Quote:
Originally Posted by awf170  Back to dork conversation:
Marc, how about forward and backwards motion of the skier? (Skiing too far in the backseat or too far forward) If I get way in the backseat my CM is going to be way further back then a skier of the same weight but different height. Thus causing me to have more torque on the ski. Also, when leaning forward, it will make it easier to over-flex the ski. (Though that probably means you would need a stiffer, not longer ski) |
No, all it means is you need to ski balanced.
That's actually a good point, one I hadn't considered... but just running some quick numbers here-
Even if you have an entire foot on someone that weighs the same as you... your CM is only about 2/3 of your height. So you're down to an 8" difference. The perpendicular distance of the effective moment arm in a fore/aft imbalance.... we're talking a lean of maybe 60 degrees... 55 at the most under normal skiing conditions.... about a 4" difference. If you're 6 feet tall, then your lever arm in such an instance would be three feet. That means taking off a foot of someone's height only changes the lever arm a little more than 10%. Said another way, this would be the difference in exerted torque of someone the same height as you that weighed 120 lbs instead of 135. Considering this a less than desirable instance, and the striking similarity of force exerted through a turn of skiers the same weight and different height, I'll stick with my original position that there's no need to factor height in when selecting ski length.