What's the best Ski width for you?

so you're in the market for a new set of skis go in your local ski shop or i guess nowadays shop online for that matter and you notice there's a huge variance in how wide skis are these days probably thinking yourself well what's the difference why would i choose one ski with over the other how does one help me and more importantly which one do i actually buy well today's video can be going over exactly that what's going on everybody welcome to mountain vibes thank you so much for tuning in today if this is your first time here thank you very much for stopping by and consider subscribing if you're into skiing somewhere related tech videos and then that way you're not going to miss anytime you put up a new upload now as mentioned in the intro in today's video we are going to be going over ski with more importantly how wide the ski should be that you actually purchase now before i actually get into all the different categories and like who's or what's suited for who you got to figure out or ask yourself a few simple questions and the first question is what type of skier are you if you're a beginner intermediate advanced because depending on type of skier you are how wide your skis are will definitely impact your experience on the mountain and the second question is where do you actually ski or what is the type of terrain that you're actually able to ski is it cold is it icy are you mostly on groomers do you live somewhere where there's a lot of snow or where you have the ability to kind of take in an all-terrain or an all-mountain experience so once you figure those out you can start figuring out like how wide this ski should actually be and who knows maybe there's some of you out there that actually have two maybe even three sets of skis for different types of terrain different types of days but we will cover all of that within this video now also keep in mind that with the categories i'm going to be going over there is a little bit of gray area there are some types of skis that kind of like will definitely cross certain categories for sure but it's up to you to decide and like what type of ski you should actually buy so without further ado let's get into our first category shall we okay so our first category today is going to be the narrow category generally these skis fall in between the measurements of 65 to 80 82 millimeters under foot now that sounds a little bit foreign to you underfoot means exactly what it is it's how wide this ski is under your foot when you are actually stepped into the bindings as well if you're not 100 sure exactly where to find it in some cases the width is actually in the name of the ski so this one for example is the blizzard thunderbird 7.2 7.2 meaning that the skis is actually 72 millimeters underfoot now if by chance the skis that you're looking at doesn't even have like a number associated with the name there are is another way you can actually figure this out and that is by looking at the spec sheet either you will find this online or even be printed on the ski itself you'll be looking at three numbers you'll find them the first number is going to generally be the largest and it's going to be how wide the ski is up at the tip the middle number is going to be how wide the ski is in the middle or underfoot and then the last number is going to be how wide the ski is at its tail so if you can't find out the throughout the name of the ski just look in the spec sheet or if you're in a shop and you can actually hold the ski itself just look for the specs it'll either be printed on one ski or the other so this first category the narrower category is generally tailored to beginners or generally people who spend their days carving on icy groomers and also the special case for let's say mogul skiers those things are actually fairly narrow but i'd say that's at the lower end of that 65 millimeter range a reason why beginners want a narrower ski is because it is a lot quicker and a lot easier to put it from one edge to the other and as well because of the way that it's shaped it actually has a little bit more pronounced hourglass shape in it so what happens with that is once you put the ski on edge it's going to want to turn and as well the turns will be a lot tighter so if you are kind of starting out the ski is going to want to kind of turn not necessarily by itself but with a little bit more ease and if you need to see to stop quickly just put it on edge and the ski will want to naturally want to turn and essentially help you stop in the process and at the same time if you are someone who just like you say you're an advanced skier but you really just don't want to kind of go off piece you don't do bumps you just really just want to stick to the groomers a narrower ski will definitely be a a lot quicker b it's going to make your turns a lot snappier a lot quicker edge to edge shortening up those turns and at the same time you're going to be able to ski a little bit faster with a lot more stability because the skis can be able to drive and bite into the ground especially if it's icier out uh by having a narrower ski it's going to make it significantly easier for you to get that thing on edge and really drive the ski so narrower category those who find themselves mostly on groomers and beginners now at the same time i'm not saying that you can't necessarily just shy away from this but usually this is going to be the category or the width of skis that you will generally be looking at okay the skis in our second category generally fall in the width between 84 to 100 millimeters under foot uh i'm going to consider this the all-terrain category i don't want to use the term all-mountain that term does get thrown around a lot but the thing is the term all mountain does vary from one region to another let's say over in europe an all mountain ski would be considered a little bit narrower because generally you're going to be more on groomers and you can still ski the whole mountain but you're just going to be on groomers whereas let's say if you're in the pacific northwest or british columbia where i'm in you generally want something a little bit wider because you wanted to say ski trees ski powder do groomers so this category is kind of going to be more of the swiss army knife category so to speak if you're on the lower end of the spectrum and say the 84 to 88 yes they will be a little bit more groomer focused but you're also going to get a little bit