Intermediate inbounds skiier looking for ski help

so i will just air it all out here and thank people in advance for any help they can offer.

i am a snowboarding convert who has been learning to telemark while my kids learn to alpine ski.  my 7 year old is now intermediate and as such we are spending more and more time together on the hill.  we make weekly trips to the pass together at a minimum.

i am looking for help in selecting a reasonably priced set of skis preferably used but not over the hill to continue to grow with.  like i said i pretty much ski the local lift served hills, not the back-country until the kids get older.

what i have now:  karhu rox 175cm with G3 bindings and i have a set of old k2 piste stinx 181cm with riva bindings.  the k2s really are not that much fun to ski for me, but i like the rox.

what i am looking for is another setup, we have 2 homes so i want a set a both.

can anyone offer me some guidance on skis and sizes that i could keep on the lookout for over the next month or two?  i don't have a time crunch as much as i want a good set of skis for the right price.  i would define the right price as $150-$300 with bindings.

am i crazy to think i will get something i am happy with for this price???

would i be better off sticking with a telemark specific ski or is there an application for putting telemark bindings on a ski more aimed at alpine skiing, seems that is not uncommon.

anyway if anyone can help me out it would be very much appreciated and help me avoid going in a completely wrong direction.

oh, one last thing, i do have a line on a set of black diamond crossbows 179cm with G3 bindings for $140 that look great, any thoughts on that specific setup?

thanks
mark

What boots do you have?

The Rox and the Piste Stinx are both older, narrower skis than is popular these days -- as I recall the Rox is firm snow ski. Either will be OK for skiing blue groomers at the Summit, I would favor the Rox myself.

The old Rivas used "tension" springs instead of the more modern "compression" springs found on the G3 -- the cables on the Rivas should be inspected periodically for fraying.

Kids can progress quickly -- so they may start outpacing you -- if their interests fall toward the terrain park -- you won't have much trouble keeping up, since the park involves a fair about of "waiting your turn" and you can ski right past all those rails and features.

However if they develop an interest in skiing steeper and ungroomed runs -- you may need to upgrade your gear and also work on your skills.

If your boots have three or four buckles -- those will probably be OK. Popular skis have waist widths in the 90 - 130mm range these days. The wider the ski the easier it tends to me to manage deep snow and variable conditions. My current favorite all around skis have a 96mm waist. I also have some soft snow skis with 128mm waists -- in the deep they are awesome -- but on the groomers getting back to the life they have a bit of a "lunch tray" feel to them.

Telemark bindings have seen a lot of improvements in recent years -- The 22 Designs AXL is modern binding that skis well. www.twentytwodesigns.com/ The Burnt Mountain designs bindings also ski very well and feature step-in and brakes. burntmtn.com/index_flash6.html

If you've got older two buckle boots -- it probably doesn't make a lot of sense to upgrade your skis and bindings without also upgrading your boots. If you are going to buy new boots -- you should consider whether telemark gear or alpine touring gear is the best choice for you. Telemark gear used to be cheaper and lighter than alpine touring -- but that is no longer the case. Choosing telemark gear is more a "style" choice now -- if you love the feel telemark turn, the extra challenge and the more intense work-out that telemark provides -- cool -- if you just want to ski and keep up with those kids -- Alpine Touring style is well worth considering.

Picking up used gear from the yard sale section of this board, craigslist and even eBay can save some coin -- but you need to know what to look for -- their is a lot of overpriced junk out there.

You might want to consider cross-posting this to telemarktips.com (in the Telemark Talk forum), as well as look for telemark gear in the TeleTurnAround forum.

I've had great luck buying complete used setups at Marmot Mountain in Bellevue. Their used setups also give you a choice of several types of bindings. I've bought three used setups with 3 different combos of skis/bindings. Last year they even had used NTN bindings mounted on wider skis, of course that means buying some used boots, too.

Welcome to the world of optimistic intermediate skiers!

I have a set of garmont ener-g and a pair of syner-g so both a 3 and 4 buckle boot.

crossbows are a sick ski for inbounds, hard snow, or when the pow isn't that deep. really great for the corn in the spring\summer too.

deep pow and soft snow you want something with more flex (crossbows are stiff!), fatter, and with rocker (this is when I use K2 AntiPistes, the precursor to Coombacks).

i ski T1s now but used to ski ener-gs. ener-gs are a great boot. anything less than 4 buckle i wouldnt use unless i was doing a long tour with little turns. actually for the long tour with little turns situation i want to get dynafits and some 3 buckle boot.

i learned to ski on ener-gs and crossbows (got my xbows + O1s + skins for $500 in '08 and considered it a sweet deal).

$150 for a setup (ski+bindings) is pushing it especially if you want a touring compatible binding (AXLs, O1s any way). i would never ski a G3 (Targa) binding though, my friends would laugh at me, it is not active (aggressive) enough. my friends are hardcore though.