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Kyle

Out on the slopes
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Jan 28, 2016
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Utah
2 Moment team riders on the new Wildcat 108 skiing at Kirkwood.


I like the video. However, as somebody actually considering Moment skis (Wildcat or the Wildcat 108), this does nothing but make me wonder if I should focus on the other skis I am also strongly considering (Kore 117 and Rustler 11). Dropping big cliffs, hitting kickers and straight lining cruddy sections represents approximately .0001% of my skiing (and that is only because I occasionally lose control and straighline through a cruddy section out of necessity). I know that showing video of your team riders doing cool things like that sells skis and an image but come on, not one or two normal turns? Seriously, throw us old people a bone Moment!
 
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GregK

Skiing the powder
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Ontario, Canada
I like the video. However, as somebody actually considering Moment skis (Wildcat or the Wildcat 108), this does nothing but make me wonder if I should focus on the other skis I am also strongly considering (Kore 117 and Rustler 11). Dropping big cliffs, hitting kickers and straight lining cruddy sections represents approximately .0001% of my skiing (and that is only because I occasionally lose control and straighline through a cruddy section out of necessity). I know that showing video of your team riders doing cool things like that sells skis and an image but come on, not one or two normal turns? Seriously, throw us old people a bone Moment!

Watch how little the skis deflect on the high speed run outs and that shows you they are 116/118 Wildcat/Bibby level charging through crud like I had hoped they would be. Even as you say you don’t look to straighline stuff, the ability to NEVER worry what terrain lurks over the next crest and they will fly through it is very confidence inspiring. I honestly giggle when going through crud with my Bibby’s as it’s so fun and easy while most others are struggling in it. How easily it goes through tracked powder is very important if you want to ski the whole day with one pair of powder skis at a busier resort.

Rustler 11 is a fun, playful ski but the Wildcats are in another league for crud performance even if you compared a longer Rustler 11 to it. Kore 117 is another step down in performance from the Rustler 11 in crud or at higher speed even though all their weights are fairly similar. Kore also is a much more traditional mount than the Rustler 11 or Wildcat so they don’t have the “free ride” feel they have. All are fairly playful but the Wildcat is the “playful charger” of the group.

Here’s an older video with awful music but it shows normal carved turns at the 58 sec mark on Bibby’s which have had construction updates to lighten them without decreasing performance and is now named the Wildcat.


Wildcats really are something special. Super stable at speed or through crud, carve great on soft groomers yet can pivot and swivel so easily in tight spaces in the trees. I just wished I skied in snow that I could use my Bibby’s more often but they will be out for Spring skiing in the East the next two weeks. So good in heavy snow too.
 

ski otter 2

Making fresh tracks
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I too have both the 184/116 and 190/118 Bibby Pros. Just got the longer ones this year and am exploring them. Wonderful, as you said.

I agree with almost everything you wrote about them, including they are in a category of their own as both powder and crud skis that very few skis match, at least ones I've tried or Blistergear has steered me to. Three or four that do match the Bibby's, in my experience as both crud and powder skis: the 189 K2 Pettitors 120 (just this year discontinued) mounted on Schizos or demos, and with the right forward mount points; 186 K2 Pinnacle 105 from the past few years (if edge detuned/modified properly, just at the forward contact point); and both the 184 and 191 V-Werks Katanas. All have their strengths and weaknesses. The 186 Pinnacle 105s, for instance, stay in the car on the deepest, heaviest days. (Not sure this is really necessary, but I've just done it anyway.)

After a bad snowboarder collision a few years back, my knee acts up with the relatively heavy Pettitors, but a younger, sounder guy would love them as I still do. (Shorter versions don't have enough fore-aft stability at speed to qualify here.)

I've alternated the Katanas and Bibbys the past few years on powder days, and both rock as powder/crud stars, about equally. Different, but equal, with modestly different strengths and weaknesses.

