What length GS ski for J3 girl?

Question
My daughter is a second year J3/children 2, born in 1997 and 14 years old. She is 158cm/62inches/5ft1 tall and weights 99 pounds. She has only been ski racing a year and is not very experienced on GS skis(we live in London so GS training is limited to school holiday camps.) Following a bad recommendation we brought her 176 elan GS skis which she has skied on for about 2 weeks in total. They have not worked for her at all, she finds them very hard to ski on, doesn't like the skis and cant really carve them even on easy slopes (she can carve her slaloms very well on most slopes.) Her slalom skis are 144cm atom junior SL RD Race 12 and work very well for her. She is not very aggressive and is not very experienced. She doesn't win but doesn't come last either. Her coach has said the brand doesn't work for her and they are far to big. Would she be better off on atomic as her slalom skis work for her or another brand? Her coach also said fischer and head could work as well as atomic. What length do you think she would be best on 158, 165 or 171? Or any other lengths or brands?Thanks for the help.

Answer
Hey Amber,

Brands are not so different that you can discount any specific brand or say that one is far superior to another. The key is finding the ones that work for your daughter. I agree that the length (176) is too long for her in a modern GS ski. I would say that a 158-165 would be better for her. A general rule of thumb for GS skis is - Head height and then +5cm for aggressive and -5 for less aggressive skiers. As for that particular brand, it may be that the skis are too stiff for her style of skiing. If she is not a real aggressive skier, a stiffer ski will be harder to control for her. When shopping for a different ski, look for something that is a little more forgiving. Be sure to buy a Junior Girl specific ski as it will be designed more for a female center of gravity along with a female strength in mind.

Hope this helps.
Keep on skiing,
Windlover