TNtoTaos
Angel Diva
OK, I did it -- I bought new skis in TSV this week. As I mentioned in a previous post, I had planned this trip specifically to demo several skis I was interested in, but I discovered that none of the ski shops in TSV had very much of a selection to demo OR purchase (supply chain issues, models sold out, limited sizes, etc), and the price range for demos (full-day, with switches allowed) ranged from $49 (Le Ski Mastery) to $55 (Cottam's) to $75 (Taos Ski Shop and Boot Doctors). Although they all deducted the price of the demo from a purchase, to be able to try all, or even some of the skis I was interested in was looking pretty pricey. The only ones on my list (and in my size) that were available among the various shops were Sheeva 9, Volkl Yumi, Santa Ana 88, Elan Ripstick 94, and Atomic Maven 86. The Volkl Blaze 94 or 86 were not available in my size anywhere, which was a big bummer, as that was the ski I was most interested in.
So...I started out at Le Ski Mastery, as they actually had two of those I was most interested in available, the Yumi (148) and the Sheeva 9 (148). The first one I tried was the Yumi, which I really liked a lot. I found them to be much more flexible and lighter than I expected, turned well, and handled pretty well in the bumps. They chattered a bit on fast downhills, but not much, and they were pretty stable. I skied them for about 1-2 hrs.
Next came the Sheeva 9 (which I had tried before, in Sugar Mtn, but the conditions were terrible and they were too long), and I fell in love! I skied them on almost the exact same places as the Yumi, and I noted that they were even lighter than the Yumi, very flexible, and I found I could turn them on a dime! They didn't chatter on the downhills, and I found myself doing bumps that I never would have even looked at with my old Volkl Sol skis! They also gripped well in the few icy patches and crud I could find; I tried to find some powder, but it was mostly skied-on by Monday (I could only find some about 4-5" deep on the edges of some trails), but they seemed to do pretty well with it.
After spending the rest of the day on the Sheeva 9, and considering how much I enjoyed them, I decided they were the ones, and rather than spend another $50 - 150 on additional demos, I decided to talk to Peggy in Le Ski Mastery (it was Alain's day off) about a purchase. It turned out they had no new models available, so she offered me an excellent deal on those I had demo'd (which were in great shape), including new Warden 11 bindings swapped-out from the demo bindings, the discount for the demo, and a full tune, for $730! So these are my new skis for now, and I think I'll be very happy with them.
So...I started out at Le Ski Mastery, as they actually had two of those I was most interested in available, the Yumi (148) and the Sheeva 9 (148). The first one I tried was the Yumi, which I really liked a lot. I found them to be much more flexible and lighter than I expected, turned well, and handled pretty well in the bumps. They chattered a bit on fast downhills, but not much, and they were pretty stable. I skied them for about 1-2 hrs.
Next came the Sheeva 9 (which I had tried before, in Sugar Mtn, but the conditions were terrible and they were too long), and I fell in love! I skied them on almost the exact same places as the Yumi, and I noted that they were even lighter than the Yumi, very flexible, and I found I could turn them on a dime! They didn't chatter on the downhills, and I found myself doing bumps that I never would have even looked at with my old Volkl Sol skis! They also gripped well in the few icy patches and crud I could find; I tried to find some powder, but it was mostly skied-on by Monday (I could only find some about 4-5" deep on the edges of some trails), but they seemed to do pretty well with it.
After spending the rest of the day on the Sheeva 9, and considering how much I enjoyed them, I decided they were the ones, and rather than spend another $50 - 150 on additional demos, I decided to talk to Peggy in Le Ski Mastery (it was Alain's day off) about a purchase. It turned out they had no new models available, so she offered me an excellent deal on those I had demo'd (which were in great shape), including new Warden 11 bindings swapped-out from the demo bindings, the discount for the demo, and a full tune, for $730! So these are my new skis for now, and I think I'll be very happy with them.
