Started skiing again regularly this year as our child is now old enough to start skiing as a family. I buy a Whistler Edge Card but most of our skiing is just casual family skiing on the North Shore on easier green and blue runs. I have the Salomon QST 106 skis, which are great in general but seem like overkill for most of the skiing I do. Thinking of getting a pair of narrower skis for those family ski days but not sure what I should be looking for. I don't think I want true groomer carving skis but thinking something on the narrower side of the all-mountain category in the 80-95mm width range. Would a ski in that range be different enough from the QST 106 to justify a second pair of skis or would they be too similar? Any recommendations?
Groomer Skis
Sportchek always blows skis out end of season. These are great all arounders. Anything under 100mm underfoot is now pretty much a carving ski or a park ski. If you wanna get something for bombing around with the kids these are good deals. There is other options but will cost way more $$$$.
Last edited by: bux-bux on March 23, 2022, 8:32 a.m., edited 4 times in total.
"most of our skiing is just casual family skiing on the North Shore on easier green and blue runs."
all you need is something easy to turn and it sounds like that is what you already own so save your $$$
wait for something slightly used/ cheap that speaks to you
I have been buying used becuz they are cheaper/ no tax/ already mounted with a binding and sometimes a BC ski will come with skins
Last edited by: XXX_er on March 23, 2022, 11:53 a.m., edited 1 time in total.
Posted by: XXX_er
all you need is something easy to turn and it sounds like that is what you already own so save your $$$
I definitely don't need another pair of skis... I just like buying sports gear haha. The QST 106 is a great and versatile ski, I just feel a bit goofy riding around on those things on Seymour with my family down an easy green/blue run. I think I need to demo something a bit skinnier and see if there's a notable difference.
Last edited by: Bull_Dozer on March 24, 2022, 9:56 a.m., edited 1 time in total.
Posted by: Bull_Dozer
Posted by: XXX_er
all you need is something easy to turn and it sounds like that is what you already own so save your $$$
I definitely don't need another pair of skis... I just like buying sports gear haha. The QST 106 is a great and versatile ski, I just feel a bit goofy riding around on those things on Seymour with my family down an easy green/blue run. I think I need to demo something a bit skinnier and see if there's a notable difference.
Something kinda stiff+damp with proper camber will feel awesome on groomers compared to a q106
Posted by: Kevin26
Something kinda stiff+damp with proper camber will feel awesome on groomers compared to a q106
Can you recommend a certain model? My technical ski knowledge is pretty low...
The Nordica Enforcer 94 and Blizzard Rustler 9 caught my eye but no idea if those are what I should be looking for.
Posted by: Bull_Dozer
Posted by: XXX_er
all you need is something easy to turn and it sounds like that is what you already own so save your $$$
I definitely don't need another pair of skis... I just like buying sports gear haha. The QST 106 is a great and versatile ski, I just feel a bit goofy riding around on those things on Seymour with my family down an easy green/blue run. I think I need to demo something a bit skinnier and see if there's a notable difference.
Ya Tell me about it ^^ I have 12 pairs of skis, everything from 223 DH's to ultralight touring skis, they all do something well, some are pretty narrow/ fast/ BIG turning radius so there is definatlely a noticable difference in ski design,
I would say in general the hi-performance skis are not great for green/ blue family stuff, what you already got is great for family stuff,
the burning question is what do you want to do/ what will you have time & access TO do ?
depending on snow my go to is lotus 120, early rise 120 underfoot for new snow, Blizzard Cochise 106 underfoot when the snow gets chopped up but still a wide ski with the big turning radius with metal in it , Atomic womens fis GS skis when it gets really packed the (a race ski that was useless after they changed the rules)
Last edited by: XXX_er on March 24, 2022, 11:46 a.m., edited 1 time in total.
Posted by: XXX_er
the burning question is what do you want to do/ what will you have time & access TO do ?
Yeah I think maybe I should reframe what I am looking for - it's not that I want a ski that's suited for green/blue groomers... it's more that I can't choose exactly which specific days to ski so I find that I am mostly skiing on-piste when the snow conditions are mediocre so I want a ski that's more suited to that. I skied probably 20 days this year and can't remember having a proper "powder day" for any of them. My plan is to make the QST 106 my off-piste powder ski (since I know I wouldn't use a proper 120mm powder ski enough to justify) and then have a more on-piste oriented ski for the rest of the ski days.
Like a Santa cruz compared to a Huffy Maybe you want something that feels more sporty ?
If you are skiing with the kids and wanna just have a fun ski to bomb around on. Twin tip park skis are great for that. The nordica enforcer- blizzard rustler is still a big mtn charger.
Check the blister reviews site. They have great reviews on skis
Posted by: bux-bux
If you are skiing with the kids and wanna just have a fun ski to bomb around on. Twin tip park skis are great for that.
Ding, ding! My twin tip tele setup (88 mm) has been great through the whole journey of teaching my girls to ski, and now hitting more fun features as they get adventurous and want to explore off the Seymour groomers. I've been keeping an eye out for a deal on some cheap twin tips to put a set of alpine bindings on.
Last edited by: PaulB on March 28, 2022, 11:27 p.m., edited 2 times in total.
a thing I always look at in a ski is the turning radius which is usually advertsed in meters or M , a larger turning radius usually means the ski is built to make larger turns/ was made beefier so I can go faster and that is kind of what I like so I'm looking at skis that are >20M up to 28M
IME cheap noodley skis with small turning radius are disappointing to ski, most of the stuff I see at sport chek would be in this category but thts just me
you gotta decide what you want
AM ski category has most of your "needs" covered. Idk if I'd ski them; but I notice many ski school instructors using this type of ski on non-fresh snow days or when dealing with absolute peasants.
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