Ski Length

Dave Mac wrote:Peterk11, I disagree with many of the respondents. Ski lengths are not just related to height as one or two people have indicated.

He's already indicated that he's quite heavy and tall. Modern skis can be skied on length criteria, if the user is of average build and weight.

Here's a working example. I'm 164cm and I took out some new Fischer Watea 84 in 176 last year on indoor snow. Nicely balanced ski, but they felt clumpy in the midsection to me. Logically, I'm rather undertall based on the Mfr's expectations of average users for that length of ski, and I simply had too little weight/leverage to flex them properly.
Of course, if I was able to run them up to speed and exert more pressure in the turn, it might have been different, but there are so few open pistes suitable for GS style turns that they would be a bit of a niche ski for my usual usage patterns. Way too many 11m radius carver tracks )

peterk11, got an ebay account? :D

Thanks for your input Davemac, but WTF not sure which side of the fence you're sitting on! Having only skied for 2 weeks in my life as you can appreciate all the technical jargon is beyond me. But i do appreciate your time.
Andymol 2 the GF is history, although i did consider only for a moment though giving her the skis back when we parted. But very quickly came to my senses (free skis wahey) :D
And finally to Bandit. Not got an Ebay account. Do you think that's the best place for them? :(

Ta very much,
Peter.

I think what Dave might have been getting at, is that as a novice, your speeds are low. Therfore you don't generate the force in a turn to flex the ski as a more experienced skier might. Which brings up another question, what is the flex of your boots ? At your size, the average ski boot of 80 to 100 flex would be like a wellington boot.


Trencher

Trencher wrote:I think what Dave might have been getting at, is that as a novice, your speeds are low. Therfore you don't generate the force in a turn to flex the ski as a more experienced skier might. Which brings up another question, what is the flex of your boots ? At your size, the average ski boot of 80 to 100 flex would be like a wellington boot.


Trencher

I think you are just confusing him now :evil:

Thanks that helped, Low speeds definitely i can appreciate that when traveling at relatively slow speed there is not the pressure applied that is there when going much quicker. As for the boots they are salomon CF mission if that helps , Bought from the same shop that GF bought they skis from :shock:

Thanks
Peter

peterk11 wrote:Thanks that helped, Low speeds definitely i can appreciate that when traveling at relatively slow speed there is not the pressure applied that is there when going much quicker. As for the boots they are salomon CF mission if that helps , Bought from the same shop that GF bought they skis from :shock:

Thanks
Peter

The same sort of thing is going to apply to the boots that applied to the skis. The Salomons you have are a 70 flex, which is quite soft. Great for a average novice/ light intermediate. As you get better at skiing, the forces in the turn will increase, and you may find this flex too soft if you are pressuring the cuff (as you should be). By that time though, the skis will for sure feel too soft. They might serve you OK for the time being though.

Trencher

Trencher wrote:I think what Dave might have been getting at, is that as a novice, your speeds are low.
Trencher

Didn't think it was that obscure, Trencher! Gave my engineer's mathematical answer!!

Funny, you should mention the bootflex, mine probably predate the unit of flex, but when I was unloading my gear tonight, I noticed that the support at the rear top of the liner, has split vertically on one boot. Hence One boot is very flexible.

I'm looking for a meccano solution, I think. :wink:

Dave Mac wrote:Peterk11, I disagree with many of the respondents. Ski lengths are not just related to height as one or two people have indicated.

When you initiate a turn you are transferring momentum. The force on the ski is a function of weight x the square of the velocity. Hence, the biggest element is your speed.

You aluded, in your initial posts, to being able to "manage" red runs. My reading of that is that you will be doing about half of the speed of one poster, and about a third of the speed of another, both of whom I have skied with. It doesn't matter if I am exactly right.

So, if either of these aforesaid skiers are about 12 stone, then the force imparted to your skis will be about one sixth of the force imparted to their skis.

I repeat: :shock: