 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Megamum, I tried some advanced skis as a 2nd week skier and they bounced me out of a turn and sent me flying. 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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The differences are as follows:
Expert skis are meant to be skied straight down fast with minimum turns.
Intermediate skis cannot do this, but will wobble.
Expert skis go with all boot colours, mainly with black, red, green and orange.
Intermediate skis go with some boot colours, mainly with grey, red, white and pink.
Expert skis cannot be upgraded. They can be replaced with competition skis, which are meant to skied down as fast as possible making minimum turns.
Intermediate skis can be upgraded to expert skis. At the same time, the whole life of the skier will undergo a revolution, and it will leave permanent marks on him/her, such as green ski trousers, duct taped jackets and a casual sneer at the intermediate skiers.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| demos wrote: |
The differences are as follows:
Expert skis are meant to be skied straight down fast with minimum turns.
Intermediate skis cannot do this, but will wobble.
Expert skis go with all boot colours, mainly with black, red, green and orange.
Intermediate skis go with some boot colours, mainly with grey, red, white and pink.
Expert skis cannot be upgraded. They can be replaced with competition skis, which are meant to skied down as fast as possible making minimum turns.
Intermediate skis can be upgraded to expert skis. At the same time, the whole life of the skier will undergo a revolution, and it will leave permanent marks on him/her, such as green ski trousers, duct taped jackets and a casual sneer at the intermediate skiers. |
eh???????
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Obviously, kiwi1, I was serious.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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demos, doh 
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As you probably already know, skiing is all about technique. On my last skiing trip I met a middle aged Scottish Pharmacist who had been skiing every year for the last thirty years and every year without fail he gets lessons to try and perfect his skills or to try and learn something new. If I were you I would deffinitely give some thought to getting a private lesson or two if for no other reason than to ensure that you are getting the maximum out of the gear you are currently using. You might be surprised to discover things you can do that you never thought you could. Another thing I found while getting lessons is that you learn how to do things a lot more comfortably and efficiently and with a lot less effort. So the moral of the story is 'spending more on learning and less on gear just might make you a happier skiier'.
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demos, You have left out the lift queue cred! 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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BarryOS, or do both and be chief grinner on the hill.
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| rob@rar wrote: |
| fallliner wrote: |
| In our experience expert slalom skis are the hardest to get what they're designed for out of them unless you are actually a very good skier. The AMC76s are a very good ski, by the way. |
That's my experience as well. Bought a pair of Head WC slalom skis a few years ago and I just wasn't a good enough skier to use them well. The only way to tame them was to ski hard and keep them on their edges - it was just too exhausting to ski like that for a week, so I sold them. |
Seconded...with feeling  . Having finally got those SL11s I bought for last week's course on snow, I found they were by far and away the highest performance skis I've ever been on. For the first two days we had pretty hard pistes and those skis rocked big time. I was quite reassured I seemed to be able to handle them, but they did need to go fast to be readily controllable. When you put them on a nice edge, by heck did they go fast  . I've never really been too bothered about fast/intermediate ski designations, it's all just about gravity after all, but these really were something else and felt like they were jet propelled. They also punished technical flaws with alacrity, and so I was really looking forward to a good week's training, and having a darned good go at ironing out those flaws.
"Unfortunately" (at least in the context of what I was there for), it then snowed big-time for the rest of the week, so we were essentially skiing powder for the rest of the week, and it became painfully clear that I was in no way capable of or fit to be riding these things in soft snow. The stiffness, particularly in the remarkably viscious tail, completely foxed me when trying to do more subtle stuff and I found it almost impossible to get the things off their edges. The result was the most humiliating few days of my life  . I'm a tolerable skier, but in those conditions these beasties made me feel like a third weeker all over again.
I'm now going to imprison them under lock and key until I am a good enough skier to drive them properly, and then let the fun begin  .
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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rob@rar,
The XL isn't shoddy at all on hard-pack and you can ski it all day plus it has decent manners when you go off-piste. I am not sure about pale imitation as they'll rail very well. Not really for gates, tho'
But I know what you mean about Race skis in new snow. ...1st day in Engelberg on Elan SL's and I was struggling.... great on the pistes but I couldn't work out what I was doing wrong...just too much effort and so precise in there. I took them back and got the XL next day. Much better but they aren't as helpful as some...
If you didn't have to have a dedicated race ski, they'd do well enough for blatting about on..
As to the original question, I'd say, precision...in a word.. if you can't put the ski in the position you want it, then an expert ski will be a handful. That said, There are lot of so-called expert skis out there that can be ridden by quite a few levels of skier... I think the tag 'expert' has more of a vanity and marketing angle to it, that anything else...
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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JT, I agree the XL is a great ski - it was just a bit of a running joke between me and Spyderman when I called it a pale imitation  . But in my experience race department skis are in a different league for skiing on piste, even when compared to a good all-rounder like the XL. I started last week skiing on Elan Magfire 12s, which apparently get good reviews and should have suited the conditions we had, but after a couple of days I switched to my slalom skis as the Elans just felt lifeless.
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The real difference?
Experts know they're intermediates,
Intermediates think they're experts
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You know it makes sense.
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GrahamN, I don't know if Emma said anything, but the main thought I had on watching you on the SL11s was that you might benefit from playing around with boot alignment. You were not getting simultaneous edge changes when I saw you on Rosolin. I find it much easier to ski race SL skis in powder now that I know they will both do the same thing.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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erica2004, depends if you're racing other Ferraris or other 2CVs...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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rob@rar,
I'd do the same.... if there weren't distractions 'over there'... It has happend so many times...start with this in mind and then do that... that I just know we will go looking straight away... after a one run warm-up...if that..!!!
For example, our first run this year will likely be off the Midi in Chamonix.... 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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rjs, interesting point. Emma didn't say anything specific to that point, but it was something that I was consious of feeling wrong for a lot of the week. Sometimes the changes happened together and sometimes they didn't. It went wrong mostly when I was struggling and panicking that other things were going wrong - so got into a viscious circle. I think they were happening mostly OK when I was more relaxed and skiing more "on form". I only got two runs that day where I felt I was skiing remotely close to my normal standard.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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bernie,
One way to look at the difference between expert and intermediate skis has to do with the flex and overall stiffness. Expert skis are generally stiffer and require better technique to initiate and release from turns. When skiing fast, stiffer (expert) skis are more stable and predictable. Intermediate skis generally have a softer flex. This makes them easier to turn (especially at lower speeds). However, softer skis tend to chatter and flop around at higher speeds. Softer skis generally have less energy and pop. Softer skis have a "speed limit" that put a cap on your ability to ski fast and aggressively with great control. On the other hand, softer (intermediate) skis are more forgiving and stiff skis can throw you around if you're not ready for the challenge.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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bounce8750, welcome to snowHeads
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FAQ
