Sat , with the thought of my wife trying out the new Elan Waveflex Insomnia, I also for giggles demoed the Elan Waveflex 12.
Conditions: 3-4" of fresh snow. As the day went on, scraped off and piles of granular snow. Natural and groomed snow conditions, temp 28F, soft blue bumps
Alice: currently on Kastle MX78, 152, turning radius 13 meters, not sure what Insomnia was. This ski was 74 underfoot , same ski length demo
Gary:currently on Kastle MX78 168, turning radius 16 meters, test ski has 14 meter radius, 74 underfoot. Same ski length demo
Alice said the sidecut made the ski feel twitchy to her. She thought that it got pushed around more in the crud where the Kastle plowed through it.
I felt the ski was on rails when brought up on edge, much easier to find the edge than the 78. The ski also had less kick back in the tail making the Elan more accommodating in the bumps.
Short turns were very easy. At high speed GS turns, they were solid at high edge angle...fun! Soft snow given the shovel width made them very easy in the 4" of fresh, also more easy foot to foot. They also skied well two footed and I noticed the response with migrating foot pressure was quicker with the Elan. (probably due to the skiecut) Going between the edges of soft snow back to the groom or scraped off, the W12's were very very solid when on edge. I did notice the difference underfoot between the Elan and the Kastle and like Alice, I noted too that the Kastle powered through the crud better but was noticeably more vertically rigid than the Elan.For me, the Elan was easier to arc. The Kastles were also easier to drift or float in the crud than were the Elans.
The ski I demoed was on sale for $475. It DID NOT have a Gary Tune...still the ski performed extremely well...I purchased end of day on Saturday. I brought the skis home and put them on my ski bench. 1 & 3 are my go to edges...I found one edge on one ski both side and base to be off. A good wax, scraped and brushed in...they were ready for Sunday.
Sunday, with almost identical conditions..actuall
y even better because the snow was drier, the newly prepared skis turned even more crisp and moved more smoothly turn to turn.
I also noticed how the early rise edge (outside edges of the skis) seemed to allow a smoother transition in turns when I was using both uphill edge of the uphill ski and big toe edge of the downhill ski. Really made transitions in the bump and pow feel a bit smoother. It also helped smooth out the transitions on the hardpack.
I'm taking it out west to Banff to see how they perform. The bindings are very cool as both toe and heel pieces slide completely off the ski with the click of a lever. This way I can pack the skis as a 3rd pair....ya I know...decadent...
. Should be fun for sure.
Best, G