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Are my skis too narrow for current conditions

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I am heading to St Anton on Sunday with my Head TT40s.

I only ski on-piste but they are pretty narrow at 119-67-99, and with all of the fresh snow in St Anton I am wondering whether I should rent something fatter, even for piste skiing.

Advice please on whether I should rent some fatter beasts and if so what I should look for.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Once upon a time they'd have been classed as all mountains. I think you'll be fine if you're on piste only, they'll no doubt work at bashing the piste. You could always demo something a bit different.

Lucky you going to St Anton, I have to wait till the end of March.
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codyaitch, they'll be fine for skiing on piste, but if you get some more fresh when you're out there trying out a demo pair of something fatter will give you a sense of what the extra width does.
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Not sure there is such a thing as too narrow, but you'll have more fun on something fatter.
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I'm not sure I'm in a position to give you any advice, but I was in St Anton a fortnight ago when there was so much powder it could have been sold to eskimos.

When it was fresh on the slopes the hire shop gave me some Rossignol S3 128-98-118 which were a dream to ski powdery pistes compared with the Salomon Powerline 24 sport racing skis 119-72-103 which they gave me when the pistes were rock hard.

Even the piste skis were fatter than yours! If I were you, I'd try something bigger. Edit. If you were me you'd try something bigger, but maybe you're the sort of skier who can ski well on a pair of ski poles... but then you probably wouldn't be asking this question.


Last edited by Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. on Tue 24-01-12 17:04; edited 1 time in total
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clarky999, you really thing fatter skis would be more fun for someone who only skis on piste??

codyaitch, they will be fine IMHO.
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kitenski, St Anton has been/is getting DUMPED on - pistes likely won't be corduroy groomers (most of the time), more like a few inches of fresh/cut up + moguls.
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kitenski wrote:
clarky999, you really thing fatter skis would be more fun for someone who only skis on piste??


Could be if it cuts up a fair bit or is soft groomed to begin with (negating some of the width penalty). Pisted isn't a constant state of affairs.
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Any ski is skiable depending on you ability, I skied a powder week with a guy on 67 underfoot World cup slalom 155cm, he was magnificent skiing a fanfastic line we did 8s in 2 ft powder I was on a mission;his ability turning from the hips fantastic. The weapon of choice for good skiers off-piste was a GS ski and piste slalom and still is really if you want to pass some exams, so the choice is yours, I'm sure you can handle it.
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clarky999, key word is *has*, doesn't mean it will whilst the OP is there! I guess best bet is to wait and see, if it dumps then maybe try renting some slightly wider skis if OP is struggling....

But sometimes going wider is going to make it harder to get onto the edge etc, depending on ability, experience etc etc
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Thanks guys

I have skied for 7 or 8 weeks and would class myself as a confident intermediate on piste.

Have never encountered the sort of snow that has been dumping this week - all of my skiing has been on reasonably well groomed pistes or packed ice (PSB Tignes)

I will try my beasts on the first morning and check out conditions and take it from there.
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I would wholeheartedly support trying some mid fats (if there is such a thing).

I have tried some Volkl Kendo's this week, dont think they are stupidly fat at the waist at 88, designed to be all mountain.

Oh my word what a difference, i was on fisher progressor 10's which are an outstanding piste ski, but with the conditions (Westendorf - we've had probably 50-60 fresh in 2 days) I thought I would try slightly fatter skis. They are simly brilliant, cutting through and over 6 to 12 inches of fresh on piste with ease, and off piste (by the way I am only just beginning to venture off last few years) they are sublime, real good mix of great on piste (carving and shorter turns), bumps, and off piste. If I hadn't of tried I would never have known, now I am a CONVERT, love em Smile Smile

Even if youre not going off piste, IMO they are way better in fresh snow on piste....
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kitenski wrote:
clarky999, key word is *has*, doesn't mean it will whilst the OP is there! I guess best bet is to wait and see, if it dumps then maybe try renting some slightly wider skis if OP is struggling....

