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Loveland Demo Day Tomorrow
- Thread starter Ken_R
- Start date
Too bad you’re a “stereotypical Front Range weekend warrior.” I’m a midweek warrior. I’d like to buy you a beer sometime. We could exchange stories of skiing with @Ron.
Sounds kind of philosophical ...
When midweek and weekend overlap, there you will find "Ron".
When midweek and weekend overlap, there you will find "Ron".
Yes.
Yes!
Just so happens I'll be up for Tuesdays In The Snow this week. My sister is in town -- celebrating her first day on skis in a decade. I'll be in a Freeride systems baby-blue jacket, orange helmet, putzing around on some skis.
Give me a hollar if you're around.
Thread Starter
TS
Thread Starter
TS
I was very nice skiing with @Noodler and @ski otter 2 Today at LL! I demoed a bunch of new skis and revisited some.
Favorites of the day:
Volkl Mantra M5 184cm, perfect resort ski for me, loved it. I could cruise all day on this ski. Perfect balance of weight, dampness, stability and maneuverability.
Kastle FX96HP 180cm. Wow, I think this is the most versatile ski I have skied. Handled the hard snow like a champ and I could tell it could handle off trail and powder very well.
Kastle MX89 188cm. Loved it for hard snow!
Volkl Mantra 102 184cm. Easy enough to ski but still burly. The ski felt a bit too heavy for my lightish boots. Still on the fence about the 3D Radius Sidecut.
Kastle MX99 184cm. Felt like a more refined version of the Mantra 102. Not as heavy feeling. I felt like I could carve through anything on this. Last years skis definitely had a bad tune cause these felt great.
Favorites of the day:
Volkl Mantra M5 184cm, perfect resort ski for me, loved it. I could cruise all day on this ski. Perfect balance of weight, dampness, stability and maneuverability.
Kastle FX96HP 180cm. Wow, I think this is the most versatile ski I have skied. Handled the hard snow like a champ and I could tell it could handle off trail and powder very well.
Kastle MX89 188cm. Loved it for hard snow!
Volkl Mantra 102 184cm. Easy enough to ski but still burly. The ski felt a bit too heavy for my lightish boots. Still on the fence about the 3D Radius Sidecut.
Kastle MX99 184cm. Felt like a more refined version of the Mantra 102. Not as heavy feeling. I felt like I could carve through anything on this. Last years skis definitely had a bad tune cause these felt great.
Thread Starter
TS
Of note. Snow was FIRM with some shaved snow piles here and there and some scattered bumps. I am also 6-2 and 190 lb so that must be taken into account when reading my comments! I have a lot more to say about those and other skis but I have to sit down and gather my thoughts on them. Open to questions about them though.
You don't look like 190.
Thread Starter
TS
Elan is still making great skis (so you're in good shape
), but IMHO the amphibio has got to go. I'd buy if it weren't for amphibio.
For now just some of my basic takeaways...
Head
The day Head announces the end of the Monster line I will shed a tear. These are "race" skis in all-mountain clothing. No speed limit, fantastic stability, impressive hook-up and edge hold.
The Kore series must have some kind of "black" magic going on in them. I'm just amazed that skis so light are so damp and stable. They also have wonderful edge bite in hard conditions and are much quicker turning than you would expect. I honestly would buy every one of the available Kore series skis, but I don't need any of them for my current quiver.
The V8/V10 skis have a much better sidecut shape (especially the tips) than the Supershape series. There's no obnoxious tip flare that's a total "liability", but they do have a pronounced speed limit. I just don't get why they need to be light (or "Lyt" as Head puts it). Give these skis the Supershape construction layup and you'd have the kind of skis I like.
Elan
Dear Elan, please get rid of Amphibio. It may be a great design concept, but it's just impractical if you actually want to be able to swap skis to get to a fresh set of inside edges. Other than that issue, Elan is building stable, energetic, great gripping skis.
