So, overt the break I finally got to ski the famed Z90 for a couple of days in a length that was appropriate. The snow ranged from baked glop to icy "when is the next snow coming" grommers and scratched-up off piste. I am not Usually a carving ski fan, I tend to rely more on the all-mountain variety (Bonafide, Kastle FX95HP), if I ski groomers, I bring my GS race skis. The Renoun was an experiment, which turned out to be rather successful.
First of all, let's get one thing straight: this ski can carve, it loves to carve, and it can carve at any speed or any angle you can throw at it. The shape and the flex are really well balanced, so the turn enter and exit feel very natural, the edge hold is pretty good, I was never lacking purchase, and the ski only chattered when I held onto a turn for too long (and that's a technical mistake, not a ski's fault).
HDT works, plain and simple, at high speed the ski remains quiet, and I had a few of those "aha" moments when you get from the groomer onto a refrozen choppy off-piste surface and the ski just shrugs and quietly keeps plowing ahead. I was able to ski Tower 16 in pretty nasty conditions, top to bottom, with the ski banging out nice round turns. Very impressive for a wide carver.
Is it all positive? Not quite. First of all, it is a bit of a one-trick pony, the ski is designed to make carved turns on any terrain, and that's what it wants to do. If you are a fan of a "Tahoe turn", find a different set of boards. The significant sidecut extracts it toll on steeps where tips and tails tend to hand a bit, but that's a common issue with all wide carvers. Bumps are surprisingly good (to the best of my limited technique. A big price to pay for the magic of HDT is that the ski is not as energetic out of the turn as some stiffer wide carvers are, the base flex is fairly mellow, and HDT does not magically create rebound. The upside (huge) is that it's a really easy to ski at low to moderate speeds. I also noticed a tendency to lock into a carve at some point in a higher speed turn and hang on to it, sometimes even a tad longer than it felt comfortable.
I gave the ski for a run to a friend who just succumbed to the charms of a Kastle MX89. His feedback was that "Those are super fun to lay over, they are not as stable as my new Kastle, but not too far behind". Given the stellar reputation of the MX89, it is a ringing endorsement.
So, who is this ski for? It's not the holy grail or a "one ski to rule them all", even though the hype in the past reached those proportion. It is a slam dunk East Coast ski. In fact I cannot point to another ski that I would rather ski in the East. It is perfect for trail snow, it can handle off-piste with enough aplomb and it is not hard to ski. So, east coast skiers, stop wasting your money on the dreadful Volkl RTM (the official ski of New York City and its many clones and get a Z90. It will make you a better skiers, you will have much more fun, and your legs will thank you many times before the day is over. And you will feel like a better skier. If you ski the West Coast, and spend your days on the groomers, again, here are very few skis that provide as much fun (the aforementioned MX89 comes to mind, but it is not nearly as playful and/or easy to ski as the Z90). The all-mountain use is a harder recommendation, primarily because of the limitation of a carver-ski shape. As a historical reference Atomic Metron was at some point in vogue as a do-all all-mountain ski that was supplanted in due course by more versatile shapes. But as a versatile fun capable carver ski the Renoun Z90 does reign supreme.
First of all, let's get one thing straight: this ski can carve, it loves to carve, and it can carve at any speed or any angle you can throw at it. The shape and the flex are really well balanced, so the turn enter and exit feel very natural, the edge hold is pretty good, I was never lacking purchase, and the ski only chattered when I held onto a turn for too long (and that's a technical mistake, not a ski's fault).
HDT works, plain and simple, at high speed the ski remains quiet, and I had a few of those "aha" moments when you get from the groomer onto a refrozen choppy off-piste surface and the ski just shrugs and quietly keeps plowing ahead. I was able to ski Tower 16 in pretty nasty conditions, top to bottom, with the ski banging out nice round turns. Very impressive for a wide carver.
Is it all positive? Not quite. First of all, it is a bit of a one-trick pony, the ski is designed to make carved turns on any terrain, and that's what it wants to do. If you are a fan of a "Tahoe turn", find a different set of boards. The significant sidecut extracts it toll on steeps where tips and tails tend to hand a bit, but that's a common issue with all wide carvers. Bumps are surprisingly good (to the best of my limited technique. A big price to pay for the magic of HDT is that the ski is not as energetic out of the turn as some stiffer wide carvers are, the base flex is fairly mellow, and HDT does not magically create rebound. The upside (huge) is that it's a really easy to ski at low to moderate speeds. I also noticed a tendency to lock into a carve at some point in a higher speed turn and hang on to it, sometimes even a tad longer than it felt comfortable.
I gave the ski for a run to a friend who just succumbed to the charms of a Kastle MX89. His feedback was that "Those are super fun to lay over, they are not as stable as my new Kastle, but not too far behind". Given the stellar reputation of the MX89, it is a ringing endorsement.
So, who is this ski for? It's not the holy grail or a "one ski to rule them all", even though the hype in the past reached those proportion. It is a slam dunk East Coast ski. In fact I cannot point to another ski that I would rather ski in the East. It is perfect for trail snow, it can handle off-piste with enough aplomb and it is not hard to ski. So, east coast skiers, stop wasting your money on the dreadful Volkl RTM (the official ski of New York City and its many clones and get a Z90. It will make you a better skiers, you will have much more fun, and your legs will thank you many times before the day is over. And you will feel like a better skier. If you ski the West Coast, and spend your days on the groomers, again, here are very few skis that provide as much fun (the aforementioned MX89 comes to mind, but it is not nearly as playful and/or easy to ski as the Z90). The all-mountain use is a harder recommendation, primarily because of the limitation of a carver-ski shape. As a historical reference Atomic Metron was at some point in vogue as a do-all all-mountain ski that was supplanted in due course by more versatile shapes. But as a versatile fun capable carver ski the Renoun Z90 does reign supreme.