catskills trees, fun and bumps ski

[betrudrew]

Hi All,

Long time reader here and have benefitted greatly from the threads, so thanks. . . . I'm looking for a second ski, a narrower pair to throw in the car and head out to the great Catskills and points north. Would be glad to get any advice:

location: east coast only (5-8 days @elk, plattekill, belleayre, gore and 4-6 more days exploring the NE (@magic, mrg, sutton, sugarbush, etc). Got other skis for the western lands.

use: trees, park and bumps. Got a son who is just 10 and improving quickly, so we doodle around a lot in the trees (which I love) and hit the park (which he loves) and I labor through the moguls with him (which he loves also and I want to get better at).

snow: well, maybe I'm doing it wrong, but feel like I never see powder out here, lots of skiied out trees, ice and frozen twigs emerging from the tundra. For some reason I find this more fun than the fluffy stuff. Still, love the rocker/early-rise on my fatter skis and can't ever see going 100% camber.

style: not-a-charger, I like like the trees on any mountain and have generally liked softer-flexing and shorter skis for my weight and height. Ex-telemarker.

me: advanced skiier, 45yrs, 6', 190lb

other: learning a few tricks in the park would make me happy, but not sure that's going to happen at my age, also would like to improve on moguls, but realistically spend most of the time between groomers looking for small fun features.

Current skis in the single quiver: praxis 9d8's 179, medium flex, and mounted AT. I love these skis; fantastic. But when I pull up to Holiday Mountain with them, they seem ridiculously wide + they have touring bindings, I'm overly protective of. I bring them out west for 10-12 days a year and do some sidecountry with them.

My list so far:

Navigator 85
Blizzard Bushwacker
Enforcer 88?

Soul Rider 87
Armada ARV86

I'm thinking the first two might meet my practical needs (I read the cage match and it seems both might be ok?) but the twin-tips might just be fun I need to liven things up. Never skiied twin tips so not sure how much I sacrifice. With the kids, I seem to ski backwards more than ever.

Any other skis I should try? Any advice on the advantages/disadvantages of the above? And any suggestion on going twin-tip vs the others? (indebted to Josh Matta's east coast tree ski database -- but feel like this thread is for a narrower ski category). Thanks for any suggestions. . . .

 

[surfsnowgirl]

They might be hard to demo but I love my Meier Quickdraws. They are 88 underfoot, reasonably light and pivot like a dream in soft bumps and trees. I've even had them in a few inches of powder and they are great. I ski Magic/Bromley mostly with a bit of mount snow and Killington. My Quickdraws are one of my most used skis. They do what you want, If you even think about turning they are on their way, truly effortless. Mine at 166 would be too short for you. If you google Meier demo days they do make their way around new England. The NE rep Myles is a great guy.

Here's a little about the ski in case you wanted to read up on them.

https://meierskis.com/products/quickdraw

You can google and there's countless articles about the ski. I tend to turn over skis quickly but these I've had for 2 years now and they aren't going anywhere. They do hardpack well too.

 

[betrudrew]

Thanks for the suggestion surfsnowgirl -- going to add the quickdraws to the list in a 181, they look good. Going to eliminate the Armada 86 ARV unless a demo just pops up when I'm at the mountain -- seems like the Soul Rider would fill that niche better anyway. Really now got to think about sale prices vs waiting for demo; this is the list I'm going for. Any east coast skiers at low speed, messing around the mountain, riding on these? If I am at Jay or Smugglers I'd bring my fatter skis. . . .

Nordica Navigator 85 (179): leader on practicality and price; according to cage match better in trees and bumps, but maybe less fun than the next two?
Blizzard Bushwacker (180): enjoyed my demo of these 5-6 years ago, so might just go with what I know (on sale now)
Nordica Soul Rider 87 (185): might provide more fun, what do I lose in return? Could mount traditional or 2cm back from center. Leaning towards these, but concerned about length and overpowering and twin tips replacing a sports car as mid-life crisis
Nordica Enforcer 88 (179): might be better for my weight, might be the best ski if I avoid irrationality
Meier QuickDraw (181): looks good, need to do a little more investigation

 

[tball]

Looking at your criteria, for $299 w/bindings from site sponsor @SkiEssentials I'd say just buy the Nav 80. Wow, that's a great price:
https://www.skiessentials.com/2018-nordica-navigator-80-fdt-skis-w-squire-11-fdt-bindings.html

If you search the site here you'll find a bunch of my positive comments about the Nav 80 for skiing bumps, all-mountain and with kids. Great ski.

 

[Ken_R]

I think the Navigator is hard to beat (80 or 85's). IIRC @mdf loves them

 

[mdf]

I think the Navigator is hard to beat (80 or 85's). IIRC @mdf loves them

I do. Mine are 85, the longest length (184, 186, something like that).

 

[EricG]

Looking at your criteria, for $299 w/bindings from site sponsor @SkiEssentials I'd say just buy the Nav 80. Wow, that's a great price:
https://www.skiessentials.com/2018-nordica-navigator-80-fdt-skis-w-squire-11-fdt-bindings.html

If you search the site here you'll find a bunch of my positive comments about the Nav 80 for skiing bumps, all-mountain and with kids. Great ski.

That deal is going to be hard to beat.

 

[Wilhelmson]

Find a free demo day to try a few. 85 to 95mm, 185 or so cm. Or narrower skis for bumps, but 85 is nice all over.

 

[Crank]

Head Kore 99? Though I have only skied the 105's which are a really nice for playing around in the trees and bumps but perform well on groomers too.

 

[Marker]

Killington has a big free demo day in early December. I tried the Navigators and they were okay, but not noteworthy. Navigators were recommended for sub-90 over Enforcers. As a larger fellow, I should have tried the Enforcers, but it was the end of the day. I liked the Rossignol Experience 88 and Head Monster 88 much more. I know I tried some others, but they have faded to black...

I think Meier shows up at the spring demo day at K.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

I think Meier shows up at the spring demo day at K.

They do. They are usually at the dazed and defrosted festival the 3rd or so weekend in April. They also sprinkle demo days throughout the northeast. The NE rep is Myles and I can put anyone who's interested in touch with him. He will let you know Meier's demo schedule and if you are interested he usually has demo skis for sale from prior years.

 

[Ogg]

I think Meier was at the Killington December demo last year too.

 

[Wilhelmson]

They do. They are usually at the dazed and defrosted festival the 3rd or so weekend in April. They also sprinkle demo days throughout the northeast. The NE rep is Myles and I can put anyone who's interested in touch with him. He will let you know Meier's demo schedule and if you are interested he usually has demo skis for sale from prior years.

It would be great if we could somehow create a demo chart and sort it by date and region. A demo thready would be ok but hard to sort through the comments

 

[Ogg]

It would be great if we could somehow create a demo chart and sort it by date and region. A demo thready would be ok but hard to sort through the comments

The trick would be keeping it up to date and accurately show what manufacturers will be represented at each demo day.

 

[Marker]

It would be great if we could somehow create a demo chart and sort it by date and region. A demo thready would be ok but hard to sort through the comments

Killington still hasn't posted the demo days in December as they are still in summer/fall mode, except for advertising the Women's World Cup.