Skis to try

[TimF]

I will be heading out to Colorado next Thursday to ski for 4 days. It looks like the "snow machine" will be off next week so probably won't bring the Wailer 112's. My normal Western daily ski is a Fischer Motive 95ti 180cm. I love it in almost all conditions although I did find it lacking in early season man-made, scraped off snow with frozen marbles. I demoed a Volkl RTM 84 for the next 2 days and problem pretty much solved.
This trip I am Looking at demoing a Kastle FX85HP and Stockli SR88 along with the Kastle MX 84/88's. I usually like skis about 1 size down from the longest one made. It seems that the FX's in 181cm are the most similar to the Motive 180's. The SR 88 177 seems right for me. The MX88 in a 178cm was not my size unless I wanted to SG the mountain all day. but I really liked the MX83 in a 173cm. How does the MX89 in 172cm feel relative to the MX88 in a 168cm or 178cm? And does the MX84 176cm ski much longer then the MX83 at 173cm? This will be fun. Oh, 50 years old, 5'8 and 138lbs. Trying to eat more sandwiches, LOL. If I'm skiing without family, I try to stay off the groomers as much as possible.
Thanks for any input.
Tim

 

[AmyPJ]

Sounds like you need to get out there and try them, then report back!
Have a great trip!

 

[Philpug]

I will be heading out to Colorado next Thursday to ski for 4 days. It looks like the "snow machine" will be off next week so probably won't bring the Wailer 112's. My normal Western daily ski is a Fischer Motive 95ti 180cm. I love it in almost all conditions although I did find it lacking in early season man-made, scraped off snow with frozen marbles. I demoed a Volkl RTM 84 for the next 2 days and problem pretty much solved.
This trip I am Looking at demoing a Kastle FX85HP and Stockli SR88 along with the Kastle MX 84/88's. I usually like skis about 1 size down from the longest one made. It seems that the FX's in 181cm are the most similar to the Motive 180's. The SR 88 177 seems right for me. The MX88 in a 178cm was not my size unless I wanted to SG the mountain all day. but I really liked the MX83 in a 173cm. How does the MX89 in 172cm feel relative to the MX88 in a 168cm or 178cm? And does the MX84 176cm ski much longer then the MX83 at 173cm? This will be fun. Oh, 50 years old, 5'8 and 138lbs. Trying to eat more sandwiches, LOL. If I'm skiing without family, I try to stay off the groomers as much as possible.
Thanks for any input.
Tim

Sounds like you need to stop in Gorsuch of you want to demo all of those Kastles. The nunace differences can be felt for sure between the models and sizes. Check them out, you are balancing skis for your height and one for your weight.

 

[TimF]

Thanks for the tip. I know that Podium Sports in Frisco also has Kastle demos.

 

[coskigirl]

Podium is a good shop. Although I'm slightly biased since good friends own it.

 

[Uncle-A]

Looking at your list of Stockli and Kastle it seems that price is not an issue, so why not jump on the Renoun Z90's?

 

[TimF]

Definitely thinking about these also, but I would really like to demo them first. I guess I'm not totally sure what kind of ski that I want. An FX or MX type for an all mountain western ski. For instance, if I'm at Breckenridge I like to lap the T-bar off of Peak 8 and head into North Bowl where the top is open, wind scoured/blown snow waves and then gets in to relatively open trees. To skiers right and close to the T-bar is similar but more trees. At A-basin I like to traverse right at Zuma cornice. The Motive 95 works great here but it is getting a little beat up and I want to try something new. Over the past few years I have been hitting Beaver Creek on the firs day to get my legs going with groomers all day. Again the Motive 95 is great if not too icy.

 

[Ken_R]

I will be heading out to Colorado next Thursday to ski for 4 days. It looks like the "snow machine" will be off next week so probably won't bring the Wailer 112's. My normal Western daily ski is a Fischer Motive 95ti 180cm. I love it in almost all conditions although I did find it lacking in early season man-made, scraped off snow with frozen marbles. I demoed a Volkl RTM 84 for the next 2 days and problem pretty much solved.
This trip I am Looking at demoing a Kastle FX85HP and Stockli SR88 along with the Kastle MX 84/88's. I usually like skis about 1 size down from the longest one made. It seems that the FX's in 181cm are the most similar to the Motive 180's. The SR 88 177 seems right for me. The MX88 in a 178cm was not my size unless I wanted to SG the mountain all day. but I really liked the MX83 in a 173cm. How does the MX89 in 172cm feel relative to the MX88 in a 168cm or 178cm? And does the MX84 176cm ski much longer then the MX83 at 173cm? This will be fun. Oh, 50 years old, 5'8 and 138lbs. Trying to eat more sandwiches, LOL. If I'm skiing without family, I try to stay off the groomers as much as possible.
Thanks for any input.
Tim

The non groomed terrain in Colorado Resorts is mainly crud, bumps and more bumps so you want a ski that deals well with all of that. Some above treeline terrain gets wind buffed (smooth) even between storms but that is the exception in regards to the % of terrain available.

I am looking forward to the responses because soon I will be looking for ski for similar duty.

I used a Soul 7 for those conditions and it worked well, specially in the trees, so I would assume that a ski with a good rise in the tip and some in the tail with a nice progressive flex (I would avoid skis with stiff tips) should do nicely. You are pretty light so a light ski without metal should work well for you. Regarding length, I guess it depends on the design of each particular ski but around 170 should work well for you. Also I would avoid a ski with a flat tail. Again, IMHO, there are folks here that are MUCH more knowledgable so you came to the right place!

 

[TimF]

Sounds like you need to get out there and try them, then report back!
Have a great trip!

OK, first ski up is a Kastle MX 89 172cm for a warm up groomer day tomorrow unless it snows more tonight. Podium sports did not buy any MX 84's or FX 85's to demo or sell this year.