just skiied my 179 one lifes for the first time and im very impressed. never really got to ski any new deep powder, but like 5 inches and a little bit of week old deepish powder and tons of choppy conditions, plus another half day in the park.
the 179's charge through chopped stuff pretty damn hard for a 179, i really like how you can kinda lean back over a rough section and plow through it and have the stability on the tails to lean on. skiing centered on the ski's super easy in both chopped and the little powder i got to ski. the ski never feels like it wants to sink. im not really sure whats up with the sidecut, its a pretty straight ski, and it really rips anything at speed, groomers, powder, rough stuff, etc.. its super good for making big long fast arch's, never really seems like the tip or tail make contact on hardpack, but it doesnt seem to matter, the ski still feels super stable, and grips up very well.
probably the thing i like most about this ski is how easy it is to kind a pivot the ski at any speed, you can be making a big fast arch, then pivot the ski and make snowboard like tight turns/slashes without dumping much speed, its a really cool feeling, makes the ski very maneuverable at any speed.
so basically the ski can make big arching stable turns like a straighter chargey ski, and slash/surfer turn, and maneuver like a big sidecut carvey ski. made it great for charging into stuff with speed then slashing and dumping speed to make tighter turns.
i was also extremely impressed with them in the park, they feel so natural on rails, pop super well, the rocker keeps the tips out of the way, and you can do huge presses. feel good on jumps too, they honestly feel as stable as a normal park ski on landings, even if you land backseat the tails wont give out. you can get almost just as techy as you can with normal park skis, but you also get that surfey feel you get with big rocker skis like hellbents in the park, where you wanna ski everything differently. and these have crazy pop, everywhere, you can pop huge off everything, you can tail butter for miles and pop out of it, its pretty sweet.
only thing i wasnt sure about was that the skis felt kinda hookey, like the ski will hook and not want to carve sometimes, feels like its right at the contact point where the camber turns to rocker. i feel like this ski would be even better with less camber underfoot or just being flat. that being said it went away after i took a gummy stone to it my second day/ got more used to the ski.
i dont know why more companies dont make big rockered skis, they ski so much better, i dont care about that BS how big rocker plows through the snow and slows you down, and you need just a slight amount of rocker to keep the tips out and have more edge contact. if any ski could have too much rocker, it would be these, and they dont, i never had a problem keeping up speed, if i wanted to have max edge contact id buy a normal camber ski, when i buy a rockered ski, i want it to ski like a rockered ski.
i had the definition of a "proper powder ski" and demoed another (bacons and opus's) and they arent fun, they ski like cambered skis, dont have the pivoty maneuverability of a big rocker ski, yet still cant charge groomers/chopped/powder, or carve as well as the one lifes. i dont think there is one area that the bacons or opus's outperform, and they definitely arent more fun in any way. really makes me want to try out the new lifes and labs..
so thats my long ass review!
