J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Trencher

It hasn't been too good in the US either. I was in Park City UT last w/e.
If there had not been some good snow falls over that w/e, the resorts would have been in dire straits. The problem seems to have been solved for now.
In the midwest, temps are way above average and there is a record drought. It has been cold enough at times for all the hills to make enough snow to open and conditions have been good. The hills are small and thier snowmaking technology is excellent.

Trencher

I have the 170 with 14m radius sidecut. They rip. Especially carving on hard packed to icey snow, where a stiffer ski might not hold as well. I'm nearly 9kg lighter than you and find them easy to flex. It's the type of ski where you may need to consider boot out as a problem - it carves so well.

Trencher

Here's one for the future

Metal -

They put some tin foil in the skis and doubled the price

Trencher

I'll let Pavelski explain exactly what he meant, but can explain a little about carving steeper slopes.

First you must perfect your carving on easy slopes. As you increase the pitch of the slope, your turns must become fuller to control speed. That is, you must carve through up to 180 degrees of turn. You will become more comfortable at higher speeds, with your legs way out from underneath you. The turns must also become tighter. That requires more inclination of the skis and angulation of the body.

The hardest thing about carving steeper slopes is commiting to the down hill edges. This means your weight moves out from the hill as you roll onto those down hill edges. It feels very commiting and requires trust in your abilities. That is why it should be a gradual progression.

If you are uncomfortable with your speed and you have the room, you can even turn more than 180 degrees. Ending up going a little up hill, though only enough to kill some speed.

If you end up skidding the end of your turn, it is hard to roll onto your down hill edges. You must get locked into a solid, no slipping traverse. Then roll the edges down hill.

Good hero snow helps as well. No one carves everything. Every year I find I can carve on slopes a bit steeper, but it is always a work in progress.

I would always prefer to be on slopes that don't require me to skid for speed control. That can difficult when I'm out with people who don't carve. They need steeper slopes to challenge them as thier speed control comes from skidding turns.

Trencher

Not that I have any experience of wearing tights, honestly :lol: .
The seams at the toe migtht be unconfortable if they line up with the seams on your socks. Worth doing a trial run first maybe.

Trencher

Here's my two pennies worth

I only started skiing because the new skis came out, so never carved on the old skis. Then again very few people ever did. Carving is a product of the skis sidecut, inclination, decambering (flex) and edge pressure. No matter how good the skier, if there ain't much sidecut, there ain't much carving (unless your talking 4 turns to the mile). Anatomy and boot out, limit a skiier ability to inclinate the skis enough to make a reasonable carved turn on older 25+m sidecut skis. The greatest pressure on the front of the ski cannot change these basic limitations of geometry.

I'm talking about real carving, a high G turn, leaving two lines in the snow, no skidding (even through 180 of turn). A lot of people talk about carving on older skis, but I never saw it. I was on an alpine snowboard. It had a carvable sidecut and could really carve.
Aside from a few racers on slalom skis, I didn't see any one really carving until the new ski came out (and my local hill is ski race central).

If you have really good technique, you may be able to carve (really carve) with a 21m radius (still quite big turns). An all round carvable ski will be in the 15m to 17m radius range. To really rip up the corderoy, 12m to 14m radius will give you a good work out.

These skis all come in mid fat models (74/76mm waist) which will allow you to ski softer snow as well and a variety of flexes.

I know there are many people out there who thought they were carving on those old skis, but I'm just saying what I saw.

Trencher

Pavelski

Sorry to confuse. I was using big air as as a relative term. I didn't actually mean BIG AIR, rather just letting the rebound take the skis off the snow during the transition between carves.

Real BIG AIR scares me.

Trencher

Pavelski, I would love to get in to a discussion about poles, but will save that for another time.

I was intrigued by your advise to keep the skis on the snow. This is ofcourse conventional racing wisdom. That the energy used getting airborne, might have been better directed into the next turn for speed.
I also understand your concern about weight getting too far back.

But this is not racing. There is nothing so sweet as a big air transion. The power of the decambering skis, lofting you into the air, to land on the new edges. Is this wrong ?. Maybe that is what you were implying by "that kick at the end of the turn".

If it looks cool, it proberbly IS cool (not to mention fun).


So much of this sport is based on convention and racing. The one thing I've learned from many sports in recent years is "nothing is written in stone", so I question everything.


I know you are free thinker (from your post) and you have forgotten more than I'll ever know. This is just my opinion. :wink:

Trencher