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Skis for all-round riding

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tautologies
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Skis for all-round riding

Postby tautologies » Thu Jan 11, 2018 9:50 pm

So last season I tried snow kiting. It was super fun and I am considering getting some skis now.
I do want something I can use for multiple things: Snow kiting, regular skiing, powder, top walks. So my thought is getting some reasonably wide thinking 95-100mm touring skiis.
I'm not looking to immediately get a ton of different gear (but realize I might end up there over time).
I'm not super concerned with weight...more concerned with ski clattering at speed.

Btw, my skiing experience up until about 18 years ago is pretty extensive, but barely anything after that. :-)


Anything in particular I should look out for? Type of skis? Bindings? Boots? Hoping to do some treks up mountains. Length of skis (I'm 6'1'')?

It just seems like rules around skiing has been redefined since we used to jump off shit. :lol:

Thx.

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Re: Skis for all-round riding

Postby matth » Thu Jan 11, 2018 11:46 pm

tautologies wrote:
Thu Jan 11, 2018 9:50 pm
So last season I tried snow kiting. It was super fun and I am considering getting some skis now.
I do want something I can use for multiple things: Snow kiting, regular skiing, powder, top walks. So my thought is getting some reasonably wide thinking 95-100mm touring skiis.
I'm not looking to immediately get a ton of different gear (but realize I might end up there over time).
I'm not super concerned with weight...more concerned with ski clattering at speed.

Btw, my skiing experience up until about 18 years ago is pretty extensive, but barely anything after that. :-)


Anything in particular I should look out for? Type of skis? Bindings? Boots? Hoping to do some treks up mountains. Length of skis (I'm 6'1'')?

It just seems like rules around skiing has been redefined since we used to jump off shit. :lol:

Thx.
I have only snow kited a few times but I am an avid skier.

If you are on soft snow chatter will not be an issue unless you buy something with an extreme rocker and no metal. I personally hate skies with no metal, they just have no feel IMO.
95/100 MM range? Nordica Enforcer is the hottest ski on the planet, Bonafide and Mantra are also very good, and there are others. All these skis have moderate rocker and are decent on ice.

I would stay in the 178 range, unless you have gorilla legs and can handle the power.

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Re: Skis for all-round riding

Postby tautologies » Fri Jan 12, 2018 12:52 am

matth wrote:
Thu Jan 11, 2018 11:46 pm

I have only snow kited a few times but I am an avid skier.

If you are on soft snow chatter will not be an issue unless you buy something with an extreme rocker and no metal. I personally hate skies with no metal, they just have no feel IMO.
95/100 MM range? Nordica Enforcer is the hottest ski on the planet, Bonafide and Mantra are also very good, and there are others. All these skis have moderate rocker and are decent on ice.

I would stay in the 178 range, unless you have gorilla legs and can handle the power.
Oh nice. thank you. To be honest I do not know if the width I am indicating is a good one. I know I want to use them for a lot of different things. Probably mostly regular skiing. The Nordicas looks killer.

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Re: Skis for all-round riding

Postby matth » Fri Jan 12, 2018 2:12 am

tautologies wrote:
Fri Jan 12, 2018 12:52 am
matth wrote:
Thu Jan 11, 2018 11:46 pm

I have only snow kited a few times but I am an avid skier.

If you are on soft snow chatter will not be an issue unless you buy something with an extreme rocker and no metal. I personally hate skies with no metal, they just have no feel IMO.
95/100 MM range? Nordica Enforcer is the hottest ski on the planet, Bonafide and Mantra are also very good, and there are others. All these skis have moderate rocker and are decent on ice.

I would stay in the 178 range, unless you have gorilla legs and can handle the power.
Oh nice. thank you. To be honest I do not know if the width I am indicating is a good one. I know I want to use them for a lot of different things. Probably mostly regular skiing. The Nordicas looks killer.
If you plan on skiing out in the Western U.S. then that width is a nice size for all around ski ON/off piste. If you ski in the Northeast U.S. like me the 93mm width is more practical

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Re: Skis for all-round riding

Postby Hardwater Kiter » Wed Jan 17, 2018 2:05 pm

There are a lot of options. Really nobody makes a bad ski these days and skis that used to be "wide body" (100mm+ under foot) are now pretty average and extremely versatile.

Here's a link to which explains some of the details to look for in a ski for kiting. http://www.hardwaterkiter.com/skis-boards-boots.html

In terms of versatility, a "Big Mountain" ski is the jack of all trades. Essentially a powder ski shape with a GS ski construction. The most popular ski locally is hands down are the older Dynastar Cham. They do pow, crud and ice very well which allows one to handle anything that you may run across on a kite. And if you hunt around they can be had for 1/3 the price of similar skis.

I disagree with Matt's length choice. Especially for use on the kite. In your height, I wouldn't go less than 180cm+. For me at 6' 200lbs I'm on 198cm for my pow boards and 189cm on my Chams. The carve radius alone of such a short ski will make for oscillation issues on firm surfaces while kiting.

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Re: Skis for all-round riding

Postby matth » Wed Jan 17, 2018 2:30 pm

q

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Re: Skis for all-round riding

Postby andylc » Wed Jan 17, 2018 4:40 pm

If you don't have a strict budget I would take a look at Icelantic skis. They're handmade in Colorado so not cheap. I have had a pair of Icelantic Nomad 105 skis from new and they are far and away the best skis I have ever used. Construction is bombproof, mine are probably 10 years old now and they are fantastic for on and off-piste skiing, hard groomers and deep powder, I even love them on moguls and I found them great for kite skiing too. They are quite stiff so not ideal for beginners, but are great at speed, no chatter at all, I'm out at Whistler at the moment with them. I cannot recommend them enough, also if you care about these things it's nice to have something a bit different, and they usually have very cool (and slightly crazy) graphics.
Length wise I use much shorter skis these days. I'd think the Nomad 105 in 171 or 181 would be ideal.
Last edited by andylc on Thu Jan 18, 2018 2:10 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Skis for all-round riding

Postby matth » Wed Jan 17, 2018 6:33 pm

andylc wrote:
Wed Jan 17, 2018 4:40 pm
If you don't have a strict budget I would take a look at Icelantic skis. They're handmade in Colorado I think so not cheap. I have had a pair of Icelantic Nomad 105 skis from new and they are far and away the best skis I have ever used. Construction is bombproof, mine are probably 10 years old now and they are fantastic for on and off-piste skiing, hard groomers and deep powder, I even love them on moguls and I found them great for kite skiing too. They are quite stiff so not ideal for beginners, but they great at speed, no chatter at all, I'm out at Whistler at the moment with them. I cannot recommend them enough, also if you care about these things it's nice to have something a bit different, and they usually have very cool (and slightly crazy) graphics.
Length wise I use much shorter skis these days. I'd think the Nomad 105 in 171 or 181 would be ideal.
Same here, I use to ski on 203cm back in the day, now I ski on 173cm and love it. Bumps, trees, groomers, these skis rip. I don't feel like I lost any stability at speed and have only gained versatility and playfulness.

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Re: Skis for all-round riding

Postby Hardwater Kiter » Sat Jan 20, 2018 4:10 am

Love my Icelandic Seekers. Also a good jack of all trades.

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Re: Skis for all-round riding

Postby andylc » Sat Jan 20, 2018 4:21 pm

Not heard of those but assuming you meant Icelantic and you were the victim of autocorrect then I don’t think Icelantic make any bad skis.


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