Thread: 08 Coomba Review

08 Coomba Review

Me: 32, 5'7", 152#, skiing for 20 years, I consider myself a high-level advanced skier but I'm sure many of you could prove me wrong on this, ski semi-aggressively, 20-30 days a year, sadly mostly resort days.

Ski: 181 (but K2's seem to run long and these are no exception), 135-102-122, very little camber to the ski, Scarpa Tornado boots with stiff (black) tongues, Fritschi Freeride bindings mounted 1cm behind recommended line.

Location: 2 days at Kickinghorse in BC.

Conditions: untracked and tracked powder, crud, and thin hard-pack groomers at the bottom.

I was looking for a replacement to my much-loved Rossi XXX's and settled on the Coomba over other options for a couple of reasons: I'm small and didn't want a super-stiff ride, weight, dimensions, and honestly a little fear of a rockered ski as my main ride for most conditions.

This was intended to by my every-day ski at the time of purchase and decided to go with something semi-traditional. I mounted them -1cm since because of the flat tail and the powder orientation of the ski, and because I like a bit of tip to absorb terrain irregularities. Since I purchased them I've added a new pair of 178cm 06/07 Dynastar 8800's to the quiver to fill the gap in around 90mm waist, and being more cambered they may see more use as my everyday ski (but who knows). Rounding out the quiver is a pair of 174cm Black Diamond Machine's (123-79-108) for short-radius and hard carving.

To the review...
Their very first run in un-tracked powder and they were soooo much fun! Super floaty, fast, easy to smear and dump speed at will. The float and speed are to be expected as this is a pretty large ski for a little guy like me, but the predictability of the tip shape (it's not catchy at all and so far impossible to sink) and the ability to smear turns out at will were really noticeable to me. These are great things for the backcountry and this will likely end up being the primary use of this ski.

As the day wore on and the runs consisted of tracked out powder and cruddy bumps (due to terrain features not filled in with enough snow yet), I found myself getting a little worked by these skis but I think it was a combination of user-error/not being used to the skis yet, the size (this is the largest ski I've skied on since straight skis), and the long and flat tail... but mostly user-error. By the end of the day I had them pretty much dialed. Since reading another thread in tech-talk about forward lean, I think some of my trouble had to do with the zero degree lean of the freerides. This isn’t a problem really, but different than my two setups with alpine bindings (PX12Ti’s on each).

Overnight that night we got 15cm of new snow and some wind to fill in all the tracks from the day before... sweet. Because of the cold temps keeping the crowds down I got even more untracked lines and the snow was just as good. Again, in the powder, these are a dream as expected. I also hit a couple of small drops (~6 feet) into powder and tracked powder and I've very rarely felt so secure on landing, with not a hint of that feeling of being about to go over the bars. I also got much more confident in crud and it tight spaces.

In general on both days I noticed a few things about these skis. They like to go fast, and they like to go straight. They're not hooky at all and I can keep my feet pretty close together in all conditions I've had them in so far. You can very easily slide the tails out for short radius turns, but on edge they have the turning radius of a dump-truck. Despite comments from people calling these soft, there was no chatter out of them at all even at high speeds in crud and on hard uneven groomers. I actually find them pretty stiff with the exception of the very tip and tail.

I think these will be great skis for what I intended them for.

Thanks for this. Just bought a new pair and looking forward to getting out there with them

Good review. I bought 2008 Coomba's (181) to use this year as a BC ski, but lacking an alpine setup right now they've also been my resort skis. I mounted them with the older (white) Freerides on the mid-sole mark and I ski them with Spirit 4's.

I've also found the skis to be very versatile in every condition, from deep, untracked pow to skied-out mank to groomers to get back to the lift. They're very light and nimble so they're easy to throw around in tight spots but still blast through the crud. They float really well, but I have found that they do have a speed limit and they get a little sketchy when you start going too fast.

I do wish the bases of these skis were a little tougher too. I've already gotten a couple of core shots in them, and granted, I was skiing them early season, but I wasn't really hitting stuff that I would expect to get huge holes in my bases from.

To solve the binding's forward lean problem, just remove the plastic baseplate on the toe of the binding. Make sure you get shorter screws to remount the toe! Keep the plate on the heel and you're set. I've been running my Freerides like this for years with no problems.

