Down-hill ski brands??

Question

ok im 13 just starting to ski a little more and i would like to know some brands that are reliable but are not that expensive, do you have any recommendations??

Answer 1

As usual, Let it snow... is correct.  Don't fixate over your skis, much less a particular brand.

That said, I want to reiterate the reality that you don't need to worry too much about your skis, but rather you should put a whole lot of attention into your choice of boots.  You are probably still growing at 13, so perhaps what is important now is to talk to a bootfitter and get a correctly shell-fitted boot for your foot type (and a custom footbed, if you can afford it), and then accept the eventuality that you will grow out of it in a year or two.  That last part sucks, but it can't be repeated enough that good skiing is made or broken by correct boot fit.

One more thing I want to add in contrast to what I said about skis is that there actually does exist a bit of consensus about what is a great binding.  Look/Rossignol bindings have a long-standing reputation for being very good at keeping you in, but letting you out at the right times.  This is not to say that other binding designs are bad.  It's just that there are complaints that crop up every-so-often about every binding system EXCEPT Look/Rossignol, which does kind of say something, especially when they're popular as well.  But if you can't get Look/Rossignol bindings on a pair of skis you want, don't worry about it.  On my own three pairs of skis, I only have Look/Rossignol bindings on one pair.

Also, many long-time skiers seem to dislike Marker bindings, not that I've personally had any tremendous issues with them.  Their toepieces do seem to release a bit easily laterally, and don't really re-center your boot past a certain point, which is just like every other binding except that in the case of Markers it seems a bit too easy to arrive at.  You can deal with this by asking for a higher DIN setting, but that comes with issues of its own.  Aside from that, they seem to work about as well as any other bindings.

I do hear good things about the new Marker Jester (and Duke, but that's a different application) bindings, though.

Answer 2

rossignol are prob the best out there because they have such a wide variety of skis and they aren't that costly

Answer 3

1. There is no such thing as "the best ski"

2. There are no bad skiis any longer.

3. Choose a ski that will bend about 1-2 inches when you stand on it, it should be torsionally stiff enough to allow you to stand on the edge when turning.

4. Try different brands by renting or go to a demo days at your resort.

5. Learn to tune your own skiis, how the ski is tuned will change how it performs.  The base edge angles and side bevels will make a ski easy to ski or hard to ski.

6. Wax your equipment on a regular basis. Hot wax 3-4 days of use, edge sharpen 5-7 days depending on the snow.

Answer 4

I think you need to demo a lot of skis.  

You just can't pick a pair of skis off the rack because they're affordable, sure that's important but you've got to love what you're buying.  You're not going to want to ski on something that you don't actually like.  You need to have confidence in you're gear.  

For brands that I like a lot:

-Ninthward

-Line

-4FRNT

-High Society

-Armada

Answer 5

Sorry, no recommendations. Not because I don't know anything. I have skied on lots of different brands.

They all cost about the same, really, if you buy them new. And they all cost about the same (depending on the seller) if you buy them used.

I like Salomon, my sisters swear on Elan, my mom skis on Rossignal, etc.

Point: you can't worry about brands. Find the ski that you can afford, and if possible, demo it. Ski on it for a day to see how you like it.

I would venture to say that all brands are reliable. There may be specific issues here or there...but for one person to say "K2" is the ski to choose...that is just ridiculous.

Even brand to brand, the different models differ so much. I have two pair of Salomon skis actually. I hate one pair, and love the other.

Do you understand the point that I am making here?

Answer 6

K2 or Atomics...

but it all mainly depends on where you ski or live. Go to your local ski shop and ask them what they think is best. They basically always know.

Answer 7

K2 for skis they have a whole line from inexpensive to pricey. marker for bindings, by far the best with the most options. also you can pick up a set of demo skis from the ski resorts with skis and bindings real cheap in about two months, so you will be set up for next year. boots is the only place that wont be cheap you need a pair that fits your feet well, bad boots , means bad ski day. you can also get these from the ski resorts at the end of the year at great savings but you need to know they fit you well. if you dont live by a big resort you can get them online at places like e-bay and some demo web sites.