K2 Bad seed?

[marta]

To all you gear guru gals:
I'm looking for a *short* mid-fat for myself to use as my powder ski. I'm looking for an 85-90 waist, at 150 length, no bigger. And prefer a ski that comes flat, no system binding.

I'm tiny and female. 4'11, 105#, adv-exp east coast skier. All my faithful and trusted shops are saying anything longer than 150 is too long for me for an eastern locale. They say I could get away with skis in the 154-158 length if I were out west, but for east they say I want stick with shorter due to my tiny size. "Big bowls and wide trails=big skis, narrow trails & tight trees - shorter skis". That true?

Here's the dilemma. Not many manufacturers make a 85-90 waisted ski at 150 length. I've found Rossi Scratch Girl BC and Rossi B3W (the B3W has very mixed reviews), and the K2 Bad Seed. I ski on 146 Burnin Luv's now. Tough luv's come in 146 with an 88 waist, I demoed them and liked them, but they're just too heavy w/ the system binding. Did not yet have a chance to demo any Rossi's but I'm still keeping them on my "short" list.

What are your opininons of the K2 Bad Seed in a 149 for someone like me? It seems to be very much what I'm looking for, but I would never be able to find one to demo around here. Thoughts? I'm posting this on Epic as well.

 

[SkiNurse]

Another K2 ski?

I have to admit, I have not heard of the Bad Seed.

Tough Luvs are new this year and I heard a lot of postive feedback about them at last years snow expo.

But, please post a review of the Bad Seed if you get a chance to demo them!

 

[marta]

Never seen it before either! It's a kids powder twin:
https://www.k2skis.com/skis/ski.asp?ProductID=29

 

[alta_gal83]

Just an FYI. I rock the 160 Rossi BC Scratch Girl. They are 90mm in the waist and are a lot of fun here in UT -- lots of float in the POW and I love them for that. However, I really don't know how much you'd like this ski on the east coast, as they are less shaped and are harder to hold an edge.

Doesn't the Missdemeanor come in a 154? That's an 80 waist and would probably carve a lot better thant the Scratch. And even with your height, 154 is not bad. I'm only 5'3 and I ski a 160 and I even think that is short for me. It's more the skier than the terrain that determines your ski length. I'd be hesitant about The Bad Seed. It's a kids ski .... and even though you are petite in stature, you don't want to be on skis meant for the kiddos.

 

[SnowHot]

Sorry to copy this over, but this is what I posted just now on Epic.
But, let me be clear. I think ski shops are selling us short on ski length and women are not kids. While kids are forming muscles and going through awkward stages in life, we are developed.
Jr gear has improved a bit, but still is not the performance gear that womens and unisex adult skis are.

I think there are tons of great options out there in a better length for you and I think you're selling yourself short.
Assuming that you have muscle coordination and adult capabilities, a kids ski is not likely to perform for you in the way that an adult ski will.

Seriously, I should be on a ski in the high 150's if you ask the shops but my favourite skis are in the high 160's and low 170's, depending on twin tips.

Another thing you should consider is that the contact length of your average twin is going to put you into something longer as stated on the sticker.

If I were you, I'd look for a Volkl Queen Attiva(87w), or an Aura(94w) in a 156. Lots of tiny women are skiing on these and loving them.
I'm getting tons of grins from my Blizzard eos but its a system ski and you have said you aren't considering that.

Sorry to be blunt, but I'm concerned you'll be doing a disservice to yourself if you get into a jr ski.

 

[lucine]

The aura is hard to find but outdoordivas.com has a 156
https://www.outdoordivas.com/outdoo...ount=0&move=none&search_freetext=aura&q_jump=
I'd do some more searching for price.

 

[marta]

It's interesting how different the opinions of peers vs ski shops are in this sport!!

In the past I've had issues with skis that were too long for my size and although I'm a solid and technical skier, I am puny and tend to get bucked around if a ski is too much.

