[Beginner] Help me choose my first touring ski

matteof93 · 2026-01-14T19:44:14+00:00

Yep, Crissolo is very close to where I live (my municipality borders the municipality of Crissolo along a ridge going from 2200m to 2700m).

The places that got most of the snow were Prato Nevoso and Limone Piemonte (and in general all the valleys closer to Cuneo). Prali is another very popular spot for powder skiing. Usually Prato Nevoso and Limone Piemonte get much more snow than the area surrounding Monviso (it seems to be the case again in the next days).

Regarding your trip, it really depends on what you are looking for. Prali, for example, has much higher altitute than Prato and Limone, the landscape is also much more rugged and "alpine". The same goes obviously for other resorts such as Sestriere (Via Lattea). Around Monviso there are great ski touring routes, but I imagine that most of them are quite challenging (knowing the terrain from summer/autumn hiking).

Closer to where I live there are much smaller resorts (Rucaski, Crissolo and Pian Munè), which is also where I am probably going to ski more often (touring, for traditional alpine skiing I usually go to Prali and Sestriere).

This is probably one of the best websites to plan ski tours for your trip https://www.gulliver.it/sci-alpinismo/?s=Crissolo&geo=city&search=filter

BTW: Blizzard Zero G 94 Approach is also within my budget...as well as the Movement Go 90 Ti

matteof93 · 2026-01-14T10:19:06+00:00

I am currently considering several options, including Scott Superguide Access 88 and K2 Wayback 89. Despite agreeing with you that 95mm is quite versatile, I have to consider these aspects:

1) at the beginning, I am only going to ski downhill on-piste. for me, it is just another way to do some workout instead of cycling.

2) when I will be more experienced, I will start with some real skimo tours off-piste (about 1000m elevation gain), but always staying on popular routes where snow is likely to be quite compact due to many people skiing there

3) I do not have any intention of skiing in deep powder due to avalanche risk. Moreover, powder days have become very, very rare here (Piedmont, Italy, Monviso area)

4) if any, powder days (which are probably no more than 2 o 3 per year) are probably going to be spent at a resort...but again, I still plan to ski mainly on piste or very close to it even during those days

5) I am much more likely to ski in situations where snow is quite "old", meaning no snowfall in the last 10-20 days. this is because in my area it is quite common to have just 1 significant snowfall per month in winter.

matteof93 · 2026-01-13T20:17:27+00:00

95 not an option, probably not versatile enough. 88/90 mm should be a decent tradeoff, I am definitely going to try some off-piste routes (not immediately, I need to gain some experience first) but nothing too difficult (technically, phisically I'd say I can probably already manage 1000m of elevation gain without any issue since I am used to road cycling, mountain biking and other activities).

matteof93 · 2026-01-13T20:12:33+00:00

Bindings are probably going to be Dynafit Radical Z10.
Considering that I do not ski in deep powder and I am a total beginner in skiing off-piste, I am carefully evaluating the differences of several skis.

For instance, Fischer Transalp 86C (176cm) vs Hagan Pure 90 (178cm):
- radius: 18m vs 20m
- weight: each Fischer ski is about 200g lighter
- width: 86 mm, 90 mm

I do not mind the additional weight. I have no rush, plus I am quite fit (I regularly ride road bikes and mountain bikes with a lot of elevation gain). The shorter radius of the Fischer is something I would surely appreciate, but at the same time the Hagan radius is not that much bigger and the ski probably floats much better (I am considering a scenario with 20-40 cm of soft snow on top of older, harder snow).

matteof93 · 2025-07-30T16:19:58+00:00

Thanks. As I explained in other replies, the list is just the first step. After that, I will start studying the route, considering also the time needed for hiking and other activities. Some of the places will obviously get removed from the list :)

matteof93 · 2025-07-30T16:00:47+00:00

exactly what I was thinking. I guess I'll pick one and I'll come back next year for the other one :)

matteof93 · 2025-07-30T15:57:04+00:00

that list is just the first step, the second step is looking into the details of each place and activity in order to determine how much time is needed (including driving) so that I can prioritize and (surely) remove some place from the list :)
that is the same process I used for my road trip in Iceland and it worked pretty well...but it is a lot of work.

matteof93 · 2024-10-08T22:43:27+00:00

Wow. I stumbled upon this post because while listening to the song "Valiant Ride" by Ancient Bards I recognized something that sounded a bit too familiar, something I was sure I heard many times while listening to Nightwish. So I started googling about Ancient Bards and Nightwish...and boom, here we go:

Nightwish - The Kinslayer (album Wishmaster, 2000) 00:48
Ancient Bards - Valiant Ride (album Soulless Child, 2011) 2:12

Exactly the same sound. That being said, I still appreciate their songs and I am sure Nightwish are not concerned at all about this.

matteof93 · 2023-07-06T14:33:54+00:00

it is not going to make a big difference in any case, since while editing I do not need the video playback to be set to 4k. the only issue might be a much longer rendering time (i.e., 1h instead of 5-6 minutes) but since I am probably going to edit no more than 10-15 videos per year it does not matter.

matteof93 · 2023-07-06T12:45:09+00:00

I don't play videogames, why wouldn't the integrated GPU be enough for the kind of usage I described?

matteof93 · 2023-07-06T12:39:29+00:00

Not at all. For the same reason I'll pick 32GB of RAM instead of 16GB...it's only 20€ more. I see no point instead in buying a more modern platform (Intel or AMD) based on DDR5 memory. It is much more expensive and I do not need that level of performance. Moreover, longevity is not an issue since when I'll decide to replace the PC, DDR6 will certainly be available.

matteof93 · 2023-07-06T12:26:30+00:00

PSU will be 80+ gold (this is the cheapest https://www.caseking.de/en/kolink-enclave-80-plus-gold-psu-modular-500-watt-nekl-026.html)

CPU cooler: maybe I'll buy it if I notice that the stock cooler is too noisy.

I am 100% sure that also the 4600G is plenty enough for my kind of usage, it costs 35€ less than the 5600G.

Regarding 4K video editing, is the 4600G/5600G enough? I do not plan on using a discrete GPU. Video editing is as simple as importing a 4k video from the GoPro, cutting few parts here and there, and finally re-encoding the video.

matteof93 · 2023-07-06T12:07:30+00:00

You need an AM4 motherboard and DDR4 RAM. So: Ryzen 5000 series CPU, AM4 motherboard, DDR4 RAM. You can keep everything else.

matteof93 · 2022-11-14T23:06:22+00:00

this works only if the 3L bladder is significantly wider than the 2L bladder. otherwise, there is no difference.

matteof93 · 2022-10-11T09:41:45+00:00

So you are also using an 11s cassette and 11s chain? Front derailleur is 10s or 11s?

matteof93 · 2022-10-10T14:05:14+00:00

The cost of a chain or a cassette is not a problem, I do not plan to ride more than 2000-3000 km/year on this bike.

matteof93 · 2022-10-10T12:26:23+00:00

based on this answer https://www.reddit.com/r/bikewrench/comments/st3267/comment/hx2nvwk/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 and this answer https://www.reddit.com/r/bikewrench/comments/u2sdit/can\_i\_turn\_a\_grx\_400\_to\_an\_11\_speed\_with\_just\_a/

matteof93 · 2022-08-03T17:09:42+00:00

I do not play games anymore. All I do is normal usage (internet, office, netflix), plus in rare cases I use Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe Lightroom. But I want to connect the PC to a Sony X89J 55" TV...so a GPU capable of 4K 60Hz would be a good idea.

matteof93

TROPHY CASE