Dynastar
Dear Dynastar, what the heck are you thinking when you put a freeride shape on a relatively narrow all-mountain ski? The Legend 88 has the kind of shape you'd expect to find on a ski 20mm wider. I just don't get a dramatic early taper tip and a pin tail on an 88mm ski. If you like your ski loose and easy then this one's for you. That's not me.
Also of note...
I'm just not a Liberty guy. I've come to that conclusion after giving them multiple tries to win my affections. Every ski I've been on has tips that are too soft, too much rise, and flap when you ski them. That's not my "jam".
Last season I loved the DPS Cassiar 94 in the Alchemist layup, but this season they only had the Foundation version and left me wanting so much more. It just didn't have that same magic.
Head
The day Head announces the end of the Monster line I will shed a tear. These are "race" skis in all-mountain clothing. No speed limit, fantastic stability, impressive hook-up and edge hold.
The Kore series must have some kind of "black" magic going on in them. I'm just amazed that skis so light are so damp and stable. They also have wonderful edge bite in hard conditions and are much quicker turning than you would expect. I honestly would buy every one of the available Kore series skis, but I don't need any of them for my current quiver.
The V8/V10 skis have a much better sidecut shape (especially the tips) than the Supershape series. There's no obnoxious tip flare that's a total "liability", but they do have a pronounced speed limit. I just don't get why they need to be light (or "Lyt" as Head puts it). Give these skis the Supershape construction layup and you'd have the kind of skis I like.
Elan
Dear Elan, please get rid of Amphibio. It may be a great design concept, but it's just impractical if you actually want to be able to swap skis to get to a fresh set of inside edges. Other than that issue, Elan is building stable, energetic, great gripping skis.
Dynastar
Dear Dynastar, what the heck are you thinking when you put a freeride shape on a relatively narrow all-mountain ski? The Legend 88 has the kind of shape you'd expect to find on a ski 20mm wider. I just don't get a dramatic early taper tip and a pin tail on an 88mm ski. If you like your ski loose and easy then this one's for you. That's not me.
Also of note...
I'm just not a Liberty guy. I've come to that conclusion after giving them multiple tries to win my affections. Every ski I've been on has tips that are too soft, too much rise, and flap when you ski them. That's not my "jam".
Last season I loved the DPS Cassiar 94 in the Alchemist layup, but this season they only had the Foundation version and left me wanting so much more. It just didn't have that same magic.
Last edited:
Elan is still making great skis (so you're in good shape
I know, right? That whole born-in-water live-on-land trip is so seventies.
Snow quality yesterday certainly not representative of snow quality in Colorado on average. Makes it hard to really select what you want -- but fabulous for finding out whose tunes were great.
That said, it nuked from 4-6pm up there with a solid 2" when we left. Should help surface quality a bit.
That said, it nuked from 4-6pm up there with a solid 2" when we left. Should help surface quality a bit.
Yeah, finally I got to ski more extended time with @Noodler and @Ken_R. Great fun. Didn't stop til reps stopped giving me skis to try, maybe 14-15 skis.
Tired. I'm an old guy, after all.
Another preliminary stab at reactions to skis (though I seemed to share almost all the reactions to skis of @Noodler and @ken-R).
Volkl. This tent happened to get more of my attention, due to great skis there. The many Mantras (M5 96, 102, V-Werks), the Deacons (74, 86?), I liked most of these.
I got the M5 and V-Werks Mantras last year, but wanted to check out these in different lengths. The Deacons were, to me, a perfect ski for A.M. groomers, not so much uneven and slightly bumped up P.M. groomers. The V-Works Mantra was my favorite ski last season, and it was again at this demo. (Three folks I told about them going up on the lift, got to try them and later told me they wanted to buy a pair - two 200+ lb. guys on the 186, and a shorter guy on the 178 that I got.)
Volkl M5 Mantra. After extended skiing on this, I've come to regard it as a kind of fat gs ski, mostly, not as good in real crud/slush and off piste as the V-W Mantras and other skis. But on groomers and near-groomers, it sure is swell.
