Are all current skis good?

[JohnMoore]

Sorry if that seems a rather naive question, but various things I've been reading in my quest to find out what skis to go for have led me to wonder a couple of things:

1. How much difference there really is between the current offerings of the various ski manufacturers? I know there is a liking for Head's products on this forum, but how major are the differences between, say, their slalom skis and those of Fischer, or Blizzard or Salomon? Would someone unused to trying different skis spot major differences, or would they have to be an experienced ski tester? The reason I ask is that they all seem to produce similar looking offerings in the same areas - i.e., the dimensions of the skis and what their marketing says about their strengths all seem fairly alike.

2. Are all new skis now better than they were, say, 5 years ago?

[violao]

From my limited insight into ski reviews I've found that almost everyone agrees that Head and Fischer are great skis, while with other popular manufacturers (Atomic, Volkl, Salomon, Elan, etc.) opinions are highly polarized: either extremely positive or very negative. That's the main reason (other than PMTS folks suggestions that I higly value) I focus on these two brands. In my intermediate consumer category, of course.

[JohnMoore]

Harald seems to like Nordica these days as well.

[ginaliam]

Sorry if that seems a rather naive question, but various things I've been reading in my quest to find out what skis to go for have led me to wonder a couple of things:

1. How much difference there really is between the current offerings of the various ski manufacturers? I know there is a liking for Head's products on this forum, but how major are the differences between, say, their slalom skis and those of Fischer, or Blizzard or Salomon? Would someone unused to trying different skis spot major differences, or would they have to be an experienced ski tester? The reason I ask is that they all seem to produce similar looking offerings in the same areas - i.e., the dimensions of the skis and what their marketing says about their strengths all seem fairly alike.

2. Are all new skis now better than they were, say, 5 years ago?

Assuming a base line of high-intermediate skis and above (in various shapes and categories)-yeah, most skis are way better than their counter parts of 5 years ago--with some notable exceptions in unique big mountain/powder skis (like the much lamented Volkl Explosiv, various Volant Models-etc).

Mr. Keelty says that all ski companies make really great skis these days--with his consistent caveat that while there are few bad skis on the racks these days there are a number of 'bad' choices for a particular skier. So knowing what you want out of a ski and applying it in a focused demo is key.

Also-I've had better success demoing various shapes and sizes within one line of skis than demoing the same sort of ski from various companies. I.E you'll get more out of a demo comparison between the head supershape and a head im77 than a similar demo contest between the im77 and a Fisher AMC 76 (which is will be very similar to the im77).
Use you're demo time wisely finding the sort of ski shape that works best for you where you ski (big, fat, long, slalom shaped, gs shaped, cross etc) and less on comparing similarly styled/shaped skis from different companies.

Oh yeah-go with the ski companies that the local shop which treats you best sells--with high end eqiuipment I've found a good relationship with a shop is the most important thing!. Have fun

Liam

[John Mason]

Like most here I have a stable of skis right now. I have Volkl, atomic, and 3 pairs of heads, and have had nordica. (and I'm not quite a 3 year skier yet)

There is more difference within a single brand of skis than between brands based on things like turn radius, width, intended use. My I75m's and my 1400irc's are hugely different skis. In picking a ski the first thing I do is figure out what type of skiing am I trying to address.

At the camps the instructors are on various ski brands but head tends to predominate.

Ski like/dislike also will change as your technique changes. A ski that 'catches an edge' when you are not able to ski a hard carve line might be a very uncomfortable ski for a person to use. But that same person later might prefer a ski that edges very easily later.

In a side slip drill my I75m's are like cake icing spreading metal spatulas. They are very easy to modulate side slip - no side slip. The range of edge engagement is very broad from no engagement to a nice brushed carve to full carve. My 1400 xrc's can still do all of the above but the range of tipping in a side slip drill that goes from full side slip to full carve is much tighter than the I75m's. This make it a great ski if you like to do full carving GS style turns but not as nice as the I75m's for varied terrain.

Key to picking a ski then is know what type of skiing your looking for, the type of skier you are then demo/rent some skis that fit those needs.

Personally I'm in the rut that I pretty much use my 1400xrc's for anything. But if I was a person that sought out the steeps I'd want something that could control speed better and pick something like the supershapes. (don't have that many steeps out here)

[Icanski]

I have a question about wearing skis out. I have a pair of Volkl T50 five stars. The first ones they made in the 2002/3 season. They are excellent except going really fast and straight...they shimmy, like many shaped skis.
They are my day to day teaching ski, and also my favorite ski for bumps. I've noticed lately, that the tips seem to be up off the snow more. Or farther back than I think they used to be. I never really measured this before, but is it possible for a ski to "wear out" or get sort of bent like that? It's made for bumps so I can't think it would be ruined from that. How can one tell and is it usual for a ski to give out after 3 seasons of teaching? How long do you western instructors skis last, since you're out for a longer season than we are.
I thought they would lasat longer than this, at this cost...
icanski

[violao]

Key to picking a ski then is know what type of skiing your looking for, the type of skier you are then demo/rent some skis that fit those needs.

All very sound advices. The thing is, John and me I think, are trying to find a pair of skis that will best serve us in learning with PMTS. Supposing we can skid the mountain with an occasional wedge, the question is will skis mentioned here (C260/280, XRC800/1100, RX6/RX8) best suit that purpose or are we to shoot somewhat higher?

Speaking of demo, it's hard, if possible at all, at this point for me to evaluate ski's performance. I cannot tell if the skis will carve when I don't know how to make them carve. For example I tried my friend's Volkl P50. It looked to me that they "bite" somewhat better than my beginner's skis, but that's about all I was able to tell. The other guy tried mine. He also "skids" around in his P50 and said he couldn't feel much difference. On the other hand, if we get the skis that cannot carve how are we supposed to learn it at all?

[JohnMoore]

Speaking of demo, it's hard, if possible at all, at this point for me to evaluate ski's performance. I cannot tell if the skis will carve when I don't know how to make them carve.

Exactly! I don't feel confident enough yet to determine whether the behaviour I am observing is a characteristic of the ski, or the way I'm skiing. That is, I would not give a ski a bad review because if it doesn't work for me, because it's quite likely that I'm just using it wrong. I hired a pair of iSL's for a day last week. I got on with them pretty well straight away, but it was a couple of hours before I managed to make a subtle change which suddenly made them work very much better for me.

Conversely, the last thing I want to do is to buy a pair of skis which work OK to start with but then hold me back as my technique develops.

[violao]

I played around with Head product advisor on their website. It seems it works like this:

1. CXXXi are suggested for "intermediate groomed" only. Highest speeds result in C260/280.

2. XRC 1100 and up are sugested for "expert groomed".

3. XRC800 (and lower numbers) only show up in "skicross" category.

4. Once speed in expert categories (expert and race) builds up i.Supershape appears (as well as i.SL and i.Race)

Any comment?