2011 Ski Reviews

[hammer]

The guys I was with seemed to like the Motives (in all lengths and different widths) a little better than the narrow Watea. Guess they are similar construction with a little more on-trail feel for the Motives. But, again I didn't get on them - probably should have.

Also, with the Progressors, I am not slamming them just didn't feel right to me and my run selecetion for them probably didn't help. I'm personally a huge Fischer fan and generally not a K2 fan. Though I really liked those Apache replacements - Amp Chargers...

One of the reps said that the Ken Jones in Manchester might try to work with the reps and get another demo at either Loon or Cannon in the near future. Will relay details when/if I hear them.

That pretty much sums up how I'd compare the Motives to the Wateas...I really wanted to try the Wateas because of all of the positive comments I've read but I'd rather get the Motives if I were looking. Neither of them would make me want to get rid of my Elan's at this point though...

 

[drjeff]

On the women's ski front, my wife demoed the heck out of most of the high performance womens mid-fats from Nordica and Volkl (and even a few men's skiis too -(Nordica jet fuels and volkl AC30's) out at The Canyons and Deer Valley last week - she's going to be buying a pair of Volkl Aurora's (basically the women's AC50) when we get back upto VT! She was ripping on those skis on everything from slickish groomed steeps to 14" of powder! They would have beem in a ski bag on the plane ride home if the shop we demoed from out there wanted to do something with the extra $350 they were charging over what she can get them for from Aspen East up at Killington, but the folks at Jans Mountain Sports up in the lodge at Deer Valley were hell bent on full retail

 

[gozips]

I tried a few at K today...

K2 Chargers - like others said, but I loved these things...they make you work a little harder, but a great ski.
K2 Aftershock - part of the Amp series, but a GS ski. Very similar to the Chargers, but they're wider and like to big turns. The rep was on these all day yesterday and had a blast...I can see why.

Atomic Varioflex 75 - Unlike the previous review, I loved these. They're very quick and lively - will do short turns, medium turns at any speed. They will hold very well through the turn, but they don't feel as stable in rougher/bumpier conditions as some of the others I tried. Probably an intermediate ski, but very fun (required an extra run on them).

Atomic Smoke Ti - Very stable ski, great for short-medium turns. Can't remember a whole lot more about them, but I did like them...a lot.

 

[57stevey]

Turns out the Rossi S86 I had trouble with is not like the Sultan but, rather, is one of those newfangled semi-rockered something or others. Apparently I am too old of a dog for this particular new trick.