Come to the demo day at Sunday River next season.. they almost always have 160s sizes in everything! 170s are more hit and miss though, as @lisamamot can attest to. There WAS one year where the some of the reps apparently split their demo fleets for a demo day at Killington on the same day as ours.. and for some reason sent all the short skis to us. I was pissed.. like no low 150s is NOT enough for your top length at a demo day anywhere!!
Ahh that might work great then!! Yes, it's been in early December the past few years. Used to always be Thanksgiving weekend, but has been pushed back due to flaky weather in November.
Kind of late to the game with this reply - I demo'd the QST 106s and loved them in the 165 (I'm 5'-4 1/2") but then next time demo'd them in 157 and hated them for the same reason - so squirrelly! The 106s have lots of tip/tail rocker and going shorter made it feel very unstable for me at speed - not sure if the QST 92s have a similar rocker profile. Looking forward to seeing your feedback after your demo day at Loveland!
My 2019/20 Kenjas are a crud busting blast! Reading slow-biscuit‘s experience gave me goosebumps knowing I get the same experiences from my Kenjas. They’re fun, energetic and agile in the bumps as well.
I’ve had the Blaze 86 in up to a foot of light fluffy Western powder more than once.. it actually skies it really well for the width, imo. But yes you need to 1) not be on your tails you still want to be neutral and sometimes driving tips as long as it’s not snow where it’s heavy and you are going to nose dive and tumble (couldn’t tell of you were saying powder technique should be driving with your heels, but if so.. no it should not be.). 2) you need to want/need to be able to absorb in the chop otherwise it’ll bounce you around when you are on a less damp ski and/or tire out your legs. A damper ski takes a lot of that energy in for you so your legs don’t need to do that as much. I prefer absorbing than skiing a damp ski in soft snow, but that is very individual of an opinion as any ski choice is. I used to kill my legs often in crud until somewhat recently (last couple of seasons) when I’ve finally started learning how to ski deep heavy crud and powder in general.. it takes time. If you like a heavier ski to crud bust with, this probably isn’t the ski for you to take off piste though. It’s great on hardpack, I ski them in New England and no problem on ice.
I had several people today (I was chatty on the lift) tell me that to ski powder you need to sit back on your heels and drive with your tails! Including a ski instructor! I don’t know much about powder skiing since I do it so rarely. At first when I was trying to stay more neutral my tips kept getting buried- it was deep. I obviously need more powder practice. I don’t mind crud in my Yumis- I actually think I prefer more feedback than less. So I’m going to chalk this up to my poor technique today . Good to know the Blazes are competent in ice since I didn’t get to see that today.
I always hear people saying to put your weight back on powder days and in spring snow, but that is just a recipe for dead quads to me, and any instructor I’ve had says absolutely not. I was with an instructor yesterday and today because I do a seasonal adult program.. we had 36 inches between yesterday and today at Sunday River. All instruction was to stay forward to neutral with weight and keep driving forward to push through the deep snow and chop. Being balanced over your feet is a good approach if the snow is such that your tips are diving, but heels are a no for me. I’m not an instructor though, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt.. I’ve just never heard a high level instructor saying you should lean back and steer with your heels, and I take a lot of lessons. If there were a breakable crust, then that might be one of the few times I’m back further intentionally, but that still would not consist of steering with heels and would be more towards the neutral position as much as possible.
Yea it didn’t seem right lol. I had better luck trying to stay neutral but I couldn’t really point downhill at all. If I pointed downhill I sunk. I had to basically do hop turns. Tiring in its own way too. But yea I clearly have no idea what I’m doing in deeper powder and my legs are dead tired. It felt really unnatural not to use my edges to turn and tips to steer.
Good on you for being out there and working on it in general!! It’s so so worth it to keep at it. A big part of the puzzle for me was just working through what feels right and balanced in what is a very challenging and unstable snow condition versus the on piste stuff we are often most used to. I won’t say how many years it took me to start “getting it”, regardless of instruction. And I still have plenty to learn..!
But FINALLY seeing progress, being able to last out there from open to close, and getting more joy out of it than pain/disappointment on a big powder day makes sticking with it worth it. 
Only about 20” or so of new snow today and not super unusual - but I work full time so only get to ski weekends and it’s rare that a dump lines up with my designated ski days. Maybe 1-3x per season do I get the opportunity to ski the deeper stuff. It’s mostly dry, but occasionally is wet/heavy. I don’t love it- because I don’t get enough practice!
It is a huge amount for New England, yes! It was very fluffy and dry yesterday which is rare here, bit heavier today especially with wind overnight compacting things some. Last weekend we had total concrete snow.. which is more typical. While I have not skied Sierra cement to confirm myself yet, I’ve been told by others that we are more similar than apart on this. I will have to find out sometime!
How fun! And it sure looked like Diva East @ Jay Peak had nice fluffy snow in the trees!It is a huge amount for New England, yes! It was very fluffy and dry yesterday which is rare here, bit heavier today especially with wind overnight compacting things some. Last weekend we had total concrete snow.. which is more typical. While I have not skied Sierra cement to confirm myself yet, I’ve been told by others that we are more similar than apart on this. I will have to find out sometime!
I agree, if my quads start burning I know I’m getting too far back for sure. We have so much snow so infrequently that I don’t have a truly wide ski, but I think I should to pull out on this sort of day.
The resorts are calling it miracle March lol
Oh no no no no, sitting back makes it impossible to drive the ski with any control. I’m so comfortable and relaxed in powder and crud but I’m not an instructor. So in order to advise my eager and inquiring friends, I started watching YouTube powder skiing tutorials in order to pick up some easy tips. Every tutorial I watched started with a „trampoline bouncing“ excercise on a moderate slope. If you gently bounce on a trampoline you must keep even pressure on your feet and your knees forward in order to keep balanced. Each bounce will transfer weight into the camber of the ski and automatically drive the ski into a turn. Then all you need is some hip/core movement to control the direction. Second tip is „speed is your friend“. Let the simple trampoline bounce and your velocity carry you through each turn. The faster you drive the ski into the snow, the easier it is for the ski to turn and to arch a full stop when necessary. Don’t force the turn and don’t round out the turn. It should be a relaxing floating sensation as you bounce left then right. Start on a gentle slope until you get that feeling.
