I was looking to find some skis to use on the glare ice on our lake now that all the snow has melted off of it. I found someone localy that has 14 pairs an all different shapes and sizes. He has some new ski boots that fit me perfectly too and said he would toss in a pair of skis if I bought them. My question is what would be a good length and shape for kiteing on ice?

Simple rule. On hard ice, long skis truck and short skis suck. Long carve radius is and a razor sharp edge, not just s figure of speech but actually sharp enough to cut you without you feeling it.

No "shape" skis (although all skis have side cut and "shape") but more old school straight. If you find yourself constantly disengaging the edge because the ski carves upwind then you have too short a carve radius and too much side cut.

Or just use ice skates....no side cut there

skis for snow
skates for ice

Although you can use skis of course for ice...and sand- with Zeb.

Dear Snake:

While I might not be the most experienced kite skiier with skis on glare ice, my ancient hexcell 210's really stiff minimal taper are just about perfect for being dragged across the lake on your back!

Regards,
Cranky

Wow....210 Hexcells....never thought I’d see that used in a sentence again...but I still wear a pair or Giants zubaz

I have 2 sets of skis and both get their days out.

For snow I enjoy my small twin tips but I do suffer from too much side cut so the aren't great cruisers.

On ice I am pleasantly surprised with how well my old Olin 210's with sharp straight edges work on ice. Also great for cruising and speed.

The trick for you is that I think you are new to skis ? Short skis are easier to get control of but longer and straight edged is what wil work best for the ice you describe.

If you are a strong ice skater then that is definately an option. If not it could be a struggle ?

Wear a helmet and elbow pads !

Ice skates are not an option. The lake is 75% glares ice with patches of snow on the other 25%. And I have ice skated 4 times and was better at falling than standing up.

About what length skis would you guys recomend? 175? I've never skied before so maybe I should go shorter? I will only be useing them on ice as when there is snow I will use my snowboard.

I found a pair of Solomon Force 9 (circa 1990ish) 195's that track really well. I found them for $50 and they still have a ton of camber, so I bought them and mounted them with the old Marker Roto-binding or whatever. I hate Markers. Anyway, they turn great but track WAY better than my other 2 sets of skis (Solomon ten-eighty Guns -- shaped, and K2 Axis XT's -- Also shaped.)

The shaped skis just wobble too much when you really need to track straight. The Gun (which is a park ski mounted way back for powder) are WAY better at tracking straight than the Axis XT's. By about the same amount, the F9's (don't laugh) are WAY Better at tracking straight than the Gun. I'll tell you more tomorrow since I'm heading up to Lake Dillon with all 3 sets