Style: ski fast but probably like to turn a bit more than your average “freerider” out there. Prefer round, finished turns. Jumps occasionally but nothing too big these days.

Skis tested: 185 Line Mr. Pollard’s Opus mounted with 11/12 Marker Dukes on the recommended line. Boots: Dalbello Il moros w/ stiff (black) tongue

Skis I have liked erlier: Armada JJ 185cm, Atomic Bent Chetler 183cm (tele), 06 Völkl Gotama 190cm (the recommended FR line mount was just a tad too back to my taste), original Völkl G4 (198cm) back in the day, old Salomon CR lab 180cm for park (has lots of “pop”), K2 Extremes 179cm for all mountain use

Conditions skied: A week in Engelberg, Switzerland – two snowstorms in a week, pretty much perfect powder conditions. In addition to that some skiing on local mole hill (Southern Finland), some 300ft of vert: groomers and soft moguls.

The skis

Line and Eric Pollard have put a lot of thought and testing to these skis. It has said that this is the result of thirteen year of innovation and product testing from Pollard and Line’s team. The interesting thing here is that they actually narrowed this model for year 2011-2012 and also made effective edge longer and rocker parts more subtle. While everyone is going to wider and wider skis and exaggerated rocker constructions, the point here was that not the everyday you ski is powder and effective egde is what counts on those not so ideal days. I alway believed on the “one ski quiver” idea too…in a way that I believe that it is better to learn ski well on one pair of skis you are used to, in comparison to swap skis on every possible occasion. Also, living in flatlands the trips gets much easier when you don’t have to drag multiple pair of skis along when travelling.

See Line’s own product video (below) for more details about the construction:

Groomed slopes

The Opus carves really well. The sidecut is good for our small hills. Even with skis this big you can work the skis and get some nice GS (and even smaller) round turn. On hard slopes edge hold was surprisingly good. And the skis felt more stable than e.g. Armada JJs. Nice snap out of turns…you can lay trenches where there is that brief airborne moment between the turns, which is a very cool feeling in my book. I guess torsional rigidity is something Line engineers have thought properly? At times you end up looking at your feet and wonder how can a 118mm middle ski work so well on the groomers. 10/10 points here for versatility (for such a wide ski).

Moguls/chopped up crud

On the moguls I definitely felt the longer effective edge than the previous “fun shapes” I’ve tested. Worked much better than expected. I’ve skied my Bent Chetlers a lot lately (teles) on similar conditions (chopped up snow starting to form harder bumbs), and it is sketchy at best. In the moguls I felt that the Opus works better the faster you go.These are still “big” skis in that matter, slow speed and short turns just don’t work so well, handling gets a bit forced and clumsy. 7 out of 10 points on moguls and really chopped up crud.

The centered stance feels weird at first (on the flats, on the lift etc.) but once you start carving at speed I was not noticing any problems. At slow speed, shorter turns and in the moguls I felt like I have to adapt just a bit – from powering the tips to a slightly more neutral stance. Not sure if this is due technique problems though…too much tele skiing (lately) and you get just confused what is the proper way to turn after all, heh.

Powder and Off-piste

As said, at first the centered stance required a bit of adjusting. I feel that these skis need quite active style in powder, not just plowing lazily through but using the “pop” of the skis and driving them. I guess on the flatter parts Opus would be easier to ski the bindings mounted just a tad (1-2cm) back. The upcoming 192cm version would also help here, I guess I am on the border of the 185cm and 192cm models. For the flatter, open wide powder skiing the latter version would probably work even better.

On the steeper runs (e.g. the upper part of the “Laub” route in Engelberg) the centered stance gives the promised “neutral and surfy” feel. Friend was skiing (more radically “powder” shaped) Armada ARGs and on couple of occasions I felt like I could throw my skis almost as well sideways and “schmear” my turns as he did.

We tried some smaller drops (maybe 3-5m) and the long tail and rocker is really nice for landing stuff. My skiing was “rusty” for not being on the slopes that much (an early season injury) and I surprised myself stomping stuff easily. Too bad the trip was only one week, I guess with some more miles, it would have been nice to try some slightly bigger drops/jumps too. Natural terrain threesixties and all around trickery would be so suited for these skis – if you just got the required skills!

9/10 points for powder

10/10 points for playful skiing in the natural terrain

Line Mr Pollard’s Opus 185cm – Conclusions

All in all, Opus is FUN. Trying Pollard style slashes on banks/windlips will make you smile, if you are in to that kind of stuff at all! The tight sidecut might have it downsides when really hauling ass and/or breakable crud (don’t know – haven’t skied that stuff yet) but on the other hand, the design of these skis make you try stuff you probably wouldn’t try with some 30+m radius big mountain chargers…

To sum it up: go see a few Nimbus Independent flicks and think if this kind of skiing is what you appreciate / seek for? If you like more the so-called freeski comp style skiing (aggressive, straightforward, “charging”), these sticks probably arent’ for you. If your style is more playful, you seek for fun little features to play all the time and like skis with lots of “pop” and neutral, surfy feel – then I can only recommend the Opus! For bigger guys I guess the 192cm is going to rule – and that is one ski I’d like to test as soon as possible.

What about if your hard earned cash was buying a pair of skis that rip the mountain better than any out there (according to the readers of Powder), while at the same time financially supporting a grass roots organization whose mission is to create ski areas that bring skiing back to its roots and produce more energy on mountain than is consumed.

Mountain Rider’s Alliance – or MRA – is a global contingency of skiers and snowboarders working together to make sure us die hard mountain lovers and the environment’s interests are considered to matter most. Another company that is all about the sustainable mind thought and skier’s needs, Skilogik liked MRA’s mission of making a difference and asked if they wanted to pair up.

Logically a match was made in skier heaven. And some sick pair of skis were created.

The top sheet of the MRA/Skilogik ski is a custom designed piece of art that showcases MRA’s pilot project, Manitoba Mountain, located in the Chugach range of Alaska. The pictured landscape is formed from wood inlay and brings home the mountains and natural environment. The design comes on any of Skilogik’s skis. And for those of you that haven’t heard of Skilogik, no worries. From the sounds of the skier tribe, the boards are legit: in their first two years running, they have won Powder’s 2012 skier’s choice Ski of the Year, RealSkiers Ski of the Year, 2011 and 2012, and Freeskier’s Microbrew Award.

So are you ready to show all those on the mountain that it is time to take skiing back to its roots? Well, there are few other bonuses that come along with buying these sweet boards. You’re not only pitching into the cause that ski areas are about the needs of the riders, community and environment; a portion of the proceeds will also go to helping out the Native American Olympic Team Foundation. NAOTF is a nonprofit started by blond bombshell beauty Olympic medalist Suzy “Chapstick” Chafee to help support Native Americans Olympic hopefuls. MRA and Skilogik are also donating a portion of the sales to The Nature Conservancy to assist with reforestation in Brazil.

