How wide is too wide?

Posts: 42 - Karma: 308

Karma: 308

Posts: 42

Lame

Currently ride Faction Prodigy 2.0's, 96mm underfoot. I live in MA (ice coast) and primarily ski areas that dont have an insane amount of snow. I do however have interest in getting a wider ski for the rare powder days and just to see the difference tbh. My question is.. How wide is too wide when most of the time i'll be on "thin" cover off trail in the woods or even just lapping park / groomers? (I do plan to demo some to really feel it but just curious on some opinions/experiences) I guess my question is.. above 110mm a pain to ride if there isnt powder?

Mar 18 2021 4:54PM 3 0

grantn_

Posts: 194 - Karma: 1,936

Karma: 1,936

Posts: 194

Pro

150 underfoot but anything else is good

Mar 18 2021 5:00PM 9 0

WoFlowz

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Karma: 13,465

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Insane

Hey man if your talking about the marksman you just asked me about pm me I’d be happy to give you more info as a fellow east coaster

Mar 18 2021 5:02PM 3 0

SofaKingSick

Posts: 6147 - Karma: 27,547

Karma: 27,547

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No Life

it's really subjective of course so yeah, demo if you can

but i think 100ish is good for east coast one-ski quiver, it's skinny enough for everything but wide enough to do soft snow when it happens. you can absolutely use a 110 or even 120 waist ski every day, it will be fine, but it's going to give you more negatives than positives because theyre lousy on hard snow/ice and it will be so damn rare you have days on the east where you are dying for a fat waist

my first thought when i think of the times ive ridden fatties on the east coast is just "it's kinda boring" because they work fine on groomers but it's just that: fine. they're not made to ski groomers effectively or make them fun

again, just my 2 cents. ridden with tons of rippers who have 100+ waist as their daily/only ski on the east

Mar 18 2021 5:05PM 5 0

Young_patty

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Karma: 9,322

Posts: 1778

Insane

I have 3 pairs of skis: 98 underfoot, a 112 underfoot and a 140 underfoot. I’ve hit park, rails, and street on all of them.

You can realistically use whatever you want as long as you understand the ins and outs of wider skis and how they’ll affect your skiing.

Mar 18 2021 5:23PM 3 0

JAHpow

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Karma: 14,246

Posts: 6992

No Life

My freebirds are 102 and they ripped even in the crappy conditions in the Midwest this season. I rode a pair of 106 QSTs out west in crusty conditions two weeks ago and they weren't enjoyable to ride.

The waist width is only part of how a ski will perform. Shape and profile are also big factors to consider.

Mar 18 2021 6:17PM 2 0