I had always considered the Queen Attivas, but those were exactly the skis in which they said they'd be too big for me as an eastern ski. I've seen some killer deals on them lately. And it's one of these same shops who suggested I research to see what's out there in a jr. pow ski. I figured it was worth a look-see. Almost rented the Eos while on vacation but the shop said no, too big, so I stuck with the Tough Luvs, which were the right size and right stiffness etc, but simply hated the Marker bindings. Maybe oh maybe, K2 will sell them flat as an option next year??

I started checking into 80 waisted twin tips as well. How do park & pipe skis such as K2 Missdemeanor or Volkl Pearl feel when out of the park, are they responsive? Not much out there about how they perform on crud/powder or edge grip on packed. New ski must be a crud buster!

 

[Pequenita]

marta - I think your trusted ski shops are full of crap! I'm around your size. I wish I had time to ski with you when I was back in NY for x-mas because we'd be the two puny ones on the slope.

Anyway, the reason I think the ski shops you've been to are full of crap is that when I was in Utah last Feb., Utah was having a dry-ish season. My impression of the conditions at that time were that they were similar to "powder days" on the east. And the demo people KEPT giving me longer skis 153s, 154s, knowing that the snow conditions were "packed" (it wasn't packed to an east coaster). I dunno why - maybe I perfected the stoner drawl and bonded with them too easily - but I often had to talk them into letting me try shorter skis. I've run into the strange phenomenon of east coast shops underestimating my skiing ability and western shops thinking that I'm Snowhot or Volklgirl or something.

Anyway, I'll try out some skis this weekend if conditions warrant and let you know what happens.

 

[volklgirl]

SnowHot beat me to it.

Definitely check out the Queen Attiva/Pearl and/or Aura in a 150ish. Don't sell yourself short on length either. Volkl's women's skis are serious business but you can go surprising long in them without getting bucked around.

Everybody here knows how I feel about my Karmas (177) (calling it a pipe n park ski is doing it a serious disservice), and the Queen is the women's version. There's a few Queen owners on here, maybe they'll chime in. The Pearl is the newest version, but is a little narrower all the way around. Like most everyone else, I fell in love with the Aura in a 163, but would definitely buy longer if I got to ski something bigger than our 450' hills.

 

[SnowHot]

One more thing you should consider in your decision.

We're likely to ski with you at a Diva or Bear Gathering at some point. We know you'll give us grief if we steer you the wrong direction.

The shop just wants to quote crap from a marketing catalog and sell you what they have left over.

You want a serious East Coast Shop direction?
Go see Whiteroom at Skiershop, in Stowe Vermont. He's committed to skier excellence.

 

[marta]

Pequenita, we must find a way to meet up, when are you coming up to NJ again? I find shops always underestimate me, they don't believe I'm a little fireball. Except my boot guys. They get it.

Still looking at the Queen, perhaps worth the risk since they're so cheap now. The Aura is just too wide for practicality around here.

I wish I could demo more stuff, but that's out, at least for the rest of this season. I'm hog-tied to my home mountain for the remainder of the season. Hubby hurt himself at Jackson so now we have no road trips planned. VT or the Catskills just isn't likely to happen. It really stinks that most local shops around here either a) don't demo at all, or b) don't carry what I'm looking for. Of course demoing would be optimal in my situation, but it's just not accessible! I suppose I could continue this quest next year, but I keep thinking wouldn't it be fun to have a pair to play on NOW!!

I'd road trip on my own and leave DH behind for a Diva day! And of course I'd be showing off whatever I wind up with like a proud mama!

 

[vanhoskier]

Marta-

I just bought Line Celebrities and they are awesome (read my review thread). They hold an edge on our east coast ice and at 90mm at the waist, will be great for powder, slush, etc. They turn easily, too. They come in a 158, which would work fine for you, since they are twin-tips and the running length is really like 128. Since you are an advanced skier, you'd love them because they have lots of energy, and they're on sale online.

