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My First Demo Day

Mary Tee

Angel Diva
I had my first ever demo day...thanks to @nopoleskier for the invitation. The skis I demoed were:

Atomic Cloud 9 157
Atomic Vantage 80
Blizzard Black Pearl 82 166, 177
Blizzard Black Pearl 88 166
Nordica Astral 84 165
Nordica 78 165
Volkl Kenja 88 163

First of all, I forgot to bring pen and paper to make notes, so I am going on memory...big mistake. I did take pictures of some, not all the skis I demoed...another mistake. Hey, this is my first time, it’s a learning experience! These were 2020 skis. I came to this demo really wanting to try Volkl Flairs and BP78, even though the BP 78 doesn’t seem to get a lot of love here, I thought the BP88 are just too wide for my east coast skiing and my 65 year old knees. And for no real reason, I got it in my head that these are good skis for me.

The first ski I tried was the Atomic Vantage 80, I don’t remember the length, but after my 2007 K2 Lotta Loves, my thought was these are fun! They pop! Next was the Blizzard tent. For 2020 the BP is 82 under foot not 78 and I tried a 166, and I liked them better than the Atomics on the first run. On the second run, I went a little faster and got some tip chatter. I still liked them but to my disappointment I was not so wowed that I wanted to stop the demo and keep skiing them. I went back and asked for the next size longer. The rep tried to talk me out of that and into the 88 but I insisted on the longer 177s. These are the longest skis I have been on since my skis were straight. After 2 turns I couldn’t wait to get those skis off my feet! The rep again tried to get me on the 88. I said I’d be back as I really wanted to get on those Flairs, but there was quite a line at the Volkl tent, so I wandered over to the Nordica tent. I wanted the Astral 78, but it was out, so I took the 84 in a 165. The widest ski I have ever been on, and hey not so bad, again better than my current ski, but I am not feeling that level of excitement that I hear from some of you when you find “THE ONE”. I then went to the 78 and again, nothing wrong with it, but meh. Back to the Volkl...I ask the rep what sizes of Flair do you have for me? Response: I have no Flairs...WHAT??? The 2020s are not being manufactured yet and we are out of 2019s....what a disappointment. He convinced me to try the Kenja. They felt as damp as my Lottas. Plus they felt hard to get on edge and half way down the run, I was feeling my knees. Definitely not the ski for me. Back to the Blizzards...ok let’s try the BP 88. What a pleasant surprise! Not hard to get on edge, seemed easier to ski than the 82, no tip chatter. After two runs, I wanted to try the 82 again to directly compare the two. The BPs so-far are the winners, with the 88 edging out the 82. I went back to the Atomic tent and spied one of the Clouds and asked the rep which cloud she would recommend for an intermediate. She said the 9 or the 8 if I thought I wanted something a little softer. I went for the 9...OMG this ski made me smile. It was FUN. I had no idea what width or length I was on. Found out later the length was 157, and 73 under foot.

Conclusion: I am not ready to pull the plug. I need more demos! I still want to try those Flairs. And I want to try the Cloud 9 in the next longer length. If I had to pick a ski from what I demoed, I think I would need a quiver! Bp88 and atomic Cloud 9 are The winners.
What a fun day. Thank you to Mel for the invitation, for sharing your knowledge of skis and for an overall great day.
 

contesstant

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Demoing is a blast! My advice to you is when you are ready to pull the trigger, if it's a ski that doesn't come with a system binding, then pay close attention to what binding is on the ski you demoed (most likely a Marker Squire on the BP) and get either the same binding, or one that has the same ramp angle.
 

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