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Skis for Instructor course - Advice needed!
 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead

Hi there!

I'd really love some advice on this as I've been all over the web and my head is starting to spin a little...

I'm off to do a L1&2 ski instructor course in 6 weeks in Canada (Big White so supposed to be powdery!) and I'm in a bind over what skis to go for - piste or all-mountain??

I checked out two pairs (which I can get out there) which seemed to have good reviews and be quite fun (I'm not really an off-piste kind of girl but would love to build up my confidence here) - these were the Salomon Lux 85 and the Atomic 95 CTI. (153cms). I'm an intermed-advanced level already I'd say, 5"5, 140lbs ish, so the height and specs of the skis seemed to fit OK.

Having said that, and after having thought I'd made up my mind to go with the Lux skis, I read a couple of instructor blogs where they highly recommend buying piste-only skis for a course - arghhh!!

I'm now not sure what to do. I've come across a pair of third hand Head C240i skis (156cms), which they're asking £40 for. I can't find any reviews for these skis so don't know if this is a good deal or not, but I did wonder if a solution could be to get these skis (as piste skis), see how I fare out there/with them (I'll be getting new, custom fiting boots as a priority), and if I still *really* want some all-mountain skis, or find that I need them, then I won't be too much out of pocket so I'll still be able to afford to buy a shiny new all purpose pair.

Does anyone have an opinion or good advice on what to do here? Really appreciate it if so!!

Smile
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person

Mrs t_m did one of these courses a few years back. You need precision, so a narrower ski will be better for all those snowplough turns and basic parallels. You should get a chance to ski some powder - Mrs t_m did some cat-skiing, but it's better to rent something suitable for that when the time comes.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

piste skis <= 75mm underfoot would be my recommendation. Anyone on anything wider got swopped over within a few days on my L2 course.

Powdery snow on a 75mm ski will be great fun!
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.

When I did an instructor course a while back most people were on some flavour of all mountain ski. I think the widths varied from ~80mm to one guy on K2 ObSETheds at 105mm (and passed just fine).

Really the sensible answer is to get two pairs, one <80mm piste ski and one ~100mm(+) soft snow ski. Either older pairs from a coupe of years ago or second hand; there are plenty of deals around and frankly most of the time there is little or no performance difference.

If you're going to be doing any actual teaching (or are you just there for the 6 week course?), there are definite advantages to having a playful twin tip, especially with kids/beginner groups...
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

If you're on a six week course, take the advice of the people who are running the course and can see you ski, and probably know the conditions you'll be expected to ski better than us. They'll also be able to direct you to good local retailers, and maybe even have deals with manufacturers to get you a discount. You might even be able to try before you buy to find a pair that suit you. This might mean you end up renting for a few days while you sort it out. The C240i are probably a decade or more old and I would suggest not worth the hassle of transporting over there - you'll be able to find plenty of cheap old skis in resort if that's what you're after.
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 You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.

Thanks for the advice! Local retailers were getting in lots of 75mm+ all mountain skis, so I went for a pair of Atomic Vantage 77s. Hopefully they'll do for the course, but if not I'll have a few weeks to see what discounts are available out there for a piste-only set Smile
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