Blizzard Spur

[whyturn]

Billy goat solves all squad deficiencies IMO

[tone capone]

Good point, thanks why turn, I think we like the same kind of ski. That is my other #1 choice, just wondering if the Spur does it one better in most ways.

[Brianskis]

I have a Spur w/ Marker Griffon demo in Spokane available for those interested...

[Hodgge]

I've got a few days on my pair, really like them so far. You can get forward and drive the tips on these guys without fear, charge through chop at full speed, etc, and they're super damp. Ski them with a little more finess in the deep, and they feel quite surfy. Pretty killer combination of traits in my mind. I had the original Super 7s, and these definitely do all things better.

I was a little worried about the length (6'2", 175lbs) being too short, but I'm happy so far. Have them mounted at the recommended point and like how they feel. They really dont have much tail rocker, and the tails are nice and stiff, so I don't see much reason to mount further forward.

[Hodgge]

Lone Mtn. Sports in Big Sky has a pair on demo as well.

[tone capone]

Trigger pulled, three days in on windbuff chalk and assorted wind chunder. It's over, I'm in love. Solves all deficits of Squad 7, they require a little more leg work on groomers but that's it. They just eat up the vertical. If these are as good in pow as people say they could easily be my everyday ski. All I can do is echo pretty much what people have said as I have found no different. Damp enough, very stable pointing 'em through some nasty hard wind damaged runouts, still some nice pop, no problem to toss around, easy to break free and slarve however you want but still hold a very high edge angle when you want, no prob. Definetly a forwardish sweet spot but if you are on it they are predictable and rewarding at all times. If people feel like the tails are hooking up they should just detune the shit out of the tips and tails. Blizzard actually listens to their athletes instead of concocting marketing gimmicks, wow. I realize they may not be the best tool for a daily driver, but they get the job done and then some, no question.

[tone capone]

Also I am 6'1" 175#, mounted center, bsl is 306. Took them out again today, I will just add that all of the above applies as long as there is some kind of soft stuff to kick around. If it is to the point that things are chattery then they are a little more work than it's worth. Still, we're talking borderline for what I would consider enjoyable conditions anyway. Still workable, just not ideal obviously. Can 't wait for some pow!

[Hodgge]

Agreed about the soft stuff. Only takes a little bit and they're super fun all over the hill, even in moguls. If its hard pack, they can get out of control.

I've got about 7 or 8 days on mine, so far bases and edges are holding up well. Top sheet material is a little soft and seems to get cut up pretty easily, but that's not a huge concern.

[NWFlow]

Tone: true Center? or recommended?

[mangle]

Thought I'd add my impressions as I'm stuck in an airport because of an "icy runway" and missing another 6" day at Jackson.

About me: 6'2", 175lbs, converted snowboarder as of March 2014, 50 days so far this season, split between Killington and Jackson.

Mount: center, pivots, 326 bsl.



I had these mounted up and set them in the corner of the living room because they're that pretty. And the green logos match the green pivots and my Lange RXs perfectly (somewhat in jest, but who doesn't like good-looking gear?). I told myself I wouldn't ski them until at least after New Years to allow a bit of base to build and cover rocks. Then the Jackson Christmas storm happened and I found myself seriously undergunned on the first lap down a mostly untracked bowl on a 185 Cochise. They might as well be submarines in anything more than a few inches. I very quickly skied home and grabbed the Spurs, rocks be damned. The rest of the day was awesome - This is my first really big ski, and the float is pretty close to what I'm used to on a board.

Then I took them out again the next day only to find a bunch of shallow rocks on the traverse in to a chute in to rock springs. Not just rocks, but little fucking razorblades under a half inch of snow. I liken the sensation to how I would imagine walking on hot coals with no escape. I was barely moving, but I could feel each one digging in to the virgin ptex, and there was nothing I could do about it. I then promptly aired something to a shallow, rocky (thankfully pretty smooth rocks) landing. So much for a brand new pair of skis. I wouldn't normally care about that sort of damage (edges are fine, no core showing), but it just hurt to look at the bases. A little ptex and a slight basegrind later and they're pretty much new again.

My next chance was two days later in 18" of 3% moisture content snow (lightest I've ever skied) that fell mostly mid-mountain. They float. They're great. Big turns, little turns, hop turns, slash turns. Here's a picture:




The next day, the snow density increased quite a bit, and I found myself on a rather mellow line through the trees in the crags. These aren't at all easy to turn sharply at slow speeds in heavy snow. I'm sure my newness to skiing contributes heavily to this, but I was cursing myself for not bringing the board.

Being my first really big ski, I'm not sure how it compares to others, but it seems that you give up a lot on the hard stuff, especially if it's choppy. Hard cat tracks suck. The Cochise is much easier to ski in heavy chop, as expected, but they don't get knocked around too badly in the softer chop. Groomers are fine and the ski is really happy on edge at speed so long as it's somewhat soft. The tails seem a bit softer than the Cochise and they're less tolerant of getting back seat. They also seem to pivot much easier. Yesterday, in the 6" of heavy stuff, I was on the Cochise and very happy.

