ok, i take it your a pretty good snowboarder, which means, that you have that built in sene of how to ride snow. so you should prolly pick skiing up really damn fast if you havent already. therefore, even though your a begginer, i wouldnt reccomend going short. im 5 10, and my stls (177) were definatly on the short side. (you gotta figure your also about 5 inches off the ground when your clicked in). if i were you, id go with the 183. (i am). those skis are really light, and the added lenght will be nothing but benificial. another plus, is as the size of the ski increases with 4frnts, they blow the ski up in ALL dimensions, so its wider AND thicker (read slightly stiffer flex). this is a big plus, cause as amazing as STLs feel on rails and jibs, they are definatly kinda sketchy on big jumps. a little added stiffness will help alot. also, id suggest Steeles mount. core center actaully gives you a longer tail, and steeles mount is effectively centered.
as for boots, you definatly need to go try some on. the fit of the boot is way more important than the color or the name. and unlike snowboard boots, the flex of ski boots dont really break in, and you cant depend on tighter binding straps to make up for a sloppy fit.
Some things to look for in a boot:
fit
flex, you want a pretty medium soft flex, and take note of how far the boot flexes.
a neautral boot position. look for a boot where the top half is more upright than forward. this eases the pressure on your shins if you land backseat, and it usually provides more forward flex. there are ways to make most boots feel like this, but it will void the warrenty.
you want a boot that when you stand up stragiht, your toes hit the front, but when you lean forward, they move back. try to find a boot that is fairly comfortabe, but fits very snugly. like a new shoe. i noticed an instant increass in my skiing ability when switching ffrom 30.0 boots to 29.0 ones.
i would STRONGLY, STRONGLY reccomend a three peice shell. where the whole front of the boot is a seperate peice of plastic. these style of boots have a lot of forward flex, but they are very stiff laterally, which means excelent control. the only company that makes them now are Dalbello, and the boot you want to look at is the krypton. if you can find them on ebay, the old Line transfer boots are EXCELENT.
oh yeah, congrats on making the switch!
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