Kids Ski Gear

Went into Inside Edge on the way home yesterday to see about skis for Neve.  Her skis from last year (pictured) were 70s.  A young kid in the store- was pushing her towards 100s which seemed like a big jump to me. He said they should be up to her nose.  If the advice was coming from Rich, who has tons of experience, I probably would have gone with it.

I was thinking that 90s would be better. She likely be skiing groomed snow at slow speeds. Obviously I want her skiing to be as easy as possible.  She's currently about 43 inches and 43 pounds. I realize she'll grow between now and December when she gets on the hill.

What does anyone know about this topic?  Jeff ... would be curious to know Daniel's height, weight and ski length last year.

 

BTW - Atomic = brilliant. Probably the overwhelming ski of choice for four-year-old girls = PINK.

I consulted with the expert in our house.  Our youngest is 7 1/2, so we tried going back three falls ago and my husband thought our daughter was on 80s.  Again, this is another advantage of three...we have 70s, 80s, 90s, 100s etc.  She is currently about 50", so three years ago she was probably similar in height to Neve.  If we they are in the middle, we tend to go smaller.  Have you tried the Gear Source in North Creek?  You can get reasonably priced used gear there and stockpile future sizes.  Hope that helps.

Harv don't drive yourself crazy and go lease her equipment for the season...

I think leasing with one kid is a great option.

Daniel was on 90s last year at age 5 (he turned 6 at the end of last ski
season).  His height and weight at the time were probably pretty close
to Neve's right now - he's a small kid.
Those 90s worked out fine for him, they certainly weren't too big for
him.  By the end of the season I'm sure he could have handled 100s,
but overall I think he was on the right ski for his size.  
100 sounds too large for Neve, IMO.
 
Harv, as Jason mentioned, give leasing some serious consideration.  That
is what we did for Daniel last year and will do again for this coming
ski season.  It was about a hundred bucks for the skis and boots.
You're probably going to need new gear each season anyway, so owning
just doesn't seem to make sense.
 

I was actually wondering about length not purchase options. Standing the 100s next to Neve they seemed like a lot for her to handle at her level of coordination.

When we bought the skis above I think they were $120. If you return them within one year, you get 50% back towards the next pair.  That seemed reasonable.

I didn't mean to imply that I'm committed to buying skis. Not sure about lease pricing but if it was half the price, it's not a huge difference.

If we lease we'd go with Gear Source if they had what we needed, and our second choice would probably be Beaver Brook Outfitters.

I also looked at new boots. I was surprised that I could get Alpina boots for her for $85. If I got half back, that would be $45 for a season. It's real money, but not a lot compared to what we're spending on lessons and daycare.  I'm thinking well fitting boots are key.

Last year, we got boots for $5 at Gear Source in North Creek. I just returned them to Jeff Palka a few days ago. They still had  the $5 price tags on them.

Enjoy these times with $85 price tags.  I have a 12 year old that needs to be outfitted and I can assure you that nothing we look at will cost so little! :)

How's 2 teenagers, one is on the high school race team..race skis, race boots and race suite close to 1k for the lot...

Harv, go with the kids lease deal or check out The Source. The Source usually has a pretty good selection of kids gear at the beginning of the season, and you can sell them to someone else again next year.

Jason, what school does your kid race for?

And Harv, I agree about fitting boots. I think boots are among the most important part of ski gear. If they don't fit well they can definitely make-or-break a skiing experience for beginners.

She skis for Clarkstown North..

We live in New City, NY, Rockland County..

Skis, helmets, coats, gloves from Ebay and the web people. Used boots for the lil kids. exchange boots for $30  as needed. Sport's Page in Queensbury has a large used boot section. We upsized two kids for cheap there. Skis, etc Ebay

My recommendation based upon 10yrs teaching children, working with instuctors who teach children and parents of very sucessful children skiers.      



