Originally Posted by
singlecross
First day on my 184cm Mantra 102 yesterday in 12"-14" of fresh, reasonably light snow at Sugarloaf in Maine. Skied untracked gladed trees, untracked trails, firm chop, a few bumps, and end of day groomers with some piles here and there. Again, I'm 48y/o, 5'7", 180lb, former racer and coach, with a strongly directional bias.
First off, I bought it as a "used demo" ski mounted with a demo Marker Griffon from a well known eastern online retailer and the damn thing showed up obviously BRAND NEW. Boner.
Started the day mounted on "the" line. Skied a soft-ish groomed trail at speed first thing in the rush to get to the untracked glades, but felt a mid arc speed wobble/hook/uncertainty which was a bit disconcerting in GS/Super G arcs. Maybe it's the multi radius sidecut, or the soft snow on the groomer, or the ski tune, or the first 20-30 turns on the ski ever, whatever, but it was there. No time to fuck with it.
Got to the untracked and the ski was very intuitive and planed up well on a fresh ungroomed trail with 12-14" on it and not trying to rail on high edge angles but making bigger radius turns. With feet more underneath me, ski tracked well not hooky. Awesome.
Next few laps in the tree glades working untracked lines in tight Eastern trees. Ski was plenty maneuverable, floated well, and broke free to slash and pivot very well. Again, awesome.
Back out to the trails for leftovers and ski some chop. Ski was reasonably stable through the chop but still had the perceived speed wobble/hook mid arc when I found the underlaying bottom. Again, this was at a fairly high edge angle and speed like trying to ski a GS course through chop. Couldn't really stand on the ski and trust it like on my 191cm Movement Goliath (a great 109mm underfoot,30 meter radius ,damp/stable chop ski) for those familiar.
Went to a bump run to regroup and check that out. Fun in the bumps while keeping the tips pointed down the hill and good to pick a bump as a ramp and air into the next line over. Didn't get hung up. Perfectly acceptable for this type of ski.
Set off to some firmer mellow groomers to really see what's up with the speed wobble/uncertainty in the arc of the ski. Two runs and it was still there... just a little hesitation, then hook, just after the fall line when really standing on it. Bummer. It's no pure, locked in carver (which I love) like my 188cm Rossi Experience 98 (essentially a fat powerful GS ski that is known to be a somewhat one dimensional carver and hooky unless set back a couple of cm behind recommended). So, remembering that, I set the demo binding back 1cm behind the line on the Mantra 102 and skied the same runs. Much better and wobble/hook almost dialed out. Confidence restored and starting to trust that the Mantra wouldn't hook under me and launch me. I'll still need to get it on some more typical eastern groomer conditions (i.e. much firmer) to really figure out what's up with carving arcs on the Mantra 102.
Obviously, only day one... But sometimes first impressions are the clearest. Great performance as a fresh snow and tree ski, fine in bumps and chop, and I can hopefully dial out the peculiar carving first impression by adjusting the mount point or detune the tips more. I certainly don't think it skis "long" for its given length or is something to be wary of, but likes to be driven.
Better than my 185cm Nordica Enforcer 110 in every way so far but Dad turn easy carving and mellowness (and maybe I'd miss the 110 width in really deep snow). I'll probably keep it simple and only travel with the Mantra 102 on my upcoming week in Revelstoke to play with it more.
Bottom line: Really good ski that I'm glad I have demo bindings on to be able to adjust the mount point to dial it in. Might be a quiver killer, but not yet. I'm going to keep mine at -1cm for a while to increase stability carving (should help with float too) and hopefully not impact its maneuverability in the trees.