Skiing really long skis?

[JB TELE]

My room mate has a pair of atomic telemark OT skis in a 205cm length in our garage. I'm 176 cm tall and all of my experience has been with skis about my height or shorter.
What should I expect trying to ski something that long?
I've heard that longer skis are really hard to turn. If that's the case, why were old school tele skis so much longer on average than most modern skis? I understand long skis for touring, but for downhill what's the advantage?

[CIMA]

My guess is like the following:

Long skis were the norm in the past, not just in telemark skiing. Back before the '70s, skiers used skis taller than themselves. This was because many ski slopes weren't groomed, and longer skis provided stability on rough snow, just like a car's wheelbase.

As for old-school telemark skiing, they embraced longer skis. Originators like Dickie Hall modified cross-country skis, which are usually long and narrow, to create telemark skiing. It was popular for a while, but when advanced alpine gear came around, it changed the telemark game.

Nowadays, longer skis are mainly used for touring gentle terrains. As you said, there are not many advantages for skiing on groomed slopes.

[greatgt]

long skis make exquisit turns. Double camber long skis make for awesome turns. Easy? No!..To get the feel you need to put in the learning. Once gotten, never forgotten! TM

[Manney]

A little more anticipation is required to turn a long ski. This is because the are usually faster (travel further for each unit in time) and don’t rotate as quickly (due to distribution of weight along the length of the ski).

In the old days 80s and 90s vintage skis… skied second hand in my youth… they were heavier. Not the case today with a modern ski regardless of its length.

We’re talking fractions of a second more anticipation at speed. It works both ways too… initiating a turn and completing a turn. It’s something that a skier can easily adjust for, provided there is time (not going to happen after a single run or session to get fully dialled in).

Depending on camber, some ppl on longer skis might notice a bit of tip wander on harder snow surfaces. The splay can seem a bit wider but that’s just because it’s angular displacement. A small degree of splay that isn’t noticeable over 4-5 feet might become noticeable over 6 or 7 feet.

On the flip side, the effective edge is longer so less angulation can hold the ski on a line.

Sometimes the radius of the ski will be longer… but that’s a very ski-specific thing.

[lilcliffy]

I've heard that longer skis are really hard to turn. If that's the case, why were old school tele skis so much longer on average than most modern skis? I understand long skis for touring, but for downhill what's the advantage?

Personally- I don't think that longer skis are inherently harder to turn-
- all things being equal- a longer ski may have a much longer-wider turn radius than an equivalent shorter ski-
- a significantly stiff and/or cambered ski may be VERY challenging to pressure into a turn, if it is "too long" for the skier's weight and/or skill-
- a longer ski is definitely less manouverable in tight backcountry conditions and/or when making kick turns

Traditionally/historically- longer skis provided greater flotation and stability than shorter skis- back "in the day", this was once a truism of all ski construction and tech-

modern ski construction and tech enables wide, thin, light and stable designs- gaining the flotation and stability in a shorter, wider, short-radius, more manoverable ski- but, requiring more and more leverage to hold wider and wider skis on edge...

I can make beautiful wide open turns on my 210 Combat NATO ski- but, they do NOT have a short/turn radius!!!

[turnfarmer]

It was all we had and we didn’t know any better. Why torture yourself?

[Capercaillie]

Are we talking parallel or telemark turns? I was trying to figure out how to parallel turn the new-to-me 220cm classic touring 0-sidecut skis (at 180cm height) and what really helped was watching Lito Tejada-Flores' video on parabolic skis, of all things. Particularly the parts about bringing in the inside leg and phantom edging. https://www.breakthroughonskis.com/vide ... -skis.html

His first video is really good too.

Telemark is harder on really long skis because the length exaggerates any wedging. You need good inside leg control or you will end up crossing the rear ski over. I can't telemark on 220cm skis (yet, and not sure how much I want to) but I like 205cm. Learning from Telehiro's videos was really helpful (in particular, what I learned was to keep the knees close together and really ski from the inside ski).

Ski length works as leverage against you in powder. I have a theory that the worst are medium-wide long skis. A lot of surface area in the wrong places: you don't get the flotation, and now you have to push all that surface area against the snow you have sunk into.

My experience is that ski length is a lot less important to how easy a ski is to turn, than camber and stiffness. My 220cm classic touring skis are easier to pivot and turn than my stiff and highly-cambered 194cm skin skis. They are also faster (longer running surface glides better) and a lot more fun. The big advantage to length IMO is how smooth long skis are over rough spring snow, and snow that has seen a lot of traffic. I can point my 220cm skis down a post-holed trail and it feels perfectly smooth.

[JB TELE]

Got it. Sounds like long skis for downhill isn't something I want.

Still wondering why everyone skied in super long skis back in the day.

[wooley12]

As I recall it, back in the day of wood skis, low leather boots and cables, an expert skier was a guy who could do turns down hill all day without falling. The foot-boot-ski connection was loosey goosey. Bindings were there so your foot couldn't slip off the ski. Longer skis added some stability.

[Montana St Alum]

Got it. Sounds like long skis for downhill isn't something I want.

Still wondering why everyone skied in super long skis back in the day.

I'm with turnfarmer.

I think the reason for longer skis in the past was a technical limitation of designs, construction and materials. It's a bit like asking why the Nordic skiers in the 1800's didn't use NTN (well, that could be an exaggeration!). It hadn't been developed yet. Torsional rigidity becomes more important as side cut increases and it took some time to dial all that in. Longer skis with less sidecut necessitate more of a skidding turn to get tighter than whatever turn radius they have. My mountain bike is a full suspension 29er, but when I started, I was on a rigid 26er. I don't miss that or long straight skis. Going from a displacement hull whitewater kayak to a planing hull was an epiphany but took some development as well.