Extra bonus: each purchase gets you a free MRA t-shirt, ski strap, and sticker as well as a microbrick of Green Ski Wax and a $100 coupon towards a future MRA Mountain Playground membership.

To order your own pair of these uniquely beautiful boards, and to show your support of MRA on the mountain, visit www.MountainRidersAlliance.com/skis/.

Ski Logik’s philosophy arouses interest. They are upfront about the fact that the skis are produced in China. But here comes the major difference compared to other ski companies – although the skis are made in China, they are not mass produced, but rather handmade in Ski Logik’s own factory, which was founded by David Mazzarella, together with the Ski Logik brand. Ski Logik states that they pay their workers an above the market rate and that employees receive full benefits including things such as health insurance, retirement, unemployment and disability compensation, something that is not common in China.

David Mazzarella’s and Ski Logik’s reasoning behind this is that the low-cost location is supposed to enable them to produce high quality product at a reasonable price; production at a more expensive location would force them to use cheaper materials or reduce labor times, which would in turn reduce the overall quality of the product.

But do the skis live up to their promise? I’ve had a pair of Bomb Squads for a while now and I’m happy to say that they have not disappointed.

Ski Logik Bomb Squad

Length: 188cm (the only length available).
Dimensions: 148-122-143mm
Radius: 22m
Weight: 4300g (according to manufacturer)
Retail price around $820 USD

Construction: Paulownia wood core, reinforced with carbon fiber and fiberglass, black locust sidewalls

OK, let’s discuss the obvious first. I’m not a guy who usually cares about the looks of skis but the build quality and the inlaid wood topsheets that these skis have are gorgeous. The sidewalls are black locust, which caused some concern for me first since bamboo and other wood sidewalls tend to have a bad reputation (old Voelkl Gotamas, Lotus skis etc), but after several days of use I don’t see anything out of ordinary. The spot where the sidewall connects to topsheet is rounded and not sharp, which should prevent topsheet chipping.

We are living in an era when the sexiest and coolest freeride skis come out with flat profile and usually quite a bit of rocker rocker. The Bomb Squads on the other hand have small amount of early tip raise and a normal amount of camber. Their hand flex is medium with a nice progressively softer feel towards the tip. The ski is not super stiff, but not a noodle by any means. Just the way I like it myself.

So how do they ski? The bottom line: In soft snow and tracked out crud the ski is predictable, easy and fun to ski. The skis have a really nice, quality feel to them that inspires confidence. People who are more into old-school shapes might find the tip shape and size somewhat big and might not like how the tips get moved around a bit in the crud. Don’t get me wrong, they don’t flap around uncontrollably, but they do move around a bit. I myself think that the effect is more visual than real; the ski feels stable at higher speeds also. You can vary your turn size easily and considering how stable these skis are at speed it was really fun to notice how easily you can throw them around in the trees. After having skied the Praxis Powder Boards, which excel in trees, that is not something that I say lightly.

Recommended if your wallet can afford it. However, a big skier who demands planks that can do mach 7 in icy chop will have to find something else. You can see me ski the Bomb Squads in this helmetcam video.

Salomon XW Enduro tested in Trysil, Norway

Last spring I had a chance to test some 2010/2011 skis. Testing was done in Trysil, Norway. Trysil is a great place for on-piste skiing and the mountain has a wide variety of slopes to choose from. Trysil is not a true big mountain freeride paradise but it can offer some nice off-piste skiing when the conditions are good. We wanted to see the whole resort and ski all the possible slopes and off-pistes there was. So it was quite tricky to pick up the one ski you wanted to ski all day. I denied my doubts and chose an all mountain ski. Salomon XW Enduro was chosen and I was not disappointed.

Enduro is a full wood core ski and it’s filled with Salomon’s latest techniques to make the ski please even the most demanding crowd. Antivibration layer, sandwich sidewalls, wide integrated aluminium plate, double titanium laminate, active dampening system + some other technical finesse. The rocker revolution- which is taking over even the all mtn. and on-piste skis- has also taken a nimb of the Enduro. Its has a small all terrain rocker and that is what makes it special.

This is how Salomon puts it:

“A true high-performance all mountain ski, the Enduro combines unrivalled stability and control from Powerline with all mountain rocker for more terrain.”

Salomon XW Enduro is available on the following sizes:

Skiing the Salomon XW Enduro – rockered fun in all conditions

Skiing with Enduro was fun. It still has the typical Salomon character, it feels a bit liveless at first but when you get that dialled and gain more speed it really starts working great. The pair I was skiing was 177cm. I am 183 cm/6 ft  tall weighing 83 kg/183 lb. When doing small radius slalom turns I’d prefer a lot shorter ski but with the rockered tip Enduro worked out fine and made keeping the slalom rhythm easy. When gearing up the speed and making mid size GS-turns the ski is at it’s best. It arcs perfectly and feels very stable and lively at the same time. Changing your rhythm on varying terrain was effortless and the snow contact was easy to maintain.

The slopes in Trysil are steeper on the top and get quite mellow and easy when getting down the valley. With all these expert ski-finesse on it, Enduro would feel  hard and heavy to ski on the mellow parts but thanks for the rockered tip the ski feels quite easy and fun to cruise even on the flat parts of the slopes.

Unlike in many other resorts Trysil has some nice bump-runs and I wanted to give The Enduro a shot of bashing the moguls. Skis with the traditional camber and carving-side cut are not the best choices for the bumps. The oversized tip tends to drag on the sides of the moguls. I didn’t mean this review to be a praise for the rockered skis but while enjoying the bumpy ride I noticed that the rockered tip was the key that made Enduro good even in the moguls. There simply was not so much dragging.

We didn’t have the real powder conditions but had plenty of awesome corn snow to spray with our skis. Once again the all mountain rocker made slashing the firn really fun and easy. You could hold on the GS style and didn’t have to worry about the tip to cut too deep into the snow. The 84 mm waist is wide enough for effortless riding in slushy corn snow. In deep powder this kind of all mountain ski would not be the perfect choice but you could still have lots of fun with it. The 84 mm waist is also wide enough for keeping your bindings and boot soles off the snow even in the most aggressive turns.

All over technical impressions on Salomon XW Enduro

• Salomon XW Enduro is a clean carve ski and the edge hold is very solid even on the high speed and ice.
• The ski is very accurate once you get some speed. The tip is not wandering around and the accuracy is easy to maintain even on crud, corn, ice or whatever the surface is.
• On scale of 1-5 the XW Enduro gets the full 5 points on stability.
• The ski rebounds very well on high speed. On lowers speeds this ski needs more work and the skier has to be active all the time.
• For good skier the ski is very easy to roll from edge to edge. On lower speeds and flatter terrain once again you need to work a bit more.
• Enduro feels a bit sluggish at first but after getting some speed this turns into a good thing. It rolls like a train but responses quickly and smoothly.
• At first Enduro may not feel very forgiving for technical mistakes but after a couple of runs you  will get the feel of it and you  will be in charge again. On low effort cruising Salomon XW Enduro is not at its best. The rockered tip helps a lot but you still have to be quite active to make the most of this ski.
• The rockered tip is really valuable on this ski. It is right sized and gives the extra character and diversity for the ski.