But sometimes going wider is going to make it harder to get onto the edge etc, depending on ability, experience etc etc


Yeah for sure (you might note I didn't say his were too skinny). But something along the lines of a Dynastar Sultan - 80 or 85mm - would probably be optimum for the OP and what I *expect* conditions to be. Even if there's no fresh, a little bit of width can be nice on cut up/bumped/soft pistes.
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 You know it makes sense.
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Quote:

The weapon of choice for good skiers off-piste was a GS ski and piste slalom and still is really if you want to pass some exams


Not really - only amongst old school instructors. The best skier I know, Saalbach local, Staatliche Instructor, Bergfuehrer, Austrian demo team, instructor trainer, ex racer, ski school owner/director, skis bentchetlers.

Edit: Actually of the four Staatliche instructors I know well (who still ski a lot), only one still uses skinny skis offpiste. He's also the oldest, and whilst still clearly a brilliant skier the other three are better.
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clarky999, I'm wondering why? Engineering wise, all width gets you is a little float, which won't help unless you're going to sink?

Or not?
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
under a new name, as in why is a little width better for cut up/etc pistes? Hard to say really, it just 'feels' better to me. I have more fun on my Big Troubles in such conditions than any other ski I've ever used, just smash smash smash, big turns, tank through it all and dominate.

Probably something to do with stability and solidity, and minimising hooking and deflection, but I guess that's probably as much a product of flex and sidecut as as width.


Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Tue 24-01-12 19:21; edited 1 time in total
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Once upon a time we all skied on extremely skinny skis no matter what the conditions... rolling eyes
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Cynic wrote:
Any ski is skiable depending on you ability.


+1 for this.

I think All Mountains can make people a bit lazy and limit their progression in some cases too. There's a balance to be struck, big fatties can be like trying to steer the Titanic on piste they're softer and have more flex too so chatter and speed and can bend like bananas if you push them. The widest ski in my current quiver is 110mm, I sold a 115mm this year as I wasn't using them (yes I'm kicking myself after having huge amounts of powder in Japan and more recently Europe). My current do it all ski is 72mm can happily use it all day on and off piste, skis seem to just get fatter and fatter and as many have said here folk got on fine in the days of 2m long narrow skis.

Anyhow stand my original comment, if conditions allow like it looks like they will ideal time to try a few different skis
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Quote:

big fatties can be like trying to steer the Titanic on piste they're softer and have more flex too so chatter and speed and can bend like bananas if you push them


That's a pretty big generalisation, and not particularly true of many skis...

But either way, we're not talking about big fatties here are we?
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codyaitch wrote:
I am heading to St Anton on Sunday with my Head TT40s.

I only ski on-piste but they are pretty narrow at 119-67-99, and with all of the fresh snow in St Anton I am wondering whether I should rent something fatter, even for piste skiing.

Advice please on whether I should rent some fatter beasts and if so what I should look for.



I would stop watching ski movies and reading ski magazines.

67mm for onpiste riding in the European Alps is fine.
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As long as there is some kind of base, 67 is totally fine if you carve though it; if it's really cut up deep crud narrow skis are still skiable but more tricky and tend to tip dive which is not so much fun. Deep snow doesn't stick around very long on piste so I'd go narrow. Fat skis are in fashion but too often on piste they are less agile and are tiring to keep on edge.

More hire shops are pretty flexible though, you can try something wider and see how you like it.
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Quote:

skis seem to just get fatter and fatter and as many have said here folk got on fine in the days of 2m long narrow skis.


I second that!

Quote:

I sold a 115mm


115mm?! Shocked Jeeesusss!! I imagine some folk will have narrower snowboards!
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clarky999, Note the use of the word 'can' all depends who's skiing them and what the exact set up is, best skis for skiing on piste tend to be piste skis was my point.

Bergmeister, After picking them up cheaply a couple of seasons ago I sat on them so to speak and realised I'd never use them, too niche for someone who at best gets 4-6 weeks a season these days.
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Whitegold wrote:
codyaitch wrote:
I am heading to St Anton on Sunday with my Head TT40s.

I only ski on-piste but they are pretty narrow at 119-67-99, and with all of the fresh snow in St Anton I am wondering whether I should rent something fatter, even for piste skiing.

Advice please on whether I should rent some fatter beasts and if so what I should look for.



I would stop watching ski movies and reading ski magazines.

67mm for onpiste riding in the European Alps is fine.


Probably stop reading snowheads more like.
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Quote:

I would stop watching ski movies and reading ski magazines.

