Slalom Ski for 8yr old boy - did I make the right call?

[Windsurfnut]

My 10yr old 2 planker has been skiing for about 5years now. This year he finally was able to slalom and has been unstoppable. Quickly surpassed the O'Brien Vector Jr's I bought earlier this year and has been able to borrow some older slalom skis to progress on. He's making all 6 balls on the mini course, ready for the big course. His favorite ski so far has been a 60" O'Brien ITC (I think that's what it was called) and hes super comfortable on it.

I was looking at 2 skis that are available to me. The O'Brien Jr Siege and the Radar TRA.

the TRA was what I really want to see him on, and think its a better long term ski.

He tried a TRA the other night that was set up with double boots. He had a hard time turning the ski. He's never skied with double boots though..so I'm kinda ruling that as the issue.

The Siege was less money, and I thought that the 59" or the 61" was the right length, but only the 62" was available locally at the moment.

The dealer gave me a decent deal on the TRA, making them very close in price, so I grabbed it, seeing that the Siege was almost the same length.

I can't keep upgrading skis..so I think the TRA was a better choice long term.

Thoughts?

 

 

[Bruce_Butterfield]

Stick with a front boot and rear toe piece. The vast majority of kids are using that setup. As long as the front boot fits well, there is little benefit to double boots.

 

I would strongly suggest a 64- 65" ski that is user friendly and easy to ride - typically a D3 or Radar. The larger ski will let him run the full course at slower speeds. Imo this is a much faster way to progress than the mini course at faster speeds.

 

Once he gets the boat speed over 30mph or so, then the 62" is the right size up to 90- 100 lbs.

 

http://www.ballofspray.com/home-page/tech/2598-the-future-of-our-sport-tips-to-addict-the-next-generation

[Chef23]

I am not sure what ski you got him. I would say bigger is probably better and I would put him on a front boot with a rear toe not on double boots.

 

When my kids were first learning the course I had them on a 63" HO wide ride ski that had a ton of support for slow speeds. My son skied that until he was running 30 mph at 15 off.

[bojans]

My son is 8 and on a 63" TRA with a rtp. The skis is great for him, starting to speed up running the course regularly. Very happy with this choice.

[TeamWally]

Couldnt agree more with Bruce, size does matter.I grabbed a couple of 62 Goodes for the grandkids, biggest challenge was finding a decent binding. I wound up with the HO JR lace ups and RTPs, I had to cut the front of the RTP off to get the binders close enough for little feet. Stuck interlok on the plates and we're off to Nationals. See you in Caldwell.

[WBLskier]

TRA. You won't regret it. My two daughters use it (7 and 10). My niece (9) and nephew (12) are on it. I know lots of other kids using it. Skis great.

[Intheday]

I believe you made the right choice

 

So that makes Three for TRA my sone has been on one since 7 and running the full course. Going to get me little girl a lyric same length because she like the graphics better. Rather they have a ski they want to ski on.

[Windsurfnut]

He loved the TRA. I got him the Room38 Vector front boot and RTP. He thinks it looks super cool. Got up first time on it and skied the hell out of it. He then struggled a bunch of times to come up on it again..mostly tired I think, but got discouraged. Finally got him up once more and loving it. He just seems to struggle getting up on it. He was up 99% of the time on the other skis. I think the extra length may be floating him a bit as he bobbles to the side. Either way, very happy boy and looked good on the ski. He'll get up more consistent with some practice on it

[Windsurfnut]

BTW, Great article Bruce. I hadn't seen that yet