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Gear New ski /quiver thoughts

Family AT ski quiver addition:

  • 86 mm waist firm snow bias

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Slim

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Well, the kids keep growing, so it’s new ski time again this season. This time the youngest needs a new AT set up.

Here is what I am mulling over. She is 5’8”(172cm) tall and 100 lbs (45). since she is only 11, she might well grow a fair bit more (my oldest daughter is 6’). My wife is the same height, but weighs 165lbs. Both are intermediate skiers, skiing at slower speeds (in the backcountry).

Since they are the same height, and have the same boot size, it seems appealing to buy something that my wife can use too, so that if my daughter grows out of it, it would remain useful, and if my wife and I do an adults only trip, she has a quiver to choose from.

Currently, my wife has older Fischer Hannibal 96s in the 164cm length. Great allround backcountry ski for her:

Nice medium width, narrow enough for firm snow, wide enough for soft snow. Tip rocker, and a touch of ‘lift’ (~10mm) rocker in the tail. Still flat enough you can jam it in the snow for an anchor pretty well. Reasonably lightweight, easy to ski.

Some of the things my wife and I hope to ski in the future would be a midwinter Canadian hut, European hut to hut traverse, and (easy) spring ski-mountaineering.

Many of the Canadian huts state you should bring a ski over 105mm wide.

So, adding a wider ~105mm ski for deep snow, is appealing. The drawback is how my daughter would do with that if we are doing a family ski tour in spring, on firm snow.

For spring ski mountaineering, narrower skis grip better on icy snow while skiing up (don’t need ski crampons nearly as soon) and are nicer on the knees (my wife’s knees are shot form ball sports as a teen). Flat tails are easier to jam in the snow.

So here is an appeal to get a narrower ski, which will update be great for my wife for Ski-mountaineering or either one of them for spring skiing, but might make it too difficult for my daughter to enjoy low angle, tight trees in deep snow.

My wife also has a pair of 170cm Fullavits (96 mm waist, ski great in soft snow), mounted with Shift bindings, so for shorter tours in deep snow, we could use those.

Of course, the other option is another mid waisted, all around skitouring ski, but it seems unappealing to double up like that, when my youngest might grow out of them again soon.

Thoughts on family quivers?

 
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Slim

Slim

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86 mm will be fine for 100lbs. 96 mm for 165 lbs.
That is kind what I was thinking, That at her low weight, my daughter would get similar float out of a narrower ski. And that’s what she skied last year.
But, the difference was those were kids skis, so they were heavily rockered and tapered.

An adult 86mm AT ski will be much more hard snow focused. Fine in a wide open bowl of powder, but in yucky snow, in the trees, not so much.
 

cantunamunch

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Since your wife already has a pair of Hannibals AND Fullavits I feel that the future-quiver-for-her-option is a distraction.

Get the skis your daughter will love now and next season. Worry about 3 seasons from now when we get there.

Maybe let your daughter try the 164s if she needs low angle floatiness?
 
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Slim

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5'8" 100lb??? first and foremost make sure she can bend it.
That’s is a good point. Most of the narrower AT skis tend towards the stiffer end of the spectrum.
So besides looking for some softer flexing ones, I should problay go short in length, not because she can’t handle the length itself (her resort skis are 163 Ripstick 94W, and those were fine for her last year), but to get the softer flex of those.
 

Tony S

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her resort skis are 163 Ripstick 94W,
So she just needs another pair of those with touring binders. /thread
 

Pequenita

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@Analisa recommended for me, and I bought, a pair of Armada Trace 88 mid season last year. I was looking for a light, soft-ish ski. I think the main issue is that right now she’s 100 lbs, and schlepping a wider (and longer) ski uphill isn’t fun. For the hut trip, you could likely rent something like an Atomic Backland - how far off the beaten path are you going? I’d imagine there’s a gateway town someplace? I don’t think there is much overlap, though, of skis that the 11 y.o. and your wife could both use and enjoy right now. Also, I am trying to imagine someone my weight 8 inches taller than me. Wow.
 
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@Analisa recommended for me, and I bought, a pair of Armada Trace 88 mid season last year. I was looking for a light, soft-ish ski.

Those Armada Trace seem like a great option, less hard snow focused (it seems) than most 80mm width (AT) skis, and reasonable price too.

How do you characterize them? I have not seen any reviews, except the Skiessentials one. Also, you can speak as a skier of the same weight, vs a review by someone who weighs 1.5 times as much.
 
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Since your wife already has a pair of Hannibals AND Fullavits I feel that the future-quiver-for-her-option is a distraction.

Get the skis your daughter will love now and next season. Worry about 3 seasons from now when we get there.

Maybe let your daughter try the 164s if she needs low angle floatiness?

Trying out the Hannibal’s isn’t really an option for us. Our early season skiing (which often doesn’t start that early anyway), is low angle groomers. I am sure she could ski just fine on the Hannibal’s there.

