Bulgaria Ski discussion board

I thought I might ask about skis .. instead of people sniping and insulting each other.. I am a beginner 50 yrs old 6ft tall and 12 stone I just want to be able to ski easily and safely I can link parallel turns and just about stop when I want! My wife is an advanced skier and has her own skis. I have used many different skis from hire shops.
After a long day of falling over again and again I went back to the hire shop and explained my plight, the guy went out the back rummaged around and gave a battered pair of salomon 400 scramblers 160 in length ....
Amazing! I could control them. It was like they had magnetic soles. The side cut was 107 73 96 radius 17.5 I`ve looked around on ebay etc to try and find a pair but I think they are too old to be around now..
SO what would be a good pair to buy second hand on ebay or whatever bearing in mind i have no desire to ski fast or flashily but just to be good enough to able enjoy the sport...and hopefully progress..
just a skiing question

From my limited experience I would always suggest going somewhere where you can try out as many skis as possible before making your choice. Having an idea of turn radius and waist size is great but skis with similar metrics can ski very very differently. I would suggest getting to a slope somewhere and speaking to the ski techs for some suggestions and then get out there and try as many as you can. Certainly Ellis Brigham provide this facility for free at the Snowdome in Tamworth so Im sure other ski centres would do as well. You dont have to feel obliged to purchase from them, I didnt when I did it and a few calls later found me an identical pair of skis for £30 cheaper than Ellis Brighams already discounted sale price. You could still search around on ebay once you know the ski you are after.

Happy hunting

Mikey just back off you really are an idiot, i see you've started bugging the summer site as well now.
For your information i suggest you check out Snow and Rocks guide to ski sizes etc, or check out Phil Smiths very highley regarded videos on improving your skiing, 17.5m radius for on piste skiis would definately come under the 'racing' heading. The query was a general question and the guy was not particularly afte a chapter and verse on the ins and outs of tip/waisr/tail sizes or radius of turns. Iwas trying to give some 'general' impartial advice. Maybe you should take a leaf out of your own book and stop trying to have a go all the time, some people want simple answers, and not you running everything down all the time. The fact is that overall Bulgaria is still a cheaper chance of being able to ski for a lot of people who are obviously not as wealthy as you!
get over yourself and do something useful, meanwhile some of us will still try to help people with their queries , and who dont want your ranting!
obviously you are a much superior skier to me and have a lot more contact with racing and race training than me, after all i only do it here every week and my daughter spent the season in the Chamkoria race school, but obviously they dont know as much as you!

A little concerned my friend that you state falling over all day. This lends me to believe that perhaps your technique might want a little updating as well as your skis. Fact of life, shorter skis are easier to control and turn, a ski with a slalom sidecut will turn quicker if required pressure is applied in the right areas, this is actually true of all skis, they will perform to their optimum if skied correctly. The old addage applies, `skis do not maketh the man'.... I can accept that you would be happier on a pair that you could control but you also state that you would like to improve. Perhaps a generalisation but aim for a recreational slalom ski and invest in a couple of private lessons (i am assuming you haven`t ??), hopefully the improvement will be dramatic.
Good luck.
As a footnote to the other ramblings, i have skied with Fraser, i can confirm that he is a very strong skier, knowledgeable and stylish to boot, his advice to this poster was succinct and to the point. Mikey, perhaps your skills (and you have them) and obvious knowledge would be better directed in offering advice and information to posters instead of demeaning those who offer to help. Perhaps you will continue your campaign and in doing so rubbish my advice, i mean, i`m English, what could i possibly know about skiing ??

thanks steve you are probably right about getting more tuition it was just that after changing skis for the scramblers (which were shorter!) things seemed so much easier which is why I noted down the statistics for those skis... I realise I am a novice at this and there probably is no magic number for skis but I thought if I buy my own skis at least I would have a reference point instead of wildly different skis from the hire shop every time I go skiing .. I am learning later in life than most ppl and as I said before do not have any desire to be fast or flash
I can ski blues and greens ok but it would be nice to keep up with my wife!! ..
But I take your point tuition from a third party is probably the way forwards

thanks