• Women skiers, this is the place for you -- an online community without the male-orientation you'll find in conventional ski magazines and internet ski forums. At TheSkiDiva.com, you can connect with other women to talk about skiing in a way that you can relate to, about things that you find of interest. Be sure to join our community to participate (women only, please!). Registration is fast and simple. Just be sure to add [email protected] to your address book so your registration activation emails won't be routed as spam. And please give careful consideration to your user name -- it will not be changed once your registration is confirmed.

Demo day at Alta, April 2019

nopoleskier

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Demo Day was fun. Snow was spring conditions, piled up easily into soft bumps. As the day continued the snow got thicker (gack). The ungroomed was still a bit frozen in the morning but softened up nicely. About me: I am 61 I think I'm still 28 skiing LOL, love to carve big turns and fast short turns, I tend to ski fast. I like stable skis (race background) but like them to be nimble, quick turning, playful but go fast without chatter. Must be able to make long and short turns in and out of piles to groomed without getting bounced.
I am looking for a 'fatty' that will be light and nimble like my Z-90's for big snow over a foot. These conditions provided piles of banged up snow while true powder would be light piles.

I tried a few skis. unfortunately most skis available were too short for my liking but here's my reviews. I don't have the full measurements of the skis.

I started with the Blizzard Sheeva 10 (100 under foot) 164 Length. I liked the ski a lot. It tracked well in the gack, was easy to carve, very nimble and playful. At speed the 164 got chattery I'd be happier on the 172 cm. I can see why this gets the love it does, it deserves it. Very nice ski for 100 underfoot

1554696030797.png

Next: Blizzard Black Pearl 98- 173 Length. I was surprised this ski looks like an old style ski. It skis like a new ski. It worked well in the piles of gack, bumps and was very good at speed no chatter. Very Solid ski. Easy to carve. I had demo'd before but was shorter length and I did not like it. Most important: Get the right size ski! Interesting that coming from old skis; 195cm in the 70's,80's to Shorties and now the skis I'm liking are longer again. 1554696225935.png
Next: Atomic Vantage 107- 167cm (Still TOO Short) Very nice ski, I do like Atomics, stable, easy to ski, very solid easy turning in piles of snow, cut right thru it all, easy to ski on the groomer. I was surprised they didn't feel as fat as they are. Unfortunately They got chattery at speed due to being too short. I'd get the 172cm and I did like the "Red Ski". I'd like to try in powder and longer length 1554696395561.png

So I've wanted to try DPS for quite some time.. They are very popular. I took the Zelda 106 under foot, 163 length. I'd again want the 171cm. This ski seemed blah to me at the top. I took all skis onto steep pitches, some groomer areas but mostly into piles of spring snow and I did slow turns and big turns, took all thru the bumps and ungroomed, I let them loose on the groomer run out portion to see if they had tip shake. After groaning after a couple of turns the more I skied them they did 'grow' on me but due to being so short they weren't high on my list of favs.They did do everything I asked them too but for me just not playful enough, The rep said I may like the Yvette better but I never got on them. 1554696563859.png

Last Pair: Armada Trace 98 under foot, 164cm length. I did not like these, got very chattery at speed and bounced around in the piles. Very plankish and for me just not fun. They were Very disappointing after all the rave reviews I read. Just not my kind of ski.
1554696681512.png

As the day grew on the clouds thickened, some runs we had nearly zero visibility. The snow was getting more piled up. It was lunch time so took my Renoun Z-90's out to compare. No Comparison for me- my Z-90's stole the show. They just are THE BEST Ski for all types of conditions. They cut thru piles of gack, carve superbly, are a blast in the bumps. So solid and never a tip shake or waiver in the thick gack snow. After skiing a couple runs on my skis I didn't want to try any more skis.,It is so nice to have the best pair on my feet.

Demo Demo Demo. What I like you may hate! It is so interesting to see how differently each companies skis ski!

As for the Phantom wax. It was nice on the skis that were treated, although one pair I had I still felt some 'stick' but not like regular wax. I also talked with a shop/repair guy from VT he said Phantom is great but at temps below zero it lost some of it's sliding power, could be a problem for some of us.

All in all it was a very fun demo day, there were so many skis to try and not enough time. I'll keep trying skis but kudos to Renoun for making a perfect ski for me. I hope you find your perfect ski.
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
The Sheeva 9 may be fine for soft snow. But I don't consider it an all-mountain ski. The rep agreed they need soft snow to be fun. Have to say that if I'm renting powder skis, there are other skis I would pick over the Sheeva 9. Certainly the DPS Nina 99 and probably the Santa Anna 93 or 100 too.

Surprised by this! I’ve found it to perform great in everything in New England, from icy hardpack to slushy bumps and everything in between. They are not my go to for powder of course, but are fine in small amounts. I completely disagree that they need soft snow to have fun though! Both @lisamamot and I have made it our daily drivers in the east this year, with similiar sentiments I think. I’ve found it to be one of the most versatile skis I’ve owned. Of course this is why demoing is so important, difference strokes for different folks!
 
