Best Freestyle Skis for Beginners & Pros: Start Your Adventure Right
Finding Your Perfect Freestyle Skis
Trying to find the best freestyle skis for yourself, no matter your skill level is one tough task. From width, length, style, and skiing preferences, there are countless factors to consider when trying to find the perfect pair.
But not to worry because the latest snow holiday offers from Club Med have your back (and your skis)! Today, we’ll show you our in-depth guide on how to choose the best freestyle skis and all the things you should be looking for.
How to Choose the Best Freestyle Skis
Freestyle skis are designed to bring out the most playful, exciting, and creative elements of skiing. They can turn the mountaintop into a playground, as long as you find the right pair, of course.
Now, despite popular opinion, freestyle skis are pretty inclusive when it comes to ski ability, with a few exceptions for competition styles. Their accommodating nature is due to their flex range, optimal maneuverability, and relative light weight.
When you’re trying to find the best skis for yourself, there will be many factors that determine the optimal choice. Let’s take a look at what those are and how to know which pair would suit you best.
Choosing Your Riding Style
Even though the name implies that they’re the best skis for freestyle, the truth is that these can work with almost any riding style. That said, the two most common types of skis based on ski styles are all-mountain and freestyle.
All-Mountain
With all-mountain skis, you can go across almost all terrains and these appeal to a range of ability levels. All-mountain skis sit somewhere between racing skis, which are very thin, and powder skis, which are very wide.
Most mountain skis provide skiers with enough power through groomed and ungroomed terrains, as well as crud. In fact, they’re often referred to as one-ski quivers because they perform well in most conditions and can even handle fresh snow.
Freeride
Freeride skis are a category between powder and all-mountain skis, with an approximate width of 105–115 mm. Typically, freeride skis are considered more advanced and are recommended to experienced skiers.
These skis are designed for ungroomed terrains and abundant fresh snow coverage. However, they have a moderate to large turning radius, which means their use around tight trees or bumps could be more extensive.
Freestyle
Freestyle skis have a similar width as all-mountain skis, but their unique shape gives them more stability without adding unnecessary weight. These types of skis have a wider midsection and a larger sidecut radius, which makes for a straighter ski.
Even though you can’t carve with freestyle skis as well as if you had carving skis, their reduced weight helps with maneuverability. That reduced weight is also essential for maintaining control during aerial tricks.
That said, the main difference between freestyle and all-mountain skis is in the profile. Even though both types have a camber mid-section for softer landings, there’s a significant contrast in the tips.
In freestyle skis, you’ll see that the tail is upturned like the tip, which means that skiers can ride forward and backward without dipping the end. What’s more, these skis usually have symmetrical tips and tail rockers, as well as a centre-mounted binding to help with bi-directional flexibility.
Knowing Your Riding Level
Another thing to determine which freeriding skis will work best for you is to know your riding level. How much time you spend on the mountains and how comfortable you are on the skis will all determine your riding level.
However, to ensure you’re getting the best pair, you need to be honest with yourself. Choosing the right skis for your level will allow you to have a faster progression and more fun on the slopes.
Beginner
If you’re a beginner
, shorter skis will probably work best as they’ll make your turns easier. With all-mountain skis, you’ll be able to ride across hills with relative ease and pick up the skills you need to move to the next level quickly.
Intermediate
If you’re starting to explore and are feeling a bit more confident in your abilities, you’re probably an intermediate skier. When you become an intermediate skier, there’ll be completely new ski areas and domains open to you.
In fact, you might begin trying steeper runs or skiing off-piste. It’s important to know that all-mountain skis would still work for you if you’re an intermediate skier. If you’ve already purchased a pair when you were a beginner, there’s no need to swap them out.
However, if you’re an intermediate skier looking for a new pair of skis, you might want to try out directional twin freestyle skis. These skis will allow you to ride in the park but also give you support to go over the mountain, too.
