Have a few friends who I wished would Ski Nerd out w/me more, but having this channel makes up for that now. Plus all the great fellow commenters thank you all I love this ski party family we've got here! Elliot thanks so much for the shout outs and compliments, wasn't expecting that or any comment of mine to be a feature of a video, I'm so honored! And such an awesome response, the 2 skis (QST92 vs Kore93) took opposite approaches, arriving at a similar destination. I can add from personnel experience make sure the DIN is high (at least 8) and attach some powder streamers before wadding into beyond a ft of powder while on the Kore 93; because that's how I lost 1 of mine!
Ha sorry to hear that, I lost an old beauty, Salomon equipe 2S in heavenly Milky Way bowl... For the Kore, I skied that thing in 22" in WV Jan 26, 27. It shocked me how well it "dolphined" in the trees. My issue with the Kore in powder is that once the snow gets that "thick mashed potatoes", I miss a straight up dose of metal like a mantra. Kore won't fail me in the sludge, but it needs my full effort Western slopes tend to have rocks & rivulets though, and I could see the Kore bottoming out under stuff and just disappearing down a rivulet
@@mrremke Hey thanks that's exactly what happened as soon as I turned into the trees off Disney at SugarBowl, totally dive bombed on me, although it lead me to the Stance, which I think is a more versatile all mtn ski. I now prefer my Volkl Revolt 104s in the mashed vs the Stance, I have old Kore 99s that I loved in the powder they bounced on top of it they became my rock skis. Pretty useless on anything hard.
The best East Coast ice ski is a frontside/carving ski with two sheets of metal. Something like the Head Supershape's. Most important, keep them sharp. Buy a 87 degree edge angle guide and a 400 grit diamond file and a little clamp to hold them together. Learn how to sharpen your edges and do them every 4-8 hrs of skiing.
I really appreciated the response to the question about the best east coast ski. I think most people who were also curious really just wanted to know what you'd have in your quiver if you were still in Vermont, so I think that answer hit the mark.
The question was what is the best East Coast ice ski? Not, what would be in your quiver if you were still in Vermont. So I think he actually left the questioner hanging to a degree.
@@bearclaw5115 I dunno, the Stockli makes sense depending on what you want to do, same with the mention of the Enforcer. I still think there's a meaningful difference between boilerplate groomed runs and choppy/inconsistent conditions both on- and off-piste, and my pick would differ between those two scenarios. And if you don't know if someone is a former racer or not, hard to blind recommend a detuned race ski, and then there's short vs long turn radius. So it's still kinda inviting a recommendation without much to narrow it down, so I definitely read the question as, "What would be in your quiver if you were still living back east?". If Elliott is gonna ski on a Kendo or an Octo when it's icy, that seems valid.
@@bearclaw5115 I also think it'd be tough to make a recommendation considering Idaho does not offer comparable conditions for testing skis designed for firm, icy conditions, and some of the skis which excel on very firm boilerplate may be nearly impossible to acquire for a demo in Idaho. But a Kendo is probably equally at home in Idaho as it would be out east.
I need to check on stockli... haven't been able to, but I believe what I've heard. Having said that, there are lots of excellent "cleavers" out there. If I can get my paws on a high strung atomic or volkl, I'm confident. Fischer and head can do it with their premium grade stuff, but I think that goes for all makers
I cannot ever argue the point about sharp edges, but overall torsional rigidity is what I look for. I ski the Kore 93, but if it's "boilerplate", gimme a high end atomic, volkl or fisher...
As a former racer myself, I ski a 120 boot also. 130s can inhibit me in certain conditions. I like the forgiving flex that the 120 gives me. And like you say, when you’re skiing a full day, and you hit the bumps at the end of a day, 130s can be very uncomfortable and limiting.
100% agreed on the Kore 93 assessment, head did a great job giving it nice off trail ability while keeping a very high on piste "standard" I guess . I don't know the qst but that argument made very good sense to me. I believe that
The best ice skis I’ve been on were Volkl Kendos with sharpened edges. The 80-90mm range is the sweet spot for good hold on ice and enough width for off piste.
