Thread: Ski Quiver Slots/Characteristics

So I thought this deserves it's own thread outside of the other quiver threads because I want people to share their opinions on the types/style of skis that fulfill a quiver - not the specific brand/make/model of skis themselves.

So... What makes up your ideal quiver?

How many skis make up an ideal quiver (all things considered - varied conditions, skiing style, cost, location, etc)? **Limit 1-3 for this conversation.*

What classification/style of ski/binding combo for each said slot above? (Pure carve, all-mountain jib, all mountain carve, powder, touring, etc, etc) (Low Tech, AT, alpine, MFD, etc).

Feel free to share personal info that sheds light on your choices; i.e. height, weight, location skiing, social security number, credit card number...

Me:

Four sets of sticks

1 - Directional carve ski, stiff, w/ waist of 85-95mm. Alpine binders. In bounds, groomers, cruddy crud, low snow.
2 - Touring ski, stiff charger, to excel in med depth pow to variable snow. Low tech binders. BC, sidecountry days.
3 - Pow Day play toy. 120ish. Alpine binders. Inbounds, resort accessed/bootpack sidecountry. DELETED**
4 - Powder masher. Something that rips big, deep and fast lines without 2nd thought. Low tech or AT ? Can't decide...

Edit: 3 COMBOS ONLY!!
If you disagree - or have other opinions, let them be known. Ready... Go!

My utah quiver:

Park ski w/ alpine
Fat playful powder ski w/ alpine
Charging fat stiff ski w/ duke
AT w/ tech
Rock ski
Work ski
Tele ski

Firmer snow ski (101mm) w/alpine
AT ski (112mm) w/tech binding
Chargy stiff ski (112mm) w/Duke (this is my travel ski/quiver of one as well)
Fat powder ski (126mm) w/Duke

I haven't transitioned to Quiver Killers or Binding Freedom plates, but I could certainly get that quiver down to three if I did.

Originally Posted by gointhedistance

1 - Directional carve ski, stiff, w/ waist of 85-95mm. Alpine binders. In bounds, groomers, cruddy crud, low snow.
2 - Touring ski, stiff charger, to excel in med depth pow to variable snow. Low tech binders. BC, sidecountry days.
3 - Pow Day play toy. 120ish. Alpine binders. Inbounds, resort accessed/bootpack sidecountry.
4 - Powder masher. Something that rips big, deep and fast lines without 2nd thought. Low tech or AT ? Can't decide...

1. dedicated powder ski w/ alpine bindings (192cm 138mm waist, reverse/reverse)
2. everyday inbounds ski w/ alpine bindings (192cm 115mm waist, plenty of sidecut aka 20m, tip and tail rocker)
3. soft snow backcountry ski w/ tech bindings (190cm 120mm waist, tip rocker, stiff, straight, flat tail)
4. early season ski (78mm waist, 15m radius, race carve style)

1. dedicated powder ski w/ alpine bindings (192cm 138mm waist, reverse/reverse)
2. everyday inbounds ski w/ alpine bindings (192cm 115mm waist, plenty of sidecut aka 20m, tip and tail rocker)
3. soft snow backcountry ski w/ tech bindings (190cm 120mm waist, tip rocker, stiff, straight, flat tail)
4. early season ski (78mm waist, 15m radius, race carve style)

A slight tweak on this for me.

I'm an east coaster with a cabin in AK...

1. Hard pack/ice ski (178cm 78mm waist, 15m radius race carve style)
2. Everyday ski (184cm 99mm waist 17ish m turn radius tip and tail rocker w/ guardians and plums)
3. Powder touring ski (192cm 115mm waist 20ish m turn radius tip and tail rocker w/ guardians and plums)
4. Dedicated powder ski (190cm 120mm waist 46m turn radius tip and tail rocker w/ guardians)

Powder faces 120mm, medium stiff, tip rocker, flat tail (Dynastar Big Dumps)
Powder trees 115mm, tip/tail rocker, medium stiff, pintail (ON3P Billy Goats)
Spring backcountry 99mm, tip rocker, medium stiff, flat tail (183 Bros)
Spring inbounds 103mm, very stiff, traditional (Head 103s)
Race carver ~70mm, stiff race GS ski (random stiff race ski bought off craigslist every ~2 years)
Bump ski, ~85mm, medium soft (random park ski bought off craigslist every ~2 years)

Powder charger, powder play, and spring backcountry all share AT bindings. Dukes right now, but I'm interested in the GMF system that's been prototyped this last year.

Haven't acquired the spring backcountry ski, but it's been on my list for a long time now. It'll take a back seat this year to new boots, however.

I want to amend this thread to make it a bit more challenging to what makes the cut.

