ON3P Wrenegade -- A review
I'll start it off by saying, If I was posed with the riddle of what ski the tasmanian devil would choose to ride on the volcanoes of mars, this may very well be it.
The ski: 09-10 191 ON3P Wren at center mount
191cm Wrenegade
Tip to Tail Length: 191cm
Dimensions: 141/113/128
Running Length: 147cm
Sidecut Length: 162cm
Turn Radius: 30.5m
Tip Rocker: 15cm x 1.5cm
Tail Rocker: -
Tip & Tail Length: 14.5cm
Full Twin
Me: 210lbs in gear/6'2''/ Fast, steep line skier. I like to go real fast.
my quiver: 190 Praxis Backcountry, 194 Dynastar LP, 190 Gold Gotama
The mountain: Mt. Hood Meadows, May 8th, buttery soft *fresh* slush
*mountain was nailed w/ a foot during the week while closed, before warming into the weekend*
Right away, I got the ski up to speed and hit off a few small natural features. The poppy-ness was surprising. The bamboo core is certainly lively and doesn't take much to give you that bit of extra boost. Its also a very damp, solid platform on landing... I though it was "stompy."
Getting back into some steep fall lines, I opened it up, got out in front, and let it rip. The ski is soooo unbelievably solid and stable. Very quick and smooth edge to edge, this had just enough side-cut in the slushy butter. Never riding this ski before, i thought it might be a bit much for the conditions, but I was very wrong. The ski tore through the shit with ease. The 15mm tip rocker and sturdy shovel charged through heavy manky crud w/ no deflection. This was cool in itself.
The ski was almost too stable. I mean, its a fucking rocketship w/ Cadillac comfort-ability. The profile is similar to that of a Gotama, but much, much more solid and speed friendly (I don't think you'll find its speed limit). The tail, should you need it, is certainly there for you which is good because if faced with some unexpected chunder while doing mach-50 you might want to be able to sit back and put the brakes on.
The ski intends to have camber, though it felt relatively flat underfoot. I could definitely feel the engagement, but the feedback and responsiveness in the depth of a turn left me wanting a little more. The good thing here was the base structure and flatness allowed me to make minor side-side shifts through my feet to the ski while on a straightline or the run into a drop, without engaging the edge and it's turn radius. this was a cool feeling.
It certainly wasn't prime tree skiing conditions, I took them into it anyway and had a ton of fun. I'm not sure I've skied trees this fast or comfortably in such variable conditions. They are definitely quick enough edge to edge and can whip around very tight spaces.
All in all, I loved the ski. I thought it was so stable that it could use a bit more rocker up front, a tad more extreme camber to provide more responsiveness/propulsion out of turns, and a bit of tail rocker, cause why not?
After the trial run, I came back and talked to Scott about some changes I thought would make this ski about perfect. He already had them in mind, so we'll just wait to see what he has for the 10-11 WRen. One thing is for sure, It better have some GrizzlyCorn.
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