Ejected 112

[Svend]

Jim, you gotta cut Gary some slack here.  He is an eternal optimist, and this has clearly informed his ski choices of late.  Powder dreams dance in his head, and he is ever hopeful of that magic day when 36 inches of light Rocky Mountain powder will grace his life.  Can't fault him for that, eh?  Reality, however is another matter entirely, and here's hoping he has found the ski that will take him all over the big mountain with only a smile, whatever the snow gods deliver.  As for Alice, she is an angel....'nuff said.... 

[Gary]

Ok you guys...get out of my head...

How well you know me....but as Svend reminded me of my last pow ski choices.....I've been through the Corral and tried some of their finest steads...

With the Rev, I am feeling more comfortable based on the conditions I will predominantly be skiing them in and my previous experience with the former choices especially after skiing in those conditions yesterday.

Yes....Alice is enjoying the show too!

Best, G

[Svend]

Hey G - the great frustration of us eastern skiers is playing the game of weather roulette when we travel out west.  Scanning all the forecasts weeks ahead, hoping and praying for The Big One during our brief time there....and then being disappointed when we get a measly 3 inches for one day out of the five.  And there we are, rockered powder boards tuned and waxed (top and bottom  ) and ready to rumble, but nowhere to play.  Sigh....what's a dreamer to do? 

What I'm trying to say, is that I get it.  The odds are stacked against us -- skiing max. 10 to 14 days out west every season doesn't bode well for scoring an epic powder day.  For this game of roulette, the house usually wins.  The only way to assure a jackpot is to live out there from November to April, or go heli skiing in British Columbia. 

So, you made a good ski choice.  That Rev with its design will take you more places and in more variety of snow conditions than all of those rockered skis could do.  And when you do get that powder jackpot you've been waiting for, I'm sure you won't miss the rocker.  I don't think you will regret this purchase, and will doubtless prove the skeptics wrong by this time a year from now.  Enjoy!

[jim-ratliff]

I actually agree with Svend on all three counts.

And I think the Rev 105 may well be THE ski you've been looking for.
But that's not enough to keep me from taking a few cheap shots.   

I will say that I am really liking my Peak 84'a for the one day I've skied them so far.

[epic]

I got my West110s out in 14" or os of dry Green Mountain Powder the other day. Nice fun ski, and as we had some wind I got to ski it in virtually every other condition too from frozen moguls (rained last week) to pushed up crud. It worked just fine on all of it, and the tail didn't feel overwhelming at all. What I really liked about it was that the camber-profile and flex made it easy for me to ski it at whatever depth I wanted. I could burrow down to the bottom and come back up to the top at will.

[Gary]

Svend..propheticall y stated my friend....right on target and so well written.

Jim...I know Svend has skied the Peak 84's and really liked them. Seems the perfect width for a crud day....thoughts?

Epic...who makes the West 110's..sorry I'm not familiar. It sounds to me given the camber profile and flex...it might be quite similar to the Rev105 in design. Not sure if the tail is rocker, early rise or traditional.

Hmmmm....Green Mounain Powder...tell me.....

g

[smackboy1]

Anyone tried the Head Sacrifice 105? Dimensionally it's virtually identical to the Rev 105 but I believe a little softer for more off piste bias.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FGobMx40oVg

[Gary]

Not familar myself...would be interested to hear about the difference.

Is Head still making that ski along with the REV series?

[Liam]

I got one more to throw at you:

Ski Logik Howitzer.  I got my first ride on this ski in 16 inches of dense powder (and then dense crud) on thursday.  It has a gently Rockered tip, full camber, traditional non rockered twin-tip tail, 186cm, 110mm waist.  22m turn.

I was very impressed with this ski.  First of all, it is absolutely beautiful (I have the Tiger graphic).  Obviously, it had no trouble in unbroken powder (few skis do)--but it was a winner in the broken crud.  Easy to maneuver, steady and strong--but also light (no metal, lots of carbon) so jumping over the occasional water bar or early season stream was a breeze.  I tagged a few rocks here and there and the bases still look fine.

I followed a mid day groomer who was turning the crud into cream on a blue trail...these skis felt like heaven on that surface.  If you check out the Exotic Skis review of this ski, they say they preferred it vastly to the Ullr's Chariot-even on the groomed.  I have skied that ski as well, and I think Exotic skis is dead-on correct (I was never a fan of the Ullr's Chariot).

