My Mrs is after some new touring skis. W
A little background; She’s a good skiier, we live in the alps and have done many seasons. She’s not into racing so they don’t have to be super light but she’ll be using her old Fritschi explores so not to heavy either. It’s rare that she’ll climb more than 1500m in a day. She tends to go out rain or shine so they need to be good in all snow conditions.

Any suggestions.

If you are looking for a descender the Bandit B78W is getting some good reviews although my wife finds the colour scheme to be bland. The Dynastar FT10.0 W might be worth a look, they also have the ST 5.0 W but I don’t know much about this ski. The FT10.0 has a Paulownia wood core, very light but much better than the foam this ski original came with. The only funny with the Dynafit skis is they have their own skin attachment system. It is not a bad idea as the bigger spatulas make finding attachments tricky. That said I was able to use my existing skins with Dynafit skis ok.

I mention women’s skis, a growing market, as they tend to be lighter and softer so are often a better choice for women’s ski styles than shorter men’s skis. Of course some women’s skis are just the men’s version with girly graphics.

The new Movement Chicka is getting good reviews. Probably a slightly better ski in powder than the B78W at the expense of hard snow. I know quite a few good women skiers who have the Movement Red Apple. The sidecut of the Chicka, like the red apple, is quite pronounced so it is not fantastic on steep icy traverses. You may also look at the Black Diamond Joule although the reviews say that it is for good skiers only.

Thanks Davidoff, having briefly looked at your suggestions I think these are all a little too downhill orientated. She’s thinking more Dynastar Altitrail or Volkl snow wolf. Do you have any suggestions/opinions on this type of rando ski.

Proper touring skis then!

I don’t know much about the Atomic Tour Balanze yet but it might we worth considering

http://pistehors.com/backcountry/wiki/Gear/Atomic-Tour-Balanze

The German Bergsteiger magazine liked the Atomic Peak

http://pistehors.com/backcountry/wiki/Gear/Atomic-Peak

However I know that the MX:8 was a favourite with the girls and Atomic say that the climber is the replacement for this ski. It weighs 2500g in 170cm which sounds ok.

http://pistehors.com/backcountry/wiki/Gear/Atomic-Climber

I think your idea about the Altitrail is good. I know a lot of serious ski tourers use this ski. It grips well on traverses. You can get away with straight skins on the 170 and 178 cm - otherwise cut to fit skins are not too expensive (remember to leave the edges visible to grip when traversing). The ski a good price too at 285 € - although you can maybe get last year’s model for less. The ski works well in powder, personally I would buy these skis. I used to ski on the 4x4 Verticals (amongst the first all mountain skis) which were less around 68mm underfoot and didn’t have a wood core. The big negative is the base is in a fragile P-Tex which doesn’t like rocks, so not a ski for early in the season. Also the shovel is not very pronounced so some skiers find themselves sitting back in powder to make turns.

http://pistehors.com/backcountry/wiki/Gear/Dynastar-Altitrail-Vertical

I don’t know much about the Volkls, I know the Norbert Joos was a big hit when it first came out but had build problems and fell apart… I think they’ve fixed these issues now though. Maybe someone else can comment?

Mrs Ise has some K2 Shuks Annes for this season, can’t say much about them so far as they’re unused but they seem to tick all boxes for her. They’re also quite cheap !

They’re a women’s version of the Shuksan. The Shuksan, developed in conjunction with Swiss Guide and Pro Guiding Service owner Martin Volken, is the staple tour ski now from K2 and this is the first year it’s offered in a women’s version. It’s a nice light ski at 2950g per pair and 122-80-107 mm.

I think the altitrail might be the way to go. A lot of people I know here use them as well. Interesting about the skins; sounds like she might get away with using her old ones.

I used the old 4x4’s for a little while, hated them. Think it might have been down to my old style of skiing, then.

Thanks

Hi folks,

I am a “newbie” - just buying my first set of touring gear after moving to Rossland, BC. Does any one have experience with the Dynastar Altitrail, with Dynastar Legend bindings? Around here, pretty much everyone uses Fritschi bindings. I still have my downhill skis, but will use these on-piste as well. I am a pretty aggressive skier, female, weighing about 60 KG. Thanks for any advice you can provide!

Diana

Hi Diana,

I use Fritschis on my touring skis and have naxos(which I am pretty sure are the same as the Legend bindings, having looked at the pictures)on my downhill skis. If I were buying today I would have put Fritschi freerides on my downhill skis as well. The Naxos work ok but are heavier and, I think, over complicated.

mart

As ZZZ says the Dynastar touring bindings (Dynastar Early Tram etc) are just badged versions of the Naxo. For women Dynastar sell the Legend Exclusive which is the same as the Naxo Prinzzess[/url]

I also feel Naxo is making things just a bit too complicated with the hinged toe however the reliability problems do seem to be behind them. That said I toured a day on the Early Tram bindings last year and they were better in kick (conversion) turns than the Fritchis because your toe is positioned further back from the pivot point. It seems a bit of a shame to fit such a heavy binding to the Altitrails and I would consider something like the Silvretta Pure if you want to stick to a more traditional touring binding. However I would go Fritschi if you are going to do a lot of resort skiing (single quiver ski) as the Pure’s have not been robust and although strengthened for 2008 I would want to see what kind of returns they get. I toured a couple of days on the Silvretta Pure Freerides last season and liked the binding.