OT: buying end of season skis

[crownjewelwl]

I know there are some avid skiers in the forum. I don't ski enough, but as my boys get older it will become a more regular pursuit.

Any good tips for rocking new skis? I know end of season sales are a good place to start.

Is this going to become a wormhole like buying bikes????

Thanks!!

[gforce]

The first thing to determine is ability, frequency you ski and where you ski.
There are many sub categories now so try to narrow it down and put
together a list of a few ski designs that fit your requirements.
Most companies offer a ski in a variety of different categories. Pick a ski that fits your budget.
Before the skis I would be spending my efforts on getting properly fitting boots with a good ski custom insole - this take care of many future problems.

[yngpunk]

Might try to find "gently used" vs new, esp. since it sounds like your kids are growing and may need new skies as they get older and more experienced.

Don't know where you live, but checking out ski shops and sporting good re-sale shops in ski towns may be useful. Also, REI garage sales might yield up some gems.

Good luck.

[echelon_john]

Well worth the +/- $50 to demo several pairs of skis over a day. Go by yourself so you're not chasing kids around, and try to get on 4-5 different pairs.

Otherwise we're just recommending what we like.

[crownjewelwl]

The first thing to determine is ability, frequency you ski and where you ski.
There are many sub categories now so try to narrow it down and put
together a list of a few ski designs that fit your requirements.
Most companies offer a ski in a variety of different categories. Pick a ski that fits your budget.
Before the skis I would be spending my efforts on getting properly fitting boots with a good ski custom insole - this take care of many future problems.

how would you categorize stratton in vermont?

i have a pair of surefoot boots so i'm set in that department!

[crownjewelwl]

Well worth the +/- $50 to demo several pairs of skis over a day. Go by yourself so you're not chasing kids around, and try to get on 4-5 different pairs.

Otherwise we're just recommending what we like.

please recommend what you like! i have no delusions about being able to distinguish the subtleties. i just haven't skied that much!

[veloduffer]

I'm in the same boat, as my equipment is over 20 yrs old. I plan to buy new boots on closeout soon, and next year I will get a seasonal rent for the skis from a local ski shop. If you like the one that you rent, usually you can buy them from the shop at very good prices.

New skis are just so expensive (almost the cost of a good used bike frame -seesh!) for the few times that I go (less than a dozen).

[mgm777]

First, as others have said, demo the skis you think you want first. If you don't ski very much or don't have much experience with ski equipment, read the reivews and pick a solid all-mountain ski with good reviews. That's a pretty safe bet. The all-mountain offerings from the top ski manufacturers are all really good these days. The differences between them are subtle at most. Also many resorts, at the end of the season, sell their demo and performance rental skis at very large discounts. Sometimes, their expensive demos, at a smaller resort, don't get rented that much and can be in near-new condition. You may have to be present in-person to take advantage of that opportunity though. Also, in the Rockies at least, this year has been tough for hard goods retailers becuase of the thin snow so far. As a result, there are going to be some huge discounts to be had on skis toward the end of the season at ski retailers. You already see that happening with high-end ski clothing.

[gforce]

Probably a good carver for the east coast. 70 - 80 mm in the waist with plenty of sidecut.

[echelon_john]

How would I categorize Stratton? Too crowded with new yorkers! ; )

I'm in that neck of the woods; my daughter races at Bromley so we ski mostly there and Stratton.

If you haven't skied in a while, the biggest adjustment will be to much shorter shaped skis. I have evolved from 207 GS skis in college to 182 or 184 all-mountain skis now.

If the majority of your skiing will be in New England, you most likely want something designed with a little narrower waist (which now means 70-80ish mm) versus an all-mountain/powder oriented ski that will be 82+mm wide.

Bill Haight at the GMOL at First Run Ski Shop at Stratton would be a good person to have a conversation with. He's among the top boot fitters in the country, and a great resource. At the very least he could probably point you toward several options to demo that would make sense.

Beyond that, the major brands' web sites have pretty decent ski selectors, and if you familiarize yourself with the basic categories and specs, you'll start to see the differences between different models; essentially stiffness, waist width, and sidecut/radius.

Something like the Fischer Progressors would probably be worth looking at, as well as whatever Rossignol's all mountain/on-piste oriented models are.

Hope this helps!
John


how would you categorize stratton in vermont?

i have a pair of surefoot boots so i'm set in that department!

[MadRocketSci]

epicski.com for forums....across their hall is tetongravity.com

[Ken Robb]

I gave up owning skis years ago. The designs were developing so fast while prices escalated that I decided I was better-off renting. I don't have to schlep them and I can rent various sizes and models depending on snow conditions and my whim. I'm lucky to get in 7 days a year so the cost isn't too bad.

