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Looking For Advice on Skis

riverc0il

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If you love to rip groomers, the legend 8000 is not the ski. Especially if you are going out west, you want something more than 79 under you boots. Mythic Rider may be a good choice, again not good on groomers from my experience.

Volkl Mantra was mentioned which I had considered suggesting but can not do so in good conscious if you like bumps. Worst ski in the bumps I have ever tried. Worse by far than even the next least best ski in the bumps I can think of. But it certainly does rail the groomers. Not a good tight tree ski either, IMO.

Good comments from NESkibum.
 

davidhowland14

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how would the 8000 perform on groomers. I don't need pro-level performance, here. How will it compare on groomers to the K2 Four? (Rental ski I used for most of my runs last weekend. Lame, i know) I had a blast on the K2s, so as long as the 8000 can equal that It'll be fine.
 

Greg

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how would the 8000 perform on groomers.

I re-read your first post, "carve groomers/cruisers FAST". I tend to agree with Steve. There are probably better skis out there for that. As I said, for the way I ski groomers, sloppy short turns, the Legend is fine. If you want to carve fast, probably consider something else.
 

riverc0il

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8000 are certainly passable on groomers. They can make a passable carve if the snow is soft enough. Definitely suck hard core when it gets scarped down and icy. Not a good groomer ripper. This is not pro level performance, I do not even find the 8000 adequate when conditions are scraped or icy. They are passable until I get to natural snow. They do well on fresh groomed and softer snow, but not the type of stuff we typically have around New England. If you are going west, you definitely want wider any ways. That coming from someone that tries to avoid such blanket statements about gear as much as possible. But you did say you ski pow....
 

ccskier

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I concur with the Atomic Metron comment, I've been an Atomic skiier for years, for some reason the Metrons arent holding up to the Atomic name...I'm looking for some Snoops

You will love the snoops, I beat the hell out of them and no issues.
 

kbroderick

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If you want to ski fast in all sorts of conditions, a B-Squad (er, I think it's the B104 this year) can handle it if you can. The top end big-mountain skis seem to offer good on-trail and off-trail performance if you're willing to put the effort into it and can ski well enough to turn them; they offer the float of an all-mountain ski and nearly the stability of a race ski. On the downside, I don't think I've ever seen a high-end ski of this category sell cheap unless it had significant damage.

Also, have you considered buying used, and can you shop around for a while? I picked up a pair of 06/07 K2 Anti-Pistes off SAC last summer for just under $200 and a pair of used GS skis in good condition for $150; add $125-150 for a decent set of bindings for the Anti-Pistes, and you're still looking at around $450-500 for two pairs of skis. You do need to catch the right ski on sale in the right place (and I don't know when SAC will next be offering a midfat in a range of sizes), but that combo or something like it would easily take care of the groomer-carver quiver spot and the all-mountain midfat, for less than the retail price on one pair of new skis without bindings. The tough part is that you need to have the ability to pull the trigger as soon as you see the right deal.

Oh, and I'd make sure you demo some recent midfats (85-105mm in the waist); after skiing the Anti-Pistes (98mm in the waist), I don't know why you'd need anything narrower except for racing and bumps. I can deal with the Anti-Pistes in some bumps, but I'm not trying to zipperline on them (but I'm pretty sure it could be done, if I was good at that sort of thing).
 

snoseek

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I ski a fischer watau 101 in 192 length 80% of the time. They carve very stable turns on groomed snow and ski everthing well except for firm tight bumps. In powder they snake quickly through the deepest snow and tightest trees. These would work well for most snow, I think they would be fine in the east maybe 60% of the time. As far as flotation go, I think a lot of people make a big compromise by getting a short ski thinking it will be easier in the woods and this can be true except you sacrifice a lot of float with a shorter ski. Try demoing some long fat skis on a powder day and you'll see what I mean. I personally will never buy a g.s. type ski again.

Edit-Last year back east I primarily skied on a 4frnt msp and they did fine on every type of snow. they float pretty good (91 mm center) ski agressively, and are very light. They are also indestructable.
 

bigbog

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....East or West?

Ya...from the topic's beginning & ditto of riverc0il's,
If you're going to school out West...you gonna use your ski time up on groomers?
If you haven't skied out West it wouldn't hurt to demo a few skis of different widths to find out what works for you(mid-high80's are @low end)...or if you're looking for EC ski....carry on.

$.01
 

ski_resort_observer

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The assumption in this thread that everyday out west is a powder day does not really match up to reality.. While on average the west does get more snow, this season is definately in the epic catagory, there are times when even out there your skiing on hardpack.

In my 17 years at JH I remember plenty of times when a high pressure settled in the northern rockies and we didn't see a cloud for weeks, let alone snow. More times than not there was a warm period in January. During one of these "pineapple expresses" in a season when two patrollers died in one season at JH, the second patrollers death was due to a avalanche on Moran Face after a week of rain.

When I owned a gallery on the Jackson Town Square one year we barely had snow by Xmas. Last year was a mediocre year at JH and in the first part of the season skiing was more like back east, with no snowmaking, than what you see on the brochures. They has a cold snap and since there was little snow to insulate, pipes were freezing up all over the valley. Remember 3 years ago in the PNW?

When considering your new sticks I wouldn't worry about how they would ski out west, buy them in regards to how they perform in the NE.

I bought some Rossi B2's last year in a demo sale for $288 with bindings and they work great.
 

riverc0il

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The assumption in this thread that everyday out west is a powder day does not really match up to reality.. While on average the west does get more snow, this season is definately in the epic catagory, there are times when even out there your skiing on hardpack.
This definitely shows in the ski manufacturing world. It is difficult to find a good and true powder board since so many "powder skis" are really designed to be quivers of one. Take the Volkl Mantra which, IMO, performs better on groomers than powder despite a 93 waist.

I do not think the assumption here is that everyday is a powder day but rather that the powder days will be more frequent and better than typical East coast. A lot probably depends on where in the west the potential location would be as the west is a variable place and their are many mountains in the the west that do not fair as well as the best in the east (though of course there are many that fair twice as well if not more so than places in the east). The thrust of my suggestions is if going for a quiver of one, get something that is fatter than you would get on the east coast, but also something that will get you around all mountain and on the groomers as well.
 
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