need some ski recommendations

I guess a little background first....

Level 7 skier that hadn't put on a pair in 15 years.

5'9" and a hefty 235lbs.

Ski in Washington State.  Season pass at Crystal, but venture up to Stevens Pass on occasion.

Here's the story...my 8 and 6 year old kids decided that they wanted to take ski lessons last year.  So, rather than just sitting on the sidelines waiting for them, I figured I'd take some of my own lessons and turn it into a family thing.  I then set out to buy a pair of skis that would work for a guy who had been off the mountain for over a decade.

I settled in on a pair of nordica overdrives.  I will say it was a great ski to get back into the swing of things for my first year back.  i kid you not my progression was back to basic green runs, to blue to the now occasional black.  Now as I have my confidence back, and am tackling more black runs and power conditions I'm finding the ski falling a little short.

I don't ski moguls, and I'm not crazy aggressive.  In fact, half the time I'm on easy blue or green runs with the kids (although by the end of this season they'll probably out ski me) when they've finished their lessons.  But there have been days when I've been out with friends in heavy power or the steeper stuff, where the I really felt I needed a different ski. 

This prompted me to look for another ski this year.  I will be taking lessons again this year just to try to keep one step ahead of the kids.  So, I still need a ski that I can take instruction on.  I just don't know if they make a good power ski that can still handle the groomers with the kids, or the sometimes icy conditions we get if it hasn't snowed in a while. 

Maybe i'd be better off with an all mountain ski with a wider base that will allow me to comfortable in the powder when it occurs but will serve me better on the mountain for the 90% of the time I'm with the kids or in a group lesson.

Any recommendations would be great.  If we need more specific info, just ask.   I appreciate everyone's input.  We have some great ski stores that have good employees, I simply get overwhelmed when i'm standing there and they recommend 6 different skis.

Tictactug, I too spend alot of time at Crystal...actually I'm an instructor there. Those Nordica's are great skis but a little narrow under foot for venturing off piste. I would reccommend something in the 80-85 mm under foot range. I ski the Fischer Watea 84 with alot of success. Also the Head monster 88 as my main teaching ski. I'm looking at getting the Dynastar Sultan 85 or the Blizzard 8.7 IQ max for this season. If you want to send me a private message we can talk and find you the perfect Crystal Mt ski.

I'd love to send you a private message, but I need a couple more posts so I'll throw it out there for everyone.

To fill you in a little more....this will be my first full offical year at Crystal.  Last year was mainly spent with the kids and their lessons at Snoqualmie.  We took our last outing of the year at Crystal and the kids were hooked.  So this year, we have passes, we just need to get set up with lessons and we'll be good to go.

Having said that...group lessons aren't going to start until January.  So this is why I'm running into my problem.  The first month of the season I will spend most of my time on the greens and easy blues at Crystal with the kids.  I may get an occasional day with friends that are also all advanced intermediates.  It's those days mixed with the power days that my nordicas just aren't the greatest ski to be on.  Likewise, if I take lessons again, I want to be able to have a ski that will handle whatever they take me on.

I'm a short fat guy.  5'9" at 240 and I can flex skis not on purpose, just gravity....Last year the Overdrives felt really wobbly or flexy (if that's a word) when I got into bumpy cruddy stuff and way too thin in the power.  Now we can argue my skiing ability may have something to do with the flexing part as I probably don't make aggressive enough turns down the mountain.  If I kept more straight down, I probably wouldn't notice as much.  I tend to stop on the hill and evaluate what I'm going to do next when I get in the tough stuff, rather than plow down and ask questions later.

So I hope that helps maybe shed a little more light on some recommendations.  We can go private about lessons and such after I get a couple more posts.

-Jason

That sounds great. I'm guessing that you have your kids in the Multi-week program since that gets going in January. I have a lot of extremely knowledgeable resources that I can tap into to help you find a great ski. I look forward to speaking with you.

Jason:

Welcome to Epic.

I'm going to post a link below to a reveiw that I did of the Mag 8.7. I test about 40-50 different skis on an average year and If I were to teach skiing for a living (again) this is a ski that could well be the centerpiece of my quiver. Skis in this width category are not great in deep snow but work very well in most other conditions. With your weight, a stiffer ski is not much of a problem although I would be careful of going too long given the slow speed manuvers that you'll have to be doing much of the time.

The following reveiw is of the 2009 although my impressions of the '10 are the same.

shop.starthaus.com/store/pc/viewPrd.asp

SJ

Thanks for the help.  I think I'm good to pm after this post.

And yes, we were going to do the multi-week thing.  I haven't called to see if they do a semi-private where I can put the two of them together.  My daughter (the older) is a little better, but he's catching up fast.  So, maybe it would be an option.