How many sets of ski's do you need?

[rikytheripster]

Am i right in assuming you could quite easily have one set of ski's to do it all?
(if u were just a skier that is)

That the relative differences in strong points of one ski vs another are smaller than that of snowboards. For instance comparing a gs ski strongpoint- say large radius carves against trying to lay large radius carves on a slalom ski.

do the geometric differences of skis (dimensions & specs, excluding length) on paper translate to less of a noticable difference on the snow than that of snowboards?

it is ideal to have different boards for different conditions, do you really need this with ski's?
am excluding racing obv and maybe the need for wide skis for powder.

I might(read probably) have been talking a load of cr*p but what do ppl think?

[Raisputin]

You could indeed have one set of skis for everything...just as you could have one snowboard for everything :)

I have my regular skis (hee hee) 160cm that I use most times, then I have a pair of 185cm's that I use for going fast and they actually scared me last time I rode them... but I know people that have 4 or 5 sets of skis, because much like a snowboard, they all handle a little differently

[Randy S.]

I'd argue its very similar to snowboards. Although most folks I know own only 2-3 pair of skis, compared to the 5 or so snowboards that I own. Heck, I don't ski (yesterday's post to the contrary) and I own two pair. One is a 10 year-old pair of shaped skis that are 191 and the others are 225 DH skis that I've never ridden (a carving friend gave them to me since he has a pair of 240s that he rides in speed events.

[Derf]

Simple: one board for going down the hill and a pair of cross-country skis for riding on the flat. :biggthump

[skatha]

If I skiied and lived in the mountains, I could see myself owning 2 pair-powder and groomer skis...
Actually, if I skiied, I'd probably tele, it just looks so cool.....
I mentioned getting powder skis to my husband, in an effort to make my quiver look not so self-indulgent...he just shrugged and said "why?"

Geez.....

[patmoore]

Very similar to boarding. An argument can be made for a whole quiver for different conditions.

I have two pair of GS skis, one pair of slalom skis and a pair of Salomon Screams (an all mountain setup). All mountain was once described as something that sucks equally at everything.

Having used mid fat Salomons in some really deep powder at Taos I can tell you that I'd have been better off with true powder skis.

On top of that I have my rock skis, my cross country skis, my backcountry skis, my snowblades, etc.

And then there's the eternal question, "How many unicyles do you need in your quiver"? I have a 20" CyclePro and a 28" Sun and have been eyeing a 36" Coker......

[skipuppy]

My ideal set up for now would be :

One alpine board
One switch board
One pair of GS or Soft Carves
One pair of twin tips

This would mean:

One new car
A bigger board bag for traveling
Quitting school or letting my GPA drop to get enough days in to justify it all

~cheers

[Phil]

The answer is always just one more.:biggthump

[jschal01]

This is interesting in that many recreational riders or skiers have many more types of skis, or boards, than most pros. It's true that there is no one "do it all extremely well" design for either ski or board, and some uses (eg race slalom) kind of dictate you have other skis to enjoy different conditions. But, take a Bro Model, Seth Vicious, Public enemy or Chronic, or something similar, and mount/tune it with an eye to all conditions and, well, you can have fun in pretty much all conditions save the race course. Similar to a 4WD or good freeride ro all-mountain freestyle board, or a wider GS board with the right boots & bindings for that matter.

[NateW]

I think one pair would suffice, but I haven't found the right pair yet.

I had my liners recooked last week and there were two used pairs of Heads calling my name the whole time. I can't get them out of my mind now... 14.5m radius on each, one was 177 and kinda stiff, the other was 184 and really stiff. Moderately upturned tails on both... Decisions, decision...

[rikytheripster]

Thanks for the replies guys, this will give me some ammunition against the folks when they ask why you need so many boards\ski's being a student.

Good Stuff

[tex1230]

Harkin Banks had 4.... :lol:

[ncermak]

:biggthump

I had Sunny side up, I had Sunny side down...I had Sunny all zee vay around!

[Dan]

Here's a thread on another forum that answers the original question: http://tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?p=302117

Apparently, it's the same as snowboards: as many as you can get away with!