 Poster: A snowHead
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... After watching this weekends racing, it was interesting to see in a full WC race the difference these skis make.
My first impression was that it wasn't asthetically pleasing to the eye.
Seeing top racers struggle so much wasn't good.
I know conditions were difficult, but seeing how much the race course cut up, especially creating a box shape angle on the flags, surely goes against all the reasons why the FIS brought these new regs in, to prevent injury.
Because of the way the racers are having to ski, they are creating this box shape angle, which when hit, made many of the racers lose their outside edge. At least in the past, you could ride through any deep grooves in the course, as they flowed.
Time will tell...and i can't see it being a problem on hard icy pistes, but first impressions suggest there could be more DNF's.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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spud, Don't you mean 35m GS skis ?
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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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spud, I think the conditions made it hard to tell but impressions below;
A significant number of skiers lifting skis to turn
A number of The getting caught on an edge
A definite move to the inside skis on a turn
Ligity showing that no matter what class is permenant
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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spud, I finally got around to watching it on youtube, I didn't download all the first run though.
The conditions didn't look too bad to me, I have been at FIS races using old spec skis with similar snow and much deeper holes. People seemed to be going much slower when they did ski out than in previous years and I didn't see anyone getting injured.
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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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Stopped the Vonn circus.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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interesting commentary suggesting slalom skiers adapting better - maybe because of less reliance on carving skis through tight turns.
Not sure about the conditions comments - I thought they looked tough, not to mention varied regarding visibility and fresh snow/sraped off snow/rutted lines.
As Fattes13 mentions, definitely some inside ski steering before getting the pressure on the outside.
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| Chasseur wrote: |
| interesting commentary suggesting slalom skiers adapting better - maybe because of less reliance on carving skis through tight turns. |
This doesn't make sense to me, were they implying that slalom skiers don't carve turns ? The broadcast I saw has German commentary.
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| Not sure about the conditions comments - I thought they looked tough, not to mention varied regarding visibility and fresh snow/sraped off snow/rutted lines. |
If you are at the back of the field in a FIS race you can get worse conditions than these, the difference on old spec skis is that the people at the front will have been able to clean carve the course.
It didn't look much fun but maybe the new skis will make lower level races more even.
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Quiet right regarding ski radius...my mistake. 
Regarding the course rutting up...it did, but in a different shape to normal.
The skis by lifting and slight stivoting, create a box shape rut instead of a flowing rut. One that almost comes to a halt at right angles.
Often the outside ski would hit this and lift, and the skier ended up recovering and turning with the inside ski.
Ted mentioned that he missed a lot of the ruts by taking a wider and higher route.
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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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I really don't think these two races showed anything. Soelden, at least steep part, is just too much for women... on any kind of skis, and they were always struggling there... even on 23m skis, and before on 21m skis, and most likely they would even before on "straight" skis, if they would have races there at that time.
For men, conditions were just too weird to say anything. 50cm of new snow during night, course cleaned so that you had basically just rails down between gates, so catching a little bit different line ended in deep snow... And steep was never really carved before with "shorter" skis either, so it's really nothing to tell... yet 
Only thing there is to tell is, that in training period there was a lot less injuries then previous years, and even those which were, were mostly not related to GS skis. Sure one summer is way too little to tell, but at least for now, it doesn't look that bad as some people were eager to predict
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Cheers for the insight primoz, So you didn't seem to think it cut up too bad?
Commentators and racers were mentioning the difference in the shape of the ruts causing a problem...did you notice this?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I thought it looked a lot more precise and physical with early pressure needed to get the best line so harder work; then remembered taking a ski exam on a pair of 205 so didn’t really feel sorry for them at all.
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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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spud, to tell you truth... i didn't notice anything when being there. No matter what you guys might think of my job, thing is, it's definitely not even close to this what you imagine. Yesterday I went up to fog and snow at 7:30 (only good thing was, that I found my position fast, left my photo backpack clipped to fence, and I had more then enough time, to go and one run on top.... half meter powder and even gs race skis couldn't ruin that for me  ), then I was up till last racer (which counts for quite few hours), and when they come, I see them through camera viewfinder for second on one or two gates and that's it. I don't see race, I don't really see them skiing, I don't even know results until I come down to press center.
So on course, I didn't notice much. Except that on those few gates close to me, course was holding extremely well for those conditions. Personally I expected much much worse. Ok conditions were weird (snow storm for first few racers, perfect sun for next 40, then fog and really poo-poo**y flat light for last 20 or so), but if you look results, you can't hardly say course was problem. I don't remember seeing so many out of 30 number in top 30 after first run, so course was not really that much of a problem, but you can add also previously mentioned light thing into this, even though from somewhere 5 or 6 to 40-50 numbers, they all had similar light.
But as I said before already, it's hard to make any conclusions after one single race, especially after race in such conditions. Let's wait a bit, and we will see what will happen. With injuries, speed, look of skiing etc.
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Thanks again for the report primoz, Interesting reading. Regardless of conditions, Teds winning margin was amazing. Not since Stenmark in the 80's has there been such a winning margin i read this morning. Not sure if that's correct.
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You know it makes sense.
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If I heard right, Stenmark was some 4.2sec infront, so it was even bigger, but still this from Ligety is amazing. Funny part was listening to Austrian radio (O3) yesterday, when I was driving home. Conditions were bad, especially on first run, so Hirscher didn't have good light, and he was skiing in heavy snowfall (Hirscher didn't say anything about it, but it was journalists comment about this). Problem is, that Ligety had number 5, while Hirscher had number 7, which means at least 3 minutes difference, and weather was changing really rapidly... on better for higher numbers, so if anything, Hirscher had better conditions then Ligety, and you can see difference on both of this photos bellow (same gate maybe just a fraction of second difference):
Ligety:
Hirscher:
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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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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I get the feeling Hersher will be gunning for him this year... Lets hope so 
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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 need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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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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I think the new "old" skis has made Giant Slalom amazing to watch, and the very best (Ligerty) thrive.
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FAQ