But the 184 Katana is definitely the spring big slush/crud winner. For me, it's not close between it and the shorter Bibby. (For me, the longer Katanas gain nothing on the shorter in these conditions, except slight loss of quickness. And I have yet to try the longer Bibbys in spring crud/slush; looking forward to it. :) )

This year, in all the record heavier snow we've gotten in the Rockies, I've had to adjust my evaluations, skiing - and mount positions. The 189 Pettitors at times I have set back from a +3 1/4 // +3 3/4 or even +4 range to a +2 1/2 // +3 1/4 range, and these still are the best, for me, of these skis, often (but my knee suffers). And they are awfully fat (like the longer Bibbys). The longer Bibbys and the longer Katanas I've had to adjust mount point back as well, at times, to keep them optimal. Then they've shined. The shorter 184 Katanas, however, have been simply overpowered, for me, on the deepest heavy snow days, unlike what we've had here in past years. But once things have been skied off into chop/crud from pure heavy powder, then the shorter Katanas start to shine too, eventually. Odd development, though, just this year - after four seasons on the shorter Katanas with no limits found before.

Oddly also, the shorter Bibbys maybe haven't needed to be moved back in heavy snow, for me, as perhaps they are meant to be both playful and chargers, at least for a lighter guy like me. They just become more playful and less chargy in heavy deep I've tried them in (with modified expectations on my part, at times; but not at other times!). But still, depending on the heavy snow, big dump day, this year I've had to juggle things with most of these skis.
 

GregK

Skiing the powder
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The only “bad thing” about the V-Werks Katana is their price tag. Lol
Fantastic ski!

The 150gram lighter Wildcats would be very similar to the weight of the V-Werks so even easier to ski than the Bibby with their lower swing weight. The new Wildcat 108 are a hair above the weight of the 116/118 Wildcat but below the old Bibby weight. Hear it charges similar to the Bibby yet it’s even easier to ski. People can more easily ski the 190cm versions of either Wildcat now and it’s not “too much ski” for those that might have found the 190cm Bibby too long.

Very excited to try the 108 Wildcat out!
 

ski otter 2

Making fresh tracks
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You are right about the price of the Katanas. I've waited and gotten them at lower prices half a season or so in at least - but then as low as half price for new ones. $625/725 (apiece for the two) have put them below what new Bibbys/Wildcats cost (since I've never or almost never seen the Bibbys or Wildcats marked down when new). Both my Bibbys I got second hand, and they were still pricey for used skis because of reputation.
 
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TS
Cheizz

Cheizz

AKA Gigiski
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2020 Völkl Deacon 80 and 84: new skis or just re-branding the old RTMs (including the no camber thing)?
 

Philpug

Notorious P.U.G.
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2020 Völkl Deacon 80 and 84: new skis or just re-branding the old RTMs (including the no camber thing)?
All new skis. Closer to the Deacon 74 and 76 in construction and on snow feel.
 

ski otter 2

Making fresh tracks
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Just a strange sort of heads up on a great new ski: the 18/19 and 19/20 (unchanged) Volkl V-Werks Mantra 99 is well worth trying - maybe back to back with its competition, skis like the Blizzard Bonafide, Volkl Mantra M5, Volkl Mantra 102 and the Blizzard Brahma, for instance (or the various Libertys, DPS, Kores in play right now).

Oddly, there have been two different versions of this ski I've demoed/tried, one of them probably produced by accident, not sure. I can finally say, either version is great though different, but one requires a lot of tuning to fix up. Well worth it, as it turns out. And it is a fairly different ski from the version I demoed at SIA.

The Volkl printing on both these says r 20.8 @ 178 ( & r 18 @170, r 23 @ 186); but because of the lightweight and incredibly easy swing weight, I found myself wanting to ski even the first 178 version in bumps as well as elsewhere. It felt so fast-turning yet stable. But it made longer turns well too.

Guess maybe I'll have to review both V-Werks versions soon. Have to get up the nerve.

A comparison review of this ski to the M5 Mantra can be found at (just click below, on the text for the review, on the blue print for pictures):

 

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