Echoing the thread Tricia started recently, I regret that its time to start a spring skiing thread. But it is. I'll start with my question then give you some background.
a) What are the best characteristics for skiing slushy conditions. Give examples if you know of them.
b) What pointers on techinque for slush skiing do you have?
Background:
Skiing at Northstar yesterday was my first day this season of full on spring skiing. I contemplated what skis to bring. My Motive 95s I thought the shovel would be great, but the stiff tail would be bad, and they are heavy and would tend to sink. My Moment Underworlds, which were my spring ski last year, handle chop quite well, and were surfy enough. But I never really thought they were a great spring ski (or maybe I'm just no Spring Skier, pun intended). Then I looked at the "rock skis" I bought last spring*. No, I don't NEED to ski rock skis yet, but . . .
2012 Atomic Blogs 185cm (I am 6'2", 200lbs). In case you don't know this ski: 110mm waist, wide radius. Very light. Lots of rocker and early rise at both ends. Very soft shovel and tail. Stiffer but not stiff in the middle. No metal, not even carbon or glass stringers so far as I know. Mount point is about as close to center as they get. I decided to give this a try.
First 200 yds of first run I thought I'd made a huge mistake. Try going from an evolved race ski like the Motive to this noodle, and I'd never skied a ski with such a forward mount. DON'T count on those tails! But I adapted quickly. Centered stance, more upright posture, let the ski do the work. Don't count on those tails to finish the turn.
Before I knew it, it wasn't just acceptable, it was damn fun! Conditions were very soft, but definitely not slushy. It had not refrozen the night before, but there has been some cloud cover and temps have been warm but not crazy. I've never skied a surfier ski. Turning was effortless, almost like powder. I only had to think about pressuring the tip and around it came. Being so light, and with so much tail rocker, it released and came around so quickly. No thigh burn at all, because it wanted a more upright stance (I think at my height/weight, the COM was too much for such a soft ski if I pushed it at all). It actually wanted to do quick short turns which is fine with me. Despite the modest side cut, I can't image doing long R turns with no tail. Maybe I could figure it out, but I was having too much fun to bother. Big smile. This is fun! The closest thing to true powder skiing.
Then the snow kept softening. Eventually it got to the point where the piles and ruts were very, very moist. And everywhere. On a slushiness 10pt scale, I'd call it a 7 down low and a 6 up high. And this ski was more and more difficult to ride, the slushier it got. Everything deflected those tips. A LOT. ANd you couldn't ride the tails at all. If I kept my speed up and stayed perfectly centered, I could get through it with some comfort. But then I would start to pick up speed and would need some edge angle. Except in slush, there is nowhere to hook your edges to. So I would end up doing an aggressive side slarve to slow down. NO FUN! Got off the mountain.
There is probably an aggressive high angle, yet perfectly centered surf that a more skilled skier could do. I've been able to do this in the past MOL on my Underworld's (which also give me a tail and shovel I can depend on). For now, maybe the underworld is my spring ski (at least until true rock season comes, which might not even happen this year). I am a bit perplexed. I obviously need a more substantial ski, at least at my size, to get through the slop without being thrown all over the place. But a Mantra or similar has a flat tail and is heavy. Both seem bad in slop. Maybe an underworld like ski IS best? Or maybe I just need to ski that 10am to noon window where the Blog is good and forget the rest!
But I am interested in your thoughts on my two initial questions:
a) best ski characteristics for slush, including examples
b) best technique for slush skiing
*As an aside, I lazily watched these on ebay. I stared in amazement as they languished at $20. I casually bid, picked them up for $23+30 shipping. No lie. Trust me, this was random luck. You won't see a deal like this on ebay again. With FFG 13 demo bindings no less! I've never seen a topsheet more trashed. But the bases are perfect. No repairs (base is all colored and patterned so I am sure), as flat as the midwest, not even any gouges. edges don't have any burs, let alone real issues. My guess is it was an instructor's ski, who taught a lot of kids classes. Lots of kids running over the tops, but well maintained and tuned.
a) What are the best characteristics for skiing slushy conditions. Give examples if you know of them.
b) What pointers on techinque for slush skiing do you have?