Advanced
As an advanced skier, you’re probably
comfortable skiing on and off-piste
. At this point, you’ll probably be looking for more specialized equipment or one setup that’s going to work for you for years to come. Here, the freestyle skis that might work best are ones with a directional rocker, sidecut, and recommended mounting point.
Expert
If you’re an expert skier, you already probably have great gear and know what you’re doing, but are looking to upgrade. If that’s the case, you need to start looking for specialized equipment for all of the different types of skiing you do. What’s more, if you prefer freestyle skiing in general, you can even
build a quiver of freestyle skis
.
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Finding the Right Freeski Shape for Yourself
The shape of your skis is a key factor in their overall performance. No matter if you prefer skiing in the park or freeriding, there’s a right (and a wrong) shape for you.
Twin Tips
Twin tips were created for terrain parks and half pipes, but skiers soon found that they could be used anywhere and for any style. The description of twin tips refers to the profile on the tail and tip of any ski. These skis curve at the tip and tail, which means that any style of ski can have a twin-tip feature.
Nowadays, twin-tip skis help skiers perform freestyle tricks and land jumps more fluidly. What’s more, they can even help you ski backwards with ease.
Directional Twin
Even though directional twin skis have the same shape as a regular twin tip, they aren’t symmetrical. Directional twin skis have a more versatile shape, which helps skiers ride on and off-piste, or even in the park.
This shape of skis is designed for riding forwards, with a sidecut, while the mounting position is geared towards more directional riding.
Directional
Perfect for forward-faced riding, directional skis work for skiers who spend their days riding fast downhill or who love touring for fresh turns. As they have a longer nose, directional skis offer more stability and power for riding forwards. That is also helped by a more setback binding position and a specific flex profile.
Finding the Best Freeski Profile for Yourself
The flex pattern between your skis and the surface of the snow is what’s known as a ski profile. There are three main profiles on the market, including camber, rocker, and flat, and you can determine the profile of your skis by turning them on their sides and looking at the shape from nose to tail.
Camber
Camber describes the shape of a traditional ski and you can see the tail and tip rise when you lay it down on a hard surface. It is what puts springiness and pop into a ski, and it allows for:
- Easy handling
- Powerful carving
- Stability
- Good grip
- Responsive turning
The camber profile is pretty popular for skiers who love groomed slopes or hardpack snow conditions.
Rocker
A rocker is essentially the opposite of a camber, which is why it’s sometimes referred to as a negative camber or reverse camber. The side profile of a rockered ski resembles the upturned rails of a rocking chair, hence the name.
When you lay a rockered ski on a flat surface, its midsection will rest on the ground, while the tips and tails will rise off the ground much earlier than they would on a cambered ski. Skis with a rocker profile offer several advantages, including: - Greater maneuverability
- Improved park experience
- Enhanced flotation in powder
Considering the Width of Your Skis
Most freestyle skis tend to fall in a width range between 80–100 mm. Choosing the right width for yourself is what’s going to take your good freestyle skis to great ones.
Up to 90 MM
Narrower skis fall in the 80–90 mm range and the decreased width helps with quick transitions edge-to-edge when carving. The unique width can also keep things more lively when on the slopes. However, even though more narrow skis might be easier to flick around, you will have to sacrifice some stability.
Between 90 MM and 110 MM
Wider skis, which are typically in the 90–105 mm range offer better flotation in powder and give you a wider platform for stability. What’s more, they give skiers more versatility across the mountain if they should find themselves outside the terrain park. However, due to the width of the underfoot, there is slower edge engagement.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, there’s so much that goes into finding the best freestyle skis for yourself. Before picking up a pair, consider your skiing type, preferred terrains, skill level, and more.
Once you have your perfect pair of skis ready, it’s time to book your ski holiday and test them out. With Club Med, you’ll have access to many different destinations across North America, Asia, and Europe.
Book your ski holiday
today and start enjoying your freestyle skis now!
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Val d'Isère
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