Ski, binding and boot weight considerations

[mishka]

what exactly you doesn't like in your current setup?

weight feel is very subjective. imo ways of mainstream skis made heavier is stiffer.... Lightweight is soft.
stiffness they get primarily from using metal. skis with it have certain feel to it… Some people like it some people don't.
To guy like you I would not suggest soft skis like soul7 regardless of popularity or review's

Weight alone cannot be taking our of context of how skis made, perform and feels.

I'm a strong believer in 2 pair skis quiver. One is daily driver which have to handle well everything except powder and powder skis

out West for daily driver skis in 95 range. Pow specific 115 and up. 100-110 is in between to narrow for western pow skis to wide as a daily driver

Don't give up and find the best skis for you and your wife… It's take time

 

[deadheadskier]

I'm a believer in a 3 ski quiver.

In the east, that's a daily driver around 90 in the waist. A powder ski in the 105-110 range. And then a dedicated ice coast carver in the 70s or lower.

If you prefer groomers and carving, get a daily driver with some metal. If you prefer bumps, go with a straight wood core.

 

[yeggous]

I'm a believer in a 3 ski quiver.

In the east, that's a daily driver around 90 in the waist. A powder ski in the 105-110 range. And then a dedicated ice coast carver in the 70s or lower.

If you prefer groomers and carving, get a daily driver with some metal. If you prefer bumps, go with a straight wood core.

I love to talk about my quiver! The niches that I try to fill:

1. Rock ski - Rossi Experience 88
2. Boiler plate carver - K2 Rictor 82 XTi
3. Variable (especially spring) conditions - Nordica NRGY 100
4. Tree ski - Liberty Sequence
5. Powder ski - Fischer Big Stix 110

I am on the market for a new carver. My Rossi E88s are dead and the Rictors are becoming rock skis.




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[drjeff]

If one is looking at all ways to reduce the total weight of their gear below their knees, and are looking for some new boots, check out the new Atomic Hawx ski boots!!

I had one of them literally tossed at me this past weekend by the owner of the local shop at Mount Snow where I get most of my families gear, as was expecting to feel the sheer mass of something like the Lange race boots I wear, but was amazed in that these, even in a 130 flex race boot, weighed what felt like 2lbs lighter per boot!! And as a boot fitter, and a fitter who BTW has been invited by Atomic to travel over to Austria in a few weeks to participate in some R&D sessions with some other boot fitters from around the world, he is impressed with the adjustability these boots offer him as a fitter and also the on snow feel and response they had when he skied them last spring!

 

[bdfreetuna]

I don't do quivers, although I may in the future.

This season my old 09 Rossignol Phantom SC80 185s get replaced with Atomic Vantage 90 CTi 184s.

The new skis seemed a tad lighter until I mounted the Atomic/Tyrolia STH13 bindings which appear to lack any kind of weight saving technology. However the swing weight on the new skis is better due to the way it's designed with weight saving tech at the tips.

Overall the weight wasn't a big consideration as I never had a hard time with jump turns in any ski I've used.

I would actually hesitate to buy a ski that was too light like the Fischer Ranger Ti because they seem too flimsy.

 

[Not Sure]

I don't do quivers, although I may in the future.

A good reason to do a quiver! If I didn't have the steadfast's although mounted with Dynafits I would have been stuck renting the rest of the season.

As far as weight goes I wouldn't worry about weight for groomers but if you like moguls I would go light. Seems to me weight would help busting crud, JMHO

 

[bigbog]

Dlague,
Guess it depends on whether you're going to skin up with the ski, binding and boot. As Scruffy had mentioned...those AT binders(ie Dynafit, G3 Ions, Adrenalins & Marker AT binders) are pretty incredible if you know of some places to skin up...out west...as the distances from base to summits out there are nothing to screw around with in fake AT gear. Quite a few "touring" skis will work in decent western conditions although, as mentioned, if New England powder = crud is around...westerners, with room for larger turns, stick with a wider ski....as cruddy conditions seen to turn to more snow quicker than in New England.
For hardpack<-->crud...beats me, I haven't skied enough in the last decade to find my favorite...although the quiver seems to be the most enjoyable way....ie SBSP's and bdfreetuna's entries....

 

[drjeff]

If one is looking at all ways to reduce the total weight of their gear below their knees, and are looking for some new boots, check out the new Atomic Hawx ski boots!!

I had one of them literally tossed at me this past weekend by the owner of the local shop at Mount Snow where I get most of my families gear, as was expecting to feel the sheer mass of something like the Lange race boots I wear, but was amazed in that these, even in a 130 flex race boot, weighed what felt like 2lbs lighter per boot!! And as a boot fitter, and a fitter who BTW has been invited by Atomic to travel over to Austria in a few weeks to participate in some R&D sessions with some other boot fitters from around the world, he is impressed with the adjustability these boots offer him as a fitter and also the on snow feel and response they had when he skied them last spring!

Pulled the trigger on these bad boys today!! Really weird experience my 1st time in a fully heat molded shell fitting!!! Crazy when after the initial shell heating, my boot fitter (a GOOD friend of mine) had me go into a full forward pressure flex lean - I was expecting the full stiffness of a race boot type flex like I've been skiing in since the early 80's (The orange Lange ZR race boots that the Mahre brothers won Olympic medals in in the Sarajevo Olympics for those AZ'ers old enough to remember that long ago!! ;-) ) but when these shells are heated, before they cool back down they're about a 60 flex, I almost went head over heels onto my friend who was fitting me!!

Can't wait to ski them next Saturday (the shells need to stay unmanipulated for 24hrs post heat molding and fitting before you can ski them, and I'm going to the Patriots game instead of skiing tomorrow to watch Tom Brady win his record setting 201st win!!)