Background:
Skiing at Northstar yesterday was my first day this season of full on spring skiing. I contemplated what skis to bring. My Motive 95s I thought the shovel would be great, but the stiff tail would be bad, and they are heavy and would tend to sink. My Moment Underworlds, which were my spring ski last year, handle chop quite well, and were surfy enough. But I never really thought they were a great spring ski (or maybe I'm just no Spring Skier, pun intended). Then I looked at the "rock skis" I bought last spring*. No, I don't NEED to ski rock skis yet, but . . .
2012 Atomic Blogs 185cm (I am 6'2", 200lbs). In case you don't know this ski: 110mm waist, wide radius. Very light. Lots of rocker and early rise at both ends. Very soft shovel and tail. Stiffer but not stiff in the middle. No metal, not even carbon or glass stringers so far as I know. Mount point is about as close to center as they get. I decided to give this a try.
First 200 yds of first run I thought I'd made a huge mistake. Try going from an evolved race ski like the Motive to this noodle, and I'd never skied a ski with such a forward mount. DON'T count on those tails! But I adapted quickly. Centered stance, more upright posture, let the ski do the work. Don't count on those tails to finish the turn.
Before I knew it, it wasn't just acceptable, it was damn fun! Conditions were very soft, but definitely not slushy. It had not refrozen the night before, but there has been some cloud cover and temps have been warm but not crazy. I've never skied a surfier ski. Turning was effortless, almost like powder. I only had to think about pressuring the tip and around it came. Being so light, and with so much tail rocker, it released and came around so quickly. No thigh burn at all, because it wanted a more upright stance (I think at my height/weight, the COM was too much for such a soft ski if I pushed it at all). It actually wanted to do quick short turns which is fine with me. Despite the modest side cut, I can't image doing long R turns with no tail. Maybe I could figure it out, but I was having too much fun to bother. Big smile. This is fun! The closest thing to true powder skiing.
Then the snow kept softening. Eventually it got to the point where the piles and ruts were very, very moist. And everywhere. On a slushiness 10pt scale, I'd call it a 7 down low and a 6 up high. And this ski was more and more difficult to ride, the slushier it got. Everything deflected those tips. A LOT. ANd you couldn't ride the tails at all. If I kept my speed up and stayed perfectly centered, I could get through it with some comfort. But then I would start to pick up speed and would need some edge angle. Except in slush, there is nowhere to hook your edges to. So I would end up doing an aggressive side slarve to slow down. NO FUN! Got off the mountain.
There is probably an aggressive high angle, yet perfectly centered surf that a more skilled skier could do. I've been able to do this in the past MOL on my Underworld's (which also give me a tail and shovel I can depend on). For now, maybe the underworld is my spring ski (at least until true rock season comes, which might not even happen this year). I am a bit perplexed. I obviously need a more substantial ski, at least at my size, to get through the slop without being thrown all over the place. But a Mantra or similar has a flat tail and is heavy. Both seem bad in slop. Maybe an underworld like ski IS best? Or maybe I just need to ski that 10am to noon window where the Blog is good and forget the rest!
But I am interested in your thoughts on my two initial questions:
a) best ski characteristics for slush, including examples
b) best technique for slush skiing
*As an aside, I lazily watched these on ebay. I stared in amazement as they languished at $20. I casually bid, picked them up for $23+30 shipping. No lie. Trust me, this was random luck. You won't see a deal like this on ebay again. With FFG 13 demo bindings no less! I've never seen a topsheet more trashed. But the bases are perfect. No repairs (base is all colored and patterned so I am sure), as flat as the midwest, not even any gouges. edges don't have any burs, let alone real issues. My guess is it was an instructor's ski, who taught a lot of kids classes. Lots of kids running over the tops, but well maintained and tuned.