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which skis do you use for snowkiting?

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jaapd
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which skis do you use for snowkiting?

Postby jaapd » Wed Jan 26, 2011 5:00 pm

What kind of skis do you use and what do you like/dislike about them? I need some recommendations.

I'm looking to buy new skis and don't know what to look for and have no chance to test anything.
Currently I'm using Blizzard twintips that are at least 5 years old. Last year I did one descent on Dynastar Legends and they were so much better than my old skis.

I will be in Haugastol during Ragnarok and try to snowkite whenever there's snow in the Netherlands.

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Re: which skis do you use for snowkiting?

Postby Hardwater Kiter » Wed Jan 26, 2011 9:37 pm

For deep or rough snow conditions I use Rossignol Phantom 108's in 198cm. The ski is a beast but will do pretty much anything. For really deep snow I ride Rossi Bandit 104 198cm with custom 30% tip rocker.

Hard snow Rossignol or Salomon DH in 115cm.

I'm really digging the rocker ski. I stay clear of twin tips because they have too much drag.

My 2 cents.

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Re: which skis do you use for snowkiting?

Postby storm_trooper » Wed Jan 26, 2011 11:16 pm

I use Head radial 175cm with Rossignol fix... they got 3 winters of teaching 7 to 10 years old kids! And it's the second pair of fix... the first one were 747 team salomon... old style equipped! :naughty:

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Re: which skis do you use for snowkiting?

Postby duloid » Thu Jan 27, 2011 12:51 am

Hey .. had similar problem ...
to choose the right skis for snowkiting is little more difficult and you have to look at it in more aspects ...

do you want skis for backcountry/reeride or freestyle ... size and type is depending on snow conditions and your skills

for deep powder you gonna need longer and wider skis ... for hard pack shorter skis
the same with freestyle ... short skis are more versatile ...

I do use Black Diamond Havoc 173 with Fritschi Diamir - AT bindings ... for backcountry/freeriding
AT set up is very useful when the wind dies or something unexpected happens ... put the skins and you can easily walk miles back to your car or any other location

Recently purchased Armada 115, for tricks and hard pack snow .. didn't try them yet ...

if you want something universal go middle way ... 150 - 170 , wider twin tip with lager turn radius

good luck

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Re: which skis do you use for snowkiting?

Postby rvrrat » Fri Jan 28, 2011 4:32 am

:thumb: I use the same ski I would use for the particular condition I would be skiin' if I were at lift serve or skinnin' in the woods. If it is hard, which is not my favorite, I use a narrower shaped ski that would be 90 under foot. In the soft stuff I'm on fat twintips with lots of shape and at least 100 under foot. I am 5'8'' and 175 and ski 167 to 177 depending on how deep. Just started using these new hand made wooden skiis called Lightning Boards. All I can say is incredible. Reminds me alot of the joy I get when I use my hand made wood paddles. These skiis are made to be similar to popular skiis out there in ski land. Go to lightningboards.com and read about them. Made Outside Magazines top 100 products of the year. And they are only $200.00. I am on the Izzy's. GO FAT! JR
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Re: which skis do you use for snowkiting?

Postby vindman » Fri Jan 28, 2011 3:01 pm

I had a look at the Lightning Boards website. Off topic warning now!
They make cool "longboards":
Image

Those longboards look a lot like "sea skis", used on the frozen sea by seal hunters here in Sweden. Those skis used to be long to be able to pass the cracks with open water.
Image
Image

The longboards also look like Swedish "forest skis", used by forest hunters over here:
Image

Anyway, back to the topic: I like your wooden skis, they look great!

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Re: which skis do you use for snowkiting?

Postby jaapd » Fri Jan 28, 2011 3:20 pm

This is exactly why I started this thread. I didn't mention it above but I'm also looking for skis that look good and are not too expensive.

I'm going to see if I can get those Lightning Boards here...

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Re: which skis do you use for snowkiting?

Postby Hardwater Kiter » Sat Jan 29, 2011 12:11 am

Man, the natural wood grain is beautiful right?

A friend of mine just made a pair of skis and left them natural. They really look awesome.

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Re: which skis do you use for snowkiting?

Postby robertovillate » Sat Jan 29, 2011 2:07 am

jaapd wrote: I'm going to see if I can get those Lightning Boards here...
The Lightning boards look sweet!!!...nothing quite like the feel of wood in a ski. These look awesome for back country stash access with AT bindings!

I wonder if they require any special care to maintain the camber. I remember when we used to store our skis strapped together with a block in the center. And we had to reapply "tar" to the wood bases.

as a related aside - any opinions on the best soft/semi soft boot combo for all around ski-kiting with AT gear?. I understand there is a compromise between more or less boot support and ski feel/contact...but for kiting in soft snow conditions I think softer boots would be OK (?)

I've been switching back and forth between alpine (racing) boots + skis (for the hardpack/icier conditions) and snowboard kit (for pow and variable crust type snow). We've had a great winter here in MI for kiting so far and we've been able to try/compare some gear, but we don't have access to a lot of the "state of the art" AT gear. I've been using some old Atomic Heli Guides (too long and heavy) with Lange race boots, but will probably pick up some shorter (lighter) shaped skis for the hard conditions

Next winter I want to have the perfect back-country setup. At the moment thinking the Lightning Boards (maybe the "Eight K" or "Natural") with a good randonee binding/boot

...but which combo?

I would love to have an AT setup that I can go all day in with the comfort of snowboard boots and without the pain/weight of ski boots. I'm about 160lbs/72kg.

Any suggestions appreciated...thanks

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Re: which skis do you use for snowkiting?

Postby rvrrat » Sat Jan 29, 2011 5:43 am

I talked with Bob at Lightningboards a bit when I ordered the skis. No special care required. The bases are petex( pardon the spelling) bases you can run thru a machine and the edges are polycarbonite, not steel. I would not use these on ice. But I don't particularly want to ride ice. Climbed and skiied 4000 vert today with skins on them in a foot of fresh and they were awesome. So lite for climbin' and Bob explained to me that because the ski is made from a solid piece of Ash like a Louisville Slugger baseball bat you get a increased edge control because the skis are torsionally stiffer then a composite ski. I can really feel that. No need for a steel edge. I can see you will have to lightly sand and varnish the top and sides at the end of the season. So far I am lovin' em. JR


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