Author Topic: Hart Pulse - Better late than never  (Read 3932 times)

LivingProof

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Re: Hart Pulse - Better late than never
« Reply #15 on: January 04, 2013, 02:33:35 pm »
I did my first day on the Hart Pulse 170 today. Conditions were typical of east coast groomer skiing, some decent, some scratchy, some pushed around granular piles. We still do not have any of the more demanding trails open, so skiing was limited to Blue type trails.

After putting in another 4 days on the Pulse on everything from icy groomers to soft chop and small moguls I can provide some additional comparison info against my other skis.  I have found that the Pulse is still probably one of the more "ballsy" skis I've ever owned.  It's unflappable almost to a fault - it makes me push things to a higher level that I wouldn't try with some of my other skis.  A 170cm ski without any metal shouldn't be as smooth and silky feeling on the snow as the Pulse is. 
I totally agree with HA assessment of the Pulse. It's a pleasure to ski, very stable and smooth, very comfortable on the body - a great ski to be on all day. I spent some time trying to ski with some buds training for GS. While I can't keep up, the Pulse likes speed. Clearly, it's not a Supershape type SL turn radius, but, I easily got it to tighten the turn radius with tipping movements.

However, in comparison to the Head Chip 78, Stockli Rotor 76, or Scott Neo, I find the Pulse to be a much more demanding ski.  Skis that strongly reward good movements and correct input also can be the same skis that punish poor movements and mistakes.  I've found that I need to be much more on top of the Pulse and maintain that higher degree of focus at all times.  I'm thinking that it's really not an intermediate-friendly ski.  I find this trait really peculiar due to my observations when hand flexing the ski and looking at its construction I would have been hard pressed to say that it skis the way it actually does.  This of course supports the "demo, demo, demo" mantra.
I can't concur that the Pulse needs high levels of staying on top of. High Angles pushes the ski much more to the limits than I, gets bigger edges and he as mucho more experience with other skis. I can only compare it to the Supershape I skied 2 days ago and they are somewhat similar to me with respect to staying focused. For sure, I never felt like I had to fight the Pulse, as I often feel when skiing wider skis than this 77.

I'm interested in seeing what LivingProof's thoughts are on his pair.

I'm skiing the Pulse shorter than perhaps typical recommendation of 178 for a larger skier. I liked it in Tahoe, liked it in Pa. Philpug did a Starthaus tune on it prior to sending it east, and, it was just a very neutral ski with no bad habits. Phil often states we ski the tune when demoing skis, so the tune may have played a part in my review, but, HA also does his own tuning so I know his skis were prepped. I'm pleased that I bought a "short" ski as I gain a shorter radius without high speed tradeoff.

I do agree with HA that the ski responds to good movements. I spent a lot of time working on fore/aft, counter balance and counteracting (Harbites know about what I speak) and the ski did better as I did better. Only 2 days in this season, so I've got a long way to go with technique.

Y'all who attend the Holiday Valley event in Feb. will get to see firsthand how it works.