I’m skiing a Volkl Deacon V Werks 84 for the ice. No complaints. I feel like a pretty accomplished skier and I have skied all of the “famous” blacks on the east coast but I like to ski them and not just get down them. If the conditions are really poor “icy” I don’t go near them. I don’t find survival skiing very enjoyable. I’m too old to be skiing where falls have consequences. What a fun sport you can do for a lifetime. Cheers
For ice. Narrower, bit of metal underfoot, less rocker and something you can bend. Declivity 82ti, or 92ti if you prefer more width, works really well to cover all of that.
There can never be only one answer- best skis for early season East Coast ice (not enough snow fallen yet) are straight up carving skis. Mine are Blizzard Thunderbird R15 WB (which you should review), but there are a ton of good ones. For skied off ice in between storms, need something that can handle hard bumps and treks into the woods to find the remaining tiny stashes, Head Kore 87s work great.
6:40 I think that's fair assesment, and about the "ego on boot flex". A local boot fitter here put it pretty well: you're better off getting a properly fitting boot here and giving up 10-20 in the boot flex, than wear ill-fitting boot.
1:00 when do you know you need to replace your boots? Indeed, a good question, and as we know it, the general "recommended" mark in average is 100-150 days, depending on your skiing acitivity, level etc. And how much you realistically want and need to put money into your boots. It's really debatble if the casual skier benefits from getting new boots every 2-3 years, apart from getting a new look on the boot. But what does 150 days mean, essentially? Let's consider: What is your "day" length: - go to the slopes for the evening for 3 hours; active skiing time perhaps 1 hour, 2 hours in the restaurant with the buddies shooting sh** -> 150days = 150hrs - go to the slopes in the weekend, spend 6 hours in the resort, active hours in the slopes 4 hours -> 150 days = 600 hours What kind of skiing you do: - on piste, smooth groomers, hardly any bumps etc. -> boots hardly get any hard hits - off-piste, where you might have drops, jumps, bumps, knock your boots to rocks -> fast and hard bumps stress the plastic, rock hits will cause actual cracks and other wear to the boots How do you wear the boots otherwise: - Carry the boots to the locker room, put them on and walk on smooth surface and on snow only -> hardly any wear to the soles - Put your boots on in the parking lot, walk around on gravel, asphalt, metal stairs -> soles and boot toe and heel lugs wil get natural wear from walking -> worn lugs might not securely attach to the bindings How many days to you ski during a season: - casual holiday skier, 5 days a season -> 150 days = 30 years , very likely the plastic is way beyond its "best before"-date - professional skier, like a ski guide or instructor: 100-150 days as season (5 months, 4-5 days a week) The more years you keep the boots, the less probably you will be able to get spare parts, like replacement sole pads and buckles etc. So also that is a factor to consider. I had 5 seasons old boots last year, and they would've needed new liners, sole pads and perhaps some spare buckles just in case. So the cost to maintain them would've been around 250 euros. Also, they did have some fit issues, especially when worn over multiple days on trips. So, I got new boots for 470 euros instead, effectively investing 220 euros for upcoming years of more worry-free hobbying, and better wearing boots.
Silly to say that it's okay to ask for free skis but not free art. What's the difference? Both are valuable and so is the attention they'd get from Elliott doing the tat. So Elliott didn't ask for free stuff so much as he suggested a trade. And that is entirely reasonable.
Boot flex - made the same assessment as you Elliot when I stopped coaching. I'm 6'1 190lbs and an aggressive skier, whistler is my home mtn. I like some flex and upper cuff mobility for off trail and mixed conditions. I will say when I had my Kore 99 or Kastle MX skis I would blow through them when skiing groomers like an animal. I think if you have multiple pairs of skis 2 pairs of boots is warranted and where I am headed. One 120 freeride with decent touring performance and one 130 piste focused from the same brand.
Make sure that helmet has MIPS! I had a crash this year with an old basic helmet on and still received a terrible concussion with two months of misery to follow. The MIPS system reduces rotational impact forces on the brain and those are the bad kind. Hitting a ski slope at angle will induce a rotational force.
