Demoing Skis out in Utah (and much more!)

[carrieme]

Hey ladies,

I've got a trip planned out to Utah, mid-December! It will be my first time skiing out west.

My little east coast carving skis will do diddly out there so I'm planning to rent. What I'd LOVE to do is get a chance to demo a few skis that I have on my bucket list out in some UT powder.

We are staying for a week (7 DAYS OF POW!!!) at a condo on Park City but will be driving over to Snowbird and Alta at least a few days. I'm an skier most delighted in the bumps and trees here on the east coast. All I've ever known is ice so I've been reading up on powder technique, but that's a whole other delicious fish to fry...

Would you ladies be able to shed some light on where I can demo some performance skis? I found Christy Sports through the power of google, but maybe some of you have some other options I could look at? From the website, CS did not list all the skis I'd like to try, but I have yet to call so they could have it. In addition, I could potentially walk away with a new pair of skis, so good customer service is always nice too.

Some skis I'm looking at are:
- Volkl Kenja
- Volkl Aura
- Rossignol Temptation 88
- Fischer Koa 88
- Line Celebrity 90

Feel free to shed light on any other tips that might help (i.e.: Discount Lift Tickets, Places to eat, etc!)

Thanks so much, appreciate all the lovely help I can get!

 

[gardenmary]

I've not skied in the Park City area (just Snowbasin & Powder Mtn) but it looks like the places you're tihnking of skiing have demo centers on-mountain which would be really helpful. You can demo skis all day long and switch them for something else if you want, many in a ski-in/ski-out setup. I would LOVE to do this sometime. Beats the heck out of driving off-mountain to get a different pair.

As far as a place to eat, we really enjoyed Flanagan's on Main Street. The absolute best shepherd's pie I've ever had.

I believe dloveski on here works at PCMR, she might be able to give you some advice re. discount lift tix and other restaurants. We were only there one night (DS and DH did the skeleton at the Olympic Park at the end of a ski trip). It was actually the first night of the 2010 Winter Olympics and you'd have thought they were happening locally - the place was crowded and absolutely ALIVE with excitement. Pretty neat!

 

[SkiBam]

I believe dloveski on here works at PCMR,

To set the record straight, I thnk dloveski works at Brighton – we met up with her there for a day. Not to say she won't have good advice though.

We stayed in Salt Lake City and rented from a shop near the hotel – were able to change skis every day if we wished - and I'm pretty sure the place we rented from has a branch at PCMR so we could have changed skis there as well.

In six days I think I tried five pairs of skis (including the much-beloved-by-divas Auras – though I didn't quite feel the love - think I'm too small for them).

Anyway, lucky you to be going to Utah!

 

[gardenmary]

To set the record straight, I thnk dloveski works at Brighton – we met up with her there for a day. Not to say she won't have good advice though.

Oops, my bad, I must be thinking of someone else!

 

[carrieme]

Thanks for all the great tips!

Clock is counting down for days to Utah, so excited!!!

 

[marzNC]

Alta has a daily clinic for adults that's quite fun and a good deal. Like having a guide with a few tips, as opposed to a formal class. One way to get off farther off the groomers without worrying about getting lost or in over your abilities. Check the Alta website for a description.

 

[litterbug]

Alta's Deep Powder House has the Kenja and Aura; they also demo Rossis, but I don't know which ones. Alta Ski Shop demos too, but I don't know which skis. Check out Alta.com for links to their shops.

Wherever you are, the advantage to demoing at the hill is that you can switch skis as many times as you'd like. The most skis I've demoed was 4, but that was when I was doing my final comparison between the Aura, Geisha, and Blizzard Crush; I was pretty sure the Geisha was the one, so I just wanted one run on them at the start of the day so I'd be able to compare the skis in the same conditions.

 

[dloveski]

Ditto to Litterbug's post---on-mountain demo at Alta will let you test drive a range of skis easily.

For the record, I work @ Brighton. Slidergirl is a PCMR employee.

Pray for snow, we're really hurting out here. Our base is shrinking, off piste is deadly right now, tree runs absolutely deadly---not enough base to cover the logs/debris/rocks. Resorts have limited runs open. Ouch.

 

[carrieme]

Wanted to thank all the divas for the great advice y'all shared!

I had an amazing time out in Utah last week. Demo'd high-performance skis everyday and ended up coming home to buy one of the skis I had an opportunity to try.

We ended up renting from Utah Ski & Golf the first half of the week and then Cole Sport the second half for the variety of skis they carry.

Overall experience at both shops were great but I did prefer Ski & Golf more because they were more attentive, extremely flexible and friendly. It's family owned and you can tell - their grandbaby boppin' around the store and dog hanging out greeting customers were all part of the nice atmosphere. They were extremely accommodating when they didn't have a particular ski at the location we were at. Ended up calling another location of theirs and one of their guys brought it over immediately so we could bring it with us and not have to come back in the morning to pick it up.

The snow conditions in Utah are pretty similar to what East Coast generally gets peak season January (that's sad lol) so I was still a pretty happy camper, haha! It actually worked out since I was hoping to demo skis that I would primarily ski on the East Coast that would still do reasonably well out west.

We ended up chasing the snow and managed to get some fresh powder at Solitude and Snowbird. So much fun!!!

 

[litterbug]

A canine 'greeter' is always a good sign, no matter what kind of store it is! A feline greeter is rarer, but just as nice.

 

[carrieme]

Isn't it just? :D

Excellent start to the ski season for me! Now if we could just get some more snow here on the east coast, so I can go vroom with my new skis!

 

[litterbug]

Carrieme, which skis did you get? Inquiring minds want to know!

 

[carrieme]

Ended up going with the Volkl Kenjas and Marker Squire bindings.

They're pretty well loved on the forums so I was really happy they worked out for me.

I posted my review of all the demo skis I tried, if you're interested!

https://www.theskidiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13426