Just joined my college ski team looking to buy my first pair of skis

Oh you done punched the hornet’s nest cuz.

tskis309ok so this is my first post on here so bear with me. i just joined my colleges ski team (east coast) and need some help finding a good pair of skis. I plan to focus on park but will be competing in racing as well. the only caviot is i can only afford one pair. so i think i need a stable park ski with a really good edge. some skis ive been looking at are the line chronics, arv 96, and revolt 95. if yall think any of these would work as a park ski that could also maybe hold its own in races or know any better options please lmk. thanks !

edit: i have been skiing pretty much my whole life just always rented so on the intermediate/advanced side. not as experienced in the park tho if that helps

**This thread was edited on Oct 1st 2021 at 8:15:28pm

No such thing. People will tell you “yeah this will work for both blah blah blah” but they’re lying. A. What sort of racing are you doing B. How did you get on to a team that competes in freestyle events with 0 experience (genuine question) C. No skis exists that will allow you to be any sort of effective at both, you have to choose. 90% of park skis today will fold immediately under the forces of a race course if you truly are an advanced skier. If you’re not, twins will be fine since you’re not driving them like you would a race ski anyway. The only ski that I can think of that I would even think about skiing a race course on (for the simple reason that it wouldn’t immediately fold up and send me over the handlebars) is the Fischer Nighstick. Stiff, full camber, and the only ski stiff enough for me that I know I can somewhat drive from the tips.

just don’t ski ON3P and you’ll do fine

I don’t believe you’re intermediate/advanced if you’ve been skiing with rented skis and don’t know the difference between a park ski and a race ski, sorry. You need two pairs of skis.

Sessions will delete my comment if I recommend the G.O.A.T...
Goats sometimes have pretty Big Horns tho.

What's your budget? Do you have boots?

Race skis from past season or two get super cheap.

If your budget is tight get a pair of race skis and some old used park skis, you’re new to park so the skis don’t have to be anything special if you don’t have the budget. Literally any twintip with dull edges is good enough for learning your first switch ups, front 2s, back 2s, 180s and 360s.

This is super funny, especially considering all the threads about hating racers and people saying how they could smoke folks in their park skis.


Disclaimer: I know zero shits about racing but with op's ability level it's not like he's trying to go pro or anything. He's just looking for entry level stuff to have fun it sounds like. Don't hate.

What about getting a low cost soft flex park ski for the park or used skis as suggested above, and then getting a pair of very very basic skis for racing, even if they aren't intended for competition...? Again idk shit about racing but what if he got a pair of skinny frontside skis with an appropriate turning radius and stiffer flex from blizzard or head or volkl etc? Depending on his budget he could probably get two pairs for under 600-800 combined especially if he searches around for used skis. Some of those frontside skis have integrated binding systems too so getting used skis could be easy to save costs and not have to remount.

Op, if by some terrible decision you decide to do a one ski quiver for both racing and park, you're gonna have to shell out for a good base to even have half the speed necessary. Most park skis don't have that at the lower levels. Does your school have a freeski team? That might be more up your alley.

Either way, I will say don't go out and buy the best shit until you know what you really wanna do.

Also op where u skiing? Are we talking somewhere like western NY/PA or are we talking New England? This might help ease people's minds about the topic lol

The problem is you want park ski edges to be full to not catch on rails and you want race ski edges to be sharp to not slip. They are in direct opposition with each other, unfortunately. Get some beat park skis. They’ll get beat anyways

**This post was edited on Oct 2nd 2021 at 9:02:11am

Used race skis are really easy to find. People dump perfectly fine skis all the time and their resale value tanks quicker than a new car. Park skis look for a deal on a pair of lightly used or last years model of something. In an ideal world you would two separate pairs as the two disciplines are very different from each other. Otherwise, Fischer Nightstick, and this is the only scenario I would recommend that ski if that tells you anything.

teabagI don’t believe you’re intermediate/advanced if you’ve been skiing with rented skis and don’t know the difference between a park ski and a race ski, sorry. You need two pairs of skis.

Didn’t wanna say this but I thought exactly the same thing

teabagI don’t believe you’re intermediate/advanced if you’ve been skiing with rented skis and don’t know the difference between a park ski and a race ski, sorry. You need two pairs of skis.

You say this till he's bangin' gates switch and havin sex with all our moms

used race skis are CHEAP, and often very good shape!

anders_aused race skis are CHEAP, and often very good shape!

True but you need to look closely at how much edge material is left. If they were truly used for racing the edges get filed down a lot over a few seasons.

I have an old pair of park skis I’ll sell you for cheap. 181 Elan Puzzle TBT.

If you're in Colorado there are some ski swaps that sell used race skis for like 50 to 100 dollars. Some even less. You could message me if you are in Colorado and I'll point you to one. They also have old park skis there, very cheap as well. Ski club swaps are rad.

On a separate note (and also most everyone else already said this) but skis don't do everything. Just like a mountain biker who also dabbles in road biking has to have multiple bikes, you will have to have multiple skis (especially since the two skiing disciplines you have picked are VERY different from each other just like mountain v road biking). There was a Blister podcast a while ago where one of the guests summed this up very nicely, he said something along the lines of "You want a sports car and a truck and end up buying a minivan."

im suspicious of this post

You can't get a good performing race ski that will also serve you well in the park, that being said I think you need to elaborate more on what kind of skier you are and how competitive the races are. I race for my hs team and honestly I do completely fine with twin tips just because the average skier at these races isn't very good at skiing. I think the revolts would be work well if the racing isn't really serious, but if it is you'll need 2 skis.

so im from the south east, north carolina, by the way and the competitions really arent that competitive (at least for most competitors), im mostly on the team for shits and giggles just looking to have some fun. I ended up getting some chronics i found for pretty cheap so well see how this goes. ill for sure update yall when i eat some shit trying to race them haha