Are my undersized 165/65 width Positracks a good fit for my style?

[neekovt]

Hi,

This is my first season skiing on nordics. I was lucky to get a gift of some Rosignol Positrack metal edge BC 165 length, 65 width, with NNN BC bindings and Alpina Montana boots. I'm usually a snowboarder but loving the appeal of the planks.

I am about 145 lbs, and the recommended length for me by the manufacturer is a 175 instead of 165. I can tell there is not much glide but haven't tried many other skis to know.

I live in Vermont and really only care about XCD style, going up and down at places like Bolton Valley. It seems to me the shorter skis are working out well as I can turn them and get out of sticky situations pretty easy. I am having a blast out there. I occasionally visit rolling nordic terrain where longer skis would probably be better, but my priority is not flat cruising.

TLDR: Is skiing too-short skis a thing for XCD and am I missing out on a lot of glide for rolling terrain by riding the next size down, from what is recommended?

Thank you!

[connyro]

Hi,

This is my first season skiing on nordics. I was lucky to get a gift of some Rosignol Positrack metal edge BC 165 length, 65 width, with NNN BC bindings and Alpina Montana boots. I'm usually a snowboarder but loving the appeal of the planks.

I am about 145 lbs, and the recommended length for me by the manufacturer is a 175 instead of 165. I can tell there is not much glide but haven't tried many other skis to know.

I live in Vermont and really only care about XCD style, going up and down at places like Bolton Valley. It seems to me the shorter skis are working out well as I can turn them and get out of sticky situations pretty easy. I am having a blast out there. I occasionally visit rolling nordic terrain where longer skis would probably be better, but my priority is not flat cruising.

TLDR: Is skiing too-short skis a thing for XCD and am I missing out on a lot of glide for rolling terrain by riding the next size down, from what is recommended?

Thank you!

I have a pair of those skis in 195. The camber on those is very soft, even for the suggested weight range. To me, those would be a bad choice of ski to run short. They don't glide well in the best of circumstances let alone too short IMO. If you are looking to do more up and down, you may want to look at wider scaled skis with length matched to your weight, 75mm bindings, and capable boots. A ton has been discussed on this site about the setup you most likely will need.

[neekovt]

Thanks very much for your response....helps confirm that I am getting very little glide as I don't have much experience with this type of gear. I am going to go with some Fischer 88s in 179 that I think will give me much more versatility. Maybe upgrade to 3 pin in the future but NNN BC is working good for now (I do a lot of lift service so the steep and deep is not my main objective).

Thanks again!