Thread: Another EHP 193 Review Thread

Sorry this is a little late, but I was able to ski the EHP 193's last week on a smallish powder day (~6") at lovely Squaw Valley USA.

Background

17 years old, ex-racer.
5'9", 140 pounds. I know, I'm a small fucking person.
Pretty good skier.
Other skis: I ski ANT's 85% of the time and some 183 Gotamas (2nd year) for rock skis.

I have these mounted with Rossignol 180 Pro's at the recommended mounting point.

Bottom Line: These skis really charge and not as much work to ski as my ANT's, despite the relative lack of sidecut and for being a pretty stiff ski, at least for me. I was worried that these would be too stiff for me when I first stepped into them and was screwing around in the liftline. However, as soon as I pushed them into a small powder field, they began to shine. The conditions were really not ideal and I did a lot of groomer-back-to-the lifts, but they weren't too bad on the groomers either. Much like other large, shapeless powder skis, you just have to run them straight and not try to carve turns. Carving turns is impossible on these I would assume unless youre going about 60 mph on an empty, perfectly smooth groomer.

But onto the fun stuff. These skis really, really rule. They're not as heavy as they would seem to be at first glance. The thing I really liked about them is their ability to go really fast in the powder without fear of the tip diving. I really love my ANT's for everyday skiing but occasionally on a powder day, I hate them because they have a tendency to bounce down and the tips dive. The EHP's do not do this at all. Rather, they plane on top of the snow, and combined with my extremely light weight, I was on top of the small amount of snow almost all the time. You can really go fast on these skis without fearing that they're going to fuck you up or get squirrely or something. I wish that there was a larger amount of snow on the ground, because I didn't get to open them up as much as I would have liked, but my first impressions are that the EHP is a really stable, relatively light, and totally fun powder ski. They seemed like they would really stomp stuff too, I don't know if it was an illusion, but it seemed like the zero-camber bases are like HUGE, stable landing pads for every smallish air I took that day. I have skied spatulas and they have a very different feel from the EHP. It's probably been said before, but I would prefer spatulas in the trees or small spaces, but for a place like Squaw with lots of wide open bowls and stuff, the EHP really shines. I also like having an edge to stand on if I'm billygoating around or doing some dumb shit where there's a lot of rocks. Overall, these are some really fun skis that I would definitely reccomend to anyone who wants a rockin powder ski. I would even feel comfortable skiing these on less than huge powder days, like on slushy spring days, I think they'd be a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to testing out the capabilities of these skis throughout the season and I'll try to write another review after a big day on them.

me:

Thanks for the solid write up.......that is still my #1 ranking dream ski (maybe next year for me )

mounted on center?

ive heard one extremely reliable report, 1st hand, that the tails of his EHPs have delamed 2-3". Im not bad mouthing them, as Id love a pair due to what Ive read and the shape, but its something to keep in mind

apparently 4frnt has received one other report of this I beleive.
either way, this person in question has reported it to them.
not asking for a warranty just yet as he epoxied them.

nice write up............ glad those bindings got a good home

I haven't noticed any delamination on mine, but I've only used them one day. We'll see how they hold up.

i had some issues with the top sheet seperating from the sidewall, epoxied so good so far

i am just soo amazed at how these skis will do huge gs/sgs turns in open pow feilds w/ effort and then i can just easily shut the speed down by kickin out my heels and then suddening i can do small turns through fairly tight trees w/o any problem at all, bottom line is this ski can do anything you want in any snow that is fairly soft,

Originally Posted by pechelman

ive heard one extremely reliable report, 1st hand, that the tails of his EHPs have delamed 2-3". Im not bad mouthing them, as Id love a pair due to what Ive read and the shape, but its something to keep in mind

apparently 4frnt has received one other report of this I beleive.
either way, this person in question has reported it to them.
not asking for a warranty just yet as he epoxied them.

yah. me. Tiny delam about 2 inches long. Looks cosmetic and Im not worried about fixing it right now. Maybe a syringe and some epoxy in the future. pushin 20 days on mine and bases are impressive.

sounds like its 3 people now then

Nice write up. I'm hoping 4frnt makes them in a size smaller, as 193 is probably a bit much for a pussy like me. 183-185 would be perfect.

next year, a 186. don't know if they are gonna be like the the 190 or the 193, the owner didn't really say much to that effect.

eric is working on the 186cm right now

anymore info on the shape and width? (186)

Goddamn.

Eric hoji is one lucky kid. Most pros pro model is one ski, that they have to make work for all conditions because of marketing, etc. Eric's pro model is a whole fucking quiver, you got the park booter ski, the big mountain ripper, and soon the deep powder tree slayer.

I'm jealous.

Originally Posted by leroy jenkins

Goddamn.

Eric hoji is one lucky kid. Most pros pro model is one ski, that they have to make work for all conditions because of marketing, etc. Eric's pro model is a whole fucking quiver, you got the park booter ski, the big mountain ripper, and soon the deep powder tree slayer.

I'm jealous.

