Ski Buying Advice Please

A snowHead

Hi.

I'm looking to buy a set of skis for my son but as I don't ski and know very little about skis (although learning fast).

Due to an incident (see my other thread if you are interested) with some hire skis I've decided to buy him a ski and binding bundle.

He's 17, 6ft 3, about 72kg (about 11 stone) and a size 11.5 - 12 trainer (he doesn't wear shoes!).

He likes jumps (big ones) and parks plus piste and is very good skier.

I've decided on the Line Honey Badger 177 with Marker Griffon binding.

Now he doesn't own ski boots and we plan to continue hiring these for the foreseeable future.

To order the skis with the binding pre-mounted I have to give the sole length of his non existent boots.
I see that this can vary from boot to boot across manufacturers but I see that the Marker Griffen has a 20mm adjustment range.

So looking at some charts I see that he would likely be a mondopoint (never heard of this until this week) of 30.5.
Looking at other charts this seems to generally lead to boots of a sole length between 340-345mm.
Given the 20mm adjustment range on the Marker Griffon bindings would I be safe in ordering them mounted with a specified sole length of 345?

I'm assuming wherever we hired the boots from would either make the necessary adjustment or provide a boot that fit the binding?

Is this a good plan or too risky?

All advice appreciated.

Thanks.

A snowHead

@Tudes24, Why don't you want to get him boots ?

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Too expensive and he might still be growing!

You need to Login to know who's really who.

To be fair if it was a choice between owning skis or boots it would be boots everytime

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Although skis seem the fun thing to buy, normally people buy boots first and hire skis. Or have boots and skis.

On the boot size, it’s one of those ‘should have paid more attention’ to the size of his hire boots on the last few trips. I wouldn’t want to assume boot size from a chart personally.

If you want to go down this route I’d buy a demo binding. Maybe something like this https://www.sport-conrad.com/en/products/marker/griffon-13-tcx-d-incl-stoppers.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwka_1BRCPARIsAMlUmEqIMnnFONroFny64EXgKml5mhpDuzZ1-T5yc86u-K_2PVjqNbUsSB4aArebEALw_wcB&hc_fcv=XqyLLBHLNNJe1Bgs~Lem__B303ZINYk-Ezzzzzzzz~Lem9g5k1DytMlE4Jzzzzzzzz.

These have a 90mm brake. The honey badgers are 92mm waist. Probably ok, perhaps with a bit of bending the arms. But perhaps someone else can advise on that, or whether you should look for 100mm brakes.

You'll need to Register first of course.

@Tudes24, be careful with ski boot size conversion charts, they are notoriously inaccurate. For example, all my shoes are EU size 42 (UK Cool

, and most size charts suggest either a 26.5 or 27 ski boot. I actually wear 25.5s; 26.5 is far too big. If you are not sure of the size, and could be a size (or more) out, then the 20 mm of adjustment range might well not be enough. Assuming the shop mounts the binding in the middle of the range, you've only got 10 mm each way - at best one mondo size.
A demo binding (or something like the Marker Schizo, if it's still around) would give you adjustment to any boot size. But I don't know whether this sort of binding is advisable on a park ski, if he does really big jumps. All hire skis have rail/demo bindings though so I guess it's probably ok Puzzled

.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

@mgrolf, the Marker Schizo has limited adjustment for boot sole length (maybe 20mm) and it’s the whole thing that moves forward and backwards. I wouldn’t trust those wires in the park though. Demo binding is the way to go I think.

After all it is free

So my thinking is that for the price of these skis and bindings in the sale (€300) they would pay for themselves in 2-3 years whilst giving him better equipment and less hassle hiring equipment.

I suppose once we can go back into shops we could perhaps look at buying boots but the price does seem prohibitive and by then these skis may no longer be in the sale.

Thanks for your replies.

Forgot to add that in all the times we've been skiing I can't recall him ever moaning or having issues regarding ski boots that we've hired which is probably why I'm not really focusing on the boots before skis adage.

I snowboard and got my own boots before a board. Snowboard boots weren't expensive and I've still got them 15 years later but honestly I think it's just nice to have your own boots rather than some sort of game changer. I've never skied though so for skiing it could be different.

Thanks again.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

The impact of having your own snowboard boots in comparison to having your own ski boots is completely different. Whilst having your own snowboard boots is nice and can be a game changer (was for me when I went for a much stiffer boot, my old ones were that floppy I could fold the opening over to meet the toe, and I've seen hire boots not much better), the difference with ski boots (correctly fitted) is miles bigger. With my ski boots I was getting a much better feel of my skis and hence better response, no cramping up in my calf/foot due to bad fitting so made me relax a little more and enjoy the skiing.

Help!!

Ski Buying Advice Please

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