First, the vitals. I'm 5'10", 175 lbs, like long walks on the beach and ski badly.
Took out my bro's for their cherry-bustin' today, and thank god it actually snowed for once. Rode on em for a few hours before busting out the beater tree sticks, so these are essentially from about 3 hours worth of riding them.
First Impressions: superlight, wonderfully consistent flex, thirsty base. As I made my first turns I noticed that they are extraordinarily light on the feet, and don't tax the legs nearly as much as my heavy ass K2 mod x pros (read: 70mm waist and f'ing metal). Killington had just got some fresh (6-ish inches in places), so I was able to try it in the full gamut of conditions. So I'll go through them, from worst to best.
Ice: these are 99mm waisted skis. They don't like ice. That's about all there is to say about that. It might be a bit easier in the stiffs, but steep ice caused it to chatter when put on edge. Might also be my gaper technique. You have to ski these full throttle all the time, so be aware when you pick em up.
Hardpack: Not bad at all. They don't carve, but who cares? I'm running a lifter on mine, and to put them over on edge was to make a veeerrryyyy long turn. These things love to GS turn and go straight everywhere. No easy short turns on these beasts. If you do want to play on hardpack, make sure you have room to run, as they really don't like playing "stop short for stupid person cutting across your path".
Cut up snow and crud: blasts through it like it isn't there. This is where the ski starts to shine, as my morning started off with hardpack, ice and some soft moguls (note: I HATE moguls). Got onto a trail with some cut up pow and absolutely steamrolled it beautifully. These things love soft snow as much as we do. Screw the pain train, these things are the freight train in the crud.
Untracked: Got very little of this, but they just fly. That's about all there is to say about that.
Quickness: these skis are VERY quick for skis of their size, and even mogul-hater schuss was able to toss them around nicely enough, save for one thing...... These things love to go straight.After blowing through a few soft moguls mistakenly, I figured out that you don't really need to turn these in any soft conditions, as they'll blow through about anything without batting an eye. Both I and Mtn. Man (Who shares the same boot sole length) were have great fun straightlining and GS turning through the fresh mogul field and bewildering onlookers. These skis can get sideways, but that's not really the point of them, as they just blast through everything. Aren't too bad in trees either, despite their size. They also make you think you're going slower than you are, until you almost steamroll a ski school filled with small children at mach loony+1.
So, overall, its a quick and light little ride that will blow through anything, provided you're going straight or almost straight. Good job guys.
Rating: Huzzah!
PS: the bases are hard, but not invincible, be aware.
