Since we started skiing, in my case at a fairly advanced age (I was in my forties), we had always been keen to buy our own equipment. Our first purchases were ski boots: there is nothing more important than getting a perfectly fitting pair of boots; my wife can testify to the pain of a bad choice where this is concerned. After that we bought skis. Our first pair were described as "Starter" skis; they were Rossignol V2Gs and served us for a few seasons until we discovered "Full Fat" skis. They were a revelation and we wasted no time in acquiring a pair of Head Cyclone Carve each. I wrote a review of them some years ago. You can't buy ...  Read the complete review