race ski length

Question
My daughter is 15, 5'71/2", 125# racing on the high school team.  She currently has Atomic sl 11's in a 137 length and gs 12's in a 150.  I know she probably needs longer gs skis, but can't find any good info on sizing for slalom...she's not terribly aggressive but getting better.  She is working on increasing up and down motion with turns.  Suggestions for sizing??  Thank you.

Answer
Dear Carol --

With the super sidecut skis, your daughter does not need as much length for a good stable ski, as she would have needed in the past.  If she is not very aggressive, additional length will slow her down in the slalom.  She would do better to stay with a short ski with more sidecut.

She only needs a longer GS ski, if she is skiing fast enough that her ski is becoming unstable at those speeds.  With the current damping available in most modern skis (including Atomic) this should not be a problem at her weight.  I doubt she is damping out the camber in her skis at her weight, unless she is skiing older skis that were skied in the past by a much heavier skier.

Rather than look to the skis as the issue, I would review the type of boots she is skiing in.  Her boots should fit like a glove, but with no pressure points.  They should allow for forward flex and not be so stiff that she is always flexed or cannot flex (too upright).  On the one hand, boots that are too loose mean she is not transferring her energy through the boots to the binding and skis fast enough, thereby appearing to be late in initiating her turns.  On the other hand, if the boots are too tight, she may be hesitant to start a turn because each turn hurts a little when she changes direction.

If her boots are good, then she may need her bindings set more forward from center ski than normal.  This is common in girls and young women, as they are often tall for their age, but slender, so they cannot horse the ski around as well as a more muscular woman or a young man can.

Finally, to help her get on edge more quickly, she might need a slight platform between her binding and the ski to raise her boot up about 1/2 inch.  This gives her a better length lever arm as her ankle rolls to set the new turning ski on edge.

Please write back, if you need any clarification on any of these topics.  Good luck to you and good luck to your daughter.