**Limit 3 ski and binding combos.**

Originally Posted by gointhedistance

1 - Directional carve ski, stiff, w/ waist of 85-95mm. Alpine binders. In bounds, groomers, cruddy crud, low snow.
2 - Touring ski, stiff charger, to excel in med depth pow to variable snow. Low tech binders. BC, sidecountry days.
3 -
4 - Powder masher. Something that rips big, deep and fast lines without 2nd thought. Low tech or AT ? Can't decide...

Originally Posted by gointhedistance

Low tech binders

Do you mean telemark?

Rottelfela is not a breed of dog you know.

Originally Posted by Buster Highmen

Rottelfela is not a breed of dog you know.

Never trust them at the off leash area though.

Gimme a break.

Originally Posted by PNWbrit

Do you mean telemark?

Tech bindings* PLUM/Dyna's/etc

Tele-what?

Originally Posted by gointhedistance

Tele-what?

The ones that are like cross country skis.

Originally Posted by PNWbrit

The ones that are like cross country skis.

I think I have seen those - they are those new bindings that all of the extreme skiers guys are wearing... Right?

I have tried recently to have as few skis as possible in my quiver. I have been able to make a 2 ski quiver work, all with Sollyfits:

- 115ish waist for deeper days
- 95ish waist for shallower days and longer touring missions

This covers pretty much everything, but I found that I was spending a lot of time swapping bindings to go touring.

So my ideal is a 3 ski quiver, all mounted with Sollyfits:

- 115ish waist with a powder bias but still somewhat versatile
- 110ish waist allrounder that does pow well
- 95ish waist for low snow and longer tours

Given that I seem to want to tour on a fatter ski most of the time, having some overlap at the fatter end of the spectrum keeps me from having to swap bindings all the time. The 110 and 115 skis should ski differently enough that having them both makes sense, but both should be versatile enough to be used anywhere.

10% Ski, Hard snow for the dry days:
Nordica FireArrow EDT84 (or Kastle MX83)

70% Ski, Mixed snow/daily driver:
Blizzard Bonafide/Pivots

20% Ski, Deep Snow:
Blizzard Gunsmokes (or Nordica Helldorados)

Thats what I have pencilled in for next year

I have a pair of 191 Billy Goats, and a bunch of other skis to make my TGR quiver photos look good.

Lightweight do it all ski - Lhasa FAT 191
Fun ski, slarvey, chargy, carvy, Just plain resot shenanigans - all wood - 196 Renegades
Deep days (like 2 feet plus of fresh) - last year was megawatts, this year Pon2oons

Originally Posted by gointhedistance

I want to amend this thread to make it a bit more challenging to what makes the cut.

**Limit 3 ski and binding combos.**

This is a mistake. 3 skis does not a complete quiver make, especially when multiple binding types (alpine, burly at, tech at, tele..) are taken into consideration. Maybe three per binding type if you must, but even that will leave some spots out.. particularly for racer types who add DH, SG, GS, and SL skis into the mix.

Just my 2 cents. Fun game, but leave it open..

i like the n+1 rule.


edit:

no new snow
a little new snow
charger / crud crusher
tight jibby tree pow
crushing open face pow
pow-pow

At the moment I'm working with
park
all mountain
crud/charger
pow/touring

definately room for refinement

Originally Posted by JayPowHound

This is a mistake. 3 skis does not a complete quiver make, especially when multiple binding types (alpine, burly at, tech at, tele..) are taken into consideration. Maybe three per binding type if you must, but even that will leave some spots out.. particularly for racer types who add DH, SG, GS, and SL skis into the mix.

Just my 2 cents. Fun game, but leave it open..

I guess that's what my goal was though - to challenge people to make tough decisions on what they would buy/ski for a winter. If you could only have 3 skis for a season, with matched bindings - what characteristics and combos would you choose?

It's easy to say "I would have a ski for everyday of the year, no matter the conditions", but for some that is not realistic. This thread will die quickly if it is open ended in the sense that everyone will choose 5, 6, 7, 10, 15 skis to make up their 'ideal' quiver, and then there is no debate.

Soft snow
Hard snow
New snow
No snow

That is all I need. If it can only be three you can combine the soft snow and new snow ski....

sent from the future using my mind powers

Long tours
Mostly hard snow (or corn)
Mostly soft snow
Powder

If I could only have 3:

100mm super stiff traditional ski with Sollyfits
100mm tip rocker ~8lb touring ski with Sollyfits
115-120mm stiff tip/tail rocker ski with Dynadukes

I've got my resort everyday charging ski, my long distance touring and mountaineering ski and my powder day, slackcountry and lazy backcountry (sled/road laps) ski.

By using Sollyfits, the long distance touring ski can also be an inbounds soft snow ski for when I don't want to charge. Also, the super stiff inbounds ski can toured on with Solly bindings in the pack to ski big lines at high speeds.