Salomon XW Enduro is a great choice for a good skier who mostly skis on mid-sized mountains on all conditions and spends most of the time on the groomed slopes with short excursions on nearby off-pistes. Enduro is also a good choice for the rocker virgins. Once you feel the idea you’re sold.

I skied all of the tested models for about three or four runs. This won’t give you conclusive review of all the skis but some impressions how the models have changed, different upcoming ski types and shapes and so on. I believe almost all new skis are pretty good from the start. The thing you have to realize is, however, that unlike some five years ago the skis in the so-called “freeride” category are not just rebadged, widebody GS skis.

Today there are a refreshingly wide range of different shapes, widths, flexes and most importantly rocker profiles  - the last feature being probably one of the biggest ski innovations since increased sidecuts and first “fat” skis! So, the key is to demo, search information and especially know (or find out) what you are really looking for.

You can find out more about the tester e.g. here. The conditions were soft spring snow groomers and later on the day wet, deep slush. There was also one little kicker where one could get a bit of air – perfect for classic “tongue in cheek” late spring/season end tricks like cosacks, spreads, daffies…

Movement Super Turbo GTI

Now, let’s start with the biggest and baddest. Earlier I have never been that impressed on Movement skis but now I have to admit that Movement had two of the most interesting models on the whole demo fleet. The first one being the Super Turbo GTI – at an impressive 202cm length.

Movement Super Turbo GTI is a big mountain and powder ski with dimensions of 150-120-135mm (tip-middle-tail) and long tip rocker. It has no tail rocker though, giving the ski a more traditional feel when finishing the turns.

On the feet the first impression of the skis is “holy s**t these are big and heavy” (see the picture below – compared to my friend’s Dynafit Mustagh Aga touring skis!). When you start to get speed these didn’t feel like total tanks though. There is just enough sidecut to even get decent turns on the groomers and the ski isn’t overly stiff. Tip rocker part is also so long that on the firmer stuff the ski feels more like a middle stiff 185cm traditional fat ski. The very tip of the skis flap a bit at speed but it doesn’t seem to has an effect on the performance at all.

Conclusion from the four test runs: manageable but quite boring on the low angle groomed stuff (can’t be surprising to anyone?). I also wouldn’t like to jump turn these beasts or try to flick them around on the tight trees – if you are going to buy these, you better know what to do with them. Big ski for big mountains and good skiers but not overly demanding. Seems like this category of skis has “softened” a bit since the likes of Head Im 103s, first generation Big Daddies and Nordica FF 105s.

Movement Fly Swatter 185cm

This is a freakish looking ski: short(ish), very fat and with abrupt rocker and deep sidecut. People carving these on the slopes looked like they have some kind of little “boats” on their feet. Fly Swatter is kind of exaggerated version of the Armada JJ. 150-125-145mm, 17 meter sidecut radius and very centered binding mounting point. It also has the similar “5-dimensional sidecut” profile than the JJ. Nice graphics too. I forgot to take a picture of these, check out the graphics and some more info on this link.

However, on the slopes this was a very positive surprise. Fun, poppy and lively, carves and surfs well, depending on what you like to do. Very playful, makes you want to try silly little jumps/180s everywhere – see the picture below, the skier looks stiff but the ski works better, heh.

Soft, forgiving round flex probably has some speed limit if you really like to charge. And the effective sidecut is quite short -I guess this ski need some amount of soft snow to come alive.

Positive impression probably come also from the conditions (deep slush, small hill) but as a huge fan of Armada JJ I think I could like this ski almost everywhere as long the conditions are  on the soft side. I would be tempted to mount the binding just 1,5-2cm more back (from the recommended mark) but on the other hand due to lots of tail rocker this might not work at all?

Conclusion is that despite the awkward look, Movement Fly Swatter works very well. For the skiers that like soft, playful skis. Also, I bet good backcountry freestylers would make wonders with these “surf boards” on their feet. Btw. Pretty much everyone around seemed to like these skis.

K2 Hellbent 179cm

Already huge-dimensioned Hellbent has growth some more for the next season. It now has a whooping 132mm waist but otherwise the concept is unchanged.

This was a small disappointment for me. The ski has the typical “K2 feel”, soft(ish) but stable and damp. The downside is that this feel offers not that much liveliness and “pop”.

The Hellbent carved ok and absorbed small ruts and bumps very well. But something lacked in my opinion. Maybe the very wet snow had an effect – I felt that ski this wide began to “glue”/stick to the snow, making it even more out of its element (while 132mm waist ski can carve on the groomed, no one could argue that this width is made for the prepared slopes).

Some guys on the test tent praised how K2 Hellbent behaves on the real powder and I guess the story is totally different there. 132mm waist and “powder rocker” concept can’t be bad on real blowder days. Still, I am beginning to be in the school of thought that skis with waist widths bigger than say 125-130mm work better with “5-dimensional sidecut”/pointy tips.

K2 Obsethed 189cm

I have been the fan of the whole K2 Seth line since the original yellow Seth Pistols. For the next season, K2 ObSethed has growth some more, the dimensions now being 146-117-134mm.  It has the rocker profile 20/40 on the tip and 10/20 in the tail (see the picture below).

Again, Seth’s ski didn’t disappoint. For some reason, despite having the same K2 feel as the Hellbent, the whole concept worked much better to me. Maybe for me the longer but slightly narrower ski just felt better? (So take this with a grain of salt – hard to say anything between different lengths anyway, 179cm vs. 189cm). Some have speculated that now the ObSethed have moved from “all-mountain” category to the pure powder ski status. However, I felt that this is “just a ski” (in a positive way). It felt that I could just click into the bindings and ski anything without thinking too much of it.

Armada ARG 185cm

Armada ARG hasn’t changed for the next season (graphics excluded). This was my first time on the so-called Reverse-Reverse skis, like Praxis Powders (I count ARG’s to this category, even though the ski has a very short section of minimal of sidecut). I know what to expect though – a good friend of mine skis these pretty much all the time, everywhere, even on groomed slopes(!).

Very fun skis, just forget carving! If you try to carve, the skis will split and go to the separate directions. But you learn to avoid that in a few runs. Think old school “windshield viper”, sliding turns. No problem for an old mogul skier like me…

Where the slush was deep enough I could feel the ski start to surf/plane. When that happens, everything become totally effortless. In powder this type of ski lets you do the things unimaginable before. There are other options too but if you look for uncompromised and at the same time fun/playful powder performance, I guess ARGs can’t disappoint.

