 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi all
Off to L2A on 28 Jan. Conditions and ski legs being up to it, Im planning to do La Grave on one of the days  (yes, with a guide....).
Up until now, Ive been skiing on-piste, and a little off-piste, with a pair of old ex-rental piste skis I bought in 2005-ish and occasonally with blades (dont judge me  ). So I will be renting a pair inh-resort for the week. I am a relative beginner when it comes to off-piste, but i would say that i am relatively competent (in that i will make it down any bits ive tried, all be it without a whole lot of style or grace!). But my version of off-piste is, generally speaking, those patches of snow that links one piste to another, so I would be far far far from a hardcore off-pister. I would readily admit that my enthusiasm level is far ahead of my technique when it comes to off-piste (or on-piste for that matter!).
Anyway, since La Grave is a different animal altogether, I need to do a bit of proper off-piste training in the first few days so i can tackle La Grave properly. With that in mind, when it comes to renting skis in-resort, is there anything in particular need to know? Specifically:
1. Is there a big difference between your typical 'intermediate' ski versus typical 'advanced' skis when it comes to off-piste?
2. As I will be skiing a mixture of on and off-piste all week, is there a typical type of ski I should I ask for?
Bearing in mind that my technical knowledge when it comes to skis is very limited, please keep it simple....!
Thanks
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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go somewhere like Ski Extreme where they have a decent selection of skis. tell them what you are planning and they will hook you up with something decent. if you don't like them you can always go and change them. you can even get something specific for your day in La Grave
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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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drkpower,
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since La Grave is a different animal altogether
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'snot quite that bad...You do see a lot of folk coming over from LDA with piste skis.. they all seem to be happy 
A (very rough) way of thinking about it would be that the softer the snow is, the wider/longer the ski should be.
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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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drkpower,
Wide skis with soft tips/tails are going to help you in dry powder but might not cut it so well on the piste. What's soft or stiff for any particular person very much depends on their weight (how much do you weigh?). There are exceptions e.g. some very light people with great technique can ski powder on race skis. Advanced skis tend to be stiffer, which isn't always an advantage offpiste. All-round skis often have wide tips / tails with a realatively narrow waist and a short turning radius - this can make the then hook up easily in offpiste conditions.
As Arno says, try a few different rental skis and see what suits best.
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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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drkpower, there are two classic "itineraries" that a guide will probably do with you and, unless there's fresh snow, they are generally more or less pisted by the traffic. Certainly no more difficult that your typical black.
Things change considerably when you get away from those itineraries.
The best thing to do is tell the shop what you plan to do and they should be able to point you in the right direction, but something like a Salomon Lord, Rossi Experience 83, Scott Mission or Dynastar Outland 83 are things to look at. They are wider underfoot, but not so much that you they become harder to ski on piste, and all have a little bit of "rocker", which helps you off-piste, but makes them ski shorter (and more easily) on piste.
If you want something wider then the next skis up would be the Salomon Sentinel, Scott Crusade, Rossi Experience 88 and Rossi S3. Maybe the Dynastar Sixth Sense - although that is wider again.
I've focussed on Salomon, Dynastar and Rossignol skis as they you're most likely to find these in the rental shop.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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This all very interesting as I'm in the same postion as drkpower, and would like to hire off piste type skis for the snowheads off piste bash in March.
Will you let us know how you got on and how the off piste skis compare to just normal piste skis?
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Thanks folks; superb advice as always. I will let you know how it all pans out (if i make it back...!).
So, Im presuming that the type of skis you have all suggested above would probably come within the typical 'advanced' ski, rather then the typical 'intermediate' ski (as classified by the typical ski shop?
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I would say not - but this is me speaking as a relatively inexperienced skier who classed herself as a 'beginner' and hence got basic skis and has then skied lots of different conditions in last 18 mths (and eventually realised I probably stopped being a beginner a while ago). Go to Ski Extreme and describe what you want - they will sort you out
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