104 Free Nordica Enforcers 186. Wow. Along with the V-W Mantra again, this was, for me, the surprise of the day - more burly & "steady as a rock" stable than I'd imagined, combined with playful/easy/forgiving - even on such a skied off, "old snow" afternoon. I can only imagine how great it must be in its own element.
(Now if only there was a pair of demo Enforcer 115 Pro/Free I could try.)
For those skied off p.m. hours, I most like M & W FIS SL race skis (but that day demoed Hero Elite Plus + 167/13s) and the Kastle MX 74 (demoed again, after a few years). And those surprising Enforcer 104 Frees.
some others, best liked in bold (leaving out most of the suspect tunes):
Dynastar Factory Proto (Menace F Team) 189/118. Not sure. (Great so far, carves/feels good - demo mounted very far forward, surprisingly easy and playful.
Not, so far, the burly, limited use ski they are made out to be, it seems.)
Atomic X9. ? Meh. If I could tune/flatten this myself I'd probably like it. (Slightly poor tune or slightly in need of lowering/flattening the base? Dunno.) Last year I loved several G9s, and an S9.
Kastle MX 74. Since it came out my favorite recreational old snow, P.M. ski that I don't own, yet. Such a contrast to the next ski, and last one too.
Elan Wingman 86. Sorry. (Bossy carve, for me: it slightly, constantly, tells me how, where and when to carve a turn; I prefer telling the ski how, where and when - much more fully. I'd blame it on the tune, but Noodler liked it more, so, not sure.)
Tired. I'm an old guy, after all.
Another preliminary stab at reactions to skis (though I seemed to share almost all the reactions to skis of @Noodler and @ken-R).
Volkl. This tent happened to get more of my attention, due to great skis there. The many Mantras (M5 96, 102, V-Werks), the Deacons (74, 86?), I liked most of these.
I got the M5 and V-Werks Mantras last year, but wanted to check out these in different lengths. The Deacons were, to me, a perfect ski for A.M. groomers, not so much uneven and slightly bumped up P.M. groomers. The V-Works Mantra was my favorite ski last season, and it was again at this demo. (Three folks I told about them going up on the lift, got to try them and later told me they wanted to buy a pair - two 200+ lb. guys on the 186, and a shorter guy on the 178 that I got.)
Volkl M5 Mantra. After extended skiing on this, I've come to regard it as a kind of fat gs ski, mostly, not as good in real crud/slush and off piste as the V-W Mantras and other skis. But on groomers and near-groomers, it sure is swell.
104 Free Nordica Enforcers 186. Wow. Along with the V-W Mantra again, this was, for me, the surprise of the day - more burly & "steady as a rock" stable than I'd imagined, combined with playful/easy/forgiving - even on such a skied off, "old snow" afternoon. I can only imagine how great it must be in its own element.
(Now if only there was a pair of demo Enforcer 115 Pro/Free I could try.)
For those skied off p.m. hours, I most like M & W FIS SL race skis (but that day demoed Hero Elite Plus + 167/13s) and the Kastle MX 74 (demoed again, after a few years). And those surprising Enforcer 104 Frees.
some others, best liked in bold (leaving out most of the suspect tunes):
Dynastar Factory Proto (Menace F Team) 189/118. Not sure. (Great so far, carves/feels good - demo mounted very far forward, surprisingly easy and playful.
Not, so far, the burly, limited use ski they are made out to be, it seems.)
Atomic X9. ? Meh. If I could tune/flatten this myself I'd probably like it. (Slightly poor tune or slightly in need of lowering/flattening the base? Dunno.) Last year I loved several G9s, and an S9.
Kastle MX 74. Since it came out my favorite recreational old snow, P.M. ski that I don't own, yet. Such a contrast to the next ski, and last one too.
Elan Wingman 86. Sorry. (Bossy carve, for me: it slightly, constantly, tells me how, where and when to carve a turn; I prefer telling the ski how, where and when - much more fully. I'd blame it on the tune, but Noodler liked it more, so, not sure.)
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