Question about equipment for a HS Racer

[TCN1]

Hi, new member here, and the father of a new high school racer. My son's experience prior to this high school season was limited to Nastar and a few light race camps. He is 15, 5'11" and 170lbs.

He needs GS skis and I found a great deal on the following:

Atomic Redster Doubledeck WC GS in 176 (adult non-FIS). The radius for the 176 is 21m. Bindings are the Atomic 16's.

I'm starting to think I jumped the gun on these and that I should've got him some sort of GSR ski. I can't find any information on the flexibility or stiffness of these particular skis.

Curious if anybody here knows the skis and can opine about their appropriateness for this type of racer.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Johnny V.]

GSR ski?
If he's just learning to race, the Atomics might be a little bit more ski than he can handle. It'll depend on the course sets. If you got a good deal have him try them and have his coach evaluate how well he handles them. He might be fine. Without a pic it's hard to see what series they are.

Beyond that, I'll defer to the real ski coaches on the forum!

 

[TCN1]

Thanks, I don't have them with me at the moment, but they are these exact ones:

http://vi.raptor.ebaydesc.com/ws/eB...4&pm=1&ds=0&t=1514080786000&ver=0&cspheader=1

And I would say despite his size and experience with other types of skiing, he is a beginner racer.

 

[razie]

If he does not have some race training background, he may struggle with these skis, a little. Having said that, it is a good radius for HS racing - since you have them, see how he skis them... the question is: can he bend them into a sidecut turn at 21m or not?

I believe the Atomic 16 DIN binding starts at 8 - just make sure that's appropriate for him - that's a detail you should pay attention to when buying race ski "deals". It's not a very high DIN, 8 is reasonable, but something to keep in mind. dincalculator online says 7 for the numbers you have... so 8 is perhaps ok.

 

[TCN1]

Again, thank you. I think trying them is the smart thing.

Candidly, I was thinking if they were too much ski, I would sell them at less of a loss if they were brand new.

Also, thank you for the tip on the bindings, it's something I hadn't even considered.

 

[Johnny V.]

Did you buy the skis already? They're not a spectacular deal as you could buy the current and updated/improved version for about $250.00 more. These are part of Atomic's Masters series-not FIS legal, but designed for Masters and skicross racing. He might be better off with a youth ski as the skis are softer. You don't want to give him too much ski as he (as Razie says) will struggle to bend it.

 

[TCN1]

Did you buy the skis already? They're not a spectacular deal as you could buy the current and updated/improved version for about $250.00 more. These are part of Atomic's Masters series-not FIS legal, but designed for Masters and skicross racing. He might be better off with a youth ski as the skis are softer. You don't want to give him too much ski as he (as Razie says) will struggle to bend it.

I did, I'm a notorious gun jumper, but I paid less than the ones I linked on eBay. I'm sure I can Craigslist them for $400 or so out the door.

 

[ScotsSkier]

He is 5'11", 170#.... these will work fine fo HS racing. Ski them and stop worrying

 

[Johnny V.]

He is 5'11", 170#.... these will work fine fo HS racing. Ski them and stop worrying

The coach shows up.................

 

[BGreen]

Maybe I’m missing something but they sound good to me unless they are crazy stiff. Start with a base bevel around .75.

 

[Utahski]

Hi, new member here, and the father of a new high school racer. My son's experience prior to this high school season was limited to Nastar and a few light race camps. He is 15, 5'11" and 170lbs.

He needs GS skis and I found a great deal on the following:

Atomic Redster Doubledeck WC GS in 176 (adult non-FIS). The radius for the 176 is 21m. Bindings are the Atomic 16's.

I'm starting to think I jumped the gun on these and that I should've got him some sort of GSR ski. I can't find any information on the flexibility or stiffness of these particular skis.

Curious if anybody here knows the skis and can opine about their appropriateness for this type of racer.

Thanks in advance.

At 5-11 / 170 he's not a small guy. And he's done some racing even if it's just Nastar, and I'm sure he knows how to turn a ski.. He'll be getting stronger and heavier for several years. As Scotskier said that ski should work fine. However.......176 is too short for him. Your kid won't get smaller, he'll be getting bigger and stronger. Our masters women - middleaged and average size - are mostly on 175's. Get the next size up which would probably be around 181-182? That's not too long for your son's size. A 21 radius will just about turn itself and the longer will probably be 23 or so (?) which is still plenty tight. The extra length is also noticeably more stable.

 

[ScotsSkier]

I was going to suggest more like 180 would be preferable as well. But given it is HS which is going to be a tighter set than a full on masters course (and even if it is set to USSA u16/u19 this is now a tighter set than most masters given the 27m max distance whereas in masters we have kept the FIS % of Vertical drop rule). Plus it is the non- fis ski ( wider waist) so will wrk fine to get him started. I know a lot of USSA/ fis athletes here who keep a smaller ski for HS races

 

[Swede]

Does USSA:s reccomendation for U16 differ compared to normal U16 FIS?
Our U16:s ski R25ish and 180-185 cm skis as a rule of thumb.

 

[TCN1]

Thank you everyone. This is a heck of a resource.

 

[Muleski]

A lot of good advice, here.
Nice work, Team PugSki!

 

[razie]

Does USSA:s reccomendation for U16 differ compared to normal U16 FIS?
Our U16:s ski R25ish and 180-185 cm skis as a rule of thumb.

Yah, well... you are in Europe, yes? You have those things called eh... what do you call them? Mountains!! Yes?

Well, there you have it. The east coast here tends to have these ant hills we call "Mountain"... at 25m you do all of maybe 6 turns to the bottom...

 

[Swede]

Yah, well... you are in Europe, yes? You have those things called eh... what do you call them? Mountains!! Yes?

Well, there you have it. The east coast here tends to have these ant hills we call "Mountain"... at 25m you do all of maybe 6 turns to the bottom...

In Sweden/Scandinavia ... and (unfortunatelly) we don’t have mountains the size of the alps here. Our training is usually on a 900-1000 feet vert hill for GS. That is a 5-6 hour drive for us. Our local hill is basically SL only these days and has 350 feet of vertcal. 15 minute drive from my house. But think you can get in half a GS on it with a tight set, 18-20 gates. Kids bend the skis to the tighter turns. We do train in the alps too though, but that is pre season glaciere.

 

[razie]

Ugh. On the other hand, tough conditions create better racers, so... maybe partly the reason you have so many of them on the WC...