But yes, leaning to just getting some skis that will work well for my daughter, and not try and think of other use of them by my wife.
 

Pequenita

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How do you characterize them? I have not seen any reviews, except the Skiessentials one. Also, you can speak as a skier of the same weight, vs a review by someone who weighs 1.5 times as much.

I put a set of dynafit rotations on them, so the setup is crazy light to me. I think it's 5 lbs lighter than my 2010 k2 payback setup with dynafit radicals. I love that. I got the 152 length and have skied them 2x in the backcountry so far, and one of those days I got out too late and it was super sticky, so not a good gauge -- I felt like I was going to faceplant for an entire pitch. I also think I'm not used to the rocker on the ski because all of my current skis are traditional camber. The next day I got out even later, and it was unsupportable, deep mush. But, the ski was very stable. It was easy to maneuver in mixed conditions (frozen/mush) through trees. Sorry about the mostly non-informative review. I'm not sure when you are planning on buying, but if there is any early skiing here, I can take them to a resort and see what they feel like on groomed terrain.
 

charlier

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@Slim since your daughter uses Ripsticks for her alpine skis, consider purchasing a Ripstick Tour W. Your daughter could ski either the Ripstick Tour 88W or 94W. At 100 lbs, she should be able to easily bend the ski and support her in powder. As an aside, I have a light-weight women friends that use a slightly heavier Ripstick 102 W alpine skis for B.C. hut trips and use a ~15 lb day pack.

For Canada hut trips and backcountry skiing, I recommend 94W width. This width will be fine for spring corn snow.

Photo from the Valhalla Mtn Lodge
37BE2689-8B37-491C-A1F7-4B61F1869A53.jpeg
 
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Mel

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My almost-13yo is 5’6” and ~110lb, and will be skiing the Volkl Blaze 86s this season. We don’t ski backcountry, but they are apparently very popular for backcountry setup as they are quite light and stable for smaller or lighter skiers, even with the narrower waist. We haven’t been out on them yet so I don’t have any personal feedback yet, but I bought them based on the reviews here on SkiTalk - it could be an option for a narrow, easygoing ski for a light backcountry skier. They seemed to strike a balance between a ski with adult dimensions and construction, but forgiving enough for a tween/teen who has less muscle and strength than a similar size adult.
Edited to add: I am planning to keep them as hand me downs for me if they keep growing!
 
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@Slim since your daughter uses Ripsticks for her alpine skis, consider purchasing a Ripstick Tour W. Your daughter could ski either the Ripstick Tour 88W or 94W. At 100 lbs, she should be able to easily bend the ski and support her in powder
For Canada hut trips and backcountry skiing, I recommend 94W width. This width will be fine for spring corn snow.
Yeah the Ripstick(tour) would of course be an easy choice. I don’t think I would go for those. Just from a practical sense, because the shop I work at doesn’t sell Elan. Since most every brand makes touring skis now, there is a pretty big selection of AT skis that I could order from one of our alpine brands, at a discount.
Unless I found some used of heavily discounted ones somewhere.

To clarify , midwinter British Columbia hut week, and ski mountaineering, would be just my wife and me.
My daughter will just be skiing day trips (Or maybe a unstaffed hut weekend in the US) in mostly shallower powder and spring snow.

BTW, Valhalla Mtn Lodge was high on my wishlist!
 
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My almost-13yo is 5’6” and ~110lb, and will be skiing the Volkl Blaze 86s this season. We don’t ski backcountry, but they are apparently very popular for backcountry setup as they are quite light and stable for smaller or lighter skiers, even with the narrower waist. We haven’t been out on them yet so I don’t have any personal feedback yet, but I bought them based on the reviews here on SkiTalk - it could be an option for a narrow, easygoing ski for a light backcountry skier. They seemed to strike a balance between a ski with adult dimensions and construction, but forgiving enough for a tween/teen who has less muscle and strength than a similar size adult.
Edited to add: I am planning to keep them as hand me downs for me if they keep growing!
Do you have a picture of the side of the skis (base to base)?
They say tip and tail rocker, but that can mean a lot of different amounts.

They are a bit heavier than I would prefer, but not crazy, and the price is great.
 

Mel

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Do you have a picture of the side of the skis (base to base)?
Full length from the side:
6645DC40-1214-46AA-B959-4CFCB248D478.jpeg

tips close up:
0BE87E05-12A2-4140-BAF2-2B0B92EBA627.jpeg

Tails close up:
695ADA02-FE02-49DC-8507-F119EEDD698C.jpeg


These are the 166s
 

Mel

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Also: from the front, still flat. Just haven’t gotten around to getting the bindings mounted yet. They are nice looking skis, if that matters to your daughter.
265490DD-C0DE-4AD7-A400-6EC5B3B4B99D.jpeg
 

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