Jumping felt strange with these – no wonder Armada team skiers seem to use JJs more: on booters and kickers some sidecut is your friend IMHO. I guess for powder cliffs there shouldn’t be any problem (once you have got used to the R/R feel).

Armada JJ (as telemark skis)

This was something I have waited for a long time. The JJs are also unchanged (graphics aside) for the next season. Being the huge fan of the concept I have been thinking that JJ must be a really fun freeheel ski too.

Well, telemark skiing is way more dependent on the bindings than alpine. So, I had some troubles with loose (too long) cables and just couldn’t get the “right” feel in the tele turn. General impression was that the “loose” feeling of the rocker ski is really fun also when dropping the knee but with JJs I also felt the tight sidecut become quite “hooky” on couple of occasions (might be my bad tele technique and/or the problem with the bindings).

I tried to jumps couple of times from the small kicker available – here I can understand why some people don’t like tail rocker on tele skis. I ended up very back seated after the launch from the lip.

Can’t say much based on this experience – fun skis as telemark too but one must have good technique and balance and I guess binding selection is pretty essential factor too.

Btw. Another interesting tele option was available too – Voile Drifter 182cm (See the picture below). The cables were just too long for my boots. People seemed to dig that ski quite a lot and it also seemed to work very well in slushy conditions. Too bad I couldn’t test them this time.

Armada ARV 185cm

Unchanged for the 2010-2011 season. I already reported some impression of that ski last season. The fatter skis worked better for the heavy slush conditions though. Anyway, Armada ARV is a nice piste/park oriented all-mountain ski that still work on the soft snow too. Neutral, not too stiff and predictable – good skis but don’t particularly impress on any special area.

Völkl Gotama 186cm

This was also one ski I have been eager to test for some time already. Völkl Gotama changed quite radically (on the paper at least) for this season but for 2010-2011 there is no new modifications. Measurements are 137-106-122mm and the ski has a very subtle rocker through the whole ski.

The original black Gotama had quite a cult following. After skiing this incarnation I’d say that the new model also lives up its legendary status. But there are just huge amount of other options and “competitors” around these days. The ski felt pretty same as my own 190cm 06/07 (white) Gotamas. When standing on the skis the rocker is so mellow that you don’t even notice it. The tips of the skis are very low, to the degree that you wonder how they work in the soft snow. Reports confirm that there shouldn’t be any problems though.

The ski engages the turn just a tad slower than the 06/07 and 08/09 models and the rocker gives maybe minimal amount less “pop” from turn to turn but after a few runs you shouldn’t notice the difference. Seems like Völkl didn’t want to change the winner concept too much,  just changed it a bit more modern.

I guess the new Gotama offers all the same than the older one but adds  a bit more flotation and “looseness” in the soft snow. If you dig Völkl skis/older Gotamas and look for a solid all-arounder, look no further. The 194cm version should be also good option for the big/strong skiers.

PS. This was our last ski review for this winter. The test day was the 43th ski day for me. The awesome winter of 2009-2010 gave us six months of skiing here in Southern Finland. And despite the small molehills we even enjoyed some very rare real powder snow in January and February.

Please comment if you have any more questions – or additions to the ski  test, or even if you totally disagree with me!

While skiing the Swiss Alps I was curious to test something from Birdos against my beloved Armada JJs. While I love the JJs and find them very FUN skis in almost all conditions, sometimes I feel that a bit more effective edge and girth would be welcome. You know, all those hard surface/piste runs, avalanche debris, cruddy conditions, occasional icy patches in the couloir/line entrances etc. While telling all this, Dan quickly gave me a pair of “Early Birds” 191cm for a test in Andermatt. Thank you Dan and Birdos Skis for the test!

Birdos Skis Early Bird specs, test conditions and about the reviewer

Dan described these skis simply: “built for speed”. He also stated that they are not overly stiff though, round- medium-flex and slight rocker on both ends adding some versatility, while the relatively traditional shape and long(ish) effective edge would offer the needed stability for varying Alps conditions.

The shape is fairly standard 143-111-124mm and sidecut radius 28,5m. The skis are offered in three lenghts 171, 181 and 191cm. (Read more on Birdo’s own site.) Note also that all Birdo’s shapes are available in custom rocker profiles and flexes – very cool option in my opinion, you can choose standard skis if they suit you, go semi-custom with an available shape or create just the monster (or beauty!?) you have in your own mind. Try that with big corporate manufacturers! One thing I also like is Dan’s approach to use only local, sustainable subcontractors and materials. Check out the the mentioned article by Antti (above) if you want to read more about that. Another argument for why you might consider a small scale local ski builder (like Dan and Birdos) for your next ski purchase?

Tip Rocker

Tail Rocker

Test conditions were pretty optimal, some new snow, variable crud here and there and moguls forming up in the most popular routes. We skied everything from boot deep light powder to soft moguls on the test day. The only negative thing was that the visibility was pretty low all day – so no good skiing pics this time. Also, the low visibility restricted the possibility to really “open it up” (where these skis obviously shine). So, take my observations with a grain of salt. And for example pictures of the snow condition/terrain click my Andermatt trip report.

Few words about the reviewer. First, while we have been quiet with the blog for some time, I was able to log most days in eight(!) years this season: over forty days so far, and March and early April giving some twenty ski days.  I’d say that I am fairly strong all-mountain skier that can ski pretty much everywhere and in every conditions.  My stats are: height/weight: 184cm (~6feet), 83kg (~160lbs), some 29 years of skiing experience, mogul back ground. I like playful skiing and eventhough I can’t call myself a “newschool” skier (anymore) I still like to jump here and there and ski some park too at times. I also do more and more telemark skiing these days (19 days this season).

Birdos Skis Early Bird on the Mountain

My first feel on these is that the skis are long and quite heavy. And compared to my JJs the 191cm is at least true to the announced lenght (see the picture below).

Once you start skiing some of that feel disappears. The flex is not overly stiff and the skis absorb little ruts/chopped up stuff nicely. At first we ski some ungroomed runs that are skied by hundreds of others already, making them good testing grounds for pretty typical Alps conditions; the snow is still soft but moguls start to form up and the snow is uneven, somewhere you still go through everything, somewhere you get bounced by the early-stage moguls. Here the skiing is easy and effortless, as long as there is enough space to just go for it and open it up.

Then we hit the real off-piste and to our bad luck the visibility gets worse. Traverses over some exposure feel harder/scarier with these skis than on my own, the added lenght definately feels there. Slow speed skiing on the steeps is also quit a lot harder, the more traditional shape with moderate rocker doesn’t seem to help much here. The skis are ok but feel a bit dead and unresponsive, or should I say “traditional”. The 28,5 turn radius also feels a bit longer than you might expect…or maybe I am (too) used to the JJs almost “slalom-like” sidecut probably?

