Skis for Slalom and GS racing

Bibby.

Honestly I'm not sure how many folks here know very much about race skis. Though at 5'10" I'd think you would want much bigger race skis than 167cm, that would be an appropriate size for a beginner or perhaps intermediate skier your height.

Yea, that's why I'm asking. I've done some research. My regular skis I use now are 177, I was just thinking shorter skis for maneuvering around gates.

Bro when I was 5'4 I used Nordica dobermanns for GS, pretty fun,
I use 175 Volkl racetigers now, and am p happy with em

So it all depends on what kind of races they are.

Are they legitimate, break-a-way SL gates or is it a paneled SL? If it's a break-a-way course, you're probably not going to want anything larger than a 167. USSA and FIS regulations set the maximum length at 165 which means it will be impossible to find a full-on racing ski at a length larger than that.

That limits you really to masters-style skis. Google Masters Race Skis and you'll find a ton of information. Here's an example of a masters race ski. https://shop.atomic.com/en-us/products/redster-s9-x14-tl-rs-aa3006.html or https://www.rossignol.com/us/rossignol-hero-master-r22-skis-alpine-rahdb01-000-2018-2019.html

If you want to go with a real SL ski, look for their FIS options. Those will probably kick your ass especially if you don't ski a lot, that being said.

If it's a paneled SL with a turn radius of >12, you can probably go up to 170-175ish. At that point it's worth going for a 171 option in that masters SL ski since it can be used in both events with ease.

A 171, if it's not a break-a-way SL course, is perfectly fine for both events. The smaller radius may seem odd in the GS gates at first but if you're not skiing a proper GS set (meaning mostly Nastar/Dual GS course sets) you'll be OK. It's 1000000000x easier to ski a GS course on SL skis than vice versa.

FWIW, I raced a lot at the FIS level and used a 165 SL and a 190 GS ski but the odds of you needing those, as I stated above, is probably 0.

**This post was edited on Dec 26th 2018 at 5:17:54pm

LukeTheWaffleBro when I was 5'4 I used Nordica dobermanns for GS, pretty fun,
I use 175 Volkl racetigers now, and am p happy with em

I used the dobermans when I was about that size. They kicked ass

Vishnu Wets

Volkl racetiger is another common decent one. I learned how to ski on 155s haha. I found GS skis at a ski swap for $195 this fall.