After maybe 15 days on them, the graphics are getting chewed up on the edges, but they don't look too bad. I haven't had any major rock encounters since the second day, and they continue to be more fun the more I ski them. Today would have been a great day for them. On the bright side, I just got upgraded on the Jackson to Salt Lake flight. My record is 3 free beers.

[tone capone]

Nw flow, sorry, mounted reccomended...Unlike with the Squad 7's I feel like with these it might be good to mount a little forward, maybe 1 to 1.5, especially if you are on the lighter side of the spectrum... I feel like I am on the sweet spot if I drive them hard at all times, and never get backseat on them. I think I'll be really happy once I get to try them in some legit deep pow.... I still have only tried them in like 3 inches of pow, as after I got them the snow gods became displeased with my hedonistic and selfish pursuit. It has been spring conditions and coral reef so been laying off them for a bit...maybe 3 or 4 inches tomorrow and possibly time for more reckless abandon with these wonderful white missiles clamped to my feet!

[ulty_guy]

mangle- what length are the Katana's in the pic next to the Spur?

[mangle]

mangle- what length are the Katana's in the pic next to the Spur?

191. Just had them mounted - can't wait to ski them.

[skibrd]

Ive got the same set up mangle, in the same resort, but with CAST plates.

These are my first, large radius, pow boards. Learning them has been an awesome experience.

A few notes after 9 or 10th day on my the Spurs:

The heavier the snow, the more speed you need to turn the Spurs. Ive found they get a tad bogged down in very wet heavy snow.
Cat tracks are tough unless you really get your knees into the hill and them up on an edge (like Ted Ligity knees into the hill and on edge, not easy on a 125 under foot ski). Just trying to cruise is tough.
The tips like to follow random ruts if you are not paying perfect attention on hard packed (cat tracks...)
They will hold an edge on ice, barely.
Face shots are in short supply
On hard pack they will run, fast, I have to stay right on top of them.

If its soft, I love my spurs. Hopefully it can stay soft and my Bonafides can stay in the garage for a long time.

[wasatchback]

I'm amazed anyone even cares how good they are on groomers... They're 125 wasted ski with significant taper and no camber. However when you do establish some high edge angles they do arc pretty darn well. Is there a better 125 wasted ski on hardpack?

Just in case anyone cares they definitely ski better with a little edge work first. Edges come at 1* (or just shy of that) and 3* on the side.
This is a little agro for a pow ski. I base bevel mine to 1.5* and round off anything with taper, usually with sandpaper... 2* on the side might be a bit better as well but I usually don't bother.

[skibrd]

I don't care how they ski on groomers. If I don't have to ski a groomer with my Spurs, I won't be shedding any tears. My comments were more of a heads up to anyone who does have to take a groomer to or from lifts. If only we could ski endless pow from lift to lift with out those pesky groomed cat tracks in out way. *Answer sarcasm with sarcasm, that will end any argument said no one ever, lol*

Thanks for the heads up on the edge de-tuning, I will give it a shot and see if how it feels. Im slowly learning that race sharp edges are not a necessity, as they were on the east coast.

On another note, the top sheets and side walls are vary soft and my crappy skiing has lead to multiple slices in the top sheets down to the wood core. From what I know of balsa core boats, exposed wood is not good, so I covered the slices with some 2 part epoxy. That should be good or do I need to get some fiber glass out and cover the slices better?

[wasatchback]

Take a panzar file and round the top sheet significantly. The top edge is just sharp and when your skis hit each other they can catch and pull up which slices the top sheet and sidewall. Rounding it off will help to eliminate that. You can also do it with a palm sander.

Dulling the tapered sections will also help stop your skis from running into each other as often as when those sections are sharp.

[skibrd]

A wood rasp would probably work best, Ill get right on it.

[cbgarrett]

I'll chime in with my 0.02. Only have 2 days on my spurs, but I am very happy so far. Main thing I have been looking for is a good powder ski that is an easy transition from my regular skis. I have cochise, bonafide and rossi sickle and prefer skis with little or no camber, flat tails and tip rocker (not much tail rocker). Most powder skis I have tried are so different with too much tail rocker and even camber underboot. So I was excited to try spurs and bought them with no demo. This is the first ski I have been on with carbon construction.

Powder skis I have owned/tried and not liked for various reasons: bentchetler, surface drifter, Line SFB, nordica helldorado, blizzard bodacious, rossi S7, BD megawatt
Overall: fairly stiff, same Blizzard feel I like, but a tad lighter feeling. Still very solid and doesn't get deflected. You can tell the damp, stiff feel doesn't come from metal.
Groomers: no problems. No weird actions, just dampish feel. Can hold an edge and carve fine, but obviously require pretty high angle to get on edge. If the snow is soft at all, no problems getting back to lift.
Heavy, previously-refrozen crud: decent at slicing through. Not as good as my cochise. Maybe 10% less stiffness feel.
Powder (medium density): Perfect, no issues. Does exactly what I want it to do. Floats beautifully. Doesn't require any different skiing style. I can ski it exactly how I ski my other skis. Easy to pivot in deep snow if you are moving at all.

