Hi,
I’m new to this site but everyone’s posts have been very helpful to me so I figured I’d post a bit on the demos I’ve done recently. I’m an advanced skier and used to ski a lot, but then moved down to DC so recently have only skied about 10 days a year. This year my husband and I decided to get new equipment so did a lot of demos in the last few weeks. I specifically wanted a ski that would handle ice well, since most of our skiing is in VT, but also work decently enough in powder for an occasional trip out west.
We didn’t manage to get to any demo days, so just relied on demo shops which, unfortunately, seem only to carry short skis. I’m listing the skis in the order in which I tried them. Apologies for the lack of detail on some of them.
Mount Snow, VT:
Dynastar Exclusive Legend Eden (158 – 126/85/110) – This was the first ski I tried and it seemed slippery to me, but a fun ski. Since it was the first ski I demo’d, I think it was just a bit of a shock from my old skis, which are first generation parabolics (Atomic, I have no idea what they’re called, but they’re 15 years old), so it was hard for me to get a good idea of it. I ended up liking it enough that I redemo’d it yesterday, and love it (more on that below).
Rossignol Attraxion VIII Echo (162 – 127/75/108) – After one run I stopped and told my husband “this is it.” This ski turned very easily and handled well on the ice. It turned quickly and eased through moguls, and really just encouraged me to be a better skier.
K2 Burnin’ Luv (160 – 117/70/101) – This ski was awesome, very easy turns and very responsive. It’s a great carver, but at the end of the day I decided it just wasn’t what I wanted because the waist of 70 is pretty limiting. I have to say though that of the eleven skis I tried this was by far the best on moguls, letting me just cruise through effortlessly.
Okemo, VT:
We found this demo shop to be a bit of a pain, mostly because the way Okemo is set up you don’t generally go to the bottom between runs unless you’re a beginner, and the demo shop is all the way at the bottom. You can sort of ski down to it, but then you have to climb a bunch of steel stairs to get back up to the mountain. Anyway, the offerings at Okemo were a little limited, so I ended up trying random skis.
Atomic Seventh Heaven (164 – 118.5/79/104.5) – They didn’t have any of the ones I wanted, so the guy there suggested I try these. I don’t remember much about them…there was nothing really wrong with these but they also didn’t really do anything for me. Sorry I don’t remember more.
Elan Free (159 – 128/88/108) – They had just gotten these skis, and I was looking to try wider waist skis, so they recommended I try this one. It was a really fun ski, very playful, but is more of a powder ski and well, there wasn’t really any powder. I did try it on moguls and it performed better than I expected, but ultimately didn’t turn as quickly as I wanted. If I were going to get two skis, I might have gotten this and the Burnin’ Luv, but since I don’t ski that much I need to compromise on the waist.
Atomic Blackeye Ti (167 – 125.5/82/110.5) – My husband had tried this and really liked it, and there wasn’t anything else I really wanted to try, so I gave it a shot. I was skiing the 167, which is a little long for me, but was all they had in. This was a very stable ski, good at speed and good on ice. Overall I was impressed with this ski, and considered getting it until I tried it on moguls. It was just too heavy for me, and really made me work more than I wanted to. This might have been better in a shorter length, but I ultimately decided a women’s ski was more appropriate.
Stratton, VT
K2 Lotta Luv (163 – 125/82/110) – I really wanted to like this ski but I just had trouble controlling it. It was a very fast ski and wasn’t as responsive as I’d like, so I just didn’t feel very safe on it, especially on a busy day. As a result, I ended up just getting very cautious, and even my husband commented that for once he was leaving me behind because I was so timid on this ski.
Dynastar Exclusive Idyll (158 – 124/79/106) – This ski was fine, but just not aggressive enough for what I wanted.
Head Wild One (161 – 121/81/107) – I was very surprised by how much I liked this ski. I’ve never really liked Head skis, for no good reason, but this one worked great. It turned well, handled ice, and cruised through moguls. My only hesitation was that it still wasn’t quite as aggressive as I wanted, and of course my mental block against Head.
