05/06 Ski Reviews

Here you go, enjoy.

Blizzard Titan- Skied this in the 181, though I should have tried it in the 188. A great medium stiff ski, suprisingly light for the solid feel and sandwich construction. Stable in deeper snow, held an edge well on hardpack. They also are making a super stiff 193cm, 95mm waisted "pro model" ski that seemed really sick, but I didn't have time to get out on it.


Line Prophet 100- Skied this in the 186cm size, and I really liked it, but I wasn't in love with it like I am with my Mothership Ti's. I think that the Line binding might have had something to do with that though, it seems like it creates too much dampness under foot and decrease ski control. The shape is great, nice big shovel, plenty of sidecut makes it easy to put into a turn on hardpack, but the binding problem kept it from feeling really solid through a turn. They also felt on the heavy side, but I atribute this a lot to the binding, and I think they'll feel better with another binding on there. I'll be getting this as a warranty in the fall, and I'll either keep it to use as my everyday ski and buy some LP's too, or sell them to fund the LP's. Either way, I (generally) approve.


Volkl Gotama- Skied this in a 183, and it was plenty of ski. The first Volkl I've ever skied, and I liked it a lot. Obviously great in the fresh snow, but I was really impressed by it's crud-plowing ability on the trails that had been groomed overnight. I did feel that they have a pretty small sweet spot and that one really needs to stay on top of them, no powering the tails out of turns on these like I could on the LP's.Skied these at the end of the day. I don't think they changed at all from last year, but since I haven't skied them since 2002 I can say that they were surprisingly fun to ski on groomers, but if I was going to nit-pick I would say that the square tail looks whack


Armada Ant- Damn, one from straight out of left field. Having owned a pair of ARV's, and having no interest in jib skis or the super soft JP vs. Julien's, I almost didn't stop at the Armada booth. The thing that caught me was the frikkin' sweet graphics on all of next year skis. Looks wise, Armada wins hands down for next year, some killer design, and way way better than their current stuff. There were two long fat skis sitting there, I assumed one was the JP/Julien, but upon further investigation, I learned that the other was Anthony Boronowski's pro model. 191cm, 106mm waist, no more slanted sidewalls, bomber looking construction, killer graphics, and dude said it was stiff. I though, "Armada, stiff?" as I flexed it, and almost shat myself. We're talking stiffer than a Gotama, we're talking, dare I say, close to an Explosive stiff (at least underfoot). Heavy, but that was to be expected, and damn did it cruise. Too bad that nothing wide open up top had any visibility, because these things have no top speed that I could find. Held a serious edge on hard stuff for such a big ski, and I could throw it around just fine in the trees. I wish they would make a 185ish version, but Armada is finally getting things right.

K2 Seth Vicious- Would have liked to have skied the 189, but the 179 was plenty fun. They hold an edge similar to a Pistol, and I couldn't really feel the claimed sidecut difference. Took them in the woods and they were easy to throw around and made short work of the manky crap building up in the lower trees. Only got one short run, but I give them a thumbs up.One of my favorites of the day. Turned like a ski half its girth, Stayed pretty stable in the cut up snow. Had a ton of life and pop in it, lots of energy.They only had 179's which I was a bit skeptical of at first, but these really surprised me. I used to own the '04 179 Pistol which was a noodle (but a great park ski) and these blow the pistols out of the water. I never noticed the increased width no matter where I took them. They performed really well in the only fresh we got all day, and were still a lot of fun on the groomers. The progressive flex that made the old pistol so much fun has been beefed up a bit meaning the ski is a bit stiffer over all, but the tail can be buttered on for as long and as high as your balance allows. I really wanted to drop of them off of something and get in the backseat on purpose just to test the tails, but bulletproof was lurking everywhere under the new snow. Some here might still find these too soft, but I was really impressed and will probably be picking these up as my park ski next year in a 179.


Salomon Gun Lab- Yes, I skied it. They had one pair (one of 3 in the US), and every time I checked they were out, and I ended up having to chat about Scramblers or some shit. Finally got them on my feet around 3:40. Definetly lighter than the other big skis I tried today, and a decent size, 188cm, 100mm waist. Well, I almost forgot they were a Salomon on my way down. Did get a little Blue Noodle-esque chatter on some harder stuff, but nowhere near the same amount. This is pretty much the first thing I've skied from Salomon that I've liked. No one in the tent knew what the core was made of, but were pretty sure that the street price would be $999. Yikes


VOLKL MANTRA 184- Solid. Great edge hold and More turnable than I would have thought. Pretty light as well. Glad to see and explosive-esque ski in a perfect size for me. Flippin Sweet. These are bit wider than the explosive and with a bit more sidecut, and equally as fun as the Vicious. They don't have a twin, but do have a little flair. I only got to ski them in a 177 which is a bit short but I was really surprised by these as I got them going as fast as I could and they still wanted to go faster. This will be my touring ski of choice next year for sure, and if they had a twin they would probably be my all mountain ski as well.


K2 Public enemy. 179- THe beefed this ski up a bit this year with an 88mm waist. EXTREMELY light ski even with a heavey marker demo binding. Not the most stable ride but still resonably fun and a good price tag.I only took one run on these and didn't go in the park (we weren't supposed to do rails on the demo's) but they honestly felt like a skinnier and slightly more forgiving version of the vicious

K2 Made 'n AK 179- Granted the Conditions didn't warrent this ski but I was not a fan. Felt like a floppy heavy noodle. It doesn't have the same peppyness as Vicious and isnt anywhere near as versitile. Pow only ski? maybe. But not my first choice.

Rossi Scratch BC 185- Beefed up quite a bit from the older BC's Stiffer and sporting 98 at the waist. Very verstile and fun board. Dont dismiss these as a decent every day out west ski

4Frnt Vsc(?) 190- not sure on the name but its the Vinny dorian promodel. This ski is also not to turny, But it charges hard. My surprise hit of the day. 104 under foot and pretty stiff. The rep said the production models would be even stiffer. SKi blasted crud well and frustrated the hell out of that poor boy putting the skis in the Gondola

Salomon Foil- These are a bit bigger than the Pocket Rocket and supposedly a little stiffer. They were nearly center mounted, which is normally fun, but I found it made these ride terribly all mountain. Now I've never liked Salomons, but these were by far the worst ski I rode yesterday. Compared to the Vicious these have no life. They were no fun when I took them into some of the 5" new, and even more boring when I tried getting some pop off some rollers. I would have liked to have taken these into the park, but time and weather weren't really allowing for it. The only nice thing about these was they are a bit stiffer than anything in Salomon's line this year