How 'bout the Elan Free Spice?

[jaydog]

Anyone out there ever skied the Free Spice? I'm thinking about getting a powder ski for this season, and I've loved every Elan ski I've ever demoed. I found a good deal on a 168 cm($390 on last year's, bindings included) and wondering whether I should pull the trigger, since Elans are often hard to find. You're supposed to go slightly longer for powder skis, right?

The vital stats: I'm an advanced skier, 5'5" 135 lbs, trying to improve to expert, and I ski in western WA. (Think heavy and wet snow) I currently have 164 cm Fischer V76s which I love for everyday skiing, but they're not all that great in the deep stuff.

 

[MaineSkiLady]

Argh , hate to be bearer of bad news, but I did and didn't care for it. I found it - well, to be nice, recalcitrant/hesitant in turns. Heavy. In 6" fresh/mixed/crud (NNE), I MUCH preferred the Wave Spice. That one sang. Not sure why they were so different - I took essentially the identical run, same conditions.

Sounds like our stats are similar, including our hard-snow eastern skis. I don't know, that's a big $ to put down on a ski you haven't demo'd. Sure wish I could give a big thumbs-up, but the Wave Spice was way better in eastern pow/crud. I'd say hold off til you can demo for yourself -- I could be totally off-base here, but I loved the Wave Spice, K2 Lotta and Dynastar EL. The Free Spice didn't come close.

 

[jaydog]

Thanks MSL, now I won't feel guilty about not buying them.

 

[MaineSkiLady]

Hope you get a demo opportunity, Jaydog -- it's kind of a broken record around here.....but for a reason. Nothing beats it. A ski you thought would be great winds up being, well, not. And then there are some nice surprises as well. Most eastern demo days tend to be something of a zoo -- but whatever you can do is absolutely worth your time and trouble. My demo "night," at a small, nearby place, was to die for - DH and I were the first ones there that evening, ogling well over 50 pairs of skis at our disposal (and NO CHARGE to participate, like some other resorts do, including my home area)----and absolutely no one else competing for them (more people arrived later). Some time got lost due to turnaround, but I sometimes kept skis for several runs. I turned this one right back in and did a 2nd run on the Wave. Wasn't my imagination - it was just a happier, livelier ski, as were the others I tried that evening.

 

[jaydog]

There's a couple shops around here with extensive demo fleets, which I've taken advantage of quite a few times. Actual on-hill demo days out here in western WA are actually pretty rare.

I'm looking for a pure powder ski, something for fresh dumps. I plan to keep my V76s as my everyday ski until they're good for nothing but rock skis. If the Free Spice wasn't performing well in 6" of fresh snow, well then that says it all. I was interested in the Free Spice because it got good reviews and I'm a fan of Elan.

 

[MaineSkiLady]

Look for the Wave or this season's equivalent, esp if you like Elan.
It was way way happy in pow.

 

[SnowHot]

Look for the wave spice for a good go to ski, and the Blizzard Eos for a good powder ski. You may even want to go with something wider, but look for a demo of the Eos if you can.
I liked it much better than the Free Spice

 

[ski diva]

Argh , hate to be bearer of bad news, but I did and didn't care for it. I found it - well, to be nice, recalcitrant/hesitant in turns. Heavy. In 6" fresh/mixed/crud (NNE), I MUCH preferred the Wave Spice. That one sang. Not sure why they were so different - I took essentially the identical run, same conditions.

I tried the Free Spice and the Wave Spice last spring, and I agree with MSL completely. But the graphics of the FS are cool, though -- and isn't that what makes women buy skis???

 

[Elangirl]

Gee, I hate to chime in here too, but I did not like the Free Spice either. It was heavy and seemed long at 160. I had the Mag Spice and this year I am getting the Pure Spice which is 78 at the waist--which should be good for Montana.

I loved the Volkl Aura as a powder ski--but, I am 5'3" and I skied the 153---which was plenty of ski for me!

 

[jaydog]

How much of a difference is the 2mm off the waist of the Wave/Pure Spice going to be?

Snowhot: I couldn't find anything about the Eos on the Blizzard website, and only found two sites that had it for sale. Has it been discontinued?

 

[Elangirl]

The two mm won't make any difference. The main difference is that the Pure Spice has the "Wave" technology. The waves are little ripples on the front of your ski--they help the ski to bend and then to ease you onto an edge. I do love the wave technology in skis and have had great fun skiing the Speed Magic. Elan has a website that also has a ski selector, that is fun to use. You can see which skis they might recommend for you. www.elanskis.com

 

[SnowHot]

How much of a difference is the 2mm off the waist of the Wave/Pure Spice going to be?

Snowhot: I couldn't find anything about the Eos on the Blizzard website, and only found two sites that had it for sale. Has it been discontinued?

According to the Blizzard rep the eos is not discontinued. Ptex1 from EpicSki had some in stock. There is a Gear Deal thread here on SkiDiva about it.

Another idea is the great deal on the Head Sweet Fat Thang that Alison Gannett has

Check them both out!

 

[jaydog]

Now the snow needs to get here so I can start demoing! Thank you so much everyone for your advice- this I why I love this site so much.