We manage to ski a little bowl of perfect powder while having a “sunny window”. Now, once you get the skis to plane properly the rocker starts to work and you can “slarve” /”schmear” the turns (similar to my JJ’s or e.g. Praxis Powders). Skiing powder in low visibility is a bit frustrating, knowing that just a bit of more speed would really make the ski alive – ski at too low speed and these skis require quite a lot of power and your legs get tired pretty soon. “Built for speed” seems really appropriate slogan here!

Near the village we got to (or have to?) ski some soft moguls. The skis work suprisingly well. You feel the lenght and weight but the relatively straight tail lets you finish the turn by sliding the tails old school style. The ski won’t “hook up” or do anything too suprising. Just stay forward and aggressive. At least I can say the 191cm lenght is not for the weak/technically less skilled skiers.

Cons/pros of the Early Bird skis and another observations

Pros

• Stable and damp
• Shines at speed on long radius turns, while not being overly demanding to ski – very good combo
• Long turn radius (feels longer than announced, could be bad too if you like turny skis)
• Lets you dictate the turn shape, no “locked in turn” feeling. Rocker adds  to this but IMHO only works at speed on this model (or compared to e.g. Armada JJs which are easier to ski on slow speeds)
• Forgiving, round flex makes the 191cm model easier to ski than you would expect
• Nice finishing, hand made feel, materials seem bomb-proof to me
• Custom option on the flexes, camber profiles and graphics = very nice
• Not “just another big brand ski” (if that means something to you)

Cons

• Just a tad heavy (could be good too – just plows through the crud. Note: Marker Jester demos are not light weight either)
• Quite “traditional” feel (if you are used to the “fun shape” feel)

Other observations

• I would like to have tried the binding just a tad more forward, 1-2cm
• I would love to test the “Floater” and “Floater 110″ shapes, Floater 110 with NTNs as tele skis…hmmmm
• Read this and you’d probably consider buying from Birdos too…

What got our initial interest in this particular ski-binding combination was that we wanted to know whether the 6cm fore-aft adjustable Jester SchizoFrantic and 85mm wide in the middle K2 Extreme would be the true do-it all combo for our conditions. Basically we were looking for a solid performance in all park, moguls, (often icy) groomers and the occasional softer run here and there.

Many people swear for around 100mm middle skis for all-day every condition skiing but you gotta remember here we ski a lot of icy man-made snow conditions (think East Coast USA), small hills, moguls and tight runs in the woods if the snow allows.  At least for me the best middle-width of a ski for all this have been around 85-90mm –  it still floats some in the soft snow but you are not offering too much of a performance in the park or hard groomers, or even moguls if you are not interested in the competition level zipper-line skiing.

Skiing pictures in this post by Juha Roivainen.

K2 Extreme – A true all mountain machine?

The extreme has a measurements of 118-85-109mm. It has a fir core and standard taper – meaning the ski, while having twin tip, is still meant to be more directional than a true park ski. K2 states on their site that the performance of the ski is aimed at 60% park, 40% powder. They also give this statement in the site “Emulate PK Hunder’s double cork 1080 or just bust out some of the ol’ moves on the topsheet. Either way, we’ll be proud. Keep it Extreme”.

From the above line I got the idea for this test day. While I can no longer call my self as a 100% ”new school skier” or “park rider”, I can easily take the latter role of busting some of the old school moves and then we  can always “hire” some of our younger friends that really know their moves in the park to “emulate PK Hunder”, or at least represent the hardcore park skiers. Well, Miika Rissanen that helped us for the test might not be as good as PK but I guess he knows his stuff well enough to tell the difference (see the pictures!)

Miika Rissanen, classic crossed 540 tail grab, Serena, Finland

Marker Jester SchizoFrantic - Six centimeters of adjustability, from powder to new school

Marker Jester SchizoFrantic is a new type of binding that allows the skier to adjust his/her binding location on the ski six centimeters fore-aft. While this has been possible earlier with the so called demo-bindings (used for ski demos and rental skis), earlier all the solutions have been both quite high off the ski (generally not good for freeride or park) and/or offering a bit of “slop” in the system. In other words not offering 100% performance for the dedicated skier.

Jester Schizo system has a clever solution of keeping the stack height low through adjustability made by the steel wire that moves the binding along the two-piece thin plate on the ski (see the picture above). This solution won’t put you any higher than probably 2-3mm more compared to a  ”traditional” binding bolted straight to the ski. On the slopes when you click to the binding it feels like all the other Marker Freeride models, like e.g. the Marker Duke binding I’ve liked so far quite a lot.

The new schooler’s opinion -  Miika Rissanen’s take on the K2 Extreme and Marker Jester SchizoFrantic combination

Before I go to the Miika’s notes from the test day I have to admit one thing: I probably made a slight mistake when mounting the bindings. Www.suksikauppa.com provided the mounting but we chatted a few words about the placement and I decided an adjustability range on the ski from “traditional” (or zero) mark to +6cm. (Note that this was the version of the ski without the pre-drilled inserts for the SchizoFrantic system)

Miika would have liked even more forward position of the binding, from +7,5 (core center) to even 1-2cm front of that. While I like more traditional binding placement, my first impression was that for this ski I could have put the whole system a few cm’s more forward – the K2′s traditional mark seems way too far back for anything else than maybe deep powder (but this ski isn’t the best option for that anyway). We’ll see how it works later when we got to ski some more outside of the park but for now we consider remounting the whole system a few more centimeters forward in the near future.

Miika getting EXTREME (cork 720 I guess)

But let’s move on to the Miika’s comments. Here are some of his thoughts:

“The good old Extreme. It hasn’t changed that much from the last year (08/09)”

“The ski is stable, damp and on the stiff side – Probably aimed a bit more for an all mountain use than a pure park and jibbing. On the back seated landings the ski did some great damping though -saved me from some hurting!”

“Frankly, on the little jibs and bonks the weight is quite depressing compared to my own park skis (Armada AR6s + Salomon bindings) – you loose a lot of fun factor in the smaller tricks and jibs”

“The binding is suprisingly low weight and pretty flat on the ski, despite the six centimeters adjustability range. And otherwise Jester felt pretty good too – the long time durability  raises some questions. I wonder how long it would last in my use? I’d say for 100% park use I wouldn’t buy the binding, for powder/all-mountain skis probably yes”

“Even on park skis fresh edges are a nice thing to have. New and stable ski with sharp edges provided some solid take-offs and landings, eventhough I would have liked the bindings mounted still some three-four centimeters more forward”

Miika on his own park skis, feeling comfortable – spinning corked and grabbing his ski tail

Janne’s comments – old mogul skier’s view on K2 Extreme/Marker Jester SchizoFrantic

As said, I can’t call my self a pure park skier or “new schooler”. I still like to hit kickers when the conditions allow though. These days I hesitate from the biggest booters but can do the basic stuff on the middle size hits. Otherwise I’d say that I am fairly strong all-mountain skier that can ski pretty much everywhere and in every conditions (Height/weight: 184cm (~6feet) 83kg (~160lbs), some 29 years of skiing experience, mogul back ground).

