The best ice skis I’ve been on were Volkl Kendos with sharpened edges. The 80-90mm range is the sweet spot for good hold on ice and enough width for off piste.

The best East Coast ice ski is a frontside/carving ski with two sheets of metal. Something like the Head Supershape's. Most important, keep them sharp. Buy a 87 degree edge angle guide and a 400 grit diamond file and a little clamp to hold them together. Learn how to sharpen your edges and do them every 4-8 hrs of skiing.

Have a few friends who I wished would Ski Nerd out w/me more, but having this channel makes up for that now. Plus all the great fellow commenters thank you all I love this ski party family we've got here! Elliot thanks so much for the shout outs and compliments, wasn't expecting that or any comment of mine to be a feature of a video, I'm so honored! And such an awesome response, the 2 skis (QST92 vs Kore93) took opposite approaches, arriving at a similar destination. I can add from personnel experience make sure the DIN is high (at least 8) and attach some powder streamers before wadding into beyond a ft of powder while on the Kore 93; because that's how I lost 1 of mine!

I ski in NY- I think having properly tuned skis is as important as what the ski is

I really appreciated the response to the question about the best east coast ski. I think most people who were also curious really just wanted to know what you'd have in your quiver if you were still in Vermont, so I think that answer hit the mark.

The Best Ski to take on ice is whatever skis of yours are sharpest, lol

As a former racer myself, I ski a 120 boot also. 130s can inhibit me in certain conditions. I like the forgiving flex that the 120 gives me. And like you say, when you’re skiing a full day, and you hit the bumps at the end of a day, 130s can be very uncomfortable and limiting.

Thanks for expounding on my questions. Your channel is the best for honest, objective ski reviews.

I’m skiing a Volkl Deacon V Werks 84 for the ice. No complaints. I feel like a pretty accomplished skier and I have skied all of the “famous” blacks on the east coast but I like to ski them and not just get down them. If the conditions are really poor “icy” I don’t go near them. I don’t find survival skiing very enjoyable. I’m too old to be skiing where falls have consequences. What a fun sport you can do for a lifetime. Cheers

Thanks For Watching Everyone, excited to see your questions, have a great weekend!

100% agreed on the Kore 93 assessment, head did a great job giving it nice off trail ability while keeping a very high on piste "standard" I guess . I don't know the qst but that argument made very good sense to me. I believe that

Given that I have a big quiver I see no reason to be wider than 65mm under foot on ice. Easier to get the forces where you need them!

Home Town Sports in McCall had the Stance 80 as one of their rental choices. If you could make it to Tamarack or Brundage next season, you would probably find some different demo skis available.

Re: Boot Flex... there is a lot more that goes into it than most people think about. Your height (leverage), weight (resistance), ankle flexibility, typical conditions you ski in (powder requires less than groomer/ice), skiing style / type (back country vs carving vs park), ... it's not as simple as good skier = higher flex. And to make it even more complicated, there isn't a standard for flex rating, so one companies 120 is another's 130, and 130 in one boot line could be different than another. More reasons why people should go to a good boot fitter... it's A LOT easier to make a boot more flexible than to make it stiffer. And finally, boots change flex with temperature, so depending on where you normally ski that could have a small impact as well.

Salomon Impacts from 2008, 330 ski days, still going strong. I did just replace the liners.

For eastern ice. It is not the sharpest edge that matters, it's the edge bevel that makes the difference. You need somewhere in the 88.5 to 87.5 range

1:00 when do you know you need to replace your boots? Indeed, a good question, and as we know it, the general "recommended" mark in average is 100-150 days, depending on your skiing acitivity, level etc. And how much you realistically want and need to put money into your boots. It's really debatble if the casual skier benefits from getting new boots every 2-3 years, apart from getting a new look on the boot. But what does 150 days mean, essentially? Let's consider: What is your "day" length: - go to the slopes for the evening for 3 hours; active skiing time perhaps 1 hour, 2 hours in the restaurant with the buddies shooting sh** -> 150days = 150hrs - go to the slopes in the weekend, spend 6 hours in the resort, active hours in the slopes 4 hours -> 150 days = 600 hours What kind of skiing you do: - on piste, smooth groomers, hardly any bumps etc. -> boots hardly get any hard hits - off-piste, where you might have drops, jumps, bumps, knock your boots to rocks -> fast and hard bumps stress the plastic, rock hits will cause actual cracks and other wear to the boots How do you wear the boots otherwise: - Carry the boots to the locker room, put them on and walk on smooth surface and on snow only -> hardly any wear to the soles - Put your boots on in the parking lot, walk around on gravel, asphalt, metal stairs -> soles and boot toe and heel lugs wil get natural wear from walking -> worn lugs might not securely attach to the bindings How many days to you ski during a season: - casual holiday skier, 5 days a season -> 150 days = 30 years , very likely the plastic is way beyond its "best before"-date - professional skier, like a ski guide or instructor: 100-150 days as season (5 months, 4-5 days a week) The more years you keep the boots, the less probably you will be able to get spare parts, like replacement sole pads and buckles etc. So also that is a factor to consider. I had 5 seasons old boots last year, and they would've needed new liners, sole pads and perhaps some spare buckles just in case. So the cost to maintain them would've been around 250 euros. Also, they did have some fit issues, especially when worn over multiple days on trips. So, I got new boots for 470 euros instead, effectively investing 220 euros for upcoming years of more worry-free hobbying, and better wearing boots.

