Tignes October 2010

Tony, the Rosa is the Womens' Mission, depending on length 84 to 89 underfoot, honest :D .

Tony (and anyone else that's interested),
They did tell me that the Rosa is the ladies version of the Mission. I can tell you what they look like. Mine are 168. They are wider than any ski I've used before which makes them rather hard to carry vertically when I'm going up gondola steps etc. because my hand isn't large enough to grip them. They seem to be more 'springy' than the ones I usually have, which again makes them harder to carry because it's harder to lock them together because there's more of a gap between them them when they're carried together. The end is curved, but not as much as the front of the ski, so I don't think they're what people call 'twin tips'.

I didn't notice anything different about them yesterday when I was skiing on them, but that's because the light was so bad that I was just concentrating on not falling over on all the lumps of powder lying about everywhere. But today, the sun has been shining and the piste bashers have been out and I've been able to think about what I'm doing. And I have noticed that they are slightly harder to get on their edges, presumably because of the extra width, and they do feel a bit like 'shovels' when I'm trying to do tight turns. However, I do think they're better in the powder as they don't tend to sink so much and trip me up.

We had another TDC lesson today and I may get a video to put up, so you can see them in action. I will write more when I get home on Thursday.

I think you would enjoy yourself out here as the skiing is great and everyone is very sociable.

Ally

Can't believe you are on the snow already ! have fun !!

So Jealous !

I've been looking for dates still available since Ally first posted this!
Apologies about mistaking the skis. I think I was thinking of another Scott ski, it used to be in a purple kind of colour a couple of seasons ago, the name escapes me.

Tony (and everyone else),
As long as you remember that only a small ski area is open you won't be disappointed. At this time of year it is definitely not for the sort of person who wants to go ski cruising.

As I said last year it's like a really large snow dome, with amazing views. It's great for practising your technique and getting your ski legs back. And we really enjoyed 'people watching' all the various ski teams in action on the slalom course, and listening to the French kids in the restaurant (they are really amusing - but quite a handful to keep an eye on I should think).

At the end of the 3 days I decided I didn't like those Scott Rosa's. They just felt too clumsy, and I really didn't like the way they vibrated when I was 'schussing' (I don't know if this was because of their width or their flexibility but it was most alarming). In future I think I'd rather hire proper piste skis when I'm on a 'flattened' piste and possibly hire powder ones if I start going off piste. I may be imagining it but I also reckoned they made my legs ache when skiing on the piste which was a mixture of lumps of powder with icy patches every now and then, presumably because it's harder to push more powder with wider skis.

The last day the temperature went up to 10 degrees and the snow started melting. But I should think they will have some more snow soon. I hope you manage to get a booking with Mountain Sun.

Ally

Ally. Simple question - if you thought those skis were the problem, why didnt you change them for some piste skis?
My guess would be that it was your technique or fitness level that was the problem.

Tony_H wrote:Ally. Simple question - if you thought those skis were the problem, why didnt you change them for some piste skis?
My guess would be that it was your technique or fitness level that was the problem.

I didn't change those skis because I was trying them out and I wanted to give them a fair trial. The first day I think they probably were the best skis for the job, because there was a foot of powder which hadn't been pisted. However, the second day they did 'bash' it nice and smooth (although I didn't know that of course until I got there) and then as the day progressed it got lumpier and lumpier with all the snow being pushed into soft moguls, exposing patches of ice.

And on the second day we had a 2 1/2 hour private lesson with Tdc. The instructor showed us how to make our turns on the steep slope without using the up and down motion to unweight our skis, but by initiating the turn by rolling the new inner ski off its edge and then bending the new outer knee and getting the ski right over on its edge (he said he wanted to be able to see the base of the ski!). The idea, apparently, was to make the turns while still staying in contact with the snow. Anyway, what I am trying to say is that there was a lot of edge work and I got the feeling that the width of the ski was making me work harder than normal. Those skis have a waist width of 89mm, and I suppose I'm used to ski-ing on ones with a width of about 70mm.

And on the third day we were trying to do what we'd been taught in our lesson.

I would like to know why they were vibrating when I was schussing. I tried to keep my weight forward in the correct position but it didn't seem to make any difference.

I stuck with them because the Missions are supposed to be really good, award winning, skis and presumably the ladies version is just as good. And the fashion seems to be for fatter skis so I thought I'd better get used to them. But as time went on I became increasingly irritated with them and little things annoyed me - like the way they didn't fit in the rack (because of being double ended) unless you left one ski out and then you had to make sure they were well jammed/locked together or they'd fall out of the rack.

I admit to being unfit, because I'd been ill for about 5 weeks before the holiday with one thing and another, and if it was my technique at fault I'd like to know where I was going wrong.

It felt like the skis were too wide and soft/flexible for me.

Ally

Good to hear you had a fab time Ally!

:D