People familiar with Volkl please read

[Stephen Witkop]

They would either hit the bumps and stop/slow significantly, or push/launch me around, lol. Worse still, one ski slowing, and the other taking off, haha.

One other thing that can be an issue in these conditions is having the wrong / no wax. On hard snow bad wax will be slow but consistent however when you get that mix of old and new - soft and hard it will magnify the issue of skis that are short and narrow.

 

[awesomeame]

Well, I demo'd some Atomics since they were at the hill yesterday. Vantage Ti in 86x181cm and Vantage Ti in 90x184cm. Both pretty sweet in the afternoon rougher Ontario crud, and they sure carve nice "at speed" while gliding over loose ungroomed 6" snow. They also felt extremely stable overall, the 90 moreso. But I found steering at slower speeds was pretty hard for me, the 90s were noticeably harder for me to steer. These models have no tail rocker so I'm a tad worried they might be even harder to steer in fresh snow...? thoughts?

I'm still planning to demo the RTM's and other models mentioned in this thread in the coming weeks, thanks for all the input thus far

Matt

 

[GregK]

Well, I demo'd some Atomics since they were at the hill yesterday. Vantage Ti in 86x181cm and Vantage Ti in 90x184cm. Both pretty sweet in the afternoon rougher Ontario crud, and they sure carve nice "at speed" while gliding over loose ungroomed 6" snow. They also felt extremely stable overall, the 90 moreso. But I found steering at slower speeds was pretty hard for me, the 90s were noticeably harder for me to steer. These models have no tail rocker so I'm a tad worried they might be even harder to steer in fresh snow...? thoughts?

I'm still planning to demo the RTM's and other models mentioned in this thread in the coming weeks, thanks for all the input thus far

Matt

You correctly noticed a few things with the demo. Longer skis with longer turn radius are more stable at speed but have to be worked more at lower speeds for quicker turns. Skis without tail rocker will be more “locked in” to a carve so are not as easy to skid or smear turns usually. They also will “ski longer” without the amount of rocker so a 184cm might feel like a 188cm ski with tip/tail rocker. You may have been better off with the size below what you tried on those skis. 184cm would feel huge compared to your more rockered 166cm ski and there will be an adjustment period to more suitable sized skis.
You’d lose a bit of stability with the step shorter length but would gain a ski that’s less work at slower speeds.

When you try the RTM skis(or any ski) try the 177-179cm length and 182-185cm length as you might find the 177cm version is stable enough and more fun at lower speeds. The 177 is still 2 steps up in size along with a beefier flex than what you’re currently skiing!