 Poster: A snowHead
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First of all, hello to all snowHeads. 
I'm pretty sure I'm not the only thrill-seeking, speed-loving female skier alive. So I'm also not the only one with a tough (or so it seems) problem to solve. I hope you will be able to help me with it.
I'm a pretty skilled 16-year-old currently owning a pair of Voelkl Energy Alphas. They are just fantastic - I've never come across anything giving more fun to ride on hard snow and ice at high speed (but not too high - I am light enough to be thrown about on anything more wavy than an even, board-like surface if I speed up too much). However, they aren't that good when the conditions get worse.
Anyhow. They're rather oldish and short now, so it's time to replace them with more advanced and versatile gear. After a nice few weeks of reading through various websites, comparing different models, consulting my old skiing instructor and arguing with my dad I came up with two names of pretty similar fat skis - and both Voelkls, not surprisingly - Attiva Aurora and the Grizzly.
Both link fast alpine skiing with a tad of freeride. Just perfect for what I intend to do. Moreover, Grizzlies come with the PowerSwitch technology. Sounds yummy, but that's where I get my problem.
Seems uncle Voelkl (and pretty much all the other manufacturers I took into consideration) decided that the fastest, most extreme models of skis will be available to large-framed, bald-headed, male maniacs of speed only. Nothing for a midget like me (56-57 kilos, 160 centimetres tall). Grizzlies, therefore, come with 163 cm and 14.0 D WideRide bindings intended for 60 kilos and more.
For midgets they have the Aurora - 156 cm, 12.0 WideRide good from 40 kilos upwards.
A tad narrower. Hopeless looks (my opinion only). No carbon rods inside. In general - they just seem to be a cheaper, feminine imitation of the Grizzly without the PowerSwitch.
But they're not pink. Thank Lord for that.
There's another option, though - fitting the lighter bindings to the Grizzly. Problem theoretically fixed, but I'm not sure if such a set would work well. The construction of the skis themselves could be intended for heavier guys and that would make the ride suicidal.
It would be 3 cm taller than me as well, but as far as I know the more advanced skiers can fiddle with the boards' length. Maybe it's wrong, though. I'm not sure.
So, to cut this rambling short - what do you recommend? Tuning the slightly long Grizzly with 12.0 D bindings (with pretty risky results and rather no demo available), taking Attivas and never looking down on the skis again? Maybe choosing something entirely different? Or screwing it all and buying a snowboard?...
... oh hell, I can't believe I have written so much. Sorry for that. 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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You're 16, I'm HORRIFIED that you can even contemplate affording a pair of Grizzlys.
(I'm a child of the 70s y'see - we made our own skis following instructions from Janet Ellis.)
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Alexandra, you spoiled thing you, you had instructions? Why, back in the '60's...
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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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comprex, (*with his best Scottish voice) some big sticks fur a wee woman!
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| comprex wrote: |
| Alexandra, you spoiled thing you, you had instructions? Why, back in the '60's... |
Oh yeh baby, driving up to The Lecht in a Morris Minor praying we wouldn't get stranded. 
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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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 Yayz. Thanks for responses.
Okay, a word of comment if I may.
Alexandra, I wasn't able to contemplate affording anything above something like 50 quid a year ago. Unless it involved saving every tiny coin I got every week and getting, lessay, a PS3 after two years without crisps. I bought everything I have - boots, skis, even the helmet which I sincerely hate - for pocket money and a bit of extras I received for Xmas, birthdays and Easters.
And then we basically moved from Poland to here and that's how I suddenly have that strange feeling of being able to afford everything from electric guitars to Bentleys and gold-plated alarm clocks.
So yes, I will go without crisps or cola or water and toilet for a year, but I'll get some good gear to ride on. A year of misery is a bargain price for a week of divine fun somewhere in France on the best boards I could find.
And Comprex - thanks for the tip. I'm still not totally sure about the bindings, though. I think I'll just try to get on a demo ride to check if I'm able to handle such stuff without working my legs off.
You see, I wanted to try this type of skis as I don't think I'll be able to go any faster than I can go now without getting suicidal. So the occasional jump off the piste would be ideal to get a bit of variety. Plus, the worst nightmare I could possibly imagine is wasting a few days of the week in the mountains waiting for ideal conditions. That happened. Twice. In a row. So I want to make sure that this time I take something that won't try to kill me on rough snow, and those seem ideal for that kind of trips.
Hell, the same thing again.
Yesss, I get a low C for my summary work. Always. 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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if you're liking voelkls, take a look at Movements an' all - great for all mountain, with a freeride or off-piste bias, but if your skilled enough (or heavy enough like me  ) you can bomb it on piste too - they do like a bit of speed but once you're up and moving they carve pretty effortlesly. As for bad snow / crud / crap / choppy, forget it - they annihilate pretty much everything.
Well worth a look - they have a couple of burd-specific models so shorter lengths should not be a problem, though in my experience they do "ski shorter" than the lengths would suggest anyway - so don't go too short. May perhaps be a tad stiff but the stiffness shouldnt be a problem if you're a strong skier (or in my case a heavier skier)
good luck, always fun buying new kit and/or trying out some different terrain / style / type of skiing
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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buy the Explosivs for sale on the bull/sell thread - you'll be able to ski anything on them and have enough spare cash for an extra ski holiday.
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Bioinfected, welcome to snowHeads. You needn't fret about summarization either-you write very well.
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You know it makes sense.
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Barry, thanks for the suggestion. Movements seem great. I particularly like the Black Rose model - I'll definitely have a closer look at it before I buy anything.
I won't probably take the Explosivs as it's still a few nice months before I take the cash and actually buy something. And they'll probably be gone by then.
And one more thing - Comprex, sorry for lack of clarity in my response but I didn't bother reading through it for an hour or so picking out mistakes and polishing it up to a GCSE essay standard, as I tried to do with the first post.
The 'ideal' conditions I meant was a nicely prepared track with no fresh powder or grass peeping out from under the snow. But two years ago and a year ago in Polish Carpathians the conditions were at least funny. Mud, ice (actually I don't mind ice), if not that then half a metre of powder. For one day. Then it all melted down anyway.
Forget groomed pistes, and forget lifts due to conflicts of highlanders with local authorities (not joking here). Half of the pistes was closed for two years in a row and our family couldn't really afford going anywhere else in that time.
So yes, I didn't have much fun. I tried my best if there was some fresh snowfall but the skis I have just sink on the powder.
So indeed I spent days not skiing because it just made no sense. Even if up there there was a heavenly place where I could have some fun, there was no way to get there.
Unless I wanted to walk all the way up carrying all the gear.
Or die.
So well, I hope I clarified my opinions well enough this time.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Bioinfected, it was a little more snowy* than that back in the late '70s.
We walked up for turns.
*very little, esp. '78. I was very proud of having a new W. German nylon sports jacket until it got wet through and through and I was laughed at for a week of rain. Edit: didn't die.
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