pinto
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I just returned from Austria ... and I took my Auras with me. I had planned to rent something while I was there, but I decided to bring them along in case I wanted something that wasn't a narrow carver.
First day: rain. It had been raining for 2 days, and most lifts weren't even open. We skied for 4 hr in mostly slush, and I figured the Auras would probably be good for that kind of snow. They were.
Second day: early morning was refrozen groomed slush. LOUD snow. HARD snow. I thought, Surely I should go rent some different skis. But I was too lazy to get up early enough to do it, and I thought I'd try the Auras on a surface totally different than anything I'd used them on before. Once again, WOW. They held like tanks, and the length and stability were great for just arcing down the pistes. Later the hard stuff turned to corn, aka fun with any ski.
We also made it higher on the mountain later, where it probably hadn't rained so much previously (due to altitude), but the lifts had been closed. There were a couple of inches of untracked snow a consistency heretofore unknown to this Colorado girl. It was smooth and light but really grainy. It reminded me of when you melt chocolate and butter and add sugar to it, before the sugar melts. (Ok, that's weird, but it's what I thought of.) Wet powder? Dry slush?
Third day: off-piste day, and race day. We had guides the previous days, but on this day we got a GUIDE and some beepers, and went off into who knows where. It had snowed 3 or 4 inches the night before, and was still snowing. So this was 4 hr of traversing and hiking and every snow condition you can imagine, including almost-knee-deep soft and fresh, breakable crust, loud powder, and my favorite, a rocky chute with a 2-in. layer of snow sliding off of blue ice every time you turned.
(Actually, that kind of WAS my favorite, because I was so impressed with my skis. Light enough for easy hop turns, but rock solid on the landing.)
Finally, the whole group got together for a fun race -- we were in Austria, after all -- and surprisingly enough (well, not so surprising anymore), even on a little race course, the Auras rocked. They were beaten only by a pair of Stoecklis and a pair of Volkl Superspeeds (and perhaps a more aggressive line by their driver would have helped).
First day: rain. It had been raining for 2 days, and most lifts weren't even open. We skied for 4 hr in mostly slush, and I figured the Auras would probably be good for that kind of snow. They were.
Second day: early morning was refrozen groomed slush. LOUD snow. HARD snow. I thought, Surely I should go rent some different skis. But I was too lazy to get up early enough to do it, and I thought I'd try the Auras on a surface totally different than anything I'd used them on before. Once again, WOW. They held like tanks, and the length and stability were great for just arcing down the pistes. Later the hard stuff turned to corn, aka fun with any ski.
We also made it higher on the mountain later, where it probably hadn't rained so much previously (due to altitude), but the lifts had been closed. There were a couple of inches of untracked snow a consistency heretofore unknown to this Colorado girl. It was smooth and light but really grainy. It reminded me of when you melt chocolate and butter and add sugar to it, before the sugar melts. (Ok, that's weird, but it's what I thought of.) Wet powder? Dry slush?
Third day: off-piste day, and race day. We had guides the previous days, but on this day we got a GUIDE and some beepers, and went off into who knows where. It had snowed 3 or 4 inches the night before, and was still snowing. So this was 4 hr of traversing and hiking and every snow condition you can imagine, including almost-knee-deep soft and fresh, breakable crust, loud powder, and my favorite, a rocky chute with a 2-in. layer of snow sliding off of blue ice every time you turned.
(Actually, that kind of WAS my favorite, because I was so impressed with my skis. Light enough for easy hop turns, but rock solid on the landing.)
Finally, the whole group got together for a fun race -- we were in Austria, after all -- and surprisingly enough (well, not so surprising anymore), even on a little race course, the Auras rocked. They were beaten only by a pair of Stoecklis and a pair of Volkl Superspeeds (and perhaps a more aggressive line by their driver would have helped).
