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How to choose your alpine skis?
- What ski model to choose ?
- How to choose ski size ?
- How to get the best price ?
- What is the product warranty ?
- Will be bindings mounted and adjusted on my skis ?
- Are skis ready for use ?
What ski model to choose ?
The development of parabolic skis or "carving" in recent years has significantly changed the practice and new product lines appeared with strange names (all moutain, rocker camber, backcountry ... etc)
It is becoming harder than ever to find the Shoe Fits, especially as new brands and design appear each year.
The objective of Sportmania is to offer the best selection of products by category, and help you in choosing your skis according to your pratice, your budget and your level.
The flex
The rigidity of the ski conditions the level of nervousness and responsiveness. A flexible ski, is more comfortable at medium speed and can link turns without too much effort, but becomes more unstable and less accurate at high speed. A stiffer ski will less deform and have more accurate trajectories and better place in tight corners and big curves. In return, they are more technical ski to ski, which require strong legs and offer less tolerance on bumpy terrain.
We also speak often of the stiffness of the heel which is the shorter part of the ski and on which body weight is sometimes deported at the end of turn. A dynamic heel will help to reposition the skiers on the front of the ski thus facilitating the sequence of turns.
The choice of the stiffness of a ski also depends on the weight of the skier, so the heavier the skier is, the greater the deformation of the ski is going to be important. It should also not choose to ski too stiff for a light person.
The torsional stiffness is the resistance of the ski when it is deformed in the width. In an edging, your weight puts pressure that may twist the ski, and distort the line of edge that is no longer in contact with the snow evenly. For this reason, a great torsional rigidity is preferable, especially for performant racing skis.
The radius
The radius of the ski is defined as the difference between the width of the nose (front of the ski), skating (middle of the ski) and heel. A ski with wasp waist, has a shorter radius and is designed for short turns. Conversely, a straighter ski will be for freeride use to ensure optimal lift and large curves at high speed.
Generally, there are radius range corresponding to following practice:
- Slalom : between 11 et 13 meters
- Giant : between 13 et 17 meters
- All mountain : between 15 et 20 meters
- Freeride, freeski : over 20 meters
The camber of a ski
Ski cambers are one of the most important things in the manufacturing process, the camber will determine the pop, drive and ease of taming your ski.
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The classic camber:
The so-called "classic" camber is the camber generally attributed to most skis, whether it is slalom, giant, all mountain, powder, this type of camber is very recognizable because you can distinguish a vault under the ski runner, so your ski is concave, The higher the arch may be, the higher the arch is, the more the ski will have what is called "pop", that is to say the ski's ability to see bounce either in flat for freestyle, or in turn exit for piste skis. -
The flat camber:
The flat camber is a little more discreet on the ski, you will be able to distinguish it when the ski has no arch under the skate, that is to say that the ski touches the snow all along, this type of camber is ideal to start because it pivots more easily and is particularly appreciated in powder snow for its particularity to be déjauger if your ski does not have a rocker. - Reverse camber:
The particularity of this type of camber is that there is always a vault, but this time inverted, that is to say that your ski is convex, in the shape of a banana. This type of camber is only dedicated to freeride skiing, in fact, the powder being the original state of the snow, not transformed or packed, the latter is very volatile and flexible, so you should not get stuck in it when you ski, we will have to see what is called lift, a way to be able to "get out" of the powder to make turns and have enough speed to go down, this inverted camber is perfect for that, its banana shape will allow you to be able to jump in the powder.
The rocker of a ski
The rocker can have two meanings, it can be either a distance or a boundary on the ski. In both cases the rocker is determined by the absence of contact of the ski on the snow at the tip or heel, it is the place or length of ski that goes up to the extremities.
The tip rocker will therefore have a spatula that will be curved upwards at a more or less high level of the ski, a small rocker is generally located on all-mountain skis, which will allow them to initiate the turn more easily because the effective edge length is shorter, and will allow better déjauger in powder. This brings us to the main application of the rocker, to be in powder, in fact, all freeride skis will have a spatula rocker because to be able to split the fresh snow and be able to be correctly lifted, you will need a big rocker that will arrive very close under the binding, that's how a ski called "reverse camber" is very similar to a ski called "double rocker" if the heel rocker is very big too.
Talking about the heel rocker, it is not only the spatula rocker that exists, the heel rocker is also important, but will be very small on piste skis, in fact, piste skis favour a relaunch at the exit of the turn, so you need a flat and rigid heel; the rocker spatula is made to support the principle of flotation, which will allow the skier to get out of the fresh snow more easily, it will also allow when receiving a rocky bar, to tolerate more faults and put the skier back on his legs.
