 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi everyone,
I'm looking for advice on buying new skis for my 9-year-old son, who is about 137cm tall. He's an intermediate level skier—he can do basic parallel turns on mellow blue slopes, but still predominantly snowplow on steeper terrain.
Last season, he was on 110cm skis, and based on what I've found online, it seems the recommended ski length for his height and ability is around 120-130cm. My concern is that jumping straight to 130cm might be a bit too much for him. I’m thinking of getting something around 125cm to balance his progression but also give him room to grow into them over the next two years.
Does 125cm sound like a reasonable step up for his size and skill level? Will they last him for this season and the next? Or just go for 120cm and change again next year?
We have bought skis at Intersports in Germany/Austria over he past two years, typically as part of their exchange programs, where you can then trade in the pair of skis you bought last year for a discount on the new set. Unfortunately, the this has to be at the same Intersport and logistics keeps getting in the way. So for this year I was thinking of just buying skis online beforehand, either used or new depending on deal. Will get the boots either at the first resort we visit or go to a local UK ski shop closer to time. Since we ski frequently, buying is more cost-effective than renting, plus it saves us the hassle of lining up at the rental shop when we could already be on the slopes! 
Any advice from those who've been in a similar situation would be greatly appreciated!
Also if anyone knows what the best way is to sell used kids skis, please let me know. Ebay the way to go?
Thanks in advance!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@ski_free, we made big leaps with our kids. Never seemed to faze them. So I would go for 130.
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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?
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Agree with @Layne, my 8 year old daughter is a little under 140cm, but very slight abd a relative beginner. She skis 125s on a dry slope.
130 sounds about right if you want any use out of them.
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@ski_free, from the description you've given, it sounds like he's more of an upper beginner than intermediate.
If you're wanting some growing room, I wouldn't have thought too much issue with a 130. 125 also equally fine if you find something suitable.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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And yes - I'd get something reasonably suitable off Ebay. Alternative is to go into a hire shop in resort. Hire something suitable and if he's happy ask how much they would be prepared to sell you the hire skis for. We did that a few times and it was really cheap (remember the shops tend to earn back their purchase price in a couple of weeks hire.
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Thanks for all thee feedback folks, very reassuring.
Will look to get some skis in 128-130 range. That should hopefully last for two seasons then.
@BobinCH, Those mantras look pretty cool. Rocker in the tails could certainly make some things easier.
@jedster, interesting strategy. Though we may run into some issues as we are going very early in the season. So they may not be quite as keen to sell just yet.
So far I'm quite liking the look of these (128cm):
https://www.glisshop.co.uk/ski-set-bindings/rossignol/alpine-ski-set-experience-pro-kid-x-bindings48558177
~£150 with bindings (If I order sharpish).Not too bad if we can get 2 season out of them and sell on for a little bit.
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@ski_free, seems reasonable. Mine used K2 Juvy's a lot - not sure if they still make those.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| ski_free wrote: |
Thanks for all thee feedback folks, very reassuring.
Will look to get some skis in 128-130 range. That should hopefully last for two seasons then.
@BobinCH, Those mantras look pretty cool. Rocker in the tails could certainly make some things easier.
@jedster, interesting strategy. Though we may run into some issues as we are going very early in the season. So they may not be quite as keen to sell just yet.
So far I'm quite liking the look of these (128cm):
https://www.glisshop.co.uk/ski-set-bindings/rossignol/alpine-ski-set-experience-pro-kid-x-bindings48558177
~£150 with bindings (If I order sharpish).Not too bad if we can get 2 season out of them and sell on for a little bit. |
you might be surprised - they probably won't want to sell new stock but some of the rental fleet will be a year or two old and they often likely to keep it turning over.
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My 10yr old son is about 140cm tall now (I think), so probably about 5cm shorter last year. Admitedly he's a junior racer, so his SL and GS ski lengths are a bit irrelevant. However, I also bought him a pair of K2 Poachers for messing about, which he seemed to quite like. €190 with bindings, bought online. They're 139cm and he'll use them again this year. The year prior to that he had Faction Prodigy 0.0 that were 123cm. Loved them too, probably more than the K2s. Looking back at old receipts, they were €245 with Marker 10 bindings. The jump in size didn't seem to bother him (although the K2s were still just shorter than his GS skis).
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