For ice. Narrower, bit of metal underfoot, less rocker and something you can bend. Declivity 82ti, or 92ti if you prefer more width, works really well to cover all of that.

I had a chance to demo 4 skis at Mt Snow last winter, in mixed conditions, most of the trails had some fresh groomed, man made snow that day but others like the north face main trails, and "One More Time" (nearer the demo shop) the snow was a mix of crust and ice. Out of 4, the Volkl Kendo 88, Salomon Stance 88, K2 Mindbender 89ti, and the Rossignol Experience 86 ti, the Rossi was by far the best in the firm conditions, in fact it was better than any other ski I have had, including some racing skis.

There can never be only one answer- best skis for early season East Coast ice (not enough snow fallen yet) are straight up carving skis. Mine are Blizzard Thunderbird R15 WB (which you should review), but there are a ton of good ones. For skied off ice in between storms, need something that can handle hard bumps and treks into the woods to find the remaining tiny stashes, Head Kore 87s work great.

6:40 I think that's fair assesment, and about the "ego on boot flex". A local boot fitter here put it pretty well: you're better off getting a properly fitting boot here and giving up 10-20 in the boot flex, than wear ill-fitting boot.

I ski a lot on iced groomers in NY. I don't like chatter and prioritize dampness. I ski a Blizzard Brahma 82 which works great. That said they don't make them any longer. I would look at the Blizzard Anomaly 84 (the Brahma replacement), Armada Declivity 82, or the Octo that Elliot suggested. If you ski more off trail maybe look at a wider ski.

A slalom ski with 0.5 or 1 degree base edge and 3 on the side is best and keep them sharp.

Silly to say that it's okay to ask for free skis but not free art. What's the difference? Both are valuable and so is the attention they'd get from Elliott doing the tat. So Elliott didn't ask for free stuff so much as he suggested a trade. And that is entirely reasonable.

While you’re comparing QST92 vs. everything else…..thoughts on the QST vs. Ripstick 88 for an all mountain tool? European snow conditions

I have always used my boots until the plastic broke.. Your 100 days rule does sound about right for my situation now... Right now I have 65 days on my boots.. I can probably get 2 more seasons of about 20 days on them.. One of my pairs of skis my feet feel loose in the boots.. It is my longest pair of skis and there is a lot of torque on my boots.. My other skis feel fine with my boots.. So 1 pair out of 10.. I think my boot flex is 110.. I am not sure and I will have to check them out.. Yeah my race boots were stiff but skiing in variable conditions I like have softer boots.. When I used to snowboard my snowboard (Kemper) was stiff but my boots (Sorels) were soft.. I think a lot of the snowboards are softer but the boots are stiffer... Hmmm.. Something to think about.. I am originally from Wisconsin and I am not sure about how the East Coast is but I would probably have a really good carver.. I would probably go with the Montero Line.. 88s might actually be too wide.. I see people out here in Colorado skiing the Montero Line or the Lasers.. Early season I am going to have to choose between my 100 waist width with a 15m turn radius over my 70 waist width with a 13m turn radius.. My larger turn radius skis will have to wait until most of the ski hill is open.. My Stormriders 88s have a 19m turn radius which is too much of a turn radius for me if there are people all over the place.. How much can you actually go off trail in the midwest?

Any opinions on buying the hybrid boot for $50-$100 extra vs getting the alpine one (any brand)

How about Faction skiis, especially Mana 2

What about best skis when it gets icy at Bogus? There are days when the frontside and Pine Creek are similar to east coast conditions.

What's The Best Ski For East Coast ICE? C'mon, man! You can say it. I know you can. NORDICA ENFORCER!! hehehe

As a ski patroller, the best ice skis is a good helmet 😂

Boot flex - made the same assessment as you Elliot when I stopped coaching. I'm 6'1 190lbs and an aggressive skier, whistler is my home mtn. I like some flex and upper cuff mobility for off trail and mixed conditions. I will say when I had my Kore 99 or Kastle MX skis I would blow through them when skiing groomers like an animal. I think if you have multiple pairs of skis 2 pairs of boots is warranted and where I am headed. One 120 freeride with decent touring performance and one 130 piste focused from the same brand.

"Dodging me like the draft" LOL. You are too young.

I will never understand the attraction of permanently drawing on your skin with subcutaneous ink injections. You should read the new peer reviewed study that found a 21% higher risk of lymphoma (blood related cancer) for individuals with tattoos. Interestingly, the study is from Sweden and seems to have focused on tattoos in Sweden. Just looking out for my favorite ski content provider.