2014 Loveland Demo Day Reviews

Last year's demo day:
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...ay)?highlight=
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...mo-Day-review)

*Location of review: Loveland
*Runs Taken: Blue groomers with a single short pitch of ~black steepness, probably similar to EC-style runs
*Snow Conditions: snowed 1-2" throughout the entire day, groomed snow, scraped off in areas, piled up in other areas, a few minor spots of hard CO ice, but mostly soft, perhaps similar to EC conditions with back-to-back days of fresh snowfall that has been groomed down, with light snowfall throughout the day
*Demo or Purchase: Demo

Me: 5'10, 170lbs, 31 yrs/old, 29 years skiing, expert skier with an athletic, dynamic powerful style. Parents were both pro bump skiers, so pretty strong mogul background. Prefer damp, charging skis with good high-speed stability.

Quiver:
186 ON3P Billygoats (old version with Dynafits/Dukes)
183 Head Monster m103s (with PX14s)
183 Head Monster m82s (with FKS Race)
180 Bushwacker (with Dynafits)

Skis new for this year:
191 ON3P Billygoats (12/13) (excited to try the new shape, and curious how the lesser pintail will change my opinion of this ski)
191 ON3P Wrenegade (curious if I'd prefer this for more alpine resorts vs. the Billygoats)
186 PM Gear Kusala (curious if I'd prefer this style of ski vs. the Billygoats)
181 Atomic Pow+ (always wanted to try a wider tip-rockered Head m103)
185 Volant Spatula (always wanted to try R/R, and got these cheap)

Skis tried:
Salomon Q98 181/188
Volkl Kendo 177/184
Blizzard Kabookie 180
Blizzard Brahma 180
Armada AR VTi 178
Atomic Theory 186
Nordica Steadfast 178

Skis I wanted to try:
K2 Annex 98
Volkl Nanuq
Line Prophet 90/98

I went out to Loveland on Saturday to demo a bunch of midfat sticks (85-100mm) for high pressure periods without snow and possibly to use as late spring or summer touring skis.

Salomon Q98 181/188cm
Very silky smooth damp ski. Reminds me of a Kastle but without much energy at the end of the turn. Could work the ski through the bumps pretty well, not too stiff, not too soft. This ski was the most damp ski I tried over the course of the day. The 181 didn't give up much at all to the 188. I would probably go with the 181... because... why not go shorter? This would make a great 6" ski, and would probably be an awesome resort powder day ski out here in CO for the masses, where large storms are infrequent and the untracked goods disappear fast. I'd like to try it in uncut powder before I'm totally sold on this opinion, but the tip profile and flex feels right. If the Q105 skis like this, I think it'd be a great one-ski quiver as well.

Volkl Kendo 177/184
A scalpal. Everything the Mantra is. Very good precise ski. Not as damp as the Salomon, but more energy at the end of the turn. I really liked this ski. Overall, for charging hard on firm snow up to a few inches, I think this is the best ski. VERY similar to my Head 82, but a little bit stiffer and a little less damp. I can't believe how lightweight this ski is for how hard it charges. In certain situations (think a thin layer of corn), this would be the perfect ski to have at the top of a mountain in the backcountry. I'm not sure how it'd do in slightly thicker corn, or in powder, and I think it's traditional shape would make it a bit difficult in wierd crusts. Not sold on this one, but I'd love to slap some dynafits on a pair and take it around in the summer and late spring for corn harvesting. The 177 gave up very little to the 184, but really wished they made a 181.

Blizzard Kabookie 180
Decent ski, but nothing inspiring. Not a lot of real moguls, and no trees, so it was hard to get an idea of the benefit versus drawbacks. I preferred the Q98 and the Kendo - the tips of the others felt more confidence inspiring. More damp and stable at speed than the Bushwacker, but still not quite confidence inspiring due to the tip. It feels like a slightly beefier Bushwacker with the Bushwacker's tip. It just doesn't engage all the way through the tip rocker as much as I want it to. I think some people would like it, and others would just be too off put by how the tip feels. Definitely demo it first.

Blizzard Brahma 180
Better than the Kabookie at speed. The tip was stiffer which allowed it to actually engage. I demo'd this one at the beginning of the day, and I really wanted to try it at the end of the day to recalibrate versus the other skis I liked, but ran out of time. I'm not totally sold on it being a contender for my attention. It still feels a bit disconnected at the tip, but I really wanted to try it back-to-back with the Kendo to see exactly what I was giving up. Given the still-slightly-disconnected tip feeling, I'm not sure if the extra weight is worth the extra dampness over the Bushwacker for my applications. I also want to try this in more 3d snow, as I think late-season afternoon spring snow would make this disconnected-feeling go away. This ski, more than any other tested, made me walk away wishing for more time on it to figure it out completely. Definitely demo it first.

Armada AR VTi 178
Great ski. I'm normally not an Armada guy, but this one surprised me. It had a similar snowfeel to the Kendo, with slightly softer tips and possibly tail. If you were to marry the dampness of a Head/Kastle/Volkl with the poppyness of an Armada, this is what you'd get. Great air off of moguls and rollers. I overpowered the tips at times, but I think with an adjustment of stance, I think I could avoid this problem. This ski is perfect for someone who wants something to play in the park or on terrain, but still likes to ski fast and wants the damp stability of a GS race ski. It would make mid-season high pressure days a blast at the resort. It has some dampness to rip some fast turns when you feel like it, but the poppy and playful nature really would let you play off as many terrain variations as you can find. I would love to own this for our typical January high pressure week, and possibly few days in March/April (if I wasn't hunting lines in the backcountry). I'd probably lean towards the 186, but I'm not 100% sure, as that'd be a tad long to throw tricks and really get that playful feel. I felt that this ski was made for Breckenridge's Ore Bucket trail.

Atomic Theory 186
Garbage for someone like me. This is an intermediate's ski. Awful stability and edgegrip at the speeds I like to ski. Too wimpy to get energy out of it, also. Terrible when landing off bumps and rollers. Great for a mellow skier, I guess, but I haven't been that since I was 10, so I'll let someone else judge it from a different perspective.

Nordica Steadfast 178
Not good for REALLY fast skiers, but probably pretty good for your average expert skier without a REAL race background. My biggest reservation was that it was deflecting all over the place at really high speeds. I think this ski would be great for the majority of good skiers, but for the bigger guys, or those that really push higher speeds, I'd skip this one. I can see a lot of versatility in this ski, but it just doesn't quite have the muster that I'd want. Like I said, probably a great ski for a lot of people.

Oh, and the new Marker Tour 12 is garbage (or the rep was). He couldn't adjust it to fit my Technica Cochise tech heels. The bottom part that the heel rests on would get stuck on my tech fitting. My Dukes have no problems with this at all.

Oh, and I really really miss the old Head skis with the larger radii. I would have loved to demo a Head, but 16m radius is just too short.

Thanks for posting. I was looking forward to the demo day, but when I got there about 10am, the basin parking lot was full and the valley parking was close to full, so I said forget it and went to Abasin. Anyway...thanks for posting some reviews!