Wax/alpine ski suitable for pins at a ski area

[Cannatonic]

sounds cool, with bigger sidecuts and width it might feel better to move forward. I know the mounting lines on Epoch moved up about 1 inch for big feet, so I was 1 inch forward on those and it felt right.

[Teleman]

Wood if you ever see a set of GTS Extreme....73-55-65.....Get them!!!!! Absolutely the best downhill skinny I have ever been on at a dh area....They are total dogs in the bc....They were a racing ski back when....but they slay downhill....on a skinny....I have broken three sets....well delaminated two sets and broke the third....Pin them up and you can ski them anywhere on any surface and they are always there....Wish I had had them in North Idaho....Oh well! TM

[anemic]

The Outtabounds are awesome, and work well with the leather Crispi's. I'm pretty pleased, though I'm still a telehack. But this is a perfect ski to go practice at a ski area all day without tearing up the scales. Polecat here I come! I do think I would like it if they were mounted a bit more forward, but I don't know if that's because of my tele inexperience or because they could actually stand to come forward a bit. I'm going to sit on it for now.

Hey Woody, I wonder if you & I are similar in background and experience. Do you find that it's kind of difficult mentally to commit to a bent ankle on the lead leg, because the leather boot doesn't offer any forward resistance or support based on what you are used to feeling on your other gear (AT, Alpine, etc.)?

I find myself in the backseat too often on the teles, which is certainly not how I normally roll! I think that my shin is used to feeling that Lange stiffness, despite years of Nordic ski racing. By contrast my leathers offer zero forward support. I feel that I could drop my knee to the top sheet without any friction. (Maybe I should try that as a training drill, to teach me not to fear it.) It's not that the leathers are wrong, it's that my muscle memory goes into a mild panic every time I drop onto the lead leg and feel nothing to push against!

I feel much more stability by overly depending on my rear leg. This position gets me almost completely off my lead leg and as a result I can easily end up on the tail of my lead ski. I need to find a way to get comfortable on that lead ski somehow.

[Woodserson]

I was certainly having issues at first, yes. I was extending my forward leg out and in front, but not weighting it, all the weight was going to the back ski. This automatically puts me in the backseat. My buddy gave me a good recommendation which was to make sure your toes don't come off the boots, but stay pressed down. By focusing on this, my knee drops over my toe box, I keep the ski weight and underneath me, and my toes stay glued down. When I feel the toes come up and hit the roof of the box, I know I'm in the backseat.

[anemic]

thanks for sharing the good tip

[Cannatonic]

Do you find that it's kind of difficult mentally to commit to a bent ankle on the lead leg, because the leather boot doesn't offer any forward resistance or support based on what you are used to feeling on your other gear (AT, Alpine, etc.)?

I've gone through exactly the same thing. you have to discipline yourself to keep your weight centered over the skis more, you can't lean into the boots anymore. It's comparable to no-boarding which is snowboarding with no bindings. Suddenly keeping your weight centered is critical.

you may feel more comfortable in a lower stance. learning something new is like art, you experiment to find your own style. Standing upgright feels more natural to me in the soft shoes. I'm not doing much lunging down low. I think my stance is more leaning-back than alpine skis too, I wouldn't be afraid of it.

[anemic]

Thanks for the input Cannatonic. I love it.

An interesting phase of my ski development for sure! Can't flex the boot sideways. Can't pressure the tip using the tongue. It makes me feel like I have never had good balance on skis in my life. Maybe I was always propped up artificially.