After MUCH deliberation I finally decided on the Volkl Kiku 162s (137/106/122).
If you care why I chose them, please read below. If not, just look at the picture and know I'm going to be having a ridiculously awesome time with them.
So my current everyday ski (pretty much everyone who lives in the mountains has multiple pairs of skis depending on what type of skiing you're planning on doing and/or what the conditions on the mountain are) is a pair of Salomon Pocket Rocket 165s I bought for $100 because it was a good ski to get started on (as you may recall up until last season I was purely a snowboarder). Having moved up the curve with the help of friends who are awesome skiers I decided I needed* to get another pair of skis that allow for better shredding of the gnar.
The Kikus are a fat, rockered ski that adds a bit more stiffness (trait of Volkls in general) than the K2 Gotbacks and Line Pandoras I was looking at. I have the 'unfortunate' issue of being in between ski sizes so the next tough decision was what length to get. My choices were either 162 or 170-172. Since my height is 162 (all these #s are in cm) and I've dropped some weight since moving out here (I'm going to chalk that up to not sitting at a desk all day rather than the beer and burger diet) I decided to go a tad shorter and know that it just means I'll be more agile in the trees and on the bumps. This length is probably more appropriate for my size anyway as I took the usual path of learning something new (make it as challenging as possible and then everything else is cake) so I'm pumped to get out on these bad boys.
As far as bindings go I'm not 1000% committed yet but I'm pretty sure I'm going to get a pair of Marker Barons. Then I can skin up to better pow and for early morning fresh/exercise (yes, I enjoy walking up the mountain too).
Anywayyyyyy... it might be 75 degrees and sunny but I'm stoked for the season and to see how much better I can get on skis. The goal is to be able to charge through trees pretty quickly and ski moguls while looking like I've been skiing my whole life. Oh yeah, and NOT get injured... that'd be nice.
* the same way chicks in NYC and London 'need' another multi-thousand dollar handbag
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