So, I've got the 84Ti's on order.
So, they arrived. I seem to have developed mental issues about new skis, based on the last two go-arounds I had, and this was no exception. I seriously don't know how people compare a bunch of skis back to back unless conditions are perfect. Naturally, the last three sets all arrived and got sampled right in the midst of difficult spring conditions and suffered from my distrust.
However, the new ones didn't suffer long. This time I went immediately to get a very specific tune on the skis because of how I suffered last time, trying to ski them right out of the box. And I made sure that I had a long discussion with the tech and had previously taped the exact instructions right on each ski so there wouldn't be some "piece of paper was too far away for me to look at it" scenario. And then I took then home and checked the work closely. The first day I stayed on the snowflake terrain and just felt the difference in balance points, reliability of edge, difference in ramp height, turn radius, etc. on the simple terrain. Then I put them back in the locker for a few days and skied my regular skis until conditions changed from hard pack and death cookies with grooming anomalies to having a nice corn layer over groomed hardpack. A few more runs on that snowflake stuff and then up onto blue terrain. Survived several runs, but was mentally exhausted by the gummy snow and really just fear of the unknown. Next day took them to the summit and decided we were becoming friends. I'm still not infatuated, but it's looking like I will become so.
Differences noted relative to the 82xTi:
- slightly wider underfoot so a hair less quick edge to edge, but not significant except mentally.
- much wider shovel means the ski surfs better in slush, which was nice
- turn radius longer which means I have to block that fact mentally and push the ski more forcefully when I need tighter turns. I assume I'll learn to compensate over time. It's only a change from 15 to 15.9 in the 170 length
- stiffness due to extra later of titanal is welcome on the hardpack, I'm not sure how much increased confidence is due to the fact my Rictors had 210+ days on them and had lost torsional rigidity a bit (I was thinking they might have but still trusted them completely) and how much of the improvement is the extra metal, but I'm feeling it.
- I think once the season is over and everything is home I'll be looking at binding impacts - stand height, ramp, mount point, just to understand how that might be different. I think I'm adjusting already and won't notice a thing over time, but just as I notice huge differences when switching from my powder skis to my groomer skis, I feel like this pair is some middle ground between the two.
- I'm perplexed by the higher ratings of this ski compared to the Rictors, frankly. They don't seem hugely different in any particular wowzer fashion. So far the difference to me is subtle and at this point I still love the Rictors and am only willing to say I might someday feel the same about these, but that's as far as I'd go. I think the quick turniness of the Rictors is more fun. These haven't precisely lost that, but .. Not as wowed.