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Going longer - things I noticed
 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead

There are a number of us on here that started to ski around the same time and I know some of us have wondered at what point our skiing would improve sufficiently for us to begin to notice subtle differences when we got hold of different skis. I have never been that worried about being able to flex a respectably stiff ski (mainly due to me not being an insubstantial person Embarassed ), but I have been concerned about the differences that might be evident once I got on longer skis.

Having got longer skis for Christmas (168, my current ones are 160cm) I have been keen to get aboard something a bit longer to see what sort of difference the extra length might make. I got the chance yesterday with my first visit to Manchester Chill Factore (which I was quite impressed with - we had the first morning session and the slope was in excellent order). As I had the opportunity I had a set of 170's (the hire skis were an orange coloured Head set - their standard colour scheme on the top coat - may have been 'Shape' skis?).

I've tried the odd set of 170's in ski tests with mixed results, but this was the first time I'd skied a set on a slope with plenty of space (few skiers) for a prolonged period. The results were very much as had I had begun to notice with the various test skis. I found that the longer ski 'forced' me to pay more notice to my technique. I became conscious of those drills I'd been doing at HH at the SH lessons. In particular keeping centred over the skis, and getting them both onto their edges simultaneously. I found that they wanted to draw a bigger arc in the snow (they will have had a larger turn radius than my 160's I'm sure), and that it was more effort to get them describe a tighter 'get you out of trouble' turn. However, although were more effort on tighter turns when I had them on edge following a lovely wide 'S' turn, they felt great I could even get them to rock over from edge to edge and felt them doing so as I turned in the opposite direction - I could imagine skiing them on a wide open motorway style piste and just settling into the feel of them. I could also feel 'stability' in the extra length and they had less whip about them. Although it's going to sound daft, they felt more 'grown-up'.

All in all I think was a useful exercise to try longer skis. Undoubtedly my new ones will respond even more differently as I am sure that they will be even stiffer than the hire skis, but at least I now know that the length won't stop me from sking them, I think this years holiday could be an interesting development time for my skiing.


Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Wed 30-12-09 20:40; edited 2 times in total
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person

Megamum wrote:
I have been keen to get aboard something a bit longer to see what sort of difference the extra length might make.
I suspect a few others may say the same thing... personally I think as you improve, longer is probably better. My current skis are 176's which are much longer (10CM) than recommended for 'me'.
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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?

I'm in the same boat, I've been skiing 165's , but my new skis are 176's. It will be interesting to note the difference when I go in a couple of weeks.
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