Powder Ski Size for the East?

[GentleJackJones]

Hello All, This is my first post here. I was on Epic for a number of years, mostly as a lurker.

I'm 60 years old, 6', 180 lbs., skiing most of my life. I love the thrill of speed and usually ski as fast as the conditions and crowd size allow.

Up until the end of last year, my go to ski was 2006 Volkl Supersport 5 Star, 161cm. 13m radius. Yeah, a little short, but they were my son's and he was living in the south, so I used them. Tip and Rip.

End of the season, at a surprise demo day at Hunter, I skied Head Supershape i.Rally, Ski Magazine's Groomed Snow Ski of the Year. I spent most of the day swapping out between the 170's (R14m) and 177's (R14.7m). I was so impressed that I bought a very gently used pair for less than half price that I found online. I went with the 177's.

The other ski I have is 2007 Dynastar Legend 8000 178cm, R19m. This has been my soft snow ski, but only 79 underfoot.

Looking for recommendations on a powder ski for those lucky days when the planets are in alignment and it dumps on the weekend.

Length? Width? Full rocker? Tip/tail rocker?

Thank you, everybody!

 

[Erik Timmerman]

Waist 110ish, length 185 or so, Tip/tail rocker.

 

[BC.]

These could be some nice options for here in the East...

Any of these in the mid/low 180’s:

Volkl- 100eight
Head Kore 105 (if you can find them)
Blizzard Rustler 10 (if you can find them)

You said tip and rip.......Atomic Vantage 100 CTI

 

[Jilly]

Just got rid of a pair of 88. New east coast powder skis are Vantage 95W. The unisex version would be an option. You might want a little metal, but then again maybe not. We're not getting any younger...

Oh - and the Legends are back!!

 

[Ken_R]

These could be some nice options for here in the East...

Any of these in the mid/low 180’s:

Volkl- 100eight
Head Kore 105 (if you can find them)
Blizzard Rustler 10 (if you can find them)

You said tip and rip.......Atomic Vantage 100 CTI

I would also add the Nordica Enforcer 110. (185) and the Rustler 11 (180 or 188)

 

[Goose]

Hello All, This is my first post here. I was on Epic for a number of years, mostly as a lurker.

I'm 60 years old, 6', 180 lbs., skiing most of my life. I love the thrill of speed and usually ski as fast as the conditions and crowd size allow.
. This has been my soft snow ski, but only 79 underfoot.
Looking for recommendations on a powder ski for those lucky days when the planets are in alignment and it dumps on the weekend.
!

Im not all that much younger than you (although any years worth are priceless I suppose..lol) But its funny as I remember how "we" skied everything on our skinny straights for decades. Whether we were charging down the groomers , hitting bumps , skiing the small amount of off piste we had , or catching that rare east cost fluffy day
It just didn't matter as we simply had a blast with them and if I might add we did just dandy.
Nowadays its a different world I suppose. Better tools for the different jobs. A good thing in many ways. Good to have in the northeast? I suppose but necessary? Nah. But heck, skiing itself isn't necessary right? lol Good luck finding something that works and hopefully we'll have a good snowy winter here where as you'll get some good enough use out of them.

 

[Tom K.]

Well, you don't NEED to go too wide, and I was a very reluctant adopter of 115 skis, but a few things to think about:

If you want to stay OFF the bottom, width helps.

If you want to plane and link turns on less than super steep runs, width helps.

So many good skis, perhaps you can tell us the style of fat ski you're seeking. Do you want a new, slarvy feel, or do you want to maintain that tip and rip feel (my personal preference in any ski width)?

 

[Philpug]

105-112 range should be enough. If you skied a 6-Star in a 161, I assume you like to turn along with opening it up. Personanally if I recall my days from skiing eastern pow the days are always fewer that we would have liked. A 105ish ski will give you more days on snow than a 110+ ski and will do almost anything that bigger ski will do withough much loss. Kore 106 DPS, Wailer F106, Pinnacle 105, Invictus 108 are all viable options. I will add two premiums, Kastle BMX105 and Stockly SR107.

 

[Willyum215]

Here just to say great screen name - hopefully we'll cross paths this season when these skis are necessary.

 

[MantanaB6]

I just purchased some Salomon QST 106's to tour on. I'll post an update/review once I get a few days on them. Reading the reviews, however, leads me to believe thye would make a good east coast pow ski. Sounds like they float better than their 106mm waist suggests, while still being able to hold a solid edge in hard snow. Only downside is a bit of deflection in mixed snow conditions. I'm interested to see exactly how they fair in that regard.

 

[NESkiBum]

For powder days in the east it usually lasts only a few runs and gets skied up pretty quickly. I think that 105 is plenty ski, agree with Phil on his recommendations and second the Pinnacle 105. I have last years and found it a great playful ski for those lucky days. I do know that the have "modified" it a bit which makes this year's an even better choice since you'll need something once everything gets skied out.

 

[Ken_R]

Im not all that much younger than you (although any years worth are priceless I suppose..lol) But its funny as I remember how "we" skied everything on our skinny straights for decades. Whether we were charging down the groomers , hitting bumps , skiing the small amount of off piste we had , or catching that rare east cost fluffy day
It just didn't matter as we simply had a blast with them and if I might add we did just dandy.
Nowadays its a different world I suppose. Better tools for the different jobs. A good thing in many ways. Good to have in the northeast? I suppose but necessary? Nah. But heck, skiing itself isn't necessary right? lol Good luck finding something that works and hopefully we'll have a good snowy winter here where as you'll get some good enough use out of them.

I do remember Skinny, long, stiff skis with basically no sidecut... I also remember having to search for a buried ski on lower angle powder slopes and just eating it on variable snow and powder whenever I was not going fast enough or with perfect technique... Il take todays skis any day over those planks.

 

[Goose]

I do remember Skinny, long, stiff skis with basically no sidecut... I also remember having to search for a buried ski on lower angle powder slopes and just eating it on variable snow and powder whenever I was not going fast enough or with perfect technique... Il take todays skis any day over those planks.

yea... hmmm...hmmm........we skied like real men back then. A time when men were men......and women weren't.

None of this fancy boy stuff of today.

We skied on ice.........up hill..........both ways..........with leather boots.........with holes in them..........some of us didn't even have boots..........or skis........and often there wasn't even snow..........but we went anyway.........cause we were men.
The tee bars and rope tows were a real bitch.

 

[KevinF]

Powder days in the East means heading into the trees as on trail powder doesn't last long enough to require true powder skis. A couple points:

• Wider skis enable you to ski deep snow slower as you don't need speed to float. Skiing trees at speed is for those with Jedi reflexes.
  
• There's often stuff lurking under the new snow (tree stumps, rocks, ice flows, etc.) that you are probably better off not hitting. Wider skis will keep you higher in the snowpack. I damn near core-shotted a pair of new skis (88 underfoot) last winter on what I thought was obscenely deep snowpack when we went venturing into the woods.

I'm your size... My powder ski is a Nordica Patron which is something like 115 underfoot.