Re: Boot Flex... there is a lot more that goes into it than most people think about. Your height (leverage), weight (resistance), ankle flexibility, typical conditions you ski in (powder requires less than groomer/ice), skiing style / type (back country vs carving vs park), ... it's not as simple as good skier = higher flex. And to make it even more complicated, there isn't a standard for flex rating, so one companies 120 is another's 130, and 130 in one boot line could be different than another. More reasons why people should go to a good boot fitter... it's A LOT easier to make a boot more flexible than to make it stiffer. And finally, boots change flex with temperature, so depending on where you normally ski that could have a small impact as well.
great comment! ALSO the hawx touring 120 was softer than the 120s so when I was trying out the touring version I had to go up to a 130XT vs my 120s, so even inside of the same brand there's variation
There is also forward flex and lateral flex. I just stepped up to the zipfits this year because I loved the shell but wore out the liners. For me, I end up bolstering my liners, so when I start getting hotspots etc, I know it's time. Agreed about the shell comments also, but it's all about the liner fit as far as "when it's time"
Great topic to bring up but I think your range starts with too little angle. You say "makes the difference" but most skis used in the East already have at least a 1.5 degree side edge angle. Personally, I run 87 degrees for grip and precision.
Hmm, edge bevel and sharpness do go hand-in hand. The more bevel, the sharper the edge will be. You are better off with maintained 1/88 degree egdes, than a dull 1/87. On the other hand, depending on skier, sharp 1/87 may be too much to handle, so again 1/88 could be better. Thirdly, sharper bevel gets dull more easily.
Just make sure to try on a new boot of similar flex to see if you're missing anything. I just got some new boots in and the difference is unbelievable despite being very similar apart from age.
Home Town Sports in McCall had the Stance 80 as one of their rental choices. If you could make it to Tamarack or Brundage next season, you would probably find some different demo skis available.
I had a chance to demo 4 skis at Mt Snow last winter, in mixed conditions, most of the trails had some fresh groomed, man made snow that day but others like the north face main trails, and "One More Time" (nearer the demo shop) the snow was a mix of crust and ice. Out of 4, the Volkl Kendo 88, Salomon Stance 88, K2 Mindbender 89ti, and the Rossignol Experience 86 ti, the Rossi was by far the best in the firm conditions, in fact it was better than any other ski I have had, including some racing skis.
I ski a lot on iced groomers in NY. I don't like chatter and prioritize dampness. I ski a Blizzard Brahma 82 which works great. That said they don't make them any longer. I would look at the Blizzard Anomaly 84 (the Brahma replacement), Armada Declivity 82, or the Octo that Elliot suggested. If you ski more off trail maybe look at a wider ski.
I have the declivity 82 ti and for a softer ski it did awesome on west coast refrozen ice. I left my buddies behind in clouds of ice dust. Because we so rarely ski ice here, typically we get really nervous but that ski was very confidence inspring
I have always used my boots until the plastic broke.. Your 100 days rule does sound about right for my situation now... Right now I have 65 days on my boots.. I can probably get 2 more seasons of about 20 days on them.. One of my pairs of skis my feet feel loose in the boots.. It is my longest pair of skis and there is a lot of torque on my boots.. My other skis feel fine with my boots.. So 1 pair out of 10.. I think my boot flex is 110.. I am not sure and I will have to check them out.. Yeah my race boots were stiff but skiing in variable conditions I like have softer boots.. When I used to snowboard my snowboard (Kemper) was stiff but my boots (Sorels) were soft.. I think a lot of the snowboards are softer but the boots are stiffer... Hmmm.. Something to think about.. I am originally from Wisconsin and I am not sure about how the East Coast is but I would probably have a really good carver.. I would probably go with the Montero Line.. 88s might actually be too wide.. I see people out here in Colorado skiing the Montero Line or the Lasers.. Early season I am going to have to choose between my 100 waist width with a 15m turn radius over my 70 waist width with a 13m turn radius.. My larger turn radius skis will have to wait until most of the ski hill is open.. My Stormriders 88s have a 19m turn radius which is too much of a turn radius for me if there are people all over the place.. How much can you actually go off trail in the midwest?
I will never understand the attraction of permanently drawing on your skin with subcutaneous ink injections. You should read the new peer reviewed study that found a 21% higher risk of lymphoma (blood related cancer) for individuals with tattoos. Interestingly, the study is from Sweden and seems to have focused on tattoos in Sweden. Just looking out for my favorite ski content provider.
