Need advice on buying skis for kids

[karen]

Assuming we get snow before summer, I'll need some skis for the kid. I'd
like to look on Huuto now, but have no idea what length he will need. Does it
make much difference if he has the kind that he can use with regular boots
and the kind that require ski boots? I don't know that he'll do much skiing
other than with his school.

What are the names of the different types of skis? What about pole length
and names?

[EP]

With traditional skiing style the skis shoud be 15-20 cm longer than the skier. The poles are good when they reach the armpits.

[milou]

Try Sporttidivari in Helsinki - located at northern end of Hämeenkatu, near Arabia. There's lots of used sportsgear for sale, and they also buy used gear (very handy if you need to get rid of for example old skates and buy bigger ones).

I'd recommed proper skiboots (monot) for anyone older than 4 years of age. At school no one uses skis that can be used with ordinary shoes (they're for babies only!), and proper skiboots make skiing a lot easier.

For smaller kids skis can well be approximately the same length as the kid is. And poles should reach shoulders/armpits. Try asking advise from a sportshop or sporttidivari.

[Rosamunda]

... and even skiing with the school seems to be MUCH less popular these days than it used to be. I don't think my boys have ever been cross-country skiing with school (we've been here six years) but they have been sledging a few times and once a year they go to Talma for downhill or snowboarding. But I know (from speaking to SO and also my students) that cross-country skiing was an essential part of the curriculum until recently.

[Mölkky-Fan]

my kids go skiing a few times each year with their school, so the practice is still alive and kicking.
I suggest going to a sports shop and getting the skiis measured, and then do not buy them there. The weight and age of the child does seem to make a difference.

[Hank W.]

At school no one uses skis that can be used with ordinary shoes (they're for babies only!).

Tell that to the army The best skis are the ones you strap to your boots, but then again they're cross-forest skis and wider to fit the tracks they tend to make.

Oh, one important factor is the weight. The skis should not flat out but the center part should not stay up when the 'push' comes. Flat skis means no slide, and high skis mean no push...