"Pop" and stability

[liquidfeet]

I have just retired my tired Volkls. They used to have great "pop." I think one might describe them, before their demise, as "lively." They wuld bounce me up and down, if I pressured them just so. But they were squirrely at speed, and just would not grip the ice/hard pack.

Now I'm riding a pair of Blizzards, Titanium stuff inside, and boy are they stable. I can zoom my way down an empty slope at speeds only dreamed of before, no chatter, no swishing side-to-side, no nothing, just tip'em and ride the carve FAST. Nice. Thrilling.

But when I want to make short poppy turns, well, yes, I can do it, but it's all me. I swish the skis leftie-rightie, and they obey and carve, sorta, and I can get myself down in a narrow line semi-carving short turns. But no pop. No "liveliness." No spunk underfoot.

Here's my question. If one chooses to ski on a stiff ski that is really stable at high speeds on huge turns, does that negate the possiblity of spunk and pop in the short short short turns? Or might there be another ski out there that would offer BOTH stability at speed and pop?

Thanks ahead of time for thinking this one through, you gear-heads out there.

 

[volklgirl]

In general, most all Volkls, Fishers, Nordicas, and Atomics will have both stability and pop. Blizzards and Dynastars tend to be in between, and Rossignol, Volant, and K2 tend to be really damp and smooth.

In skis themselves, the more race oriented and GS oriented a ski is the more damp and stable it will be, the more SL oriented it is the more pop it will have. It's all a matter of trade-offs....the "super cross" and "cheater GS" (GS race construction with mucho sidecut) skis will usually have the best combination of short turn pop and long turn stability.

 

[Elangirl]

I just spent the day teaching short turns to the women in my Ladies Day group----lots of short, carved turns--no swishing!! I ski the Elan Speed Magic--and I loved the pop that I get on these skis. I could feel the skis return my energy---in fact, I had to be careful that I did not pop up with each turn---had to control the pop to move diagonally. This is the first time I have skied a stiffer ski with a stiff tail and it is so much more lively than any other ski that I have skied.