Once you decide to buy skis, be honest about your skiing level and how physically fit you are. A good shop assistant will know which model to recommend you, however, the best thing to do before you buy them would be to try out the model you want to buy or borrow from a friend who already has them. One of the solutions is to rent different ski models for a day, in order to see which fits you best. The result is often different from your assumptions and wishes.
Do not choose your skis to match your suit- they will be covered in snow 99% of the time anyway.
Today, skis mostly come together with bindings, so you don`t have to worry about choosing bindings.
Longer skis are faster, by the rule (of course, this stands for the same model of the ski). Shorter skis are more easily controlled, they perform short, dynamic turns more easily, too, but they are more unstable in straight ride and greater speed. The ski radius is the cause for this, the radius being larger than on longer skis.
More narrow skis are better at organised and hard tracks while the wider ones are better for somewhat softer snow and tracks in not so good condition. Wider skis are also more appropriate for deep snow.
It is a fact that even within same classes there is a difference between models, let alone the differences between the manufacturers. Different construction solutions of an each ski in connenction with your boot will cause different behaviour on apparently same track conditions. So we say it again: try them out before you buy them.
Skis can generally be divided into beginners, recreation and competition skis.
Beginners will be lucky when it comes to prices. Apart from the price, beginners models are lighter, more flexible and it is easier to
start a turn with them. Naravno da će se cena odraziti i na kvalitet materijala korišćenog za izradu
skija. The price will also reflect on the quality of the material used for making the skis. Edges of these models wear out a little bit faster, especially if we ski on icy tracks.
When designing these type of skis, engineers had in mind that icy tracks are not favourite choice of beginners. Such skis
najSuch skis usually do not have special antivibrating mechanisms, but they enable skiing with the smallest effort,
especially for the beginners and the people with weaker muscles. The core of the ski also contributes to that, which is most often made of composite materials.
Be careful when choosing the length. General recommendation is to choose a ski whose length goes approximately from your chin to your eyebrows. When you master the basics and start performing some movements automatically, you can start considering better models. Until then, higher class is a waste of money. And not just that. Higher ski class will be more difficult to control both technically and physically. Optimal radius for beginners is from 12-15m.
. For beginners of somewhat sturdier built (more than 90kg) due to vibrations and twisting of the ski, we recommend skis from the following categories:
Recreation models have the largest span of all models and that is why they are divided into three categories. Low recreation models are intended to those who mastered the basics of skiing and who have a score of 15-20 days of skiing days. Such skiers can do red tracks with certain dose level of safety. Low recreation skis are somewhat harder than the beginners ones, they have bigger torsion stiffness with a few construction additions from more serious models, refering mostly to more advanced way of vibration mitigation, better bindings and more resilient material of the edges. Due to these characteristics, they are a little bit more expensive and they behave better in more demanding conditions on tracks (ice, speed bumps, beaten snow...)
They are intended for those who now something about skiing, who have a score of at least 30-40 active skiing days, who don`t have problems on red tracks and who don`t want to spend too much energy on restraining skis.
They are intended for the experts who want excellent skis with top performances and who do not want to pay competition models forced by marketing. They have more than 50 active days behind them. These models are for the skiers who have well-refined skiing technique, who are regular visitors of black tracks, those who prefer quick dynamic turns on organised tracks, those who enjoy speed, speed bumps or those who wander on and out of tracks. This class of ski demands good physical fitness; skis don`t tolerate mistakes and it is expected that a skier rides in a direction they want with a strength of their muscles and their technique. Konstrukcijski su ovakve
Constructionwise, these skis are closer to competition models, the core is, by the rule, made of wood which provides considerable torsion stiffness and excellent performance at greater speeds. There are a lot of these models and skiers can choose what they want.
Competition models are made for prepared skiers who possess very good technique, strong muscles and stamina. Such skis are for organised and prepared tracks, where they will perform impeccably, steadily, quickly and reliably if you know how to tame them. They are reserved for those who have a lot of strength and a lot of skiing days during the season. They are not meant for deep snow, mostly because they are heavy and of narrow waist which makes them sink in due to small surface. This class of skis is very hard and very heavy, which gives them stability at speed. All best construction solutions from the laboratories are built-in into such skis- pure wooden core, integrated bindings, hard edges, special antivibration solutions...There is multitude of technological details invisible to the eye, but very noticeable on a price which is very often astronomical. Slalom models are 12-13m radius, 165 cm long and giant slalom models 18m radius and bigger and over 180cm long. If you are not a good skier, do not crave for these models because you could waste your money and be dissatisfied.
Skis differ in type, i.e. purpose, not only in class. We are bringing you some brief information that should help you overcome confusion with names.
This is the most prevalent type of skis and it is obviuos by its name that it is the ski that should provide a little bit of everything; mostly oriented on organised surfaces but can be also used on soft snow and off-pist skiing. Of course this is more marketing in question, because it is difficult to make skis for all conditions. Skis with a thicker waist and larger surface are harder to initiate the turn and it is more difficult to lift them on edges, while the skis with small radius have thin waist that sinks in more easily in deep snow. Hard and heavy skis are better for ice and hard tracks, but such skis generally have reduced floatation in deep snow. Length and radius spans are various, so we leave the choice to individual liking
All mountain models should also be universal models, but they are mostly models intended for skiing on the soft snow, with somewhat larger surfaces and radius in comparison with all round models. Length and radius spans are various, so again, we leave the choice to individual liking.
Freeride models are true fans of the mountains and unorganised tracks. Large radius, wide boards (their width is very noticeable, especially in the waist of the ski), longer than the other types, you will know straight away that this is a cruiser for deep snow of low hardness.
These are the models made for hard, steep tracks, organised for competitions. They do not mind ice, although they are not
big fans of deep snow. They are made for the skiers who are very fit, who are speed fans and who possess the technique needed to control skis of this type. Slalom skis are the skis that have small radius and are 170cm long in recreation world, they are hard to ride straight, but they are masters of short and dynamic turns. Giant slalom skis are longer, have larger radius, they are difficult for short turns, but they are champions when it comes to stability.
Lately, cross is more and more popular category of skis represented by models that should reconcile competition-oriented skis with all mountains possibilities. But in practice, it turns out they are skis construction and geometry-wise closer to the race models with just a slightly curvature (especially in the waist) but still very hard and more demanding skis than all round and all mountain models. Deep snow is not their first intention, but they stand speed and harder surfaces very well. Most of the cross models are not demanding like the race models (especially those shorter cross models who are more like all round skis), but these strongest cross models can almost definitely be considered race models and when it comes to radius, somewhere between slalom and giant slalom models.
Models intended for acrobatics. They have bent ski ends on both sides (a so-called Twintip). They are soft, extremely flexible and resilient to torsions, of medium radius and they are definitely not made for great speed.
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