'08-'09 Bluehouse Shoots 191cm
Height 6’1”
Weight 185-190lbs
Dims 149-128-133
Flex- Stiff to Very Stiff
Mount Point –1cm (-10mm as marked on the ski)
Other skis I have/like: Gotama, Sumo, Praxis Powder.
Background: I picked these up because it was a great deal and I wanted to try something that may replace my Sumos. While I like the Sumo I feel they are a little hooky and I thought the Shoots might help in that area. I’m going to be in the Vail Valley most of the winter so if you are there or even Summit Co and want to try them let me know. My BSL is 325mm and have some room to adjust to a smaller or larger boot.
Conditions: Pow, Chopped Pow, Crust, Soft bumps, groomed.
Construction: Very beefy and solid. Top sheets seem to be holding up well to normal tip and sidewall nicks/dings. Haven’t taken any major hits to the bases but holding up to light shots.
Review quick read: Stiff, great in pow and crud, like speed, heavy.
Not so quick read.
Pow- Nice and floaty. You can drive the tips and the rocker pops them back up. They sort of just cruise along without a lot of input needed. Best if you stay centered or a little forward. They won’t punish you if you are back but they just don’t respond well. With the rocker there is no reason to have to sit back.
Chopped Pow and Crud: These plow through chopped pow and crud with no sign of being knocked around. Between the rocker and stiff flex they are very stable in these conditions. Stay forward and drive them. Getting in the back seat is a problem, as they will run away from you. I played around with trying to sink the tips by going from a packed pow section into an untracked crud spot. They’ll sink a little and put your forward but recover quickly.
Trees: Tight trees and slow speed are tough to manage with these, but the rocker helps a bit. I felt surprisingly comfortable in more open sections. They turn a little better than I expected.
Groomers and Bumps: It felt like I had to stay on top of them to make turns on soft groomers. You can get them to make shorter turns but it’s a little work. On hardpack you have to really tip them to get on edge. To carve you need a lot of room. Soft, medium spaced bumps were doable and not a problem. Didn’t get in tight bumps but expect them to be a handful. Probably best to go with the ride the tops technique or just get out of there as soon as you can.
Air: I don’t really drop anything big, 10ft and under is about my range. Landings were solid and smooth, which is expected given what’s under foot. I like a stiffer tail for drops rather than something soft that will wash out. The Shoots fit that requirement.
Overall impression: I’m going to ski the Sumos and Shoots back to back a couple more times. I’m leaning toward the Shoots at this point since they have none of that hooky feeling I get with Sumos. The Shoots don’t get knocked around as much in chopped as well. Like Ricky Bobby they wanna go fast. I like the stability and I’m sold on tip rocker. The downside to them is that they are heavy. That coupled with the stiffness means I need to be in a little better shape to ski these all day. I’d like to see a slightly less stiff version for guys like me. I’d also like to see less camber. I’m really not sure why this ski needs this much or any camber for that matter. I don’t think that removing it is really going to change hardpack performance, and I didn’t get them for hardpack days anyway. When you hold the ski base to base and squeeze them it changes the rocker height and where the rocker starts. I don’t know the dynamics of how this effects on snow performance. Maybe someone has some insight on this.
** Follow up mini review 12/23**
Had quite a few more days on these including a 14" day today. Also had a chance to ski the Sumos in similar pow conditions. The Sumos will be going up on gear swap.
The Shoots continue to deliver in pow and chopped pow. They plow through everything. Playing with the amount of tip pressure allows you to sink the tips a bit or float on top. The topsheets are chipping a bit more but not nearly as bad, or in the same way as my Gotamas. More nicks, than large chipping that occurs with the Volkls. Bases are holding up well but seem slow. Not sure if it's the bases or the snow/wax combo I'm running. Damn they are heavy though and I'd still prefer a little less stiffness, and zero camber.