Other notes: Tracks well on traverses (necessary trait at Alta). I am not sure if I notice the carbon, but the stiffness is there without metal, so maybe that is the benefit. Imho, a powder ski should not have camber or a 15m radius. I don't need a ski this wide to be my everyday ski. The spur solves those issues with no camber and a longer sidecut. Design dictates it could be used everyday, but not ideal.
That's all for now. More to come if we ever get snow in Utah again.

[tone capone]

Powder (medium density): Perfect, no issues. Does exactly what I want it to do. Floats beautifully. Doesn't require any different skiing style. I can ski it exactly how I ski my other skis. Easy to pivot in deep snow if you are moving at all.

For real, and also agree that there is no need for a super short turn radius in a pow ski in order to "get them to turn quick"...I hate that misconception.

Finally got to take them out in 8 inches of 10% and this was exactly my experience... They are everything I ever wanted out of a pow ski. They allow every move to just be intuitive, whether at speed or shutting it down quickly... Landing airs is incredible, like cheating. Slow speed pivot turns, whatever, they just do what you want them to without any fuss. There is no excuse not to rage big lines in pow, stomp airs, or even noodle around in reasonably spaced trees on this ski! It WILL take care of you! Now I just need a Cochise for my daily driver, woo hoo!

[Hodgge]

Skied my pair this weekend in ~12" new at Big Sky. Not my first powder day on them, but first time in deep, light snow. Pretty much effortless, not a hint of tip dive, no catchy-ness, easy to pivot, just perfect.

I'll agree with some other posters that turning in heavier snow can be a little work, likely due to the large amount of surface area on this ski. I find I have to muscle them a bit in heavier deep chop, but its really a minor issue. Wondering if the 15-16 Bodacious with some Spur heritage might be a touch more versatile, but for me, this is a deep day ski.

Hit about 200 buried rocks this weekend and came away with nothing more than some surface scratches. Durability seems pretty solid. My last set of pow sticks (Helldorados) would have had 199 coreshots.

[Bird Blaster]

great to hear some more pow reviews.!

I haven't had much luck with powder so far. Was out on the weekend and found some pow stashes, lots of cut up stuff and some soft groomers. The few stashes I found I was impressed with the ski, I think it should be a great deep day charging ski, but I need more beta on it. In regards to the cut up stuff it seemed to do well when it was soft, obviously a 125mm ski offers its own challenges, but I was impressed. Groomer performance was out of this world - I felt like they careved as good as my Brahmas (well not AS good as an 88mm ski). This absolutely blew me away - this ski dropped GS style turns with NO issue.

Blizzard has built an amazing collection of freeride skis. I started with getting a bonafide, which I sold and now have a 187 Brahma, 193 Cochise and 189 Spur --> VERY VERY happy with this quiver.

[cbgarrett]

I got more time in on my spurs this past Saturday powder day in Utah (12-18" fairly light powder in morning to cut-up powder bumps in afternoon)
Additional thoughts:
1. I can ski all day on the spurs even after the powder gets tracked up in the afternoon. No leg fatigue later in the day due to the ski. I had brought my cochise, but never felt the need to switch.
2. Even with the foot of fresh, there were still some hard bumps in places. The spur is not ideal for those spots (what is?). In softer bumps, they are workable. In cut up powder, they handle very well.
3. Tight areas (narrow chutes and trees) spurs are pretty good. A ski with more reverse camber and/or more tail rocker would be somewhat better and easier to pivot, but the spur is good enough for me. The flat-ish tail feels more supportive and better for me overall.
4. I ran over a bunch of rocks and didn't end up with any damage, just a few minor scratches. The base material seems tougher than other blizzard skis. My cochise is always getting deeper cuts and damage.
5. Every time I get a chance to ski the spurs, I come away impressed.

[Hodgge]

Agreed - they do not like hard stuff very much. As long as there is just a little soft snow, even moguls are fun.

[wasatchback]

4. I ran over a bunch of rocks and didn't end up with any damage, just a few minor scratches. The base material seems tougher than other blizzard skis. My cochise is always getting deeper cuts and damage.

The whole base durability and hardness issue has always intrigued me. Never really knowing much about the technical side of base material or what we used I took the opportunity to ask the one of the engineers tonight at dinner in Cortina a little more about the bases on our skis.

The bases are harder this year than they have been in the past. They are now 4000 bases (or some number above 4000, he might have said 4445 but I honestly can't remember... few too many pops) on every ski above say $549 or $599. They have used 4000+ bases for the F.I.S race skis for a little while but they didn't use it for anything else because the harder base material heats up faster and needs to be waxed more frequently as it dries out easier and can become slow. Clearly someone racing at a high level waxes their skis after every use and 10-30 times before they even use them (or hot boxes them, or whatever) so drying is not a concern. However the supplier introduced a new base material in the last few years that has wax integrated into it in production so they can run a harder base material with less drying. The bases were never "soft" they were the industry norm (that a lot of manufacturers still use) for all skis above a certain price point, not because they were cheaper but because the harder bases would dry out a lot faster.

FWIW