Wachusett 3/13/09 Ride-em and Rank-em

[wa-loaf]

Conditions: They made snow last night! 20 degrees at 9am with fresh cord which developed into nice loose packed powder with the headwall of Smith Walton scrapped down to ice. Bumps weren't bad with a nice chalky layer of fresh manmade.

Arrived at 8:30 to boot-up and fill out the paper work. The way this works is the shop guys assign you skis to ride and then you come in and fill out a review form and get a new ski assignment. It's not completely out of your hands as they will usually assign you something if you ask for it. After 2pm you are on your own and can test anything you want. I skied 9 skis averaging 3 runs per ski between 9am and 2 pm with a break for lunch and the group photo. So 27 runs and 27,000 feet for you number crunchers.

Now to the skis: I'm going to keep the reviews short since there are so many.

Fischer Progressor 9+ 170 cm
I was really disappointed with this one. I was expecting a nice GS speedster and although it was pretty fast and stable the edge grip was lacking and I ran this before things got icy.

K2 Recon 170 cm
Nice ski largely unchanged from what everyone know. Damp, stable, nice EC ski. Stiff tail threw me in the moguls.

Stockli Globe 170 cm
This was a really nice GS ripper; stable and surprisingly light and snappy feeling. Boring ass graphics with grey on grey.

Rossi Phantom 87 178cm
These are all new construction. Wood core 2 sheets of titanium. Nice! 87mm waist. Quick bomb proof no speed limit. It's too bad there wasn't any softer snow to run these through, but I really like them.

Nordica Hell Diver 170cm
This ski has no metal and the tech warned me it was more of a soft snow ski and he was right. I'd need to try it again in soft snow because it was struggling on the hardpack.

Volkl Mantra 177cm
This is a friggin race ski with a 98mm waist. This was my ski of the day! Very light too. I don't know how it handles in powder, but this is going to be my next ski.

Fischer Watea 94 186cm
This year they have a new tip shaped like the bow a boat. It's pretty wild looking. Too big of a ski for good old WA. This one took me a run to get used to. Felt like long turning ski and at speed although it was still stable it felt kind of floaty.

Fischer Watea 84 184cm
This is a true EC one quiver ski. Almost a tie with the Mantra as my favorite ski of the day. This did well in everything I could throw at it today. Even performed admirably in the bumps.

 

[billski]

I'm hearing a lot of great things about the Mantra. Madskier6 really likes his set. I wasn't about to demo in these conditions, powder snob that I am. may have to wait till next season, or some spring slush. Wish I had known they were gonna have such a good compliment of skis.
Nice report, thanks!

 

[TheBEast]

Volkl Mantra 177cm
This is a friggin race ski with a 98mm waist. This was my ski of the day! Very light too. I don't know how it handles in powder, but this is going to be my next ski.

Bought a pair last year. They absolutely rip on the groomers and have a great float in powder. I've got 2 of my friends on them too. THEY RIP!! You can find some good deals on-line. I think my friend just got his for $450 or something in that neighborhood.

 

[hammer]

Bought a pair last year. They absolutely rip on the groomers and have a great float in powder. I've got 2 of my friends on them too. THEY RIP!! You can find some good deals on-line. I think my friend just got his for $450 or something in that neighborhood.

Proctor Jones (aka Ken Jones Nashua) has an online price of $413 on these:

http://www.proctorjones.com/pjonlin...rod_name=Volkl+Mantra&pf_id=151&dept_id=11610

Never thought one could rip groomers with a 96mm waist ski...

 

[Sky]

Loaf....glad you got to hit that this year. It's great to demo so many skis on the same day (same conditions) and find that ONE (or two) ski of your dreams.

It's a great opportunity. Great weather!!

 

[wa-loaf]

Except for wanting something wider this test reminded me how much I like my Ripsticks. No need to replace those until they wear out.

 

[Grassi21]

Thanks for the reviews. I love my Gotama so I wasn't surprised you liked the Mantra. I'm wishy washy with my Nordica Hot Rods these days. If my aggravation continues I might sell them and look at a thinner wasted Volkl or give the Watea 84s a try,

 

[billski]

Proctor Jones (aka Ken Jones Nashua) has an online price of $413 on these:

http://www.proctorjones.com/pjonlin...rod_name=Volkl+Mantra&pf_id=151&dept_id=11610

Never thought one could rip groomers with a 96mm waist ski...

My guess is that unless you are super-athletic /very strong, that most most people would have a tough time on FGR hardpack groomers. If the groomers have PP I could understand. That said, I've not skied them yet. It's on the short list.

 

[wa-loaf]

My guess is that unless you are super-athletic /very strong, that most most people would have a tough time on FGR hardpack groomers. If the groomers have PP I could understand. That said, I've not skied them yet. It's on the short list.

I took them over the ice on Smith and I mean some of this was blue ice and they ripped right over it like a GS ski.

 

[Sky]

Except for wanting something wider this test reminded me how much I like my Ripsticks.

That's one other upside of demo-ing all these skis...reinforcing your confidence in you current quiver.

 

[billski]

I took them over the ice on Smith and I mean some of this was blue ice and they ripped right over it like a GS ski.

But did you straight-line it or edge it? I can straight-line any ski over any blue ice and that is what I usually would do; no fun on the ice. The question I'm asking is how much work is it to carve? AND How strong are you relative to the general population?

 

[wa-loaf]

But did you straight-line it or edge it? I can straight-line any ski over any blue ice and that is what I usually would do; no fun on the ice. The question I'm asking is how much work is it to carve? AND How strong are you relative to the general population?

Of course I edged it. I'm 210 lbs and aggressive. It's an expert ski and pretty stiff. If you know how to carve a ski it's not any tougher than a stiff GS ski, it is definitely for advanced +. Not for lightweights or intermediates.