Elan Pure Magic (158 – 123/78/105) – This was a shot in the dark, not one I had wanted to try, but was another recommendation based on my telling the demo guys that I wanted something more aggressive. They were very stable at speed and gave me confidence to go faster than I normally would on slick ice. I was sold on this ski until I took it through the moguls (I tried to do similar conditions with each ski to really get a good comparison). It turned quickly and was very responsive, but really just felt like it slammed down in the moguls. I’m not sure what the problem was, maybe it was too stiff or I just wasn’t used to the ski, but it’s the first time I’ve ever felt all the impact in bumps go straight up through my spine. In any case, everything but the moguls was great on this ski.
Wintergreen, VA
I had it narrowed down to the Dynastar Exclusive Eden or the Rossignol Attraxion VIII Echo, and was trying to talk myself into the Dynastar because of the wider waist, so wanted to try it out again. My husband called about 15 places in VA, MD and PA, and Wintergreen was the only demo shop that had it.
Dynastar Exclusive Legend Eden (158 – 126/85/110) – The second time I demo’d this I loved it. They put me in the 158 because that was the longest they had, and it was great. The ski turned easily, held on ice, and didn’t slide. I would have loved to try it again on bumps, but there weren’t any (a double black at Wintergreen is like a Vermont blue). The 158 seemed a little short (I’m 5’7”), so I’m going to order the 165 and hope that length works. I’m very excited about this ski, especially because the wider waist (compared to my second choice, the Rossi Attraxion VIII Echo) will be better in powder.
Volkl Kenja (156 – 129/86/105) – I tried this one because I’d heard so many good things about it, and really enjoyed the first few runs. Unfortunately the fog was very heavy, and getting heavier (couldn’t see the chair in front of you), so I had to be pretty cautious and couldn’t safely pick up speed to test the ski. The ski was also too short for me, and I really felt that. From what I could tell, this ski carved well, and was very stable at speed, but I had a little more trouble getting up to speed than I did on the Dynastar Eden (fog aside).
I’m new to this site but everyone’s posts have been very helpful to me so I figured I’d post a bit on the demos I’ve done recently. I’m an advanced skier and used to ski a lot, but then moved down to DC so recently have only skied about 10 days a year. This year my husband and I decided to get new equipment so did a lot of demos in the last few weeks. I specifically wanted a ski that would handle ice well, since most of our skiing is in VT, but also work decently enough in powder for an occasional trip out west.
We didn’t manage to get to any demo days, so just relied on demo shops which, unfortunately, seem only to carry short skis. I’m listing the skis in the order in which I tried them. Apologies for the lack of detail on some of them.
Mount Snow, VT:
Dynastar Exclusive Legend Eden (158 – 126/85/110) – This was the first ski I tried and it seemed slippery to me, but a fun ski. Since it was the first ski I demo’d, I think it was just a bit of a shock from my old skis, which are first generation parabolics (Atomic, I have no idea what they’re called, but they’re 15 years old), so it was hard for me to get a good idea of it. I ended up liking it enough that I redemo’d it yesterday, and love it (more on that below).
Rossignol Attraxion VIII Echo (162 – 127/75/108) – After one run I stopped and told my husband “this is it.” This ski turned very easily and handled well on the ice. It turned quickly and eased through moguls, and really just encouraged me to be a better skier.
K2 Burnin’ Luv (160 – 117/70/101) – This ski was awesome, very easy turns and very responsive. It’s a great carver, but at the end of the day I decided it just wasn’t what I wanted because the waist of 70 is pretty limiting. I have to say though that of the eleven skis I tried this was by far the best on moguls, letting me just cruise through effortlessly.
Okemo, VT:
We found this demo shop to be a bit of a pain, mostly because the way Okemo is set up you don’t generally go to the bottom between runs unless you’re a beginner, and the demo shop is all the way at the bottom. You can sort of ski down to it, but then you have to climb a bunch of steel stairs to get back up to the mountain. Anyway, the offerings at Okemo were a little limited, so I ended up trying random skis.
