William from United States, a regular reader of Homeboy, sent me email and asked about skis for beginners. Based on our discussion with William I decided to write few words about the types of skis as well as the skis good for beginners.

Type of skis are related to skier categories

As there are many ways to ski, there are also many different types of skis. A ski designed for certain terrain doesn’t work well on another terrain. A ski designed for a beginner doesn’t work well in races and vice versa. Skiers can be categorized into three groups based on skills

There are five main types of skis in the market designed for different purposes.

Type of skis – Race skis

Race skis are designed for racing on courses or freeskiing on slopes by highly skillful skiers. These skis are very stiff and their radius is typically 22-26 meters for super G and 15-18 meters for slalom. Super G skis are typically 190-200 cm long, while slalom skis are 160-180 cm long.

Type of skis – Race Carving Skis

A new type of skis is the race carving ski, which is designed for those who want to have a ski with high performance, but not as difficult to control as race skis. These skis are much like race skis but they are not as stiff as race skis. Length and radius are about the same as with race skis.

Type of skis – Freeride Skis

It was about ten years ago when freeskiing and backcountry skiing started to become popular. Nowadays all big ski makers provide also freeride skis, which are much broader than those designed for on-piste skiing. The purpose of this is to get higher carrying capacity in order to survive well in powder fields. From this category you can easily find a good multipurpose ski for on-pistes and off-pistes. The length of a freeride ski is usually 5-15 cm longer than your own length.

Type of skis – Amateur Skis

Amateur skis are flexible and designed for lower speed, and they are easier to control. The radius of these skis is usually 14-26 meters and the length of these skis should be your own length + 10 cm.

Type of skis – Special Purpose Skis

This category consists of skis for very many purposes. Examples of skis in this category are blades, extreme carvers with very short radius and twintip skis for new-school tricks. These skis are designed for the special purpose and they do not work well for purposes. As an example, blade skis are not good on courses.

The best skis for beginners are in the group “Amateur skis”.