Here are some of my opinions:

Pros

Feels stable and solid. More of a “real ski” feeling than on your typical park ski. Gives you nice control and damp feel on the snow. The bindings add to that feel – Jester feels as good as any old, trusty race binding out there

Typical K2, reminds me a lot of my old 04/05 green Seth Pistols. Some hate the K2 feel, some love it. I gotta admit I am a fan of it too

As Miika stated, dampens the landings VERY well. (The difference was huge to my current park skis – Salomon 1080 CR Labs)

179cm is more of like a 185cm in other manufacturers’ scale (another typical thing for K2) – I liked that, because originally I was even interested on the 184cm version, “short skis suck, long skis truck”…

Jester SchizoFrantic adjustability is a very good option for a skier like me (or if you don’t want to hassle with big “quiver”)

Very cool graphics in my opinion

Rocket a.k.a. “Plake’s grab”, giving the test an old school twist

Cons

Not that much “pop” and liveliness in the ski, feels a bit planky

No rocker (can be a good thing too) (A side note: K2 is putting rocker to almost all of the line-up next year! And the Extreme is discontinued, instead there are three models around 85-90mm width, one symmetrical park ski, two aimed at more all-mountain, and all three with varying degree of rocker)

Jester Schizo boot sole lenght adjustability was a bit of a hassle (it is not a demo binding after all, you gotta remember that though)

The mini-tool (see the pic below) that comes with the binding is pretty useless if the binding/adjustability screw has any snow accumulation on it at all, you have to use an ordinary  Philips head screwdriver – not a big deal but just for the info

Other notes

Jester SchizoFrantic system’s long-time durability remains to be seen

To be continued…

Ok, that was it for now. I will write some more when I get to ski some moguls and groomers, giving a perspective of how the K2 Extreme turns and behaves at speed. Before that big thanks again to Sakke Ekman of www.suksikauppa.com (Finnish) – be sure to check out the different country/national versions of the shop too:

http://www.skidbutiken.com (Sweden)

http://www.skishopen.com (Norway)

http://www.skishoppen.com (Denmark)

http://www.skiwebkauf.com (Germany and Austria)

These shops specialize in freeride skis, so you will find plenty of models that don’t necessarily belong to the assortment of your local sport shop. The deal includes binding mounting too, if you want to, and there is some great, good-value offers of different binding/ski combinations. We can highly recommend the shop and we have also heard some pretty good feedback on their accuracy of delivery and good service.

White Dot Freeride is the long-held dream of two friends and avid skiers, Andrew Phyn and Lloyd Macfarlane. Guys spent hours and hours designing and perfecting their ski ideas on CAD software, and finally in 2008 they were ready to launch Whitedot.

White Dot Freeride company is driven by the personal experience and passion for skiing and mountains. Guys have long experience on skiing, and although building production is a helluva project, they still haven’t left the mountains. By having their operational center in the legendary Chamonix valley White Dot Freedire has a direct contact with some of the best freeriders of the world.

Whitedot skis are the result of long product development, intensive testing and continuous perfecting. The company doesn’t want to sell any “gimmicks”, but high quality skis. Even the simple painting tells people that these skis have nothing new or fancy. They are simply good quality skis for freeriders.

Whitedot skis are manufactured with the finest quality material, and their European manufacturer was selected after a long and detailed search for just the right supplier. They had to be sure that the factory that they entrusted to produce their skis could meet our strict quality standards. The factory came up trumps with their quality control and post production support, and they also came with a highly recommended reference from ISOsport Austria.

Check what White Dot Freeride says about their manufacturing in their website.

“Our bases are sintered ISO7200, to produce the high speeds and durability that we demand. Our tip to tail cores are made from ash and poplar for durability, dampening and the correct stiffness. The wood is grown from sustainable forests and milled in close proximity to the factory to help lower our carbon footprint. And, if that wasn’t enough, all of our composites are sourced from the very best suppliers in Europe.”

Got interested in Whitedot skis? Check if they have a dealer in your country. If you are visiting Chamonix you can get a pair of demo skis from White Dot Team Chalet, and while visiting you can shake hands with Whitedot team riders like Fred Syversen.

Oh, and how about the ski models? There are three different Whitedot ski models, namely The One, The Preacher and The Remeeder. It is better that you check the technical details straight from White dot Freeride website.

You can contact White Dot Freeride with the following contact information. It’s a small but ambitious company with high motivation to serve their customers, so you can expect warm and friendly response. If you’re interested in Whitedot skis, just send your questions by email and you should soon receive an answer.

Email: info@whitedotfreeride.com
Phone: +44 (0) 7971 471306
Skype: whitedotfreeride
Web: Whitedotfreeride.com

In my opinion the problem with the center mounted park skis is the lack of versatility that comes with the park/jib optimized stance. While you can somehow get used to the long ski tail and centered binding location, it still doesn’t feel like it should to an old schooler like me. On the other hand you could buy some real carving skis and be happy with even more skis in the “quiver” (yeah, like I need some more skis, see below. And sorry about the crappy mobile phone pictures this time). Anyway, modern twin tips are pretty good all mountain skis after all, so in a way it all comes down to the mounting point: for cruising/all mountain the more “traditional mount” works the best and for jumps and any jibs it’s the center mount that just rules, even more so if you land and hit stuff switch.

One solution to the above mentioned problem could be the so called rental/demo bindings, which can be moved  few centimeters along the ski. But for the expert/advanced skier they come with a trade-off; they are heavy, quite high off the ski and often come with a little bit of “slop”, affecting the feel and touch of the skis.

Enter Marker’s new SchizoFrantic line: low stack height, beefy freeride bindings with the ability to move the binding six centimeters along the ski, very clever solution for the skier just like me. And luckily web shop Suksikauppa.com gave us a test pair of Marker Jester SchizoFrantic bindings for a long time test use. And with the bindings came some pretty cool sticks too: a pair of 179cm K2 Extreme skis. Nice all mountain skis with measurements of 118-85-109mm (tip-middle-tail) and very cool “hot dog” graphics of skiers doing classic daffies, spreads and mule kicks (how cool is that for an old school mogul guy like me? I have to say I have been drooling at this particular ski model for a long time!)

We are planning to give this test pair a good beating on the local mole hills, including some moguls, park jumps, groomers and maybe some pressure boxes/rails too. And I am more than willing to lend the pair to some friend who wants to test the combo on some bigger hills too (if I don’t get the opportunity to do that myself). I guess Scandinavian Lapland/Mountains would be quite perfect for the set-up: just change the mounting point for the different use, off-piste, slopes, park.