Smaller is better.    If  you purchase deep shaped skis--kids can go direct to paralell very easy with a focus on ground work --done in your living room and staying on easy flat terrain until they are very confident and turns are natural.         Started mine on 67s--21/2 to 31/2 yrs old.    Moved up to 88's at 41/2, which were fine.    Empasis on "fine"--some days I wish we had smaller, some days bigger, so I guess we hit the target.    Side benefits--smaller, much easier for kids to get up independently, which should be everyones goal--let them try and cry.   Smaller--better when the conditions are mixed--with bumps and muck.  Smaller, makes quicker, rounder turns which yeilds speed control--if the terrain is steep.  My son can make 5 turns in 30 feet if necessary. Last drop of twister--he would count 30 turns and then blast off to get speed to cover the flats.    Small deep shaped skis must have a turn radius of 1 meter?   Smaller--better for jumping--which is just plain fun for kids and keeps them engaged.  At 31/2 Lange was doing 180's on 67's and skiing away.  At 4/12 on 88's, he could not get the tails past 120degrees.    Jumping benefit is trains balance and used as a balance recovery method--try it yourself.      Smaller--easier for kids to carry--but less room for stickers. :(    Smaller--trains forward balance.  Tails of 67s are about 2 inches.   Tails of 88's are about 4.5.    The bigger the tail, the easier it is for kids (and adults) to lean back.  

So what size?   My response is..as small as possible, but as large as necessary to provide enough slip for your child to go as fast as they care or safety would allow.     Consider your 1) terrain--if you ski more flats, go longer.  Steeper, shorter.  Conditions, more ice, smaller, more pow--larger.   Weight-less-smaller, more-larger.    


The Source is a great place, did not see any well shaped skis there for the Harv youth during my last visit.    My recommendation--USED-always.  Kids (and most adults) dont abuse the bottoms--just the tops, we ski the bottoms. Stickers cover the tops.    Ebay, Amazon--or my favorite  Galacticsnowsports.com    $49.00 mounted, add $15 for shipping.    NICE stuff.     Boots--$25.00     After you use them, you could likely sell them for the same price.      They should pay me to advertise!--I have sent over 20 families there and all have been satisfiled.    The stuff is like new.    My son's boots had one scuff mark--maybe worn 3 times.    

Oh, So not in Section II.
Nevermind then!

Go to Sports page!

GoreSkiMom Rocks

This worked like a dream for us GSM. Waltzed into Gear Source.  Held the 100s up to Neve's head. Tried on the smallest boots, they passed the 2 finger test.  The boots popped into the bindings without adjustment.  Jeff set the bindings.  There was no discussion of COLOR (ie pink).  The whole thing took less than 10 minutes.

Thank you very much GSM, and Jeff too.

it is an awesome thing to get free gear that works.  It has happened to us almost every season with one piece of equipment or another, so we are thrilled that some of our stuff worked for you.

As a parent and instructor with 10 years of experience coaching the cloudsplitter program my equipment advice is to make sure that the boots you buy your kids are not too big and not too stiff.  

You can only reasonable expect to get one year out of a properly fitting boot for a growing kid skier.  If you try to go a size too big to get two years out of a boot that kid will have great difficulty.  I've also seen parent buy a race boot for a kid that is not ready for one and they can not flex their ankles at all because the boot is too stiff.  Go the used route if need be but get them the right size and make your kid show you that he can flex the boot in the shop.  Have them hop up and down on one and two feet and see if they land balanced.  If they can't it means the boots are probably too stiff.

You sometimes can get two years out of skis though I was able to do it with my son last year.

My son Derek is 7 years old this will be his 5th full season on skis ,this is his 4th different pair of skis , started on 70's with a bungie to hold the wedge at age two using sneakers inside of the smallest rear entry boot available.  Five years later its 133's and full tilt boots.  What I noticed since the time he started skiing skis mounted modern he got over his skis way better and skied better slalom when he raced.

Gunny that's a fine lookin boy.

These worked really well for us last season:

Harvey wrote

If anyone has the next step up for a seven-year old, PM me or post here.  

I believe the red atomics were 90s so maybe 110s?

Shoes are a kids size 2 but maybe size three is right for extra space to last until March.

Gunny J wrote

this will be his 5th full season on skis ,this is his 4th different pair of skis

Going on my 9th season of skiing, and looking for my 15th and 16th pair of skis.