Tester:
Kris: 58 year old who
has recently lost 96 lbs, prefers finesse and technique over power, and has a love of high speeds
and junky snow. Ex-PSIA level 2 instructor, League and Nastar racer.
Conditions:
Solidly
frozen groomers with a fine dusting on top in the morning, breaking down into chunky sugar over an
ice base by lunch. Cloudy, cold, and crazy windy all day.
Skis listed in the order tested
Rossignol Essential, 167 cm, 122-69-103, R=12 m:
I got a chance to ski this ski last year, and it was the clear winner of the day for multiple people. I have since spent an entire year dreaming of taking this ski for another spin, so I went directly to the Rossi tent and asked for it first thing. Yup, it was everything I remember!. While Rossi considers the Essential an "all mountain" ski, I would call it a fairly dedicated detuned slalom ski; thus forgiveness is not her fortay. A tiny bit of tip pressure, and she whipped quickly into the turn. A touch of heel pressure, and she would sling right into the next turn. A subtle, centered stance even had her happily making medium and even longer turns. I was giggling from the very first run. I LOVE this ski!!!!! In fact, she went home with me and tuned into my daily driver even in deep spring glob.
Atomic Redster Q9.8 Revoshock, 181 cm, 136-85-120.5, R=15.2 m:
Chet got on this one while I made extra runs on the Essential, then I hopped on it. The Q9.8 in a 181 cm is a freakin freight train! They clung to the icy scratch and blasted through the chunky sugar. At this length, they were a bit balky in medium and short turns for me, while Chet's greater muscle mass means he had less trouble with them in shorter turns. I felt they were both too long and too stiff for me at 181. For really strong skiers with a love of speed, these would be a great choice.
Head World Cup e-SL RD, 153 cm, 112-64-97, R=Approx 12 m: I asked the Head rep for something that would make me go "Yee Haw!", and they picked this little spitfire for me. It earned 5s in every
category except long turns, crud, and forgiveness, which isn’t at all
surprising given that it’s a full-on slalom race ski. This one is not
for the faint of heart, but a technically proficient skier will be able
to make it sing on the groomers. This one was another giggle-fest for me, though I would really like to have tried it in a longer length.
Rossignol Hero ST Ti, 167 cm, 123-68-104, R=13 m:I really love what Rossi has been doing with their skis the last few years. The Hero ST Ti was perfect for me in the 167 cm. It was so confident and steady in all turn shapes. It rolled easily into short turns and released the turn equally easily. For a short turn specialist, it was surprisingly good in medium and long turns. It really likes speed, but doesn't get cranky when going slower. This isn't a super exciting ski, and it was somewhat lacking in rebound, but I think that's part of what made it so buttery smooth and confidence inspiring.
Salomon Stance 84, 167 cm, 112-84-105, R=15 m:
This women's specific ski was just plain easy, steady, and fun. It excelled in medium turns and handled short and long turns with almost equal aplomb. It also had great grip on the ice, but I found it lacking in some stability, especially at speed. It was super forgiving and would make a great ski for the intermediate just venturing into steeper terrain, trees, and bumps. The 167 felt a bit short for me and the flex felt a bit soft, so stronger or heavier skiers should size up on this one.
Atomic Redster Q9 Revoshock, 176 cm, 128-75-112, R=14.2 m:
The Q9 was another super fun ski!With a slalom sidecut, GS construction, and a skinnier all mountain width, it was a carving machine. Make no mistake, this ski lacks forgiveness and needs a strong pilot with good technique and higher speeds to really sing. Short turns required lots of input, but medium and long turns left me with big grins. This one got a bit tossed around when running flat in the afternoon sugar.
Head Kore 85, 170 cm, 127-85-108, R=14.8 m:
I've been on earlier versions of Head's Kore technology, and really disliked their light weight and rattly feel. I thought I'd give them another shot, and super I'm glad I did. The Kore 85 was balanced and nimble and totally steady in the deeper sugar. It was incredibly forgiving, had great grip on the underlying scratch, and excelled at medium and long turns at speed. This was another one that required lots of input to make really short turns. I don't usually care about graphics, but the almost see-through red plastic look of the 85 was really cool.
Rossignol Sender Soul 102, 180 cm, 136-102-126, R=16 m:
The Sender Soul is supposed to be a combination of the Black Ops Sender (which I loved), and the Soul series (which I hated). This is a short turn, soft snow specialist that scrambled for purchase on the harder snow surface under the sugar. It was really stable and super forgiving (the traits I loved in the Sender), but it had massive tip flap at speed and on hard surfaces (one of the things I hated about the Soul series). Im guessing it would be better in longer turns on softer surfaces, but we didn't get the conditions on demo day that would let me test that theory. This ski would work well as a powder/crud ski for someone with a quiver or as a western skiers' only ride.
When I first started doing demo days, it wasn't unusual to find skis that were so awful, I couldn't wait to get off them. It's just amazing how much skis have improved in the last 10-15 years. This was another year where we didn't find a "bad" ski in the bunch.....you just need to find the ski for YOU. I highly recommend that EVERYONE demos skis before buying.
Thanks again to Bill & Paul'sSporthaus for arranging this, the reps from Atomic, Head, Rossignol, and Salomon for bringing their wares and being so willing to chat with us gearheads about construction and dimensions, and of course, Caberfae Peaks for doing such an amazing job of hosting yet another fantastic event and giving us great snow conditions during a very trying year.
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