Me: older (at least in my mind "older" not "old") recreational skier (7/8, closer to
for a number of years. My somewhat "older" quiver consists of Head iM72's and Elan M666's. The Head 170 cm. iM72's 117/72/102 R15,3 i bought after demoing them a couple years ago. Very good skis, but started to feel that i needed something a little wider under foot. So, last season, after correspodence and advice from dawgcatching (Scott) of epicski.com, without demoing, i bought from him the 176 cm. Elan M666's 116/76/102 R17,9 wood core, dual titanium skis. However, last season my time on the new Elan's was very limited due to lack of snow around Tahoe area etc. etc. This season -- much more time on the Elans, so that now i can compare my Heads with the Elans. For me, the Elans are clear winners. In my opinion the Elans are better all-around, but they really excel in heavy/cut-up/crud Tahoe spring snow - stable, real confidence builders and with a large sweet spot. I didn't find myself in the back-seat, like i often did on my Heads. The lifted tails of the Elans didn't get stuck to the snow - a sensation i felt often with the Heads. Also, to my liking, the Elans have more of a snow feel than the Heads. The Heads are system skis with Railflex Tyrolia LD12 bindings, but the Elans are flat mounted with Tyrolia ELD14's. On both, the Heads and the Elans, the bindings are mounted per manufacturers's location recommendation, but on the Elans they certainly appear more forward than the Railflex bindings on the Heads. imho (opinion of many others also) it's better to buy flat skis and then select the bindings. The Elan ski construction and workmanship (wood and titanium) is excellent. In my case the Elans -- a little longer, a little wider under foot, a little better binding -- was the right solution. Thank you Scott!! At times it felt that the Elans were doing all the thinking, anticipation and skiing for me, besides, the graphics of the 666's are very nice!
Nevils