You’re a more advanced skier<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\nThe longer your skis are, the more distributed your weight is, which allows you to go faster, as there is less pressure exerted on the snow. Essentially, this distributed weight makes you ‘lighter’ on the snow because the call pressure is reduced. A greater surface area, therefore, helps you to stay ‘floating’ in powder, for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Longer skis do have a larger turning radius <\/strong>and require more effort\/strength <\/strong>to turn the ski, which is why they are better suited to more advanced skiers. They also increase stability in more variable snow conditions.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nOn the other hand, you might tend towards choosing a shorter ski <\/strong>if the following apply to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\nReasons Why You Might Want Shorter Skis:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n- You are a beginner or intermediate skier<\/strong><\/li>
- You want carving skis<\/strong><\/li>
- You tend to make shorter turns (also better if you are more advanced but ski slalom)<\/strong><\/li>
- You weigh less than the average for your height<\/strong><\/li>
- You are shorter than average<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
Shorter skis are better in terrain with lots of bumps and trees because the turning circle is smaller. Conversely, they don’t float well in powder or handle unsteady snow as well because they are less balanced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In general, longer skis are more stable but harder to control. With different advantages offered by the ski lengths, it is a personal choice of what length to get, depending on how you ski, your preferred terrain, and your weight\/height profile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How Heavy Should Your Skis Be?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
(As a note, downhill skis with bindings on them weigh between 8 to 14 lbs (4-6 kg).)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n- Lighter skis are better for powder and less tiring to ski on. <\/strong><\/li>
- Racing skis need to be heavier because they need rigidity and power in order to turn and generate speed quickly on the exit of turns. <\/strong><\/li>
- For those doing backcountry-skiing, having lighter skis will make carrying them a whole lot easier and the whole experience that much more amazing.<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
So, in short, the weight you need for your skis depends on what you’re trying to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just as your weight affects the skis, the weight of the skis affects your skiing. Depending on what type of skiing you’re doing, your skis should have different characteristics, weight being one of them. The weight will depend both on the purpose they were designed for, the type of skiing, and on the material from which they are made. For this reason, longer skis do not necessarily mean that they’re heavier than shorter skis.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nThere is no requirement on how much skis need to weigh, and unless you’re a professional, or at least very serious about your skiing, there is not too much need to worry about the weight of your skis. It is far better to focus on other characteristics, such as length and shape, that will have an impact on the way that you ski.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Gravity acts in such a way that having a large contact area with the ground helps us to feel more stable. When sliding down a mountain at speed over variable terrain, we need all the stability we can get in order to stay safe. The length of skis helps us to increase our surface area and our balance, but skis come in all different lengths, widths, shapes, and types. How you combine these design aspects into one ski is ultimately your own personal choice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Most skiers have been in the position of being in a tight space and watching someone awkwardly try to grab their skis and rush out without knocking anybody out along the way. When skis are off, they can be a hazard. When they’re on (a beginner), they can get crossed over and just look awkward….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6356,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":18,"label":"Sports"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/skilledoutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/skiing-1024x684.jpg",1024,684,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Peter","author_link":"https:\/\/skilledoutdoors.com\/author\/outdoorskills\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":18,"name":"Sports","slug":"sports","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":18,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":10,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":18,"category_count":10,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Sports","category_nicename":"sports","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skilledoutdoors.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6351"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skilledoutdoors.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skilledoutdoors.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skilledoutdoors.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skilledoutdoors.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6351"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/skilledoutdoors.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9623,"href":"https:\/\/skilledoutdoors.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6351\/revisions\/9623"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skilledoutdoors.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skilledoutdoors.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skilledoutdoors.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skilledoutdoors.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}