You should probably start by just being jealous that he's a pro. Then, once you become a pro and accostomed to the free t-shirts and blowjobs from exotic women you hardly know, go ahead and be jealous of his ski sponsorship.

186 will be similar in dim to the 193, maybe a bit thinner, same shape, camber etc.

nice kid, I've been doing his boot work for a few years.

He grew up racing gates in banff, and summers in gymnastics class. Funny to see him in the pipe at norquay, SL race skis, pole guards, shin pads going a spinny, flippy.

Originally Posted by mntlion

summers in gymnastics class

That probably helps a lot.

Originally Posted by naedward81

next year, a 186. don't know if they are gonna be like the the 190 or the 193, the owner didn't really say much to that effect.

That's great news. Whether it has the 190 or 193 sidecut, either ski would be great in a 186.

Originally Posted by mntlion

He grew up racing gates in banff, and summers in gymnastics class. Funny to see him in the pipe at norquay, SL race skis, pole guards, shin pads going a spinny, flippy.

Man, did his folks forsee the freeski/freeride movement.....that is the perfect background!

I love his segments, really sweet. Part of what makes me want the ski. The style of the skier (compared to a McConkey spat segment, or a Pollard prophet 130 segment.....just dont think that type of skiing looks as good).

Ditto
,however i think McConkey's segments have been great aside from the scaracuting and Spats would be their best in the trees wile the 193 EHP are best when they have room to move.

Originally Posted by Brocktoon

You should probably start by just being jealous that he's a pro. Then, once you become a pro and accostomed to the free t-shirts and blowjobs from exotic women you hardly know, go ahead and be jealous of his ski sponsorship.

Maybe I'll just start being jealous of how good of a skier he is.


Oh, and freeski, where did you decide to mount yours?

some more ehp feedback...

just started using the 193 after 9 years of exclusively using a 180 cmh explosive. the sploder had over the years become more like another limb to me rather than a ski, and i will be forever grateful to volkl for creating such a fucking timeless masterpiece. but times change, tips dive, and i was forced to look for a different paint brush.... at least for the deeper days.

explosive mounting point +2cm

ehp mounting point MRS -1cm - there are three lines on my ehp topsheet: -5cm, mrs, and true center... i think there's been some confusion on some of the ehp threads as other versions of this topsheet only had one recommended mounting point. i believe mrs is the center of the effective running length of the ski, not including tip and tail. true center is the center including tip and tail. i'm not sure about this part but judging from pictures in ehp threads the single mounting point topsheet was around the -5cm mark on my (3 mounting point) topsheet.

my first impression when i saw the skis was what the hell was i thinking. these things were fucking monsters. i'm 5'7' 155 and although i like to ski aggresively these looked like a lot of freaking ski. tree skiing seemed out of the question at first glance. the explosivs look like toothpicks next to these boards.

to boot, when i first clicked in to the bindings i thought that i had mounted them too far forward. they seemed shorter from the boot to tip than my sploders, which turned out to be an optical illusion created by the diving boards sticking out of the back of my 916's. i was cursing myself until about 7 seconds after i dropped in on my first run.

over the course of the next few hours, and days i was amazed at how versatile these skis are considering what they look like when they're off your feet.

in 15-20 cms of fresh windbuffed pow, shorter quick turns, no turns, big arcing carves, terrain feature smears, it was all good, as long as you were carrying a healthy amount of speed. there is no speed limit on these motherfuckers, however, there is a speed requirement.

i also like the slightly upturned and rockered tail which i found prevented the back end from hooking up, especially on tight, steep traverses in fresh snow when zig zagging forwards and backwards between rocks/stumps.

the tip seems like money too... soft and rockered enough to thwart my numerous attempts to get them to dive. that tip softness however, does not extend underfoot, which is hella stiff and keep things quiet and smooth at speeds. it's also a most capable stomping platform. i basically almost tried to case it off of small to medium sized hits and these boards just laughed at me. backseat? front seat? just hold the fuck on, it's all good.

groomed snow was an unexpected pleasure on these aswell with a few key adjustments.... like speed. i found myself doing something between carving and smearing... let's call it smarving. i think i've seen that word on this forum somewhere. smarving is fun.

the mrs -1cm mounting point turned out to work well for me... and i'm enjoying my new set up immensely. i think i'm retiring the explosives from first string status.

never thought i'd say that.

hmmm a 186 sounds like fun

one of the reasons I love my Pow Plus's with rocker is in the trees I can run them almost at full speed and then shut them down instantly, but I think if I could get a ski like the Pow Plus but a little longer and lighter they'd be even better

Reverse camber isn't the next revolution, rocker is

Originally Posted by laseranimal

Reverse camber isn't the next revolution, rocker is

x1000. totally agree

Originally Posted by laseranimal

Reverse camber isn't the next revolution, rocker is

having my first day on spats ever, I completely agree with you.

I am however a bit saddened they 186EHP seems to be a completely different animal than the 193. Makes me just want to SAC up and get the 193 instead...or whatever else is similar next year. 190 dp120s are still looking hawt though. decisions.