Improve as a skier with proper ski selection

Ski selection can hold you back as a skier. Choose wisely. Here are some thoughts on ski selection.

[TheMirrorVision]

I wish we could always have Deb’s voice in our ear encouraging us and helping us be better!

[johnnys]

who else finds that they have Deb's mantras on repeat when they ski, combining ambition, possibility with invaluable techniques?

[wayneyancey]

Very good advice Deb. I have told some of my clients that a shaped ski will improve their progression. Clients are buying what is cool without thinking they are skiing 95% groomed and perhaps an icy piste.

[redboyns]

This is a far most best ski youtube channel. It covers all skiing aspects and rhetoric that Deb uses can reach anyone. Every video gives the viewer exact ammount of information. Not too much neither to little.
Keep up the good/great work Deb! 💪😎🤙

[grigoris]

I am German. just got myself some Blizzards with 88mm underfoot, 187cm long on sale (I am 6‘ 3“) and consider it as my powder skis. 😂 Now took them to the mountain in Austria. Probably the longest (and among the widest skis) I have seen all day. They really stood out of the crowd. Same when I was skiing in the Rockies last year on my „European all mountains“ with 74mm underfoot and 176cm. There, it felt like I was on kids‘ skis. Such a different approach.

[jillsladen-pilon]

I’d love to hear your thoughts about boots and proper fit. How to assess the right stiffness, how to keep our ankles moving, how tight to strap them, what to change when spring skiing when the boots are softer and it feels like we are floating in them and any other advice you have.

[felisaaero]

Thanks to you, I switched from a Salomon QSR 92mm waist to a Stockli Nela 80mm waist when my Salomon’s were stolen before wanting to join your class at Taos. Now I’ve improved so much on moguls and steeps. Your strong opinion matters! Please have more videos about skiing funky deep powder and how you ski your Fischer Ranger or any other deep powder skis you would recommend.

[shaka]

Yiep, it's true the comment about Europe. I feel trained in the US, out of bounds in Crested Butte. Then in Chile I'm most freerider, before to go to CB I ride in Chile on piste with long thin skis. But here in Europe I've been returned to the trails, to the runs. Steep runs. Out of bounds in Andorra, not much. I've been back with the RC4 now to all runs, well seeing your videos that inspired me to ski again with narrow skis in the double black terrain. For doing classes I will find something between 75 to 85. It's amazing how some millimeters underfoot have changed the world of skiing. Now I'm doing it for my knees the correct choice of the ski.

[ameydav]

I had been skiing on fatter free ride skis for the last 20+ years and straight skis for the 20 before.
This season I decided to really put a focus on carving and improving my technique, and skiing with my feet and not just my shins.
Last week I rented Fischer SCs in Austria, 68 mm under foot, instead of my typical 95.
What a difference! I had so much fun on the groomers. Conditions were perfect for it. Sunny but below freezing, hard pack but not ice.
After 4 days I was dragging my knuckles on the snow in the turns. Maybe not the best technique but it put a stupid grin to my face.
Surprisingly, even the hard pack moguls were very manageable with this ski, as the ski tech promised me in the shop.
I am a convert.
A one ski quiver really is a compromise, and selecting between at least two types is the way to have the most fun on the mountain, depending on conditions.

[glennfosberg]

Great advice Deb. I ski the hardpacked trails of N.H. and I see far too many skiers on 95 and more under foot and these skiers are on groomers all day . For most of these intermediate type skiers an 80 or less under foot would make it so much easier to roll the ski up on edge to initiate the turn. Unfortunately I don't think the sales person is always interested in what's best for the skier.

[travelone]

Thank you !

I ski in eastern Canada where it’s mostly hard packed and icy conditions. A lot of the good dynamic skiers use narrow skis but we have those skiers that insist on skiing on 95mm or more even if those skis are completely wrong for these snow conditions.

I’ve convinced a couple of them to add a pair of narrower skis to their quiver and their skiing evolved quickly. However there will always be those who refuse to consider performance skis that could help them.

[paulobirek]

Deb, thanks for all the amazing videos! My wife and I always love them and watch them together. Your teachings resonate so well with both of us!

I've learned the lessons of this video this personally. A friend recommended I get on a Stormrider 105 (a truly awesome ski!) three seasons ago. I'm a bigger guy at nearly 50 years old, 6'5, 225lbs, and, at the time, an intermediate with aspirations of becoming advanced. I had to wait until the next season to try them as I got them on a killer end of season sale. As the summer went on I became more and more nervous because I thought I had gotten 'too much ski' for my upper intermediate skills. Boy was I wrong. The feedback from a performance ski helps you get to the next level really quickly. They give you the feedback needed to advance your abilities that a 'forgiving' ski just can't/wont (of course everyone is different so a more forgiving ski may be appropriate). Last season I hit a plateau, just like you talk about in the video, in the wider skis and couldn't progress my abilities.