Atomic Seventh Heaven (164 – 118.5/79/104.5) – They didn’t have any of the ones I wanted, so the guy there suggested I try these. I don’t remember much about them…there was nothing really wrong with these but they also didn’t really do anything for me. Sorry I don’t remember more.
Elan Free (159 – 128/88/108) – They had just gotten these skis, and I was looking to try wider waist skis, so they recommended I try this one. It was a really fun ski, very playful, but is more of a powder ski and well, there wasn’t really any powder. I did try it on moguls and it performed better than I expected, but ultimately didn’t turn as quickly as I wanted. If I were going to get two skis, I might have gotten this and the Burnin’ Luv, but since I don’t ski that much I need to compromise on the waist.
Atomic Blackeye Ti (167 – 125.5/82/110.5) – My husband had tried this and really liked it, and there wasn’t anything else I really wanted to try, so I gave it a shot. I was skiing the 167, which is a little long for me, but was all they had in. This was a very stable ski, good at speed and good on ice. Overall I was impressed with this ski, and considered getting it until I tried it on moguls. It was just too heavy for me, and really made me work more than I wanted to. This might have been better in a shorter length, but I ultimately decided a women’s ski was more appropriate.
Stratton, VT
K2 Lotta Luv (163 – 125/82/110) – I really wanted to like this ski but I just had trouble controlling it. It was a very fast ski and wasn’t as responsive as I’d like, so I just didn’t feel very safe on it, especially on a busy day. As a result, I ended up just getting very cautious, and even my husband commented that for once he was leaving me behind because I was so timid on this ski.
Dynastar Exclusive Idyll (158 – 124/79/106) – This ski was fine, but just not aggressive enough for what I wanted.
Head Wild One (161 – 121/81/107) – I was very surprised by how much I liked this ski. I’ve never really liked Head skis, for no good reason, but this one worked great. It turned well, handled ice, and cruised through moguls. My only hesitation was that it still wasn’t quite as aggressive as I wanted, and of course my mental block against Head.
Elan Pure Magic (158 – 123/78/105) – This was a shot in the dark, not one I had wanted to try, but was another recommendation based on my telling the demo guys that I wanted something more aggressive. They were very stable at speed and gave me confidence to go faster than I normally would on slick ice. I was sold on this ski until I took it through the moguls (I tried to do similar conditions with each ski to really get a good comparison). It turned quickly and was very responsive, but really just felt like it slammed down in the moguls. I’m not sure what the problem was, maybe it was too stiff or I just wasn’t used to the ski, but it’s the first time I’ve ever felt all the impact in bumps go straight up through my spine. In any case, everything but the moguls was great on this ski.
Wintergreen, VA
I had it narrowed down to the Dynastar Exclusive Eden or the Rossignol Attraxion VIII Echo, and was trying to talk myself into the Dynastar because of the wider waist, so wanted to try it out again. My husband called about 15 places in VA, MD and PA, and Wintergreen was the only demo shop that had it.
Dynastar Exclusive Legend Eden (158 – 126/85/110) – The second time I demo’d this I loved it. They put me in the 158 because that was the longest they had, and it was great. The ski turned easily, held on ice, and didn’t slide. I would have loved to try it again on bumps, but there weren’t any (a double black at Wintergreen is like a Vermont blue). The 158 seemed a little short (I’m 5’7”), so I’m going to order the 165 and hope that length works. I’m very excited about this ski, especially because the wider waist (compared to my second choice, the Rossi Attraxion VIII Echo) will be better in powder.
Volkl Kenja (156 – 129/86/105) – I tried this one because I’d heard so many good things about it, and really enjoyed the first few runs. Unfortunately the fog was very heavy, and getting heavier (couldn’t see the chair in front of you), so I had to be pretty cautious and couldn’t safely pick up speed to test the ski. The ski was also too short for me, and I really felt that. From what I could tell, this ski carved well, and was very stable at speed, but I had a little more trouble getting up to speed than I did on the Dynastar Eden (fog aside).
Glad you found your "match!" 
