How to Choose Alpine Skis

While beginners may wish to rent equipment, once you get hooked on skiing and start going with any regularity, you will want to purchase your own skis. Having your own equipment, from which you get a consistent response and performance, will enable you to ski better. Choosing the right ski requires some careful consideration; you will also want to try out the skis on the hill, if possible, to glean more about their on-snow performance. However, you can easily narrow down your selection of demo gear with some ski-shopping savvy.

Instructions

    • 1

      Decide what your skiing goals are. While many skiers build up a "quiver" of skis to use as conditions and terrain change, when first starting out, it helps to narrow things down by figuring out where you want to ski. Generally, an all-mountain ski will be a good choice, as it will work well on a variety of terrain, though it won't excel in any one area. Other types of terrain-specific skis include park and pipe skis, which have a softer flex and are usually made with twin tips. Powder skis are fat to float better in deeper snow. Freestyle/freeride skis are for skiers who look for mountain features to jump off of, while backcountry skis are used by skiers who don't bother with lifts.

    • 2

      Choose an ideal width range for the type of skiing you want to do. Generally skis with a "waist width" under 90 mm are best for packed snow, ice, bumps, and racing. Wider skis, with waist widths over 100 mm, work best in powder. Skis with waist widths between 90 mm and 100 mm are ideal all-mountain skis for the western U.S., while those with waist widths up to 80 mm are ideal all-mountain skis in the East.

    • 3

      Check the turning radius. The turning radius shows how big or small an arc the ski would make if put on edge and allowed to trace a circle. A ski with a smaller turning radius is ideal for making lots of turns, while a ski with a larger turning radius is good for going fast or for conditions like ice, where a lot of edge helps.

    • 4

      Check out a few lengths, based on the manufacturer's recommendations, trying them on the slopes if you can. Longer skis are best for skiers who like to go fast, while shorter skis are good for intermediate-level and recreational skiers.

    • 5

      Try out a few models on the hill, if you can, to make sure the model you are considering works best with your skiing style. Just because a ski looks like it would be a good fit doesn't mean it will work well with your skiing style.