At the start of this season, I got a second pair of 83MM Laser ARs. The narrower skis helped me bring my skiing to the next level. You could feel the skis hook up so easily when you tipped them on edge, then bring you around, and that trampoline feeling as the energy entered the ski and was then released. Carving became almost second nature in the narrow skis and, dare I say it, easy. How well I look doing it is another story, but I stopped skidding my turns, started finishing them, and laying trenches in the snow. I now skid my turns on demand rather than because of my poor technique. My stance changed immediately, becoming narrower, more stacked, and the precision with which I skied took off. When I got back on the wider skis it was a COMPLETELY different experience. I took all the good things I learned on the narrower ski and applied them to the wider skis. Edging was all of a sudden easier, carving was no longer a chore (I can carve my 105s as well as the 83 now... they're just slightly slower edge to edge), getting on my outside ski became easy, and being able to stroke the ski to finish the turn properly all started to fall in place. The versatility of the wider ski (e.g. being able to release and pivot, access to deeper snow, etc.) was completely unlocked for me because I shifted to using the narrower ski to learn the technical skills needed to take me to the next level. Now that the technical skills have advanced both the wide and narrow skis become even more fun just in different ways!

Keep up the awesome work and thank you so much for everything you do for the sport! :)

[gingrgirl]

Thanks SO much for this video! Everything you said in this video happened to me in my local ski shop. I told the girl I had been skiing since the 70's and I didn't want the water skiis she was trying to sell me! To wide and no performance. I thought I was just being set in my ways. I bought a skinny older pair of skiis from my friend and have been so happy with the response I get from them. Thanks for validating me haha. Also just want to say I love your videos especially the ones with the kids. You are so patient and are an excellent teacher. They're lucky to have you!

[Mugzy]

You nailed it! So honest, so true to who you are. Very true for most skiers. Well done Deb.

[patgottshalk]

I have always said the lower turning radius makes me look better then I am. My frontside daily driver is an Elan Speed Magic, provides a bit of a pop, narrow under foot and a crazy low turning radius. Your videos continue to inspire.

[barbaracostello]

I had a revelation this past season when a ski instructor friend told me to get some real performance carving skis. I went from the Blizzard Black Pearl to the Blizzard Phoenix R-13 CA and wanted to throw the Black Pearls in the nearest dumpster as soon as I skied on the Phoenix. Unbelievable difference! IMO, Eastern skiers like me should all be on a ski that's really designed for edge grip and carving.

[philipschwartz]

Oh. My. Goodness. Thanks, Deb, for this video. As an Easterner, my loud opinion and bias is for a ski no wider than 84 under foot. That will cover your bases 90 percent of the time. If you want (have the means for) more than one ski, my bias is to go to a 72 underfoot. The third ski can be a powder ski. I just don’t get it when I see all these fat skis being loaded on the gondola in the East on rock-hard, bullet-proof days. Well, that’s my loud opinion and bias! Thanks for another great video!

[makalu]

I love you lady. Such a clarity communicating concepts and ideas. Saludos from Bariloche :)

[thomasmedeiros]

Great video Deb. I been following your Chanel for a long time and try to constantly learn and update by skills even though this is season #52 for a 73 year old. I have been working in ski shops for 47 years fitting boots, mounting + release checking bindings and yes helping skiers select new skis. First rule when buying is to select a ski that best suits the type of snow and terrain that you ski most often. I work in New England and yes many skiers select skies that are too wide for their skill level or the hard pack ice we encounter often. Second most skiers will tell me they ski Blue or Black trails. That doesn’t answer the question to help determine their skill level. We have to diplomatically ask them to describe ski technique. I frequently mentioned Deb Armstrong on YouTube. We tend to put beginner/ low intermediate on 72-76 mm waist skis. Intermediate/ advanced on 76-80 mm waist and Advanced / Expert on 76 -97 mm waist depending on their preferences and needs. We do not stock SL World Cup race skis like you use because there is little demand. We do have some wider models in stock like your Ranger 102 because there is a demand and we can sell them. Personally I really like your former brand Blizzard. My quiver is Firebird HRC (76) Brahma 88 True Blend Wood core, Rustler 9 ( 92 under foot) for New England conditions. When I ski Alta the Rustler 9 and 10 ( 102) are my quiver.

[andycornellier]

Spot on Deb - the industry has gone nuts with the wide platforms and a good many of these folks using them are technically unsound. They're basically sliders - skid skiers without any idea how the ski is designed to be used. Here in the east - the race (technical crowd) - we treat the skis like big ice skates.