[MadRocketSci]

popular hard snow biased all-around skis are:

Blizzard Magnum 8.1 or 8.7...discontinued next year, going tip/tail rocker for 2012/2013
Fischer Motive 84
Fischer Progressor 8+,9+,10+(carving specific)
Head Peak 78,84, etc
Rossi Experience 88
Dynastar Legend 85
Volkl RTM 84

off the top of the head...

[verticaldoug]

I think echelon_john gave you some good advice. Go to a shop you can trust.

There are many variables. How good a skier are you? How strong are you? Do you like to ski trees? Do you hit the bumps? Do you like pow? How old are your children? How do they ski? How stiff are your boots? etc etc....

I went to twin tips when the 1080 first came out in the 90's. Twin tips are skiing with snow boarder attitude. My daughters are both in their teens and ride twin tips too. If your children don't race, chances are they will want twin tips to hit features in the park and twin tips are fine in the trees.

If I had just one ski in my quiver for the east coast, it'd be the Volkl Bridge.

Doug

[csm]

Line Prophet 90's for all around fun. they float decently and can run gates.
K2 Darksides for powder dumps. 128 underfoot and they will carve a turn.

[VTCaraco]

LOTS of worthwhile equipment to be found for short money. Per your boys, if I'm understanding that they'll have equipment needs, too, I've had amazing luck picking up equipment at blowout sales and then flipping it as my son has outgrown it. For the most part, we've stretched his skis/bindings over two seasons and boots for 1 year. After 10 to 20 days per year, I've always managed to get new stuff and sell it for probably 80% or so of what I had spent and have been asked "are you sure?"..."this doesn't seem like enough money". With this scheme, I've done far better than friends who have done rentals through the mountain-sponsored instructional programs. The key was buying out of season, leftover gear (from a year or two ago), and scanning the right equipment sites (REI, Evo, untracked.com, levelninesports.com and a host of others).

For my needs, I've skimmed the same sites and bought good gear that was two or so seasons old at 70-80% off or more. I haven't pined over a particular brand, just some things that I know that I like. At 205 lbs, I prefer a wood core ski and I listen to buddies, forums, and students (I teach in a ski-happy community) that take the sport far more seriously than I do. Sure, the technology changes, but good equipment is still good 3 or 5 or even 10 years later, regardless of what else might have come since.
To some extent, the same is true with boots. Get a feel for what you need from a stiffness and width point of view, then jump in. The boot-fitter that is mentioned is top-notch, as is many of the other folks at the specialty shops, but the price jumps so much that I feel like you reach a diminishing return. If you have an unusual need or anticipate lots and lots and lots of hours on the mountain they probably make sense; but otherwise, I think you can do pretty well with a highly recommended off-the-shelf option. Like my ski shopping, I've taken the time to define my preference (90-110 flex, wider lasts) and then shopped by price/value through mail-order.

Can this become a slippery slope like bike-buying? You bet! But you're interests/wallet should be in control.
Truthfully, how much better is your most recent bike over the bike that was most recent 10 years ago? I'd guess that you can appreciate incremental differences, but that bike from 10 years ago was good enough that it allowed you to cultivate a love for the sport, right?
Consider how you anticipate using the gear and just jump in...

Like Echelon John, I'm in Bennington, VT area and I definitely prefer Bromley over Stratton. Stratton is a nice mountain with nice terrain and better snow/grooming than Bromley, but it's a lot of $$ for skiing ($80+ lift tickets for weekends/holidays). I simply like the feel of Bromley much more than Stratton. For years now I've been completely comfortable letting my son ski with his buddies and take whatever trail/lift he wants at Bromley with the piece of mind that I'll bump into easily while I'm skiing the slopes/terrain that I wan. Even when I was able to get free passes, I still chose to ski Bromley. If you're going to travel and pay bigger money, Jay Peak (up near Canada), Burke and Sugarbush are some of my/our favorite mountains.

And this year might not be the best year to cut your teeth. I bought my midweek pass and have only been out 2 times. Both times the snow was hard enough with enough hidden ice spots that I wasn't having that much fun (and left after a dozen or so runs ~ maybe 2 hours of skiing). Last year, on the other hand, was a spectacular season. Ironically, if you take a 2-year picture, we're right on average for accumulation. I just didn't think that a good year would be followed with such a rotten one.

[rockdude]

I have a two pairs of cosmetic seconds skis. One is a 175cm Sterling Skis Matterhorn Speed in a Madrona Burl with Vist speedlock plates & binding and travel case (retail $3,500) for $645.00. The other is a 185cm Sterling Skis Matterhorn AT in Madrona Burl with Travel case, (Retail $2,250) for $600. These are for expert or high intermediate skiers only.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f236/roc-dude/Aspen_Mag_7481.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f236/roc-dude/FINALS-7602.jpg