Originally Posted by SkiNowWorkLater

Good review. I bought 2008 Coomba's (181) to use this year as a BC ski, but lacking an alpine setup right now they've also been my resort skis. I mounted them with the older (white) Freerides on the mid-sole mark and I ski them with Spirit 4's.

I've also found the skis to be very versatile in every condition, from deep, untracked pow to skied-out mank to groomers to get back to the lift. They're very light and nimble so they're easy to throw around in tight spots but still blast through the crud. They float really well, but I have found that they do have a speed limit and they get a little sketchy when you start going too fast.

I do wish the bases of these skis were a little tougher too. I've already gotten a couple of core shots in them, and granted, I was skiing them early season, but I wasn't really hitting stuff that I would expect to get huge holes in my bases from.

To solve the binding's forward lean problem, just remove the plastic baseplate on the toe of the binding. Make sure you get shorter screws to remount the toe! Keep the plate on the heel and you're set. I've been running my Freerides like this for years with no problems.

I have yet to try to blast through crud on these... hopefully I find them as good as you've described.

I got a core-shot on these skis on the first day as well, but I can't say whether it's weak bases or bad luck since I've cored three sets of skis already this year. However I do get the impression that the edges are pretty soft on these skis compared to others. I had a lot of rock-harded metal creating a lot more edge damage than I was expecting after using these for 1 weekend. That chokes me up a little, but if I'm going to be using this mostly as a powder set-up, then who needs edges, right?

Originally Posted by SkiNowWorkLater

Good review. I bought 2008 Coomba's (181) to use this year as a BC ski, but lacking an alpine setup right now they've also been my resort skis. I mounted them with the older (white) Freerides on the mid-sole mark and I ski them with Spirit 4's.

I've also found the skis to be very versatile in every condition, from deep, untracked pow to skied-out mank to groomers to get back to the lift. They're very light and nimble so they're easy to throw around in tight spots but still blast through the crud. They float really well, but I have found that they do have a speed limit and they get a little sketchy when you start going too fast.

I do wish the bases of these skis were a little tougher too. I've already gotten a couple of core shots in them, and granted, I was skiing them early season, but I wasn't really hitting stuff that I would expect to get huge holes in my bases from.

To solve the binding's forward lean problem, just remove the plastic baseplate on the toe of the binding. Make sure you get shorter screws to remount the toe! Keep the plate on the heel and you're set. I've been running my Freerides like this for years with no problems.

I forgot to ask... did you originally mount your Freerides with the plate and subsequently removed it, or did you start without the plate at all? I only ask because I want to try this but I'm concerned about the implication with removing the toe plate and screwing different screws into the existing holes?

Insert obvious humour here.

Originally Posted by Shorty_J

I forgot to ask... did you originally mount your Freerides with the plate and subsequently removed it, or did you start without the plate at all? I only ask because I want to try this but I'm concerned about the implication with removing the toe plate and screwing different screws into the existing holes?

Insert obvious humour here.

I mounted them without the plate. I'm not sure how the holes would be affected if you unscrew and put new screws in. It shouldn't be a problem if you use screws with the same thread pattern, but you'll probably want to check with a tech before trying it.

Good luck!

Just mounted my 08 coombas with Dynafits. Love to hear the reviews on performance at speed and in shitty conditions, and on durability. Keep it coming.

Originally Posted by SkiNowWorkLater

I mounted them without the plate. I'm not sure how the holes would be affected if you unscrew and put new screws in. It shouldn't be a problem if you use screws with the same thread pattern, but you'll probably want to check with a tech before trying it.

Good luck!

Fair enough... now I just have to find a tech I KNOW I can trust... these are brand new boards!

shorty J
just unscrew, remove plate and screw back in, BY HAND, and check the bases for dimples. If it happens, back the screws out, adn grind away 2-3mm (one thread)
If you are scared, bring them this weekend and I can show you how.
I also just made a diamer lifter for the heel, to get some binding ramp angle into the system.

Originally Posted by mntlion

shorty J
just unscrew, remove plate and screw back in, BY HAND, and check the bases for dimples. If it happens, back the screws out, adn grind away 2-3mm (one thread)
If you are scared, bring them this weekend and I can show you how.
I also just made a diamer lifter for the heel, to get some binding ramp angle into the system.

Between the Explosiv's and help with my Coomba/Fritschi setup, I'm definately coming by this weekend!