Twin tip vs Piste orientated

A snowHead

Another stupid question.

How differently do twin tips ski to "normal" piste skis? It seems twin tip bindings are much more centrally mounted whereas the rest are towards the back.

So is there a massively different technique to use or are they similar. The reason I ask, I've been looking at piste skis for general indoor skiing and family holidays and have only been looking at piste orientated stuff. Although I have no freestyle aspirations, I have noticed most instructors at the local fridge use twin tips.

A snowHead

shootingmike, Twin tip will ski like a shorter ski other than that there's no real difference. That is unless you're a hardcore freestyler in which case if you do spend a lot of time going backwards then one would mount the bindings slightly further forward so as to get more control when travelling backwards. Being realistic about it twintips are just another fad for 98/99% of the people that own them. They look cool especially as they ski short it means you can ski a slightly longer ski than you regularly would. For the majority of skiers they are essentially no different to a regular ski.

edit: which raises the question why do people that will never go backwards on their skis specifically go out of their way to buy twintips? I know both pairs of my skis are twintips but that was more coincidental than intentional e.g. the skis i wanted only came as twintips as opposed to having a regular tails.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I want to get to the point where I can go and have a laugh with my kids in the park, so im really interested in twin tips... and Im also really interested in how they will "feel" compared to my ski's which I usually ski which are not twin twipped?

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Markoncarp, the twin tip makes very little difference if you are skiing forwards - other aspects of the ski's design will make much more difference ie length, sidecut stiffness etc. for a given length a twin tip will have a shorter running length which can make them feel easier to manage on piste. i want a long running length so i generally buy the longest ski available in a given model so it's a bit academic for me.

i have too many skis and they have a range of twin tip, kick tail and totally flat tail. given the choice all my skis would have a flat tail or a small kick at most but mfrs seem to want to put raised tails on skis that are otherwise attractive so i live with it

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Markoncarp, Pure park skis will ski short & they'll be really soft. Other than that there will be no specific difference between a park ski & another ski with the same geometry. Though (& i'm not sure about this) i think a park ski will have a less accentuated geometry to prevent them snagging edges when landing on rotation e.g. they'll have a relatively larger turn radius.

To be honest if you want to play in the park with your kids just do it. Odds are you won't be spending enough time going backwards or actually pushing it for a freestyle specific ski to make that much of a difference.

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Markoncarp,

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

They throw up a nice plume of snow in powder. Otherwise I don't notice them really. A lot of all-mountain skis seem to be twin tipped now (or at least semi-twin tipped) because it's trendy. But it does make them more versatile for those who do ski switch, as many youngsters do.

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If you do forest skiing the ability to go backwards without digging the rear tips in is pretty handy to steep terrain... I mean for the situations when you are slowly picking a route down rather than flowing.

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Holy thread resurrection, Batman - but I thought I would comment on my first full-week twin tip experience.

Ones I used last week were Volkl Alleys, described as an "entry level freeride ski". I hated them when I first put them on - not really carvers, slow as hell. Swiftly discovered that this was because they had not been serviced, seemingly ever. I skied a 168 (what I normally ski), so they were a little short.

Positives
- Central bindings meant that they were great for going backwards.
- similar central balance made them excellent fun in a half pipe and when doing small jumps (I didn't test big air - not good enough for that yet!)
- surprisingly good off piste: I guess due to a relatively wide waist.
- stiff enough to be absolutely fine on-piste, unlike other twin tip park skis I have tried
- really, really agile for silly (on piste, rather than mid-air) 360s and other such messing about
- excellent balance when in the air, and very happy to land a little bit off the straight without pitching you off

Negatives
- Not very stable in fast, long carved turnes, even once I had put a nice edge back onto them myself.
- I reckon that their relative lack of weght and stiffness would make them horrid in true ice. They weren't much fun in hard piste that had been skiied/boarded clean at the end of the day, even with be fining the edges every evening. I don't thik I'd want them on for spring conditions i.e. ice, then slush - wheras the K2s are remarkably good in such conditions.

I have to say, once I had waxed and edged these, I fell in love with them. For the kind of skiing I do (which is more about fun than outright speed) they were more rewarding than the K2 Apache recons I normally ski (a fairly good all-mountain ski). However, I think you'd find them less fun in poor conditions (conditions last week were as near perfect as I have ever encountered). Going to Kitzbuhel in 3 weeks, and expecting spring conditions...these may not be the skis for them. We'll see.

Help!!

Twin tip vs Piste orientated

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