ACL-friendly setup

[Snow Ranger]

Now on Spats, and loving life again.

I just sold my Gots and when I find a good enough deal on some spats I'm buying them. Please let next year be as good as this year.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

THE best ski for those with a compromised ACL, IMHO, has to be the.....

Spatula.

Something about the way it demands to be ridden (centered), and the fact that you are mostly on top of the snow and not dealing with pulling on your skis when they are in thick snow or crud, makes me think that this is the ski for those with compromised knees.

Tore my ACL on a pair of 194 Bigs, Pivot set at 7.5, thick spring snow at Kirkweed, no pain, no swelling. Just the dreaded pop.

Now on Spats, and loving life again.

hmmm...yesss...interesting. never thought of that either....thanks.

[the_eleven]

Tyrone, you should get yourself a pair of Spats as a reward for having to endure rehab while your bros are skiing pow.....

Seriously, no knee strain with these pups. The muscles that you use to ski the Spat seem to hold your knee together rather than tear it apart. Hard to describe, but my knees are never sore after skiing these, even after a bunch of runs through cut-up crud.

[Spats]

What makes your knees hurt is trying to turn while leaned back. This is most common in heavy snow: you lean back to avoid catching a tip and falling forward, but you're going too slow to turn easily, so you try to muscle the skis around, and your knees get torqued. So you want to be easy on your knees? Get out of the backseat.

The first step is, obviously, to improve your balance and strength. But if you want to spend money or need new skis anyway, there are several solutions. Wider skis will float higher and turn more easily. Softer skis are less prone to tip dive and easier to balance on. People seem to have this attitude that Real Men Ride Stiffer Skis, but in order to protect your knees, you should be riding the *softest* ski that is still stable for you. Powho and I have both straightlined the Cirque (Snowbird) on 188 Beast 92s -- you don't need a Stockli SS to go fast.

(Torsional stiffness is much more important to stability than longitudinal stiffness, but that's a different rant.)

Spatulas are a special case: instead of having soft flex, they just point the tip and tail upwards, so the ski is effectively already flexed. They are indeed the easiest skis on knees. In fact, they're the easiest skis, period. I can finish a bell-to-bell day on Spatulas and still want more.

[Spats]

Here's what I do sometimes to learn better balance. You know those days when there's no fresh and you're just messing around?

Try skiing with your boots unbuckled. Do groomers first.

If you're feeling frisky, try crud.

Then try moguls.

Your balance will improve dramatically in short order.

[Big E]

Here's what I do sometimes to learn better balance. You know those days when there's no fresh and you're just messing around?

Try skiing with your boots unbuckled. Do groomers first.

If you're feeling frisky, try crud.

Then try moguls.

Your balance will improve dramatically in short order.

Excellent drills, done them many times. In the last few years, I've become much more conscious of my centering over the skis, partially because I know at one point I spent much too much time in the back seat. I also like to sideslip on a moderately steep groomer and try to avoid using the edge entirely, which also helps you get a feel for being centered over the skis (fwd or back and the skis aren't parallel to the hill anymore).

Anyway, back to the gear talk, I'm really very interested now in the Spatulas. Everyone seems to rave about them anyway, and if they're that good AND they're knee-friendly, I'm not sure what's not to like.

[Snow Ranger]

I would really like to try some spats before buying but I can not ski until next season. If I try them and like them I wonder what the chances are of actually finding some new ones next season?

[Big E]

I would really like to try some spats before buying but I can not ski until next season. If I try them and like them I wonder what the chances are of actually finding some new ones next season?

This doesn't answer your question, but it seems like if you skied 'em for a week or so and decided you hated them (which, near as I can tell, has never happened) you could unload them real easy.

[Snow Ranger]

Well, I met up with skideeppow on Friday and now own a pair of Spatula's. I am so excited to use them but am not cleared to ski yet. The dumpage in Utah continuous damn its becoming so torturous. I am not going to mount them until summer just to make sure I don't do something stupid.

[Kellie]

I saw this post a bit late . . .

Part of me wonders if my 180 Explosivs are too much ski for me - I was on 'em for the tear, and can't help but wonder if the 178 B3's would have done the same thing. The Explosivs are fun, but I wonder if they're worth it . . .

[basom]

I saw this post a bit late . . .

Part of me wonders if my 180 Explosivs are too much ski for me - I was on 'em for the tear, and can't help but wonder if the 178 B3's would have done the same thing. The Explosivs are fun, but I wonder if they're worth it . . .

the b3's would have done the same thing kellie.

comming back for me it was way more about what the snow was like that i was skiing on more than what set up i was on. i've had days on my pistols that i felt would be the most acl friendly of my skis, that left my shit throbbing. but have had amazing days on my big daddy's and explosives and my FF9.1's which are stiffer than my explosives, all of which left me feeling good and ready to go at it again the next day.
the one thing though about skiing the stiff skis again, i had to ramp up to feel confident at speed again, but once i had my confidence back i felt just as good if not better on my stiffer set ups.
i do feel like in set up, chunder snow my spatulas have provided (while taxing in a certain heavy way)with the most knee friendly skiing. but i dont suggest skiing in set up, heavy, chunder mank on a new acl. it was those types of condishions that i felt the most at risk, especially in tight situations that require super fast turning.

i know you will prolly never set foot in a resort again though, so i'm guessing you'll be on smooth snow no matter what set up you are skiing

so.. dont sell your skis, at least untill you have recovered and are sure you dont want them

[truth]

I blew mine mid turn on a pair of 185 B3's with rossi binders skiing realy manky variable crusty pow. I was skiing in a rock solid keep it under control mode making short radius turns through the choke of a chute. The downhill ski hooked something and shot back uphill, the ACL blew and I fell. I partially tore it while coming to a mellow but slightly off balance stop on a serious bushwack of a traverse 2 years prior when our trusted guide got us lost on the way back to the cat. That was literally from a crawl to a stop but leaning back just to the point that I felt it tear. I don't believe either could have been prevented by changing gear. I also believe that when charging full bore you are far safer than when skiing at 70%.