What is your early season ice n’ hard-pack setup both ski and boot

Right now honestly I am uncommitted but recently received a very inviting discount through RMU. Considering their new Zephyr in a 184 with dims of 132/88/116. In case Mags here did not know RMU skis are built in Are’ Sweden.
Back to da skis…16.5 turn radius
Two sheets of titanal
and 1925 grams at 184 cm.
Boot of choice for my feet are the Rossi Hi Speed Carbon jobby… a 130 GW carbon infused cuff or some shit like that absolutely takes the place of my RX 130’s and RS 130’s


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Corvus / AT boot. Lots of walking & mediocre skiing.

I use the same boot all season, Raptor 140s.

For early season I like 191 Katana 108s, they can be very carvey and maneuverable on WROD with traffic, but then can ski fast in weird off piste over branches/bushes and stuff when the mountain opens up. They grip/carve like most other 98mm skis for me. Speaking of 98s, I did grab some 192 Blackops Holy Shreds for early season skiing. They look fun.

If you're truly limited to resort hardpack/artificial, any ski between 65 and 78 with a beefy build starting with SLs and cheater GSs at one end and Redster Q 9 revoshock S at the other end. If that upsets you, maybe the Redster Q9.8? The boots and bindings I use would just make you ill, so I'll refrain.

The old cambered Corvus and Lange W'cups. Or the flat Corvus and my XT3s.

Was on Brahma 82s for a few seasons. Replaced them with MSP 91s - haven’t mounted them yet but excited.


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This year it’s going to be 190 neon Explosivs and Lupo 130c w Krypton Pro hard tongue liners


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E speed pros or monster 88s and raptors

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170cm Head SuperShape e-Titans (83mm) - got these last year during the low-tide start at Whistler. Ended up skiing them more than I thought. You ski different parts of the mountain (eg when the alpine sucks).

180cm Season Aero (96mm) - two titanal sheets, very little early rise in tip/tail = lots of edge contact for good grip,-3.5cm mount makes them funner than the Heads.

Boots are Nordica Strider 120 (2 pairs).


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Originally Posted by Sylvan

Same, Volkl is good at making fat skis feel skinny on edge. Add Dobie 5S. Then ‘21 Bonafide 97 when she fills in. Adding an HL offering to the mix this year (95s). Can’t fuckin wait.

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I’ve been thinking about some 2023 Bonafide 97s I found a deal on. Thinner and tighter radius version of Pro Riders, bit more stable/predictable than Katana108s on smoother snow. Trying hard to not spend any more $$ on gear this year lol.

Camox and Lupo ax120 AT and pray old skins don’t slip


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Early season days I usually spend testing out all the new shit I acquired over the summer... which usually means I'm on a few >110mm chargers or pow skis skiing manmade snow. Usually there's so many people out early season that trying to ski fast/well is a lost cause so doesn't really matter to me what I'm skiing. Maybe in the pm I'd swap to my old pair of Solly Xdrive 8.8s and make a halfhearted attempt at arcing groomer turns

I have a pair of Line Supernatural 92s that get used about 10 times per season - 7-8 for the early days and 3-4 for the late days. Super directional, traditional ski. None of my other skis are like that. Still can't decide if it's good to start out on a weight-into-the-shin kinda ski or if it isn't cause it's so different then my regular skis. But it's a fun charger.

I'm always in Salomon S-Max 130s, regardless of time of year.

I had some cheater GS I got used for $100 but they were faster than I want to ski anymore so I got rid of them but they were great for a while.
One of the gnarlier WROD days there was a guy skiing spatulas who was easily the best skier on the mountain that day--not there was a lot of competition. I never figured out if he was being ironic or just poor.

Once you learn how to surf skis like that it doesn’t really matter what the snow is like.

All snow is powder if you go fast enough.

Anyway, I’ve been known to ride my shittiest gear on purpose to train my legs.

The last thing I want early season when my legs are shit is an actual high performance ski.

I used to have a rule to always open the season on last year’s gear.

Not much of a contribution to this thread, but hard snow/weak legs = lots of camber, metal, lots of fiberglass, and stiff boots.

Nordic’s Hot Rod Jet Fuel. 126-84-112, r20. No rocker. Lange RS130. Punishing… until my legs can surf it.

That’s my learning curve every year. Learning to surf the beasts.


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Good ideas, Gaijin.

I was being a little hard on myself and the state of my legs these past 4 days at Craigieburn, but then I realised that my season start was keeping up with two world class skiers. Good fun though.

Found a used pair of Stockli Laser SC for cheap this off-season. Looking forward to EC liftserved with them. Boots don’t change inbounds, Lange rs

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Originally Posted by gaijin

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All snow is powder if you go fast enough.

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That made my day.