Newbie looking for skis/guidance

Newbie here looking to break into the ski game. I've been a boarder for years and thinking about crossing over to 2 planks.  (My GF skis and I'm tired of lugging my snowshoes around).

I'm trying to figure out what to look for in a pair of AT skis.  I'm 5'10" and 170 lbs so thinking that a 175cm ski may be right?  Any thoughts on going up to a 180 or down to 165-170?  Or am I thinking way too hard about this?

What other features should I be thinking about?  I'm thinking about going the used ski (binding?) route but buy new boots, etc.

My primary use would be back/sidecountry with some lift runs here in the PNW.  So probably need the proverbial one quiver ski...

Thanks in advance.

Others will likely post with more knowledgeable advice, but since we are around the same size, that was the length of ski (174cm actually) I bought when I made the switch from long-time boarder to skier. I also now have a 185cm, but that does feel a touch long - seems like 175-181 or so is my range. I wouldn't go much shorter.

Have you skied a lot? I had only done it a bit and found it a little frustrating to spend all the effort skinning somewhere only to kook it on the down. So, I spent a solid season with a ski pass at the resort skiing in all sorts of conditions and often. Probably could have fired up a lesson and accelerated the learning. But I kind of liked figuring it out on my own by watching others, YouTube, etc.

I have avoided the one ski quiver though. Perhaps because of being a boarder I really enjoy the feeling of a good fat ski on bigger days (115+), but the fatties sort of suck on marginal days.

Unless you find a screaming deal on new gear - older gear and new boots seems the way to suss out your "fit".

An older thread on ski choice (poke around TAY for more) www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboardi...ex.php?topic=21961.0

My usual advice: Get boots that fit, spend the money if you have to. Dynafit/Tech/Pintech bindings are worth the investment too. Skis can be cheap and replaceable, skins are too.

Optimal one-ski quiver skis may be in the 90-105 mm range, though 85 will work too. It wasn't so long ago that 75 mm was "fat". If the ski waist is narrower, look for a shovel/tip width of 120+mm. I'm ~175-185 lbs, 6', and the skis I use the most are 177cm. Winter ski is 105mm, summer ski is 84 mm. I like a shorter ski in tricky/tight terrain, and it's easier to get them around when I'm tired / carry them on a pack. If I skied exclusively inbounds, I'd be on ~184s. No need to ski a super-stiff ski.

After five years, I still consider myself a relative 'newbie' so I'll pass along a few of my tips.

I've only owned two true pairs of backcountry skis both equipped with Dynafit TLT Vertical ST bindings.  First pair was Atomic Kailas which have a waist width of 88mm.  They skied fine but for someone like me who flounders in deep powder, they didn't provide nearly as much float as my current pair of skis which have a waist width of 95mm: 2013 Atomic Drifter (173 cm) .

Their rocker tips, too, perform much better than my Kailias in deep snow, dry or wet and heavy.  I thought, for spring tours, the Drifter may too wide and/or too heavy but they ski exceptionally well in variable spring conditions including deep mush.  You and I are the same height and weight which, for Atomic skis, puts us in the 173 (or so) recommended length category.  I couldn't find 2013 Drifter skis on sale so here's the link to Atomic's 2014 Drifter .

Lastly: buy a seasons pass and ski off-piste as much as possible while wearing a backpack.  Seems obvious now but it took me one season before I gained a deep appreciation of the difficulty of skiing variable conditions while wearing a backpack.

Again, as someone your size, you can get by with a few more cm in length if the ski has rocker. When I got my last pair of skis I demoed some longer ones first. They were fine but I'm too fat, stiff and uncoordinated to do confident kick turns in them. That was critical to me so I went with the shorter ski. Also consider avoiding twin tips. Some of my touring posse that had them didn't like them.

MO is right about skiing with a pack at the resort. I got the same advice when I started and it seemed to work. Although I still suck.

Vertfest is coming in a few weeks so maybe you could demo a bunch of skis there.

These look like a great deal.

Imo, mtneer ordinaire above has nailed the ideal waist width for an all-around ski:  88-95mm.  The above skis are close enough.