67mm for onpiste riding in the European Alps is fine.


I don't believe it, I actually agree with Whitegold for once...

clarky999, fair enough if it works better for you, for me cut up/bumpy pistes work better on my skinny SLs...
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under a new name, different flavours I guess
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My skis (old head 1100s) are similar to the op's at 115 67 99, this year I had a new pair of hired rossi 88 experiences which had more grip when carving on piste and were more stable at high speed offpiste but were difficult to turn quickly, in the bumps the skinny heads left the fatter rossis for dead.
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You'll be able to ski the 67s fine but they won't be as fun in the soft stuff.

I took out wider skis for the first time last week (Whitedot Ones at 89mm, yeah I know they're not proper wide these days!) and they were great fun. Not sure why I'd bother going back to really skinny skis even just for piste tbh, slightly quicker edge-to-edge is a pretty poor incentive to me compared to the fun I had on wider twin tips. Even if they were a bit less manouverable in certain situations.

I also found the Ones better on cut up pistes and moguls than the 78mm Bandits I skiied most of last season. I guess at the radius on the Ones is still relatively short though, plus the edges were actually sharp...
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interesting debate this, I'm going the other way, from skiing on 90mm skis last year on piste with my kids in April, I am going to be trying something around the mid 70s this year.....if you engage any ski on edge it's going to power through anything, I managed fine on my super skinny 203cm Force9s many, many years ago!!!
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My Rossi S3 are 99 underfoot.
On piste they do not ski like a fat ski, and off piste thay are very good.

Fat=Fun in freshies, of course you can ski skinny, my lad skied thigh deep powder with me on his FIS compliant Slalom skis, and looked very stylish doing so (he flippin should do considering he is almost ISIA). At the botom, looking up at his nice line of curvy 8's he said "nightmare, wish I was on the Factions". Just because it can be done on narrow does not mean that it should be done on narrow.
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 Poster: A snowHead
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Just in case people missed it, the OP said "I only ski on-piste".
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rungsp, but the OP has said he is a 100% on piste skier.....
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Yeah I skiied mostly on piste. There was ankle to boot deep powder on the pistes for the last day or so though.
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rob@rar, kitenski, but so what? rungsp said they "do not ski like a fat ski" on piste. Assuming St Anton's pistes continue to be covered in fresh powder as they have been all season, then surely he gets the advantage.
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James the Last, if you look at my original advice I say the OP's current skis will be fine on piste (because that's what he asked) but that if he gets some fresh snow while he's there it would be good to hire some fatter skis to see what difference it makes if you're skiing powder on piste. But if there's no fresh snow it would, IMO, be a waste of money.
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James the Last, because rungsp, was talking about his son wished he was on fatter skis in thigh deep powder off piste!! Completely irrelevant!

Let's be serious here, 100% on piste, his 67mm skis are going to fine, unless it's absolutely dumping a foot of fresh an hour and he is starting to struggle. Piste bashers and other skiers are going to be bashing it down anyhow.

Think we have all gone a bit overboard with wide is best.....people recommending 99mm width skis for an on piste only skier, come on guys!!

Wide is going to give him some float, no argument there, but do you need "float" on piste?

Wide is going to be harder to get from edge to edge, be less maneoverable and may actually hold back on technique development IMHO.

Personally I'd say ski on your existing skis, if it really is "deep" on piste, then try something wider, no more than 80mm though IMHO......

Not to say I am not a wide ski fan, I own two pairs > 90mm, but horses for courses......
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kitenski, welcome to the club! Be prepared for some flak...
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rob@rar LOL!

The other time I'd recommend fatter skis on piste is in heavy April slush.....where I did ski 3 days on skis over 110mm and 2 days over 90mm.......but was also off piste where I could!


Last edited by After all it is free Go on u know u want to! on Wed 25-01-12 11:44; edited 1 time in total
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I prefer piste skis in slush. I like to crank them over to a big an edge angle as I can (the slouch makes this easy as no fears about blowing out sideways) and slightly less surface area of the ski means less stiction to slow down progress.
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rob@rar, I'll certainly be taking mine out this April... if I go ahead with some mid 70mm skis

But have you tried them in really porridgy afternoon stuff you'd sink into if you took your skis off?
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