FWIW I have had issues with online orders from REI - I don't know who they are using as their shipping company but my last package arrived drenched in some oily perfume that had saturated the box. I can't imagine the driver not noticing that another item had spilled or the stench. I had to return the item and the store did't know how to handle b/c of the smell. A few months ago another item was shipped to me that was clearly tried on / worn for some time, when I returned to the store, they simply put it back out on the floor. Not impressed.
Okay thanks for the heads up and crossing my fingers that doesn't happen!
So are they now on their way? What's your new quiver
@chasinghorizons ?
Yep! Saw them for $388 and showed them to DH, and he bought them on the spot. He's more of a ski addict than I am! But we'd been looking for a chargey pow ski - I did one run on the Line Sakana in slightly variable soft snow recently and it doesn't seem like it handles Sierra chop very well, although way too early to say for sure. (Also have since found out that my bindings were adjusted incorrectly - apparently it's hard to adjust Tyrolia Attack bindings and a lot of shops don't know how to do it. Even though they passed inspection with the binding test machine, my boots were floating over the plate by like a mm - they're supposed to make contact. Apparently, this can make skis feel sluggish, so I'm curious if they'll feel better now). Definitely need more time on them, but they're so thin that I still doubt they'll be the best ski for tracked out Sierra cement powder. So I was eyeballing the Moment Bella & Liberty Genesis 106 (and to a lesser extent, the WNDR Intention and 4frnt Hoji CC) when this happened. So new quiver:
Faction Dictator 2.0x in 155, mounted on traditional line: best for crowded groomer days, early & late season when can't go off-piste. Good carver & great energy out of turns. Measured effective edge: ~116 cm.
Liberty Genesis 101 in 158 (21/22 version with VMT): my tight terrain ski (trees & bumps) but also really good at everything else. If this were longer, it might kill my quiver. Measured effective edge: ~100 cm - shows why they ski short! (Interestingly, I also measured my old Rossignol Stargazers 154 and their effective edge is ~107 cm).
Faction Dictator 3.0x in 164, mounted on progressive line: slowly becoming my daily driver. As I get more time on these, I feel like we're slowly coming to an understanding. Absolutely amazing for steep terrain, open faces, & blasting down groomers. Not the best for bumps. Measured effective edge: ~116 cm (I was pretty surprised it was almost exactly the same as the 2.0x despite being 9 cm longer). Starting to feel like I could've mounted then even more forward, even though I'm happy with the progressive line too since it helps powder performance. It's just that their tails are really strong.
Line Sakana in 166: I feel like these will be good on smooth snow, and not so good in chop. The heavier the snow, the worse they'll feel when the pow gets tracked out. They also feel like they ski long. For light/cold pow, I'll probably choose these, but for heavy wet pow, I now have...
Liberty Genesis 106 in 171! Also with VMT. Got these for deep pow days. Haven't skied then yet, but if they're anything like the 101, I expect I'll love them. Blister said they float above their class, and the Dictator 3.0x has floated well for me on these recent April pow days in Tahoe, so despite only being 106 wide I think they'll work fine for me.