Last edited:

MissySki

Angel Diva
@nopoleskier was the suggestion on the Phantom to use regular wax as well for those times below zero then? Does that alleviate the issue?

One of my pairs of skis that I intend to treat is my powder/soft snow skis, so that should be less likely to encounter much in the way of below zero days. Curious about my daily driver though since those certainly will much more often.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Surprised by this! I’ve found it to perform great in everything in New England, from icy hardpack to slushy bumps. Both @lisamamot and I have made it our daily drivers in the east this year, with similiar sentiments I think. I’ve found it to be one of the most versatile skis I’ve owned. Of course this is why demoing is so important, difference strokes for different folks!
Exactly! I've always liked the BP88 but find the BP78 uninteresting, and didn't like the Cheyenne. So I expected to like the Sheeva 9. But for me, for the current Blizzard line up that I've checked out, only the BP88 and BP98 are on my list of "fun" skis.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
As for the Phantom wax. It was nice on the skis that were treated, although one pair I had I still felt some 'stick' but not like regular wax. I also talked with a shop/repair guy from VT he said Phantom is great but at temps below zero it lost some of it's sliding power, could be a problem for some of us.
There was a comment about really frigid conditions in the Phantom thread. The answer I got from a DPS connection is that the solution is simply to wax for the super cold days. Just as racers can wax over Phantom treated bases and get better performance that simply waxing untreated bases.
 

lisamamot

Angel Diva
Regarding the Blizzard Sheeva 9:
Lots of tip flap on groomers. Clearly designed for soft snow.
Like @MissySki I am surprised by this! I ski the Sheeva 9 all over in New England and love them - even at speed, on firm groomers. I demoed them in the too short 165 before buying the 172 and didn’t experience this. This is why we demo!
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Next: Atomic Vantage 107- 167cm (Still TOO Short) Very nice ski, I do like Atomics, stable, easy to ski, very solid easy turning in piles of snow, cut right thru it all, easy to ski on the groomer. I was surprised they didn't feel as fat as they are. Unfortunately They got chattery at speed due to being too short. I'd get the 172cm and I did like the "Red Ski". I'd like to try in powder and longer length
I rented the Vantage 107 @159 (133-107-120 R15.4) for a couple days for the 50-inch powder storm cycle. They did pretty well for me (5'0", 112 lbs) in the deep snow. But were chattery on the groomers.

For the third powder day, I switched to the Nordica Santa Ana 110 @161 (138-110-127, R14.5). For me these skis were more fun than the Vantage 107. Did better on the groomers for sure. A bit more responsive in powder. By then 40 inches on was the ground after 2.5 days of steady snow.
 

nopoleskier

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
@nopoleskier was the suggestion on the Phantom to use regular wax as well for those times below zero then? Does that alleviate the issue?

One of my pairs of skis that I intend to treat is my powder/soft snow skis, so that should be less likely to encounter much in the way of below zero days. Curious about my daily driver though since those certainly will much more often.


Well as you know when it's way below zero F (like minus 5 or more) the snow gets 'oh so slow' and sticky, Sorry, I'm Not sure if you can put regular wax on top of phantom. Knowing Regular wax does get worn off from the friction with the snow, I don't see why you couldn't?
Yes, It will be great on your powder skis that become your spring skis?

I don't think there's any wax that has great glide when it's so cold. (I'm sure there's some but it's not on my ski bench) I've been out in -11F w/out windchill and skating on the flats is UGH.. I can take my skis off and walk faster. I'd love Phantom for spring skiing avoid the sticky snow! Right now I'm using concentrated Rain-X it lasts quite a while before the sticky's start.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Well as you know when it's way below zero F (like minus 5 or more) the snow gets 'oh so slow' and sticky, Sorry, I'm Not sure if you can put regular wax on top of phantom. Knowing Regular wax does get worn off from the friction with the snow, I don't see why you couldn't?
As discussed in the Phantom 2.0 thread, it's fine to add wax on top of Phantom-treated bases. Could be for racing or for unusually cold temps. Haven't heard of anyone wanting to add warm weather wax for spring skiing since the problem is that wax wears off too fast in warm conditions.

Can put on summer storage wax to protect the edges, but not as important for bases compared to skis that aren't treated.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Yes, It will be great on your powder skis that become your spring skis?
My old BPs (88mm, 2011, purple bulls) were the Phantom-treated skis that I brought to Alta this month. Did great today when temps were in the 50s at mid-mountain, as well as in early April at Deer Valley on a warm day.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
It was easy to tell that all the DPS skis had been treated with Phantom because they had round stickers on them. Two stickers come in the 2.0 box kits these days. Since I asked, I was able to get stickers for the skis that I've already treated.

DPS Phantom stickers 06Apr2019  - 1.jpg
 

Forum statistics

Threads
26,234
Messages
497,572
Members
8,503
Latest member
MermaidKelly
Top