more width underfoot a little bit more width overall more surface area compared to the previous category so this will offer you a little bit more flotation uh if by chance you do get some fresh snow one morning and you just want to go have some fun in the trees so to speak another thing you have to factor in is like how the skis are actually shaped underfoot you know usually the narrower skis in this category will have a little bit more camber because they are in a sense designed more for groomers and then as the skis get wider you will have a little less camber and a little bit more rocker at the tip and tail allowing the tips to stay up in softer snow and with the tail rocker it's going to allow you to kick that back end around a little bit easier and as well though as the skis get wider you notice that your turns become a little bit larger and they may become a little bit harder to manage depending on the overall construction of them so if you're someone who'd likes to do more let's say wider bigger gs turns you just likes to cruise and go fast you go for something a little bit wider just because the way that the skis are designed your turns will generally be a little bit larger or if you're someone who's to say buying a brand new set of skis and you don't really have like you know the money to buy multiple sets of skis you get something like within this category and it's going to be more or less the swiss army knife so to speak so if you're looking for something to kind of like does everything but doesn't do everything quite well that 88 to like 92 under foot would be a great ski for something to you to use for an all-terrain experience all right moving on to our third category and that is going to be skis that fall between the measurements of 88 to about 108 millimeters under foot now i'm going to consider this the west coast all-terrain category now yes by all means you do not have to live on the west coast to enjoy these skis this is generally speaking for those who live out here you're going to want something a little bit wider just to kind of give you yourself a nice all-terrain experience so at the same time keep in mind if you are someone who's a little bit more groomer driven but still wants to be able to do a tree run stick to the 88 to 92 millimeters underfoot that way the skis are going to be narrow enough that you can be able to throw it edge to edge it's going to give you a lot more grip but having that added extra surface area will prevent your skis from nose diving if you decide to go into some fresh snow now at the same time if you are an individual who just wants like a one ski to do it all uh go for a little something on the wider end of the spectrum so let's say like 98 106 108 this way this is going to be a skis that's going to offer you float and depending on how the ski is shaped will provide you with enough edge grip so you can actually spend some spend some time on the groomers as well another group for this category is going to be the people who are into touring with these keys here it's going to give you a lot more added width so that way it's going to keep yourself up out of the soft snow especially if you're going to be breaking ground or especially if you're going to be carrying a big heavy pack something a little bit on the wider side will definitely help keep you afloat now also keep in mind though as the skis get wider sometimes that the shape does change a little bit more uh by that i mean you may end up with a little bit more rocker compared to something else that's on the narrower side so when you have more rocker you are essentially losing edge grip and so the ski is not going to quite bite as well it is going to keep the tips up out of soft snow so it's not going to nose dive but so just keep that in mind so that as you go wider the skis may be shaped a little bit differently so skis that fall into the 108 to 108 millimeters underfoot category or spectrum so to speak uh is definitely going to be for someone who is looking for the a true all-terrain experience okay on to our fourth and final category and in this one you will find skis that are 110 millimeters and up and you guessed it these are your powder skis these skis are designed to give you the most optimal float in powder and soft snow conditions they tend to have a lot more rocker at the tip and tail allowing your skis to give you a little bit more float and keep you on top of that soft snow many of them may not even have any camber underfoot at all making it completely flat allowing you to actually pivot the skis a lot easier in softer conditions so having said that they're not necessarily designed to handle groomers very well due to the fact that they do not have a lot of camber underfoot minimizing the amount of edge grip that you actually have i took these up a couple weeks ago and it was a lot firmer than i had actually anticipated so i did notice that i guess the skis managed i did have to work them a little bit harder because i was lacking the edge grip that i actually wanted i still managed it was still a fun day on the hill but if you're someone who's kind of looking into these skis i really do not recommend that this is your one and only ski generally people have powder skis as a second ski for those days when it's actually like you know you get a nice foot that falls overnight and you really want that most optimal floating conditions so that's it for me for today everybody uh as i mentioned earlier in the video a lot of these categories tend to bleed into one another so you kind of have to figure out exactly where it is that you actually ski what type of skier you are and what you're actually looking for in your skis when you actually decide on what width you should actually get having said that if you have any questions please feel free to leave them down in the comment section below i'll be happy to get back to you as soon as i can if you like this video please give it a thumbs up it would be greatly appreciated subscribe if you are not already support your local ski and snowboard shop stay safe stay healthy out there thank you very much for watching i'll see you guys in the next video

Channel: Mountain Vibes

Views: 182,025

Keywords: ski width, narrow skis, wide skis, powder skis, groomer skis, carving skis, all-mountain skis, all- terrain skis, how wide should skis be, buying skis, new skis

Id: Bx9gHuWCnT8

Length: 11min 3sec (663 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 21 2022