Stay tuned for some test result in the upcoming weeks. We are pretty stoked to take these skis out to the slopes as soon as possible. I will also post some more pics when the binding mount is finished.

Big thanks to Sakke Ekman of Suksikauppa.com (Finnish) – be sure to check out the different country/national versions of the shop too:

http://www.skidbutiken.com (Sweden)

http://www.skishopen.com (Norway)

http://www.skishoppen.com (Denmark)

http://www.skiwebkauf.com (Germany and Austria)

These shops specialize in freeride skis, so you will find plenty of models that don’t necessarily belong to the assortment of your local sport shop. The deal includes binding mounting too, if you want to, and there is some great, good-value offers of different binding/ski combinations. We can highly recommend the shop and we have also heard some pretty good feedback on their accuracy of delivery and good service.

Although die hard freeskiers and life-long skibums might find luxury skis as crap, there are people interested in such ski gear. Luxury skis have their place in this world, even though most of us prefer riding skis such as Armada JJ or Atomic Bent Chetler. Some prefer rockered skis, some not, while some people find Birdos skis or Praxis Powder boards their dream come true.

Luxury skis are here to stay

If you happen to have money to burn, I recommend supporting Homeboys (just drop any amount to our PayPal account in info@fiercermedia.fi) or purchasing skis that help you to show off. I guess Chanel is not as good with skis as they are with perfumes, so most probably their skis won’t be your best choice to the backcountry or race tracks.

Pretty interesting ski wear, btw..

I guess Victoria Beckham is satisfied with her Chanel skis, but I personally would not ski Chanel. Not because of performance, but the name

So, what would be mens luxury ski brand? How about Zai for Bentley? Swiss ski maker Zai has joined with Bentley to produce a new limited edition of designer ski, which is constructed out of a combination of carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic, natural rubber, and chrome steel, which are all being used for the first time in a pair of skis.

For me it sounds like James Bond would choose Zai for Bentley.

Igneous Skis in Jackson Hole, Wyoming make custom skis and snowboards that are undeniably gorgeous. What makes these luxury skis different is that they have a real test team riding real slopes. Igneous Skis really puts some efforts on quality, but for some reason this is the first time I even hear about the company. May be it’s difficult to market new skis in such competitive market. Anyhow, Igneous Skis offer several different shapes from carver to straight, and GS and fall line to custom shapes. These guys seem to be a real deal, so gotta say I would definitely like to test ride Igneous skis and snowboards.

Then there is the Dunhill ski – yet another luxury ski model. The Dunhill Skis are available in either teak or carbon fiber finishes with tough titanium bases. Available in two sizes, the $2,100 skis feature Vist bindings, handmade in Italy, which ‘fuse innovation with security. Their sales pitch includes a short section”they look great and seeing as racing specialists, Speciale had a hand in them, they must ride like champs“. Oh yeah, for sure

Now I only need to wait couple of more days for Santa to bring my luxury skis. Then I’ll hit the road with James Bond and Victoria Beckham to show off with a bunch of fashion freaks in Gstaad in Switzerland.

Armada JJ has tip and tail rocker but normal camber and sidecut on the middle of the ski

I wrote an overview of the rockered skis in the beginning of the season 07/08. The one pair of skis that immediately caught my attention back then was the Armada JJ. I believed in the concept of negative camber and even sidecut from the beginning but somehow couldn’t see me skiing the variable Euro conditions on a so called reverse-reverse ski like Praxis Powders regularly (or the original Volant Spatula designed by late Shane McConkey himself). This is especially case nowadays when I can’t have the luxury of longer ski trips – the reality is that when you’re on a week or two long trip the weather can be anything. And I don’t like to drag multiple pairs of skis to the shorter holidays anyway.

This review is about the Armada JJ model 2008-2009 but the ski is essentially the same for the coming 2009-2010 season. I guess Armada pretty much nailed it the first time with this ski. The ski has an interesting five dimension sidecut: 126-136-115-133-121 mm, “the ski within a ski” design as Armada calls it. The rocker profile has similar tricks with Armada’s clever “Elf shoe” technology – the idea is that you have some conventional sidecut and camber under your feet but the tips and tails of the ski are rockered and also heavily tapered, meaning the widest part of the ski tip has been moved significantly further back on the ski than on your normal piste carvers (and the same goes for the tail of the ski also).

Skiing the Armada JJ – Tree skiing made even more fun than before

The one thing that comes to mind first when thinking about the JJ is versatility – and this meaning versatility especially in different kind of off-piste conditions. The skis do surprisingly fine on the hard pack and prepared slopes but in my opinion the shape comes alive when you enter natural snow conditions and variable forms of features to play with. The thing with rocker ski is its ability to “slash and slide” and do it also very quickly when needed – and where you need this kind of character is the natural terrain: trees, chutes, so called tricky snow etc. The ski also lets you to get much more playful on the features – rollers, natural half pipes, bumps and so on…

I couldn’t get the opportunity to ski the JJs on real, deep powder but can say they do very well from “dust on crust“ to very heavy spring snow. I had the luck to ski perfect spring corn snow in some relatively tight glades and I guess the ski was in its element right there. Almost any ski is good on that kind of snow but JJs boosted my confidence in the terms of knowing that I can slap the skis sideways in a microsecond when needed and the edge just wouldn’t catch but make a controlled, smooth drift. This is a lot of fun in tight trees; you end up testing how fast you can go without scaring yourself death!

Rocker ski like Armada JJ helps the skier in difficult conditions

I also skied few runs on a very heavy, “rotten” spring snow. My snowboarder friend was having trouble with his quite long and traditionally cambered, stiff freeride board, whereas I could make some remotely decent turns. The feeling was very funny, I ended up skiing like in a slow motion film because the snow was so sticky – not the most pleasant feeling but in this kind of snow I’ve always been scared for my knees before, now I felt to be in control instead. I guess the so called reverse-reverse ski would be even better for this kind of snow though. (The real question is why not rather instead go have a beer and maybe do a few steezy old school daffies in the park , heh).

Some people have complained that for the real tough big mountain skiing the JJs have too much sidecut and have maybe a tad too soft tips and tails. This might be true for real straight-lining, big hucking guys (or girls) but I guess for others it is all about the personal preference. For my use, the long turns were just fine. The sidecut is only present in the so short section of the ski middle that you won’t have the ski feeling too turny or “hooky” in any sense, and the rocker eliminates this completely anyway.

This type of ski, like the Atomic Bent Chetler I tested last season, has mad pop too. The combination of rockered tails and relatively stiff, cambered middle makes you feel like if you had some kind of springs on your feet. Some people have not liked this feature but for an old mogul skier like me this is pure joy. The skis even work pretty well on soft park hits, even though this is not a light set-up (especially with the Marker Dukes I have on them). The so called swing-weight is still relatively low because of the heavily tapered shape (backcountry freestylers take note!).

