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Ice Ability - Ski v. Technique

thaller1

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Apr 13, 2005
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salida said:
Well, Well, I've skied those skis for a long time now in a 170, and got the same results. I could sometimes carve the ice and sometimes not. I demoed a bunch of other mid fats and found that they always ripped the ice up. Just shredded it compared to my old atomics. I ended up getting new skis (Elan m12 fusion 176) and have really enjoyed them because they did all the things my old atmoics did, but they are also better on ice and they are more manuverable in the bumps.

I have the Fischer Big Stix 7.6 and they are amazing on the ice and everything else. I can easilly go from powder, to groomed, to ice and into the bumps...
 

eatskisleep

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Dec 23, 2003
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My best advice would be to stay forward and don't get in teh back seat. Stay hard on your edges too.
 

sledhaulingmedic

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Jun 21, 2004
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On the true blue stuff a pair of Super Tacks are a good choice. They really suck in powder though.

Seriously, a narrower ski does have an advantage on a firmer surface. I really got a feel for how much so last year during an industry demo day at Stratton. I rarely took more than two runs on the same ski. Sure, I could get a Rossi B3 to hold on hardpack, but nothing like the VX. Even the Z9, (with a wider tip and tail) which carved very well, still had more tendancy to chatter when I got it on the firmest surfaces. (Granted, this was at Stratton. They don't have ice.)

As far as technique, you need to get the ski up on edge with pressure forward on the ski and perpendicular to the "snow" surface early in the turn and gradually transition your weight back across the whole edge ast the turn progresses so you use the whole edge, otherwise the ski chatters or worse, the tail slides out.

The o;d rule of thumb of the "longer ski gives you more more edge to hold" seems to only work when you're traversing. The VX's I demo'd were 158's and they held unbelievably. I'm not a little guy
 
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