Ski Cross Racing

[cmj149]

My 10 year old son is a member of our local freestyle ski team and competes in Slope Style, Rail Jam and Half Pipe events. He uses the same twin tip park skis for all of his skiing. He wants to also start competing in the Ski Cross discipline this season. I am a total newbie to ski racing and hoped to get some advice here.

I really want to pick him up a pair of race skis to go along with his twin tips. No one makes a junior ski cross ski though, so would a GS or SL ski be better for him? Looks like Head and a few others also make a "mulit-event" ski as well? And also how would I size a ski-cross ski, shorter like an SL ski or head height and over like a GS ski? There's not a ton of tight turns, like in Slalom, so I'm thinking maybe a longer ski for maximum speed?

Thanks all!!

 

[Philpug]

GS skis seem to the be the ski of choice for Skier Cross. The Multi event junior skis are not not up to snuff of that of a real junior race ski. As far as sizing...where kids are racing GS with skis head height to a fist over, for the Skier Cross, err to the shorter side of that reference, ski them at head height to maybe slightly over.

 

[hbear]

Essentially a good GS ski, if I remember correctly a ski cross specific ski is pretty much a GS ski; perhaps with some slight differences in radius.

 

[Philpug]

Essentially a good GS ski, if I remember correctly a ski cross specific ski is pretty much a GS ski; perhaps with some slight differences in radius.

Most of the men skier cross skiers are skiing 27M skis and the women 21M. I think a head height GS ski for a kid will be ideal.

 

[Muleski]

Are you getting any direction from the program's SX coaches?
A GS ski suitable for a 10 year old {let's not lose sight of that} will be fine.
Adult EC men ski a 191-193, radius around 28-30. Very similar to a GS ski. Beefier layup. Lot of metal, lot of material to add dampening.

I don't think the ski choice is critical here. I would ask the coaching staff.

 

[Doby Man]

WTF is skier cross? While I'm sure all the above advice is very good, you may want to consider what the real pros use for equipment. Stuff you won't find at the ski shop but rather the hardware store.

 

[PeterMN]

Good luck with the racing, I hope your son loves it, has tons of fun and is successful!!!!

I have young kids just starting out racing, and the equipment can be confusing. After speaking with our coach we have determined that the Multi-event skis are sufficient for our u10 & u8. Once we get to u12 I think equipment may need to be more specialized... but that will come soon enough.

From what I have found there are significant differences between various models of multi event skis, even within the same brand, and it requires a knowledgeable sales associate to sort things out.

Some of the multi-event skis are wood core sandwich construction that have very similar sidecut/radius and length to a slalom ski. Other multi event skis seem to be race skis by cosmetics/graphics only. To add to the confusion the graphics between these models are similar and purchasing online is a bit of a worry. However check the lengths of the skis... the sandwich construction skis are sometimes a different length... such as 128 cm or 132 cm, while the recreational skis are many times 120 or 130cm.

Best of luck with your speedster, have fun!!!!

 

[Muleski]

He's 10. He's skied pipe, rails and freestyle on twin tips. So he is going to try SX, coming at it from those disciplines {which I guess he may stick with?}. He's not a kid who's been in program geared toward racing for the past 3-4 years. I'm guessing that with the SX there will be a lot of directed free skiing, and working on carving repeatable turns, along with the other SX skills {terrain absorbtion, etc.}. And of course, it has to be fun. It looks enormously fun to kids, as it's for of like a banked SL. Riding that course looks awesome.

The "big guns" pretty much all come from an alpine race background, for a reason. There are no style points in SX. So, again, I would start with the coaches, and see what they suggest. based on his size, how he skis, etc., they should be helpful. My hunch is a mid forehead high GS, maybe head high.

Hope he has a blast with this. Maybe he'll want to try some GS on those skis!

Don't want to open Pandora's box, but the right boots are probably part of the picture. I know some guys who have raced SX at the WC level, and some people who are coaching it {and are pretty new to it....alpine coaches}. I have many conversations with the older guys, but those would not translate to a 10 year old. I know almost nothing about SX for this age group. Other than having watched a coach or two working with kids...away from the course.

 

[Frankly]

Sounds like good hard snow carving boards and boots will do for now, doesn't have to get exotic until he outgrows them.

 

[Viking9]

This may be a little off topic but what or who is going to create a SX track that can provide the skill and excitement that we are dying to see but the tracks aren't, in my opinion , allowing it.
A new thread perhaps ??

 

[Muleski]

Skier Cross is not a terribly popular "discipline" when compared to alpine racing, free style skiing, various snowboard events.
Snowbardercross might be a bit more popular.

