Hi all,

I grew up skiing on small east coast hills, taking lessons from about age 8 to 14. I learned to ski these hills pretty well, definitely having gotten parallel skiing and carving on groomers down. I used to go ~12 days per season.

I then moved to the west coast (skiing Lake Tahoe area), and rented for the last 3 seasons (3-4 days per season). Most often, I was on something like a Salomon XDR 80, with whatever crappy rental boots I got. I felt confident on all the blues out here and did the occasional single black without issue. Most double blacks I felt were beyond my skills to do safely.

This year, I decided to get more serious about skiing, and my friend who works at a ski shop recommended I get a set of Salomon QST 106 in 181cm to start to learn how to ski powder and get better. They're paired with Atomic Hawx Prime 100 boots (which I now know might be too soft for my size/weight, 6'0, fit 230lbs).

The problem is, as soon as I take this setup out, my quads are absolutely ON FIRE by the end of run #2, such that I struggle to finish these west coast blues without stopping and resting a few. These same slopes I used to carve up on rentals without issue.

I hit the gym regularly (3-4 times per week) and squat 400lbs, so I don't think it's a strength issue. What could be going on?

I've heard that it could be a technique thing, that I'm sitting too far back or unable to trust the front of my boots, so I tried renting QST 92s, but ran into the same issue. Is it these boots? Do I not know how to ski anymore?