It's true that a poor workman blames his tools. On the other hand, it's been a BLAST this year trying some of the many different types of skis and seeing how they feel. (Reminder: the last time I skied was 1986). I'm currently polygamous with five pair of skis, which is maybe too many, but some of the purchases were accidents that ended up serving an unintended purpose. As a back-after-a-break type, here's what I ended up with at the end of this season:
1.
2014 Black Pearl (Bushwacker, actually, but same exact ski): Bought new without demo-ing because of all the great reviews and because I was impatient and in too much of a hurry to get off rental skis. The first time I used them in Vermont, I hated them; almost sold them, but took them out on a whim on a spring afternoon and it turns out that they are great fun in slush. They turned what would have been a miserable day into a joyful romp. Now I LOVE spring skiing and have the perfect tool for it!
2.
Volkl Charisma. Daily ice carving machine for the east coast, bought to remedy the BP mistake. Demoed several times and then bought it as my main ski. LOVE this ski, though it seems that it should be too short for me at 163, it doesn't feel short on the snow.
3.
ON3P Jessie 86: symmetrical twin tip. I had a moment of doubt and listed these for sale, but then decided to keep them. I'd demoed and liked them because they carve pretty well. I enjoyed playing in the terrain park this year, but I don't want to drag the bases of my regular skis over boxes and other features. Also, I want to learn to ski switch and do 180s, purely for the fun of it. (As with mountain biking, it turns out I like to catch air. Who knew?) Maybe I can work on my afterbang. Kidding!!
4.
RAMP Jailbird: They were $149, and I thought they'd be fun for beer-league racing, so I bought 'em sight unseen. That's about the extent of the logic that went into this purchase. I'll definitely post a review of these once I've spent time on them. They do seem like an interesting ski.
5.
2016 Volkl Kendo: (exact same ski as the Kenja except for the graphics). I found these on sale and bought them because they fill the role that I thought the Black Pearls would, and I really liked the feel of a slightly wider ski. So now I have the Charisma and the Kendo, which seems redundant. I don't know if it makes sense to keep both.
That's it. I saw some Soul Riders on sale here recently and thought about it, but then I thought "Dude: don't be ridiculous." I think I've recovered from my gear-acquisition spree, and like
@surfsnowgirl, I just want to work on improving my skills. I do think that's a pretty well-rounded, reasonable quiver, though, and I don't regret anything on the list.
I also spent some serious time and effort this spring learning to wax and tune my skis so that I can take care of them myself and make them last as long as possible. Hopefully I won't have to make any ski-related purchases other than beer and wax for quite some time!
...
I have to admit that it's not entirely by choice that I just have one pair. In fact, I started buying skis for other people in the family, which is basically how I channel/control my shopping addiction.
