowledge on the more subtle differences between different skis. But I have to admit I'm in Mr Wickham's camp on this! When my brain starts frying about whether I'm hiring the right skis or whether I should be asking for different edges or whatever I think back to those old photos of people on wooden skis flying down mountains :D I kinda think I can't do any worse than they got, and they got about ok! I can see the merits of different skis for piste, off piste, all mountain and park skiing, but how much difference do the variants in each of those categories make? For example if someone's technique were excellent, would this diminish any potential benefits/drawbacks of skis themselves? Genuine question :-)