An equipment report to follow next week - will he curious as already during the fitting, these Atomics felt better than my previous Langes (and I had 8 pairs of Lange race boots over 30+ yrs prior to these Atomics!!) even over a new bone spur that my now heading on late 40's right foot is developing!!

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[prsboogie]

Pulled the trigger on these bad boys today!! Really weird experience my 1st time in a fully heat molded shell fitting!!!

An equipment report to follow next week - will he curious as already during the fitting, these Atomics felt better than my previous Langes (and I had 8 pairs of Lange race boots over 30+ yrs prior to these Atomics!!) even over a new bone spur that my now heading on late 40's right foot is developing!!

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It's pretty amazing how heat molding really makes it conform to your foot. So much more so than just heating the liners.


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[SkiingInABlueDream]

Pulled the trigger on these bad boys...

Can't wait to ski them next Saturday...

An equipment report to follow next week...

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Interesting, looking forward to your next report!
Are the heat molded shells as customized to the foot as a custom foam liner?

 

[Edd]

Pulled the trigger on these bad boys today!! Really weird experience my 1st time in a fully heat molded shell fitting!!! Crazy when after the initial shell heating, my boot fitter (a GOOD friend of mine) had me go into a full forward pressure flex lean - I was expecting the full stiffness of a race boot type flex like I've been skiing in since the early 80's (The orange Lange ZR race boots that the Mahre brothers won Olympic medals in in the Sarajevo Olympics for those AZ'ers old enough to remember that long ago!! ;-) ) but when these shells are heated, before they cool back down they're about a 60 flex, I almost went head over heels onto my friend who was fitting me!!

Can't wait to ski them next Saturday (the shells need to stay unmanipulated for 24hrs post heat molding and fitting before you can ski them, and I'm going to the Patriots game instead of skiing tomorrow to watch Tom Brady win his record setting 201st win!!)

An equipment report to follow next week - will he curious as already during the fitting, these Atomics felt better than my previous Langes (and I had 8 pairs of Lange race boots over 30+ yrs prior to these Atomics!!) even over a new bone spur that my now heading on late 40's right foot is developing!!

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Ah shit, now I'm intrigued. I wasn't going to buy equipment this year but my boots are 5 years old. I wouldn't want the 130 without test driving them, which doesn't seem possible. Probably the 110. Dr Jeff, do you mind telling me your height/weight?

 

[drjeff]

Ah shit, now I'm intrigued. I wasn't going to buy equipment this year but my boots are 5 years old. I wouldn't want the 130 without test driving them, which doesn't seem possible. Probably the 110. Dr Jeff, do you mind telling me your height/weight?

I run 6'3" and about 230 - with a race background and a current propensity to ski most anything, but really enjoy making big GS arcs in the snow

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[Edd]

I run 6'3" and about 230 - with a race background and a current propensity to ski most anything, but really enjoy making big GS arcs in the snow

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Yeah, you're a bigger guy than me by far. I can see why you'd need a pretty stiff boot with your background.

 

[drjeff]

Skied these for the first time today - I will preface it with the following. Prior to this pair of Atomic Hawx, I had been a devote Lange race boot fan, to the tune of 8 or 9 pairs of them over the last 30+ years! So when my local shop owner, fitter, and good friend, who has, and still does some work with Atomic on their boot design process, basically insisted that I needed these for my next pair of boots, I was a bit skeptical of what I would think of them, but as we all have heard is recommended, we should trust a good boot fitter to know what's the best boot for our foot shape, size and skiing ability, rather than us just wanting a specific boot, regardless of if it's the best shaped boot for our foot.

As I unloaded the Bluebird at Mount Snow on my first run in the Hawx's this morning, I wasn't sure what to expect after 30+ years of skiing nothing but Lange's.

The first thing I noticed, was how comfortable they were! I have developed a bone spur near my right pinky toe over the last year plus, and in my previous 4 days on snow this season in my old Lange RS130's there was fairly regular discomfort in that area, even with having had some fitting work done to punch out the shell of my Lange's in that area this fall. I didn't have any pain in that area in the Hawx's at all today! The fit is race boot snug with great heel hold and a snug feel from the cuff. The toe box was very comfortable and felt great from the first turn.

The performance was great. Very responsive to both subtle and aggressive movements. A consistent flex pattern that felt just as solid as the Lange feel that I have been so used to and happy with for decades. I was worried about this, as the plastic the shell is made out of is much lighter than my old Lange, and I was concerned that this could make them less precise in their transfer of movements from me down to my skis - this proved to be a non issue!

What really surprised me, was how warm they were! I will admit that as I'm progressing through my 40's that I've started to have some issues with cold toes and fingers, issues that I never had while I was younger. Today was an air temp of the high single digits at the summit and middle teens at the base with maybe a 10mph wind. I started off with my hottronics on level 3, as I usually would for my Lange's in similar temps. I actually had to turn the hottronics down first to level 2 and then level 1 as my feet were warm enough that they actually started sweating!!

I am thoroughly impressed with the performance of these boots! And apparently Atomic is going to be expanding the number of models using these custom thermo molded shells into more models and performance levels for next season. As my friend told me, from his perspective this is a great thing, but also an issue for his shop. The great part is the level of fit, for feet of all shapes, from the moment the boots are done being molded, and in the 100 plus pairs he's fit using this system, only 1 person has come back in to have a little more adjustment to the shell done, so that has cut down his post fitting adjustment time dramatically. The issue though he's found is that it takes a good 45 minutes now to go through the thermo molding process, which limits the number of pairs a day that he can fit that way - not a big deal in a slow time in his shop, but much more of an issue in busy times

I would encourage anyone who's fitter suggests a pair of thermo molded Hawx line of Atomic boots to give them a try as they managed to win over this 30+ year Lange fan!!

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