Kimmyt
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
(I'm stealing volklgirl's review format, since it seems pretty straightforward!)
The Tester: 135 lbs., 5'3". Strong intermediate to advanced skiier. Likes to go fast, and play in all types of terrain. Hoping to increase skills at off-piste and mogul skiing in the future.
The Conditions: 'Hero Snow': Perfectly packed powder (a few inches the previous day...unfortunately groomed, and a couple days earlier that week made for a decent base) that never seemed to get tracked out. Velvety smooth and soft as a baby's bum. Ungroomed run was small to medium sized big soft pillow bumps, perfect for this aspiring bump skiier to fumble around on in her demo skis. Temps just above freezing with a big hot sun to keep things soft, without turning the snow into mush.
The Test Runs: For each ski I went down 1 blue run, filled with rollers and windy, perfect for doing big arcing turns on if there wasn't anyone around. 1 black run, a bit steeper, small to medium turns at the top with bigger GS turns towards the bottom. 1 bump run, with all that entails.
The Skis (in demo order):
1) Volkl Attiva Tierra 156cm (118-76-104, 13.5m): I really wanted to like this ski. I really did. It was the only one, of the three I ended up with, that I had written on my little 'to do' list. Maybe I skied it too early in the day, or maybe I wasn't ready for something that fat in the waist, but anyway. This ski looooved to go fast. Big, GS-style turns were it's forte. But for the life of me I couldn't get it to make a decent short or medium radius turn. And the bumps were miserable. But when I let her rip on the groomed, she got on edge and really burned it up. Overall, the skis felt tremendously heavy. Felt like I had rocks on my legs, and my quads were burning after only two runs. Overall, I think this ski would be a great ski for a strong advanced skiier who could muscle it into submission. I'm probably too much on the intermediate side of things to really enjoy this baby.
2) Salomon Topaz 150cm (118-71-99, 11.7m): Now this one, I didn't expect to like. First off, and I have to admit this, I was totally turned off by the topsheet. The graphics on this ski are horrible. In fact, I think that most of the Solly women's line is pretty fugly. They look like someone got the airbrush and went crazy. But. Once I got out on these, I had a blast. These little suckers could go super fast! And they liked all different sized turns. Of course, they were alot happier in short radius turns, but they performed equally well in the longer turns and really ripped it up. These skis had me surprising myself, whopping and hollering as I zoomed down the groomed runs and launched over some rollers. They were surprisingly stable for how speedy they were. These skis would be really fun, easy-to-ski, for Intermediates. However, they were a bit of a let-down in the bumps. I thought for sure they'd excel here, but they felt almost too squirrely in there. I would have liked to try a longer size in these, as these felt short for me, but I didn't have time.
3) Atomic Royal Minx 150cm (113-72-99, 14m): OK, this one surprised even me. I'll go girly here. The ski is gorgeous. It's a dark green color and it's kind of shimmery. Very understated. I have to admit. I swooned. Anyway, I hadn't read up on the Minx line, so had no idea what the guy was putting me in. I was tired and it was the end of the demo period, so when he told me this ski would knock my socks off, I took it and went off. And wow. This ski was so stable. It was like I instantly became a better skier. Little piles of powder and crud were no match for me. I carved over ice and through bumps and over rollers with nary a twitch. And it's not that these skis were boring. Oh they were fun, very fast and responsive. They did what I asked of them and didn't complain, all the while making it look easy. And then I took them down the bumps, even though my legs were aching. And for the first time in my life, I skied bumps. I mean, I really skied them. Ok so I wasn't zipper-lining them, but in these skis, immmediately I was linking turns and I didn't have to stop halfway down the hill. I carried speed, and felt comfortable pointing my tips down the fall line. Because I felt like they would do what I told them to, even if what I told them to do was 'oh wait crap i'm gonna fall, stoooop!'. So, uhm. Yes. And I whooped. And hollered. I even told the snowboarder boys I was riding with that they should man up and follow me down the bumps (none of them accepted the challenge). That was it. These skis had me talking trash. Haha.
Wrap-up: This was a great first demo for me. Well, aside from the fact that I left my credit card at the Atomic tent since I was so giddy about the Royal Minxes. Don't worry, the ski shop guy called me later and turns out he was only 11 miles down the highway from me, so he waited and gave me my card. What a sweetheart! Anyway, I liked all these skis, though I really felt like the Tierra was too much ski for me. I didn't hate it, I just liked the others better. So overall, my award for kickass ski of the day goes to the Royal Minx. I'll definitely be checking out more of the Atomic line next time I go to a demo day. I'd like to try some of the Mama line and see how they compare.
