Are Your Skis Keeping Up With You?

In my last post, I went over some of the basics of ski design and engineering and how these characteristics affect your skiing. Now, I am going to brag a little about my latest ski purchase, a set of Rossignol Radical RX 9's. I bought them from Mike Stewart, one H-E-double hockey sticks of a skier - a Level III PSIA at Wisp Resort and a Rossignol sales rep.

Why did I get these skis? A few reasons.

First, they have an amazingly chick-picking up color scheme.


Second, they have some physical characteristics I like too. When I was looking for skis this year, I wanted something with a stiff tail end and low torsion. Translation: the rear (tail) end of the ski does not flex or rotate much. What does this accomplish? This absorbs energy throughout the turn and then releases at the end of the turn, resulting in a turn that "shoots" you out at the end. Bottom line, I wanted something that would rip. These did the trick. They also have a sidecut radius of 13 meters - can you say tight turns? If you are more of an advanced skier who is looking for some skis that are speed demons, super responsive, and carve up the whole mountain, these are the type to get. Tell your ski shop that you want a low torsional, stiff tail. I also went up 5 cm in length from my previous skis to 165 cm. This lets me go a little faster. All I have to worry about now is controlling these rockets on my feet. These things are a blast to ride on.

Also, I want to point out that these skis are a 1-2 year old model. You do not have to have the newest high end skis to get great skis. I found these, demoed them, felt how they performed, liked them, and purchased them. Done deal.

Are your skis keeping up with you? If not, it may be time to visit the ski shop to look at some newer skis.