Advice for junior ski/skier

[Bonty88]

I'm new here and thought I could get some good advice or at least pointed in the right direction. My daughter is 8 and progressing on the slalom well. She is beginning to cut and build speed through the wake, although she is not on a slalom course. All she wants is her own slalom, which makes me a proud dad. I am not sure what to get her in size. She is about 90 pounds. There are not a lot of jr size slaloms out there and they are still expensive for a decent one. I was hoping to get her something she could use now and still grow into through her early teen years. I have seen adult skis for females as small as 64. Would this be too big or should I keep looking for something like a jr 62? Will it make much difference? Any advice?

 

By the way, she was excited to see the little Ross girl on the front page.

[Ilivetoski]

You cant have a rapidly growing 9 year old on the same ski for 4-5 years. She will just outgrow it. Many ski websites have sizing charts (although many brands are diffrent in what size meets what with what a person weighs eg. I am a 66 RadaR or I could be on like a 64 or 65 GOODE.) Get to a local proshop and let her demo the diffrent skis to let her feel what ski feels the best to her. Correct size dosnt necessarily mean what she will want. I know that Rossi should be on a 67 but is on a 66 strada.

[Horton]

HO Team A1 or O'Brien Allegiance are great kids skis

[Chef23]

The O'Brien Allegiance is pretty short money and kids can run slow speeds and short line on it. I think Nelly Ross was running 32 off on it and some girls on our lake were running 19 mph on it as well.

 

I put my son on a 63" HO Comp Freeride (Odyssey) at about the same age and he skied that until he was running up to 30 mph when I moved him to a D3X5. If you are interested in the Odyssey I still have it around and my kids have outgrown it. I might even be able to throw a binding on it.

[Bruce_Butterfield]

For kids at slower speeds, the best size ski is very dependent on the speed. If she is not on the slalom course yet, I'm guessing you are pulling her somewhere less than 20mph? If she is at 90 lbs, she definitely needs something bigger than a 62" and your best bet is to find a 64 or 65" adult ski that is a few years old. You should be able to pick up something for a few hundred bucks. I'm a fan of D3/KD skis for kids since they are very stable and easy to ride. However, the correct size is much more important than the brand.

 

If she gets to the max speed of 30 mph in the next year or 2, she might be better on a 62" at that time, but not before. By then, she may be in the weight range at 30-32mph for a 64" anyway.

[Bonty88]

Ok, you have given me a lot to think about and I appreciate the help. She is skiing now at about 18. Just trying to find the sweet spot in size to last her a while before I invest the cash. I am looking at something like the Connelly SP since it comes in a 64 or a used D3 around the sime size.

[DavidP]

Bonty88, I got my 11 year old daughter (she is on the petite side - 85 lbs) a HO Team A1 62" last May to replace an old 62" Kidder redline and she went from running the mini course to the full course at 24.9 mph by August. Needless to say she loves it! The ski is rated up to 120 lbs.

[Phil2360]

Both my boys got their skis when they were around 9 or 10.

 

My eldest got a HO Revolt & is now 15. He's 45kg & still on it.

My other boy has a HO Judge & he is now 11 & been on it 2 years & is about 30kg.

 

Probably my main observation is that my younger boy seems to be more progressively advancing on the Judge that is a slightly wider & less aggressive ski. It's would have been interesting to be able to see the relative progress on similar skis, but I'm convinced that my youngest in not handicapped in any way by the more stable less performance orientated ski.

 

Elders can run 6@34, but has been slowly getting there over the past 4 years, while my younger son is running half the course at 24.9 & constantly improving his style.