The Tester: 135 lbs., 5'3". Strong intermediate to advanced skiier. Likes to go fast, and play in all types of terrain. Hoping to increase skills at off-piste and mogul skiing in the future.
The Conditions: 'Hero Snow': Perfectly packed powder (a few inches the previous day...unfortunately groomed, and a couple days earlier that week made for a decent base) that never seemed to get tracked out. Velvety smooth and soft as a baby's bum. Ungroomed run was small to medium sized big soft pillow bumps, perfect for this aspiring bump skiier to fumble around on in her demo skis. Temps just above freezing with a big hot sun to keep things soft, without turning the snow into mush.
The Test Runs: For each ski I went down 1 blue run, filled with rollers and windy, perfect for doing big arcing turns on if there wasn't anyone around. 1 black run, a bit steeper, small to medium turns at the top with bigger GS turns towards the bottom. 1 bump run, with all that entails.
The Skis (in demo order):
1) Volkl Attiva Tierra 156cm (118-76-104, 13.5m): I really wanted to like this ski. I really did. It was the only one, of the three I ended up with, that I had written on my little 'to do' list. Maybe I skied it too early in the day, or maybe I wasn't ready for something that fat in the waist, but anyway. This ski looooved to go fast. Big, GS-style turns were it's forte. But for the life of me I couldn't get it to make a decent short or medium radius turn. And the bumps were miserable. But when I let her rip on the groomed, she got on edge and really burned it up. Overall, the skis felt tremendously heavy. Felt like I had rocks on my legs, and my quads were burning after only two runs. Overall, I think this ski would be a great ski for a strong advanced skiier who could muscle it into submission. I'm probably too much on the intermediate side of things to really enjoy this baby.
2) Salomon Topaz 150cm (118-71-99, 11.7m): Now this one, I didn't expect to like. First off, and I have to admit this, I was totally turned off by the topsheet. The graphics on this ski are horrible. In fact, I think that most of the Solly women's line is pretty fugly. They look like someone got the airbrush and went crazy. But. Once I got out on these, I had a blast. These little suckers could go super fast! And they liked all different sized turns. Of course, they were alot happier in short radius turns, but they performed equally well in the longer turns and really ripped it up. These skis had me surprising myself, whopping and hollering as I zoomed down the groomed runs and launched over some rollers. They were surprisingly stable for how speedy they were. These skis would be really fun, easy-to-ski, for Intermediates. However, they were a bit of a let-down in the bumps. I thought for sure they'd excel here, but they felt almost too squirrely in there. I would have liked to try a longer size in these, as these felt short for me, but I didn't have time.
3) Atomic Royal Minx 150cm (113-72-99, 14m): OK, this one surprised even me. I'll go girly here. The ski is gorgeous. It's a dark green color and it's kind of shimmery. Very understated. I have to admit. I swooned. Anyway, I hadn't read up on the Minx line, so had no idea what the guy was putting me in. I was tired and it was the end of the demo period, so when he told me this ski would knock my socks off, I took it and went off. And wow. This ski was so stable. It was like I instantly became a better skier. Little piles of powder and crud were no match for me. I carved over ice and through bumps and over rollers with nary a twitch. And it's not that these skis were boring. Oh they were fun, very fast and responsive. They did what I asked of them and didn't complain, all the while making it look easy. And then I took them down the bumps, even though my legs were aching. And for the first time in my life, I skied bumps. I mean, I really skied them. Ok so I wasn't zipper-lining them, but in these skis, immmediately I was linking turns and I didn't have to stop halfway down the hill. I carried speed, and felt comfortable pointing my tips down the fall line. Because I felt like they would do what I told them to, even if what I told them to do was 'oh wait crap i'm gonna fall, stoooop!'. So, uhm. Yes. And I whooped. And hollered. I even told the snowboarder boys I was riding with that they should man up and follow me down the bumps (none of them accepted the challenge). That was it. These skis had me talking trash. Haha.
Wrap-up: This was a great first demo for me. Well, aside from the fact that I left my credit card at the Atomic tent since I was so giddy about the Royal Minxes. Don't worry, the ski shop guy called me later and turns out he was only 11 miles down the highway from me, so he waited and gave me my card. What a sweetheart! Anyway, I liked all these skis, though I really felt like the Tierra was too much ski for me. I didn't hate it, I just liked the others better. So overall, my award for kickass ski of the day goes to the Royal Minx. I'll definitely be checking out more of the Atomic line next time I go to a demo day. I'd like to try some of the Mama line and see how they compare.
