This is an interesting topic, and brings back more than a few comments made to me on our recent trip to the Canadian Rockies with Gary and Alice.? Both he (the ever-observant one) and Alice, as well as my wife and daughters too(!), noticed that I was skiing far BETTER on my wider skis than my narrow carvers.? Exactly what mechanics were at play is a bit lost on me, but all I can relate is what I felt as I was skiing the two different skis.
Sven,
I get very similar feedback from a guy that I ski the with very frequently. My first thought is that my 88's are just my fun skis and I just let go of the precision with which I try to maintain on Supershapes. Just do it, as the Nike ad states. Getting a 88 around in tight situations requires abandoning good technuque...stemmin
g and smearing become acceptable. As Gary points out, getting a ski with a GS turning radius to do tighter turns requires something to change. The 88's are longer and heavier so in some respects I just try to not to fight them.
One aspect of skiing the Shapes on my home mountain is that I ski at a controlled moderate pace as I'm thinking about technique improvement. When skiing with others, the pace picks up, I'm sure you've followed Gary down a slope so you know what I am talking about. This season, I've skied more and pushed the Shapes to higher speeds and am trying to be looser. When pushing pace, my lines change and become much straighter, you can ski more upright and just stand over the skis.
It would be interesting to see video of actual skiing on both skis. Anyway I cut it, it's a fun problem to tinker with.
Mike
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