Hi Lewy, sorry for my lack of ski knowledge but I am really interested in your reference to your comment"because if you want to do anything other than make 17m turns on soft groomers, you need to know what you are doing to engage and disengage the edge". I only ski 5 days a year and have only got back to skiing during the last 5 years after a break of 23yrs when i skied every year for 6 years, 5 days each year, so don´t have much knowledge and experience, hence joining Pugski. Last year was really the first year of carving (well thats what I think I was doing, and it felt great) and I have now got much for confidence to skiing up to easy blacks with confidence (I am skiing as I am not rolling or falling or sliding on my ass), it may not be pretty but for the last 4 years I was struggling on easy read runs. The secret was i was using the NRGY 100 169, which I believe was too short but I could control easily and the edges were sharp, before that i was skiing a Salomon 2010/11 24 hr, which didn´t have sharp edges (I have now got them sharpened). Skiing the NRGY 100s I am mostly skiing medium carving turns down the fall line and a slowish (new word) speed (20-25 mph) and I didn´t have any problem in changing from Edge to Edge in order to change direction. I am therefore interested when you say that the tails on the Rossi 88 need to be disengaged (is that the same as saying they get hooked up), I am not sure what you mean by this as I have not experienced it, thanks.
Hi
@Jay Carver. I am glad that my post was helpful. FWIW, I am a bit smaller than you are, 5'11, 185# (but close on my tippy toes + a burrito and a couple of beers
).
@markojp pretty well summed up why I am not especially keen on the E88 for an intermediate. It is not because of flex (I found it very soft and compliant on the snow), but because of the shape of the ski, the hammer nose tip and the flat, wide tail, which causes it to ski best when you are really skiing tip to tail. Rolling from the finish of the turn to immediately tip into the next turn. That is where the E88 has a good amount of energy and pop. If you are brushing the tails of the skis back and forth (what Marko called "windshield wiper turns") the sidecut of the ski, combined with the fatter tail will push back and the ski will feel kind of blah. Although skidding and "slarving" have their place in every all-mountain skier's arsenal, it is very common for intermediate skiers to washout the finish of the turn as the core strategy for shedding speed - to the exclusion of shaping and finishing turns. I don't think that the E88s, because of the shape, agree with that style - I'd recommend for you a looser, more neutral shape, but a compliant layup.
You note in the other thread that you are mostly skiing European piste terrain for 5-6 days a season. Given that, I agree with your instructor that the NrGY 100 is a mismatch. It would be workable for that scenario, not ideal, but not absurd either. The bigger problem than model and width is the ski length. At 6', 190# a 169 is absurdly short in that ski. 177 would work better at your size and level if you aren't skiing too fast. Your real size is probably the 184, but that might be hard for you to manage at this stage. On the 169, you probably feel like you can manage the skis ("change edges") because they are easy to toss around at that length. But I would bet that they feel extremely unstable when you get up to speed because relative to your size you don't have much engaged edge to work with.
Given what you have said here and in other threads, I think that you probably want a somewhat compliant, mid-80s underfoot type of ski. A ski with a front-side bias, decent carving chops, but something you can also take off-piste a bit, and that will handle well toward the end of the day when the groomers are cut up, mushy and less pristine. Despite your size, you probably don't want to over-index on stiffness. I haven't been on a ton of the new skis for '18, but one that immediately pops to mind is the Nordica Navigator 85.
@Philpug did a nice review of the ski - it seems like a fit, a solid game improvement tool that you won't "grow out of" anytime soon. But get the right size - 179 for sure at your size. Or Phil's recommendation of the Strong Instinct - that's also on the money, similar idea.
Don't be afraid to buy a ski that isn't on the magazine covers. Many of "award-winners" will be less fun and less useful for you. And it should be fun and productive
for you, right?
