I have the S3 for my non hellbent days. I'm not to good in writing reviews but here goes:
OLDFRED's Non-Comprehensive Review of the 2010 S3 Sticks:
I have the 186 S3 Koops. I'm 5'11 205 lbs. All mountain jibber chiller. I go into the park just for jumps. I don't do rails cause I'm old and I know that I would sacktrate my nuts on them and my girlfriend would chop the rest of them off if I didn't have kids with her before that. I started skiing 5 years ago. Self taught with free private lessons from my bud who'se a level 3 instructor. I like long walks on the beach and don't jerk off anymore since my girl caught me doing it while I was playing farmville on facebook.
Alright...
Ski: Well, I've been looking for a an all mountain, groomer, park jump non pow day/after day tracked out type of ski or a One Ski quiver type of ski. I wanted it primarily for the local mountains that I ski at when I'm not up at Whistler. I wanted a versatile ski that wasn't a noodle and was stiff enough to handle my fattard weight. I also didn't want something too skinny in waist as I need a little more width when landing jumps.
I looked at the Alpha 1, Kung Fujas, Reno Rockers, Jeronimos, Wall, Afterbangs but I chose the Rossis in the end. I don't regret it at all.
I mounted them with Rossi 120 bindings at +6. This is almost true center mount. When measured from tip to tail ( which funny enough is exactly same length as my 179 hellbents)...true center would be +6.25. Tip to Tail is 72".
Terrain: I skied 10 days on them up at Whistler in 40cm pow, cut up pow, and tracked out crud. First impressions was that unlike the Hellbents, I could actually carve in these skis. The new dimensions of these skis really increase the versatility of your skiing and you don't have to overcompensate translating to more skiing. Being that it was center mounted, it lost a bit in powder. But that could be because of my weight. I think a +3 mount would have done the trick. But nevertheless, these skis handled well even with a center mount. I could easily link turns in and out of trees with either slide, slip or smear turns. Plus when I was on the cords and opened it up, they hauled like a milffo... Forward or switch.
The tail is stiff though. Which meant that when I took it to the park jumps....THEY POPPED! Nice swing weight...not the best but for a ski that big and wide and granted I have boat bindings on they did admirably. Butters were easy to initiate as should any ski of this category should be. The nose/tail is a bit softer and is perfect for butter smears off of knuckles or just off the ground. Of course I can only do butter 3s. Switch jumps...gotta be careful if you load up too much...or not...but then again, you're probably a better skier than I am.
I also skied them 3 times around the local mountains in chopped wind crud, ice, ice and ice with a hint of ice. The sidecut, even though reduced due to the early rise still allowed me to do well in ice. It held it's edge and slayed the grooms. Initiating turns like I said earlier was easy.
Conclusion:After riding the Hellbents for the last 3 seasons in ALL conditions, I am glad that I bought this ski. It should definitely be considered a possible one ski quiver. It performs well in every snow condition that I took it through plus was playfull and mulitasked my all mountain jibbing. The best all round ski I've had...but then again it's the only one i've ever had.
The only minor suggestions I would have would be to keep everything this year plus add:
- a longer length
- and add WRS to it...make it lighter. Last year's S3 had WRS and when I weighed it against the Koops it was a lot lighter. When I weighed my hellbents with Rossi 14s to my S3s w/ 12s...the S3s only weighed a pound lighter. I know I know...Rossi bindings are heavy...but they're bombproof and I can't afford a girlfriend, skiing and marker bindings...something's got to go.
OLDFRED.
Anyways...that's my lengthy non full emcompassing review of the S3 Koops
