Newbie Skier - Choosing Gear

For ski height if you're a true beginner get something about 180cm. If you think you will pick it up I would get something your height 185-187cmish maybe even longer for rocker skis. Now I would get something around 100mm underfoot for all mountain. If you have a huge budget I would get on3p kartel 98s. Go to a boot fitter for boots; also for bindings get rossingol fks tyrolia attack 13/16

You really should get your boots fitted if your going to stick with it, buying blindly will only cost you money in the long run. At 6"1, your gonna want some pretty big sticks, probably over 180. Since your near the west, picking up a ski with a ~100mm width would also be beneficial to handle some pow(something we don't have here in the midwest!). I'm no expert on turning radius and don't think it matters that much unless your doing some crazy mach10 slalom skiing. I'm actually kinda looking for the same kind of ski you are. Here are some suggestions, not necessarily rockercamberrocker:
4FRNT Devastator (a bit wider than the others)
ON3P Kartel 98
Salomon Rocker2 100
Icelantic Nomad 95
Jskis Allplay

But really, look on b-s-t. You'll likely find something that loosely fits your preferred ski at a cheaper price that could have bindings included in the deal. Ebay is a good place too, but your more likely to get some dude lying about the condition of them. Home-taken pictures are your friend. Don't buy anything with more than 1 mount.

Bindings are bindings, the rave here on ns is look pivot/FKS bindings, but if you're just tame riding and won't be lapping the park most bindings should hold up well. Just make sure your bindings has a high enough din range for your weight.

I don't know how much I can stress to you that a properly fitting boot is essential to a good skiing experience. Look around the gear section of this forum and you will soon see I'm not the only one who feels this way. Use http://www.bootfitters.com/ to find a validated bootfitter near you.

I switched over from snowboarding 2 seasons ago and haven't looked back for a second. Learning to ski shouldn't be too difficult for you, just look where your going and pretend your squashing grapes under your toes and you will get it pretty quickly. Stay out of the backseat as well, it will only cause pain, embrace the natural forward lean of your boots.

Good luck on your search, and as always shred the gnar.

Rossi S7 line

Thanks for the help so far guys!!

Just curious...what do you guys think of the Line Blends? I've heard good things about the JJ Allplays and ON3P so I will definitely look into those

CC268Thanks for the help so far guys!!

Just curious...what do you guys think of the Line Blends? I've heard good things about the JJ Allplays and ON3P so I will definitely look into those

Everyone that I have talked to that has them has loved them, as one of Lines higher tier skis the durability should be good too.

As you're a beginner a pair of basic twin tips around 180cm with a 90-100 waist should be fine, and a normal pair of bindings will work too. The most important part is GOING TO A BOOTFITTER to get boots. That's the biggest mistake I made when buying my gear. Just look around evo and skis.com to get an idea of what you want.

Thanks guys! Looks like there is only one boot fitter in all of AZ???

CC268Thanks guys! Looks like there is only one boot fitter in all of AZ???

I mean, you are in AZ. Plenty of great bootfitters in UT and CO.

ON3P > Anything within any reasonable price range IMO

ON3PS are great (I have the Kartels 106s) so I would look into them if you dont care much about cost, as a beginner I would say used from a season or two back is the way to go. You probably don't want to go over like 105 for any reason and I'd even recommend something 85-95 because it's harder to learn on something wider. Softish skis (flex) are also a good bet because they are more forgiving.

Some good options are the Rossi Smash 7s and Line supernaturals because they are both pretty versatile, good, all mountain skis that you can use even as an intermediate-expert. I've also heard great things about Nordica Soul Riders but don't know a whole lot about them and its not a ski you hear a lot about on NS.

If you had to choose between buying boots and skis though, 100% buy boots and get them fitted and heat molded at an actual ski shop, as long as you have proper boots that fit really well you can make pretty much any ski work.

Sorry for the late response guys - I appreciate all the input. Sounds like something around 180cm and 95-100 waist is what I should be looking at