The negative?

The Armada JJ is clearly a soft snow ski despite its versatility. Once the soft snow melts and starts to re-freeze to uneven crud the tips and tails of the ski start to slap wildly at higher speeds. When (or if) you stay on the middle and be sharp this probably won’t totally drag you but here you will discover the negatives of the short effective edge and feel like if you were on a very short ski, after all. The 195cm or even the manly 200cm version wouldn’t be overkill for bigger skiers and/or for real big mountain use. Rossignol already has the 195cm “Super S7”, so I guess Armada should also step up here?

Hard moguls are not JJ’s strong point either – this can’t be a surprise to anyone. Anyhow, soft and loose, uneven moguls are pretty fun. This is where you can choose any possible turn type and use all kind of combination between pure carve and a total sideways slide. Again, one could state that it beats the office hours at least…

I didn’t ski any real bad breakable crud on these skis. This is probably where the real challenge comes, if the JJs can handle this stuff then the concept is a winner in my mind. I’ll report once I “get” to ski this kind of snow next time (And by the way, please let me know if you’ve already tried it!).

The Summary – Armada JJ is a great ski for a playful skier that seeks for powder but has to encounter all kinds of conditions

A ski that is rockered both at the tails and tips is actually pretty demanding when it comes to fore/aft stability of the skier. If you know what you’re doing and keep your weight centered, the ski will serve you and you will be rewarded with an ability to control your skis that might not have been familiar to you earlier. Anyway, the rocker (especially in the tail) can lead the skier to trouble too. I’ve found that old school “jetting” (moving your weight towards the back of the ski in the end of the turn) is pretty much a no-no. All kinds of lazy back seat turns will be a quest for trouble also. “Vtdownhiller” from TGR forums put this neatly when reviewing some other rocker skis, calling this feature “autobackseat”:

The key to first time reverse/reverse skiing is to ski them weight forward, aggressive stance and keep pressure in on the front of your boot, the fatter width under foot the more “smearing” you have to do….the tips won’t dive, so you have to stay forward to keep from getting the backseat because the skis want to jet out ahead of you…the Moments are a little easier to get to used to because of the flat spot under the foot, continuous rockers allow a more pivot style of skiing…

The JJs won’t do this in an exaggerated manner but on the contrary to first intuition they are quite demanding skis after all. This meaning they will be easy to ski and help anyone to ski difficult conditions but if you really want to get the benefits of the design you will have to know how to ski properly too. And I guess that to an extent this holds true for all rockered skis.

My first impression of the Atomic Atlas was: medium-stiff, traditional feel, easier “old Big Daddy”. I remember someone saying that the new wood-cored Atomic freeride skis are heavier than the old ones with the foam core but I am not sure; the Atlas didn’t feel that heavy, considering the huge size (and demo bindings, which are heavy by nature in any case).

One thing was easy to observe from the first few groomer rides: the tips are so tapered that if you lean forward enough you can cause the skis to “split” a bit, and (slightly) shoot in separate directions (because of the heavily tapered, “reverse sidecut” tips). This was the first time I’ve experienced this and I can only imagine how this kind of “split” feels on a so-called reverse-reverse ski, like Praxis Powder. However, on Atomic Atlas if you skied a bit more centered the skis carved very well and offered a stable yet pretty relaxed ride.

In my opinion the Atlas has quite a “traditional” feel but not in a bad sense. This is probably a great ski for those that “just” want to turn..and I guess cliff drops and air are not bad either (if you are not into spins and flips and backcountry kickers). The shovel is really long, so I guess landing on the front seat wouldn’t be a problem on  Atomic Atlas.

Due to the width and tip rocker the skis also offered some fun sideways “slides”…anyway, after trying the new Atomic Bent Chetler I realize that Atlas is still quite traditional and  doesn’t offer as much fun than the Bent Chetlers did (read more here: Atomic Bent Chetler 183cm 09/10 Ski Review).

Atlas was also clearly a long turning ski that didn’t quite get into its element on our little groomed slope. But I am sure that for soft snow and wide open runs the ski would be great.

Atlas handles a groomed slope okay but I have to admit that forcing the 125mm middle ski into edge and trying to bend into shorter turns was pretty damn hard on my old mogul skier knees. So, to summarize: don’t buy this ski for “all-mountain”/piste use, it is clearly a soft snow ski made for steep and deep!

Atomic Snoop Daddy 184cm

129mm-94mm-118mm, 22m turn radius, contruction unchanged from the 08-09 line-up.

Frankly, I didn’t get that excited about this ski. This was probably because of the conditions though. While the dimension of this ski are not that huge on paper I felt like it skied much “bigger”, meaning long turns, very stable (almost too stiff for my taste, especially in the tail), damp and calm. The sidecut also felt straighter than the 22m turn radius would make you anticipate.

For small hill use Atomic Snoop Daddy felt a bit dull. But I guess this would rule in chopped-up crud or soft, not too tight moguls.

I also did a couple of jumps from the table top. And compared to the twin-tips the mounting point felt way rearward, and required you to be very careful on the take off. Well, this is no freestyle ski anyway…but if you like to huck a lot and mix a bit freestyle and big mountain, this probably isn’t your ski.

Atomic states that the Snoop Daddy would serve as a nice telemark and AT ski, and I believe that. Corn snow, couloirs and variable condition probably suits the Atomic Snoop Daddy best.

Atomic Patent 184cm

95 mm middle (didn’t get the tip and tail measurement), full twin-tip

This is said to be a bit wider twin for soft(er) snow and soft bc and spring kickers. However, it didn’t feel wide at all.

I really dug this ski. It was not as much fun as the Bent Chetler but very predictable and easy to ski. Atomic Patent carved nice round turns, even with bindings mounted quite centered. Jumping was easy and somehow the Patent felt also very forgiving on landings (especially fakie) even without the rocker and with slightly stiffer flex than the Bent Chetlers.

On piste Atomic Patent wasn’t “noodley” at all, the ski felt torsionally stiff, no chattering at all on the hard surface.

I could buy this ski. I really like my current park skis, Salomon 1080 CR Labs,  but I see no reason to go a bit wider when buying the next ones. I guess I am used to the wider skis but in my case they seem to add some (necessary) stability to landings and take-offs, and I am not spinning 900′s anyway…so the added weight doesn’t matter that much either.

Atomic Coax 183 cm

105mm in  the middle (didn’t get the other easurements), twin-tip

Atomic Coax felt like a wider and slightly heavier version of the Patent. Carved nicely and felt really solid. I only skied these for two runs and didn’t jump at all.The flex is rounder than e.g. on Völkl Gotamas (current version, which hasn’t changed that much from 06/07).

Atomic Coax has a quite centered mounting point for a ski this big. But hard to say anything about the soft snow performance with this limited test…I guess some might mount the bindings a few cm’s back from the recommended mark.