Construction
There are a variety of building techniques specific to each brand and it would be futile to try to make a list on this site. What you should remember is that there are two main types of skiing.
Molded and injected construction
These are generally cheap skis, consisting of a core or not (wood, Densolite ..), which are obtained by injecting a resin on a support made of composite material (eg fiberglass ..). The simple construction allows a low cost of production, and produces suitable skis for occasional practices, for children or beginners.
Sandwich construction
These skis are produced by the superposition of several layers starting with a core that guarantee the overall stiffness of the ski. Then several frames of various materials (composite, carbon, titanium ..). The multitude of layers can give special characteristics of torsional and bending, and an escalation of ski properties as a function of deformation.
Different kind of ski
a. Alpin Skis
Downhill skiing, also known as alpine skiing, is the most widespread type of skiing and is also the basic practice of skiing. This type of skiing is a "must" to learn how to ski well and to acquire the right gestures, position and balance necessary to stand upright.
Being the most accessible practice, you will find a lot of these skis on the slopes during your skiing days and on all types of people.
It is the practice for lovers of beautiful well carved curves. It consists in going down the ski slopes, marked and groomed by making skidded or carved turns or by going straight ahead. In order to be able to link curves at high speed on the hardest snow, the ski piste has a classic camber and a narrow width of less than 86 mm. The passages from edge to edge are thus ultra fast and the grip is formidable. These skis are short and fairly narrow, with good grip and short radii, which will allow them to react quickly: perfect for controlling speed and trajectories.
To discover, begin and / or enjoy the mountain, it's ideal!
b. Short skis / Snowblades
Much shorter than traditional downhill skiing, mini-skiing (better known as Snowblade) is made for fun on gentle slopes. The advantage of the mini-ski and its recreational side but above all for its size. But beware though, because with its short length, stability and grip in turns not anything like a piste ski.
So here we stay on a fun product and very easy to handle as long as you keep a moderate speed. In terms of safety, the new generation of Snowblade is systematically fitted with a real approved mini ski binding that releases the boot in case of a fall.
Even if it is not recommended to start skiing with Snowblades, it is a good solution to discover skiing without complicating your life too much.
c. All-mountain Skis
As the name suggests, all-mountain skis are skis made for skiers who enjoy all types of mountains. All-terrain, capable of going through all types of snow, whether it is packed, bumpy, trafficked or powdery, these skis are ideal if you practice most of the time on marked itineraries but like to allow yourself a little digression from time to time.
In order to adapt to all types of snow, the all-mountain ski is a little wider than a classic piste ski and is equipped with a spatula rocker. This technology raises the front end of the ski early in order to stay on the surface in soft snow. This is called déjaugeage, so the rocker makes it easier to maneuver off-piste and makes the ski easier to use.
Of course, the wider the ski you take, the greater its lift and comfort in powder, but the more technical it will be to steer on piste. So you have to make a compromise here according to your favorite practice and the snow conditions you encounter most frequently. We can differentiate an all-mountain ski in two different categories according to your needs:
The all-mountain skis 70% piste / 30% off-piste are the closest skis to traditional piste skis in terms of width (width of the runner between 80 and 93 mm). They allow you to discover the edges of the piste and soft snow of low thickness but the edge changes remain very fast to have fun on the piste.
The versatile 50% piste / 50% off-piste skis are wider than the previous ones (skid width included in 87 and 100 mm), these skis are perfectly balanced to play between hard and soft snow. With this type of ski it is possible to make beautiful off-piste tracks and to try out the unmarked marked runs of the big resorts while maintaining a good behaviour on piste. In conclusion, all-mountain skis are for skiers who take as much pleasure in carving beautiful curves on well groomed slopes as in making nice tracks in powder snow.
d. Freestyle Skis
It's THE practice for acrobatics lovers. Freestyle skiing consists of doing jumps and tricks also called tricks. Most of the time freestyle is practiced in the snowparks, an area dedicated to freestyle including Kickers (bumps), Rails (slide bar) and Half Pipe (half snow tube). Freestyle also includes JIB, which is urban freestyle inspired by skate and roller skating, and backcountry freestyle skiing, a hybrid discipline between freestyle and freeride that consists of trick riding off-piste in powder snow.
