The Vist GS Race is one of the best GS skis available in the market today. It is one of the few selection of GS skis that still comply with the old FIS rules. Therefore, this is one of those skis which will take you to another level of skiing, one step beyond the common boundaries.
Vist GS Race – Click to enlarge
© Vist
The offering is in three sizes, being the shortest one in the 21 m radius and the other two above the 27 m. If this does not tell you something it´s because you still haven´t heard of Giant Slalom skis. Modern days have left the Giant Slalom skis in the rarity department. Major brands have softened skis for the general public and have named them with the GS acronym to fulfill the expectations. However, those are not proper GS skis. The Vist GS Race is one of the very few still standing aside from the actual Race FIS ranges.
Its profile is narrow with a sidecut of 104.5 – 66.6 – 89.2 mm and the offering is in the following lengths: 179, 184 and 188 cm. Those willing to taste and give the old GS turns a try should go for the 179 cm size. Those who know what this is all about already have the knowledge to choose the right side. As a rule of thumb, the longer the size the fastest the ski, but the harder it has to be pushed and better the skier must be. You´ve been warned.
On the snow, the Vist GS Race feels stable, nimble, precise and controllable. Of course, it needs some inertia to start working as a GS ski. Although anyone who has the skills can ski all day long with this ski just cruising and messing around from A to B, this is not the way we´ll enjoy this pair. To enjoy and deploy all its capabilities, we´ll have to choose free empty runs or get into a race set. Then we´ll discover how easy and how much controllable this ski is.
At the beginning of the turns, we´ll be surprised because we can still make the Vist GS Race slide as if we were “stivoting”, as World Cup competitors do in the GS race sets. Once you discover there is room in the timing to engage or disengage the edge at will, you’ll get a smile on your face and a new idea to play in your skiing. Once cutting the snow while on the edge in a clean carved turn, one word will come into your minds: stability. At the end of the turns the tail will hold us as much as our skills permits us, but if we choose to slide it will just obey the instruction without a hassle. Now you know it, you never thought you´d like long narrow skis. You actually do.
The Vist GS Race is a ski school on its own as well as the rest of the proper GS skis available for the general public. As already explained, there are only a few and each one is a ski school with free classes attached to them. Get one those skis if you feel that on piste skiing has no secrets for you and has become something boring. Get some speed, you’ll need it.
