Originally Posted by
Reformed
FIFY and not sounding overly crusty to me. I'm slightly older, have been known to be crusty from time to time and have come to the same realization.
I'm not looking to daily drive these. OG Cochise or Deathwish covers that base most of the time for me.
These will come out when there is ~6 inches or more of fresh snow at the hill, on the odd cat day, short tours and trips to snowy locales like Japan and Alaska. My time on some borrowed Protests last year taught me that my Bibbys aren't the 9/10 pow ski (say 7.75/10?) that I thought they were and also demonstrated that Protests weren't the 3/10 crud ski (maybe a 7 if the Bibbys are a 9?) that I thought they might be. For me, at the hill that I most often ski, I'd grab the Protest over the Bibby on these sorts of days every time no question. Our hill gets fairly regular refreshes, has lots of fairly low angle sections that reward a fat ski and stashes stay fresh well into the afternoon/next day. These won't see anything that could be called firm unless I intentionally take them out on the wrong day.
If the Protests that I borrowed last year had made it into this spot in my quiver I wouldn't be asking these questions. Reputable mags suggesting that they'd select the current C&D over the Billy (and maybe the Protest) on these sorts of days under these sorts of conditions makes a guy go hmmmmm, no?
Not on a dental lawyer budget and don't buy skis often, so I like to get it as close to right as I can. I know, N+1, quiver pics and all that, but I'd rather invest my energy into going skiing than buying skis.
Keep those comparisons rolling fellas!