They are also pretty light, and you can put nice light freestyle bindings on them.

www.lineskis.com

 

[vanhoskier]

I started checking into 80 waisted twin tips as well. How do park & pipe skis such as K2 Missdemeanor or Volkl Pearl feel when out of the park, are they responsive? Not much out there about how they perform on crud/powder or edge grip on packed. New ski must be a crud buster![/QUOTE]

I have a lot of experience with twin-tips. They are very responsive, but many of them are pretty soft and not that great on hardpack (aka ice) except for my Lines. I know the Missdemeanor can lose its edge on ice; I don't know about the Pearl. I say try the Lines....they really are awesome and sound like what you may want.

 

[Pequenita]

hey marta -

Right now, I don't know when I'll be back in the area (and, it's really doubtful it'd be for skiing at this point -- ) -- I'll let you know the next time I'm up there....

On to the skis. So, if you've read the Solitude thread, we got 11 inches overnight on Saturday, and I am by no means remotely skilled at skiing fresh, deep powder. As it started snowing, Marigee and I went into the rental shop to look for fat demos. As it turned out, the only ski they had in a length I was comfortable with was the Head Monster IM 82 in 153. It's 82mm underfoot. We'll ignore the part about skiing the 11 inches b/c it happens so rarely on the east coast. The length was not an issue at all. But, here's what I thought was interesting: as the snow on the groomers became packed out and more similar to the stuff (ie, "powder day") we find on the east, I found myself picking up more speed than I really wanted to. I attribute this to two things: additional surface area underfoot and it taking longer than "usual" to get on edge due to the extra width.

Two days later, we got ~3 inches of fresh, and I skied my 146 Nordica Victorys, which are 74mm underfoot. On groomers, I just felt better -- could just be what I'm used to. And frankly, it wasn't shabby in the leftover deep stuff (the operator, on the other hand....).

Given my size and ability, I don't see a great need for a ski over 90mm in the waist: not that I'm a great skiier; more that it may give me so much surface area, it'd freak me out. So, if I were looking for a powder ski, I would be inclined to seek something 150-155 in the 80mm-90mm range.

I'd actually be curious to see if a high 70 waist (ie, Atomic Sugar Mama) would be sufficient -- I know Marigee was pleased with their peformance on the 11" day. Oh, and the thing we were all mocking ourselves about, too, was that back in the straight ski days, people were skiing powder on, you know, skinny skis.

So, I'm not sure what distinctions the shop people are making when they are saying there are powder skis for the east vs. west -- the only thing that I think should matter is the amount of snow, no? Well, maybe how heavy the snow is, but I guess I don't understand why they think that powder in the east is different from powder in the west.

 

[marta]

I'm by no means remotely skilled in powder either! But I love crud. Perhaps cuz by the time I drive to the mtn, the powder is gone, and it's all chopped up... Blasting thru it on 88 waist skis is tons of fun. The shops were saying the size of eastern mountains and trails compared to west as well as the frequency, amount, and quality of the snow are all important factors on length and width. And what we consider a fat here is a mid there etc. For the east - occasional ski, yes, everyday ski no. My other skis are 68 waist. So I wanted to jump a bit in the gap. Something to pull out of my pocket for the fun of it on a snow day. I bet the Sugar Mamas would be great for everyday if you want one ski for a variety of conditions.

Have you seen Steep? There was a great old segment of guys skiing Chamonix on their skinny straights, and having to hop-turn each turn. They had to, their skis would sink. And then on to modern day and Doug Coombs skimming the snow in huge arcs...

p.s. Decided on a pair of used demo Queen Attivas I pick em up this weekend! Won't be skiing them until next year tho, unless I want to try them in slush. :Cry:

 

[Pequenita]

Decided on a pair of used demo Queen Attivas I pick em up this weekend!

Awesome! I think Ski Diva is on those and enjoying them out west.....