Skiing- Shopping for new skis
Once again for the holidays we took off for Snowbird for some skiing. I’ve been getting a ton of crap for my beautiful
10-year old “classic” straight skis with a full 203cm length to handle carving the toughest ice. Ok, I suppose they are getting
a bit old, so I decided to demo for a couple of days to try to find some new ones.
I suppose my first concern was that I wouldn’t really be able to tell the difference between the various sets of skis. Who really
knows what kind of difference a bit stiffer or a slightly different curvature makes? To my surprise the different skis were
dramatically
different and some of the skis that were supposed to be best for my skiing
style were my least favorite. Some sets of skis just made me distinctly unhappy when I tried to
push them. They would try to decide the direction to go themselves or they
had big vibration problems. Some others were nice, but unexceptional. Two
sets- the Atomic Metron B5 and Rossignol Zenith Z9’s both created a distinct
“happy grin” effect. The Rossignol’s were $300 cheaper so I bought a pair
of those last night and skied on them all day today. Maybe it was just the
nice dump of fresh snow we got today but they were great today across
different conditions and I’m really loving how much better it is to have
shorter skis with some nice wide scoops in the thick powder.
Official Demo Results-
Unhappy-
Atomic Metron M:EX,
Volkl Supersport
Nice-
Dynastar 8000,
Nordica Top Fuel
Big Grin-
Atomic Metron B5,
Rossignol Zenith Z9s
Other-
Goode. These are all composite construction just like my airplane and are super-light
and have a ton of stiffness and spring. I’ve
had a pair of their poles for a long time and they are great and totally
indestructible. The skis seemed like they might be great for some special
purposes but they weren’t good enough general-purpose skis for me (although I
have to admit I was on a pair that was too short for me). They have a great
bounce that was fun in the moguls, but not enough weight to deal with crud and
when I was trying to ski fast on a steep run with a fairly bare surface they
almost vibrated me to death.
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