How to Choose the Right Ski Length

Good day and welcome to Stomp It Basement Reviews. In this video we're going to teach you how to choose the right ski length for you and your type of riding. No matter if it's a ski like this you want or this one. How the heck can both of these have the right length for me? Let's look into that now. All right before we get in detail there's some links in the description for my favorite ski gear if you want to buy some in North America or Europe. The first thing to have in mind when choosing the right ski. Start more or less at eye height. I'm 170 centimeters tall. No I'm not. I'm 177 centimeters tall. But then we start with, for me at least, a ski that's about 170 centimeters. And then we look at my body type. I'm 75 kilos. I'm so average weight for my height. So that's we add zero centimeters. If I would be heavier, add two centimeters. Or if you're lighter than average, minus two. Like that. Second parameter to look into is your riding style. And the first part is, do you want to do fast and furious long turns? If this is true, they are fast and furious if you never get overtaken almost. Then add plus two. And if you do like to chill, it's plus zero centimeters. You know that if people are overtaking all the time, you're one of these people. If you like to do aggressive short turns, this one is counterintuitive, remove two centimeters. And you're only getting overtaken on these slopes because you let them. And then you can add two centimeters if you're into riding the powder. It's going to give you some more float. Next part is, if you're into park skiing, it gets a little tricky. If you're a beginner, meaning you cannot do a 360, remove two centimeters. If you can do a 360, you're kind of average or intermediate, plus two. More than a 540, let's call it advanced. Add two centimeters. The third kind of parameter determining your ski length is the type of ski. The first one is, is it a slalom ski? Minus two. Is it a giant slalom? Zero. Do you want to ride park? Zero, sometimes plus. Does it have rocker? Plus two. Does it have camber? Minus two, maybe zero. I've said it's not a perfect formula, all right? And then lastly, is it a freeride ski? Plus two, again. Now when we've broken down in these three parameters and several things in it, let's see if this formula actually works. Now we're going to test this formula with three different types of skis for me. Start with my freestyle skis. Body weight, average. Fast and furious long turns, plus two. Powder skiing, a touch. Park skiing, advanced, nice. Type of ski, it's a park, so zero. Rocker, plus two, nice. Freeride ski, I'm going to freeride a bit, so let's give it a little bit extra. So I ended up with basically body length size skis for my type of shredding. Let's look at the next ski now. All right, let's see if the formula works with these 12.7 meter radius slalom skis. All right, I'm 177. Let's start at 170 for me. Weight, yeah, average. Aggressive short turns, minus two. Type of ski, it's a slalom ski, minus two. Camber, minus two. Oh, nice. It should be 164 for me. This one's a 165, pretty good. As I said, the formula ain't perfect, but gives you good guidance. I'm happy with this length. I don't ski these skis so often, but when I do, it puts a grin on my face. Oh, let's see if this formula works with these powder skis. So starting point, ice, 170. Then we have average weight, zero. Fast and furious, yeah, plus two. Rocker, plus two. Powder skiing, plus two. And advanced, I don't know, plus two. So you get plus eight, so 178. Did that work for me? It worked pretty all right. I would give myself a couple of extra centimeters, because I'm being more than advanced, to be honest. I'm not professional, but advanced. So I'm actually riding with 184 on my fat powder skis, and I'm pretty happy with that, even if it's seven centimeters taller than me, but it works. So some reasons to break away from the script, and think for yourself when you choose ski length, could be things like this. If I'm out jumping, kind of the pro line around here, 20 meter jumps, flying big, I'm definitely going to go for these 180 size skis, because I feel safer in the air. I feel more stable on the landings. I also appreciate the slightly longer turning radius when carving off big jumps, so it doesn't like turn too sharp, so I can focus pretty well on my tricks. So that's what changes. When you go longer, the ski can feel a little stiffer, and the radius can be a little bit longer. So when I'm feeling playful, like when I shot 11 tricks to do while carving, or 10 tricks, anyway, then I chose this ski, a 172, because it has a slightly tighter radius, plus I also feel like it's a bit softer. So some skis, they should be slightly softer, and so that makes it easier for me to batter on such things. Sometimes when people look at me wearing these, they think, oh, you've got some short skis, but it is fun. I like having the short skis, because since they're shorter, they weigh less, I can rotate quicker onto rails and boxes, slightly less risky to have the noses or tails get stuck anywhere. So if you're a beginner starting out, if you have shorter skis in the park, maybe it doesn't look as cool, but they will be easier for you to handle. Anyway, let me know in the comments below, how did you like this tutorial on how to choose skis? I know the formula ain't perfect, but it works. And check out the links in the description for my favorite ski gear, and I'm looking forward to see you in the next video. Ciao!