In freestyle, it is imperative to choose bi-skis that make it easier to drive in reverse (switch). They will be narrower for park, street and wider for backcountry.
Freestyles skis with classic full-length camber offer a formidable grip. These are the skis to be preferred for the half pipe. Freestyles skis with double rocker are much easier to handle. Ideal for flat and for linking the park modules with ultra fast pivoting.
e. Freeride Skis
Composed of the word Free and Ride, freeride is the practice of "free riding", meaning it is practiced outside the reserved areas that are the trails. It's skiing for powder!
The practice of freeride covers a wide range of possibilities. It can be the small off-piste proximity, practiced in ten centimeters of powder just behind the markers of the slopes. This type of freeride does not require any special equipment, unlike its cousin "freeride", which is synonymous with off-piste in the couloirs, heliskiing and powder snow that you don't know what to do with.
There are also 2 kinds of categories for this kind of skiing:
Freeride skis 60% powder with large widths at the skid, they are primarily designed for fresh snow and powder. These skis have a big rocker at the front, sometimes an extra rocker at the back or even a flat or inverted camber to be as easy to handle off-piste as possible. Generally rigid and sporty, these 60% powder freeride skis can come back on piste when fresh snow is not available. Expert skiers will use them as everyday skis.
Freeride 80% powder or Full powder skis are the widest skis on the market, generally with a runner greater than 115 mm. We are here on what are called "Fat" skis designed exclusively for powder. Their ease of pivoting in deep snow is frightening as is the levitation effect they provide.
This adrenaline and adventure sport is reserved for experienced skiers because it requires a good technical mastery and a great knowledge of the mountain and its safety rules.
f. Touring Skis
It is the practice of the sports explorers, it is the most adapted way to traverse the mountain in winter. Unlike snowshoeing or cross-country skiing, which are adapted to gentle reliefs, ski touring is adapted to the steeper alpine reliefs. For the ascent, the skier glues sealskins under the skis to prevent recoil and uses articulated bindings that allow the heel of the boot to be released. On the descent he removes the skins and blocks the heel to regain the characteristics of a classic alpine ski.
The ski tourer can be led to progress in the manner of a mountaineer, with crampons and ice axes to pass certain steeper parts of the itinerary (the skis are then hooked onto the rucksack). Like some of the skis seen above, touring skis come in different widths depending on the desired practice:
The light touring ski is a narrow and ultra-light ski for fast ascents and fitness skiing. It is the type of ski designed for mythical races like the Pierra Menta.
The versatile ski touring is a fairly light ski that can be used both off-piste and on-piste. It is the ideal ski for walking and discovering great panoramas far from crowded resorts.
The freerando ski is a wide and powerful ski for the fans of committed powder descents. It is halfway between pure touring and freeriding, it allows you to rediscover the mountain in its wildest and most natural state without necessarily being an ace with the ice axe.
How to choose the size of your skis?
Find our size guides which appear on each of our product sheets, to know the size corresponding to the type of ski.
How to get the best price ?
At Sportmania we fight to offer the best quality / price ratio in Switzerland, and a wide range of equipment to satisfy as many customers.
However the price offer is very wide and varies with the season, so it is easier to find good deals late in the season rather than during Christmas period.
However, if you can find better price (offer from a store based in Switzerland, excluding sale period and special promos), we thank you to inform us and we will provide you a voucher of the difference valid on your next purchase .
What is the product warranty ?
All products have a manufacturer's warranty, to the extent that the failure of the product can be attributed to a manufacturing defect (apparent or hidden defects).
The manufacturer warranty period is normally one year but there are some exceptions (warranty that may extend beyond one year).
The qualification of "manufacturing defect" or "failure to use" can only be determined by the manufacturer itself, Sportmania serving only as an intermediary in resolving these problems.
A lack of use does not benefit from the manufacturer's warranty.
For this reason, Sportmania offers an optional damage insurance, see conditions.
Will be bindings mounted and adjusted on my skis ?
We can achieve for you for free, installation and adjustement of your bindings on your skis or snowboards according to the information you provide at the time of the order (size, weight, level, practice ...). Our technicians have in depth technical knowledge, to guarantee maximum security. You can also buy some skis only, and bring your own bindings, we will be happy to set them.
Are skis ready for use ?
When you get your skis at home, we will have adjusted your bindings and in particular the adjustment of the release according to your weight and the shell length of your boot. However, with the new Grip walk and other standards, please have your equipment checked with your boot by a ski professional in order to make the final adjustment.