There are some clubs or academies that have SX courses, which they use for training their athletes, and I assume for competitions. I hate to sound like an idiot. I've watched high level SX {World Cup} in person, and I have watched both SX and BX on TV. Our home mountain has a course {home hill for two time Olympic gold medalist} but I've never seen a competition there. The course is also closed unless there is coach supervised training going on. No way do they want the "general public" on it. I noticed the same thing at Vail two years ago. Nice training venue. Closed other than training.

Pretty sure there is no WC SX in North America this season. I have no clue about the USSA skier cross calendar. It's probably on their website.

Sort of surprises me to see as much interest as there is in some clubs.

 

[Frankly]

Even if we could get on a course, personally they look a bit intimidating without some coaching and low-speed high-drag orientation I’d splat.

A baby SX course would be fun. Maybe it should be marketed to us old uncool guys who avoid the terrain parks?

 

[Guy in Shorts]

Okemo built a skier cross course on Chief for a race back in the later 90's. They left the course up allowing the public to play for a few days after the event. Most fun that I every had on that trail.

 

[hbear]

Unfortunately ski hill liability and eating up sizeable space limits having decent sx courses setup on the mountains.

We’ve hosted big events and the track is closed off to everybody but competitors and torn down quickly after the event. Considering the hours it takes to properly build it and the actual limited use it doesn’t surprise me they don’t get built.

Better return for on investment to build a decent terrain park. Oddly enough the park by design is also much safer from a liability perspective than a sx track. To have a ski cross track open to the general public you will need eyes on the entire course (so nobody gets run over if they fall....then who is going to re-install the b netting as well?) so that’s a non starter already (park is self regulating) combined with having multiple participants on the track at the same time (increasing the risk). There is a reason you don’t see 3 people hitting the same jump at the same time in the park (unless for some reason they planned to) however this is the expectation on a sx course.

We still build one for u12 to fis event, but I know the hill doesn’t like how long we shut down a good portion of the run to do so. And we have to bamboo that thing closed and post signs everywhere so nobody goes on it without proper safety precautions in place.

 

[Philpug]

Okemo built a skier cross course on Chief for a race back in the later 90's. They left the course up allowing the public to play for a few days after the event. Most fun that I every had on that trail.

Killington also had one around the same time, it was a blast....the second and third time through it..the first run had a few Holy $hit moments. I rolled down the windows more than once.

 

[Viking9]

For me when I watch it there's something missing. It seems that most racers , that's cars and street bikes want to be moto cross stars, the idea of lining up with 40 other guys and going into that first turn can't really be simulated in there sports and also the handle bar wrestling that you get with moto cross.
Skier cross was formed , in my opinion to get that kind of action and guys like @Daron Rahlves want that challenge and excitement but the course does not allow it ,,,,,not yet.
Because there is no throttle or clutch I think the tracks have to be steeper, wider, bumps and flats and more skiers.
I wonder if you took the hannenkaman( not interested in spelling ) bumped up the sweepers and put 20 guys on it someone could I bet, go from 10th to first and win it.

 

[Swede]

^^^^
A few would get seriously injured or killed in such an event.

 

[crgildart]

For me when I watch it there's something missing. It seems that most racers , that's cars and street bikes want to be moto cross stars, the idea of lining up with 40 other guys and going into that first turn can't really be simulated in there sports and also the handle bar wrestling that you get with moto cross.
Skier cross was formed , in my opinion to get that kind of action and guys like @Daron Rahlves want that challenge and excitement but the course does not allow it ,,,,,not yet.
Because there is no throttle or clutch I think the tracks have to be steeper, wider, bumps and flats and more skiers.
I wonder if you took the hannenkaman( not interested in spelling ) bumped up the sweepers and put 20 guys on it someone could I bet, go from 10th to first and win it.

Apples and oranges.. The number of bikes going for the wholeshot in a true MX course is reasonable because they get spaced out more due to running several laps around a course about the same length or longer. Packing that many riders in to one lap of a ski/boardX course would just be a big fat mess. Might be funny as long as nobody got seriously hurt, but with no opportunity for other skills to make up ground and catch the leader over several laps it would just be a fastest push off contest instead of a ski race.

 

[Viking9]

So in your guys opinion there’s no way to create a better race ??
I think if you wore the right gear , especially around the throat area.....right ..you could speed up the race and terrain.
In my opinion if they leave it the way it is it will be gone, not enough excitement for the casual fan and a dull event for the trained eye.

 

[Viking9]

Also the excitement of the whole shot is the opportunity to be first coming out of the first turn after everyone being even on the starting line.laps are another thing.