What ski`s to buy??

I need a bit of help here.
I have been skiing for the last few years and now need to buy ski`s,but I have no idea where to start.
I ski mainly on piste but would like to try a bit more off piste action this winter.
Of all the rental ski`s I have used the best were a short (154) pair of salomon race skis but I have really got no idea what type I should buy.
If anyone has some ideas for me I would be very gratefull.
I live in Ireland so have very limited access to ski shops and will probably buy a pair on my next ski holiday.


I am 5 foot 7 and weigh about 12 stone

Any help would be great.... :)

Hey Gareth

Do you know any more about the skis you were renting ?

My guess is that if as you say they were a race type ski, that they had a slalom side cut radius and that this made turning and carving easier.
If that's the caes and you want an all mountain version, then look at the mid fat skis. Atomic metrons, Salomon scramblers etc.

You have time to do some research on line, but the best prices are pre season, Sept and Oct.

I think you might want to go a little longer than 154 if you are buying. After a couple of hours you will not notice the difference between 154 and 164 or even 170.

You might want to check out ebay. There are great deals on the German ebay if the seller will ship to Ireland.

Trencher

It depends a bit where you're going on holiday and if there's going to be some good stores with a good range of stock to try and buy. Do you know where you're going yet?

One option would be to try some stuff while you're away and then buy it on your return over the Internet. Three good suppliers are :

Telemark Pyrenees . good off piste or all mountain supplier
Ski-Bilek - major mass market brands
Sport Conrad - major mass market brands

If you waited until the end of season of course there would be some deals although there's still an amount of last years kit around as well.

Salomon/Atomic have ski selectors on their websites so you pick stuff there.

I agree though that 154 sounds a bit short though. There's plenty of good skis around though so it's not hard to get something reasonable.

& Sport Express also in Germany whom I forgot.

Thanks guys,every bit of advice helps..
I the skis were slomon GS Equipe,but I am not sure exactly which model.
I will probably go to france in December for a few days,wherever I can find some snow but probably Alp d`huez or Tignes.

Trencher,
Do you reckon it is a good idea to buy on e bay?

Thanks again,I really want to get the right skis to suit me and help me improve.

Gar. :)

Gareth Fair wrote:
Trencher,
Do you reckon it is a good idea to buy on e bay?

Thanks again,I really want to get the right skis to suit me and help me improve.

Gar. :)

Yes, ebay is a great way to buy gear. New skis are generally sold by ebay dealers. Many of these have regular stores, but don't want to offer crazy prices in the store/shop. Just check the feed back rating of the seller. Paypal is a very secure way to pay.

Compare something like this to store prices

http://cgi.ebay.ie/06-07-Atomic-skis-Metron-9-Puls-157-4TIX-310-Bindings_W0QQitemZ200141598220QQihZ010QQcategoryZ16062QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Trencher

Plenty of opportunities to test skis in Tignes. In fact, there's the Atomic boot testing thing going on :

http://www.j2ski.com/ski-chat-forum/posts/list/2181.page

I believe they'll have some test ski stock there as well IIRC.

Thanks again lads,all good information.

I had thought about going to the Atomic Boot camp but have yet to convince a friend to go.Do you reckon it would be a good trip.It sounds great value and could be a bit of fun.
Is this the first year or has this event been run before?

Gar :)