jrmagic
New member
Sunday afternoon I noticed that ON3P had a demo tent setup so took a few spins on the Kartel 98 in a 181 length. The ski has a good amount of early rise and some tail rocker as well and is the first ski with any rocker I've ever tried. I was a bit skeptical as conditions were firm and I was concerned that the shorter running length would be too short. The ski is pretty light and has a bamboo core with a carbon fiber layup which also had me concerned that it wasn't enough ski. Well that notion was dispelled quickly. These ski were reasonably quick from edge to edge and could be coaxed into any turn shape I wanted. They don't demand to be driven but if you lay into them,they rebound nicely into the next turn and have great holding power. I tried an ungroomed run and was impressed at how well it tracked regardless of the chatter and uneven snow surface. Then I hit tuna speed down Talisman and was surprised to see that there doesn't appear to be a speed limit on these babies either and there was no flop Ines in the rockered tips which was also a concern I had. I'd consider them a playful ski that is probably a 7 out of 10 as far as stiffness goes. Unfortunately I didn't have a change to try them in the trees or in soft snow but overall, this was a really fun ski. I'd consider these to add a mid-fat to my quiver but the graphic is a bit much for me though generally that won't stop me if I really like a ski.