This ski is a well-mannered, smooth and predictable medium flex ski.  Obviously great in powder, but it held up to the heavy crud test, which is, after all the real test of a wide off-piste ski (because, every and any wide ski will slay unbroken powder--but the heavy broken crud that follows a powder day is where a wide ski is made or broken in my opinion).

[Gary]

Liam sounds like an interesting ski as well...

AND you're right...sure is purrty!

Liam, the only personal fetish (well the ones I can speak openly about) is the turing radius. I've always found the longer TR skis to be a weee bit more cumbersome feeling. Now that may not be the case but the quickness of the Rev with it's 16m TR makes it easy to flick, stick and slick! I'm not what one would call a power skier...but finesse...that also may drive my interest towards the shorter TR.

Liam, does it feel quicker than it's 22TR might indicate?

Interesting point about wide skis in the crud...I agree with you too...that makes or breaks the quality of a ski to me as well since I actually like skiing the dregs along the edges. Deflection is not our friend.


G

[Svend]

Gary, I think the West 110 that Epic mentioned is a Kastle.  Twin tip, actually, if I recall....

[Liam]

Liam sounds like an interesting ski as well...

AND you're right...sure is purrty!

Liam, the only personal fetish (well the ones I can speak openly about) is the turing radius. I've always found the longer TR skis to be a weee bit more cumbersome feeling. Now that may not be the case but the quickness of the Rev with it's 16m TR makes it easy to flick, stick and slick! I'm not what one would call a power skier...but finesse...that also may drive my interest towards the shorter TR.

Liam, does it feel quicker than it's 22TR might indicate?

Interesting point about wide skis in the crud...I agree with you too...that makes or breaks the quality of a ski to me as well since I actually like skiing the dregs along the edges. Deflection is not our friend.


G

It's funny to think of 22m in a 186 110mm waisted ski as a big turn radius...by comparison, my Head Rock n Roll 95 (180) has a 19.5m turn--and neither feels cumbersome at all.  For me, in chaotic crud specifically, I always find shorter turn radii skis a little to hooky and not as free-feeling as I like (The Shaman is a half exception to this...not hooky and very stable, but still I always felt locked into a short turn on those).  Except for carving/ hard snow skis, I'm not a fan of short turn radii (and even on hard snow I like 15m as the magic number give or take a meter)-which is why I didn't like the Ullr's Chariot at all.

But to the question, based on one very good day's experience, The lightness of the ski coupled with it's surprising stability made it very easy to maneuver quickly through tight spaces.  The flex is a true medium, and short turns felt good. 

However, I will say that I found the Howitzer worked best when using a solid medium radius turn in the crud--Taking that extra second to let the ski breath and bite before transitioning--and that is both a function of Turn radius, but also width and length.  I will also add, specifically to Gary, using a little Clendenin-style inside foot drift in the trees is money on these skis and helps make those much shorter, tighter turns on this bigger ski.

There are so many great skis now at every length and width....Gary, Have you tried a Shaman??  You might really love it if short radius is important to you--to me, it's the only credible short turn radii Fat skis I have used.  I'd get the 161 and carve it up..

[jbotti]

Glad to hear you like the howitzer. I will have trouble buying another Ski Logik ski after buying the Ullr Chariot which came with an unskiable tune (took over 200 passes through a base grinder to get the ski flat) and even with a decent tune never came close to being as good as skis that I own that are my least favorites.

Nice to know the can make a decent ski.

[Svend]

Guys, take it easy on poor Gary. He's only just bought the Rev's.  Instilling lust over all these other skis is going to cause him a cranial injury....synaptic overload      Gently does it....

[Gary]

Hey Svend thanks for the reminder...yup, I needed that! Svend can see me sweating from Toronto! 

Liam...I understand what you mean. No I have not skied the Shaman. Ron has a pair...never got on them. The shape of that ski just kind of messed with mind. I know Max loves them a bunch....I may have missed my calling.

Still with only a few hours on the REV's...we'll see what this year brings in the way of conditions I'll actually get them out in and if they continue to keep me simlin'!

I'm glad to hear the HOWITZERs are easy to flick around...makes all the difference for sure in tight spots.

JB...truly sucks when the ski is just screwed up from the factory...man...200 passes...hmmm...are they now adoring a wall in your man cave?

Thank goodness we've got such fantastic choice in skis and technology to choose from.

Best, G