A TR from the demo day
Let?s get this out of the way real quick. It was powder day! 3? bottom, 5? top. I can hear the laughing from those of you who have skied copious amounts of snow in the west. Eastern snow was destroyed last week in a melt, so the new covered some ice and some pretty slick hard pack. In between, if one looked for fresh snow and had the skill to get to it, then it was fun. Best skiing of last 3 years.
The new snow delayed our arrival and, after meeting-up with Lynn and Jim, we hit the slopes after 10. Jim brought his Chariots and adjusted them to permit me to use them. I?ll do a review of the ski in Jim?s thread about those skis. It was great to ski with both and we skied as a threesome all day.
Our late start limited me to skiing 3 new skis, the Chariots, Dynastar Sultan 94 and Elan Waveflex 12, which is a 72 waist carver. Blizzard and Head were not present so the ONE and a KERS super shape did not occur. Rossi was there, but the S3 was in use each time I tried to obtain it.
The Dynastar?s were skied on variable conditions on Elk?s black trails. As they are somewhat similar to the Kastle 88?s, I understood how to ski them much better than I would have a year ago. They are very open to input from tipping movements and come up on edge very nicely and hold harder snow better than I expected. It was fun to ski them and I?d love to give them a go for a day when out in Tahoe on softer snow. Two friends who were there also tried them and had less positive reviews, but no details. For an eastern skier, the Sultans are too close to my 88?s in performance to justify purchase.
The Elan Waveflex 12 is well suited as an eastern carver at 72 waist and 168 in length. It seemed shorter, but carved very well. The Dalbello rep, who gave it to me, is a friend of Phil?s and misses his sales presence in the Philly area. After skiing longer and wider skis all morning, it took a while to readjust on black runs. Tended to overpower them, need to trust a little more. They carve, they go! I?d rather ski them than the Blizzard SL?s I took to Elk that day. When the day comes to replace my Supershapes, the Elan?s would be something to consider.
The last several runs were spent with all of us skiing what we brought in the continuing falling snow. Jim and Lynn are good people. Thanks for skiing with me at Elk - we should ski together again and for an extended period. The power of Real Skiers is developing the personal relationships to supplement the posting persona. And Lynn, get those skis tuned! And watch out for Jim!