Tom from Austria had been spotted at several of the east coast ski resorts on his "Rax Skis" (www.raxski.com recently). Mags had skied with him at Magic, Sugarbush, Cannon etc. so when I saw him in the line at Stowe last Saturday I had to give his skis a try. This is not the first time I had seen someone skiing around on 80cm skis with what looked like spoilers on the back made from ice skate blades. I had noticed him skiing around on them last year and thought he was just a strange guy, making lots of turns with really short skis. Little did I know that he was trying to create a new category of ski.
Several mags rode up the lift with him and we got talking. By the time the lift got to the top I was lined up to take a pair of his skis out for the day. Here are my thoughts.
- These skis are not for going super fast. They are just too small.
- They aren't the most stable skis you could have on your feet.
- The worse the conditions the better you will like these skis.
- People who are older may like these skies because they are easy on the legs.
- They are probably the most maneuverable skis I have been on. In essence these are similar to snow blades but with nothing behind the heel except a piece of steel designed to cut into the snow/ice.
After a few runs I though there were a fun distraction on what was proving to be one of the worst ski conditions days of the year. Flash Frozen Ocean/Blue ice everywhere.
That is when this ski started to show what it is meant for. I'll be honest. I would not wear these skis in good conditions. I like the my 188 Bluehouses/176 Elans/188 Lines/Burton Canyon/Head Teles's etc way too much.
But, if the conditions suck these skis start to perform. A few of us got the Rax skis on and went into some steep and tight trees. Because it had rained and frozen over the past few nights there was a nasty ice crust probably about 3/4 of an inch thick. When you broke through it in the trees it sounded like breaking glass. If i were on my 188's I would have had a hard time staying on top of the crust or cutting into it. I would probably have hung the tips or tails up a few times and got off balance. Instead we put the Rax skis on their heels and stepped into the trees. Think of the kids at the mall with rollers in their sneaker heels. That's how we skied these in the trees and it was positively fun. We sliced through some of the nastiest ice/crust I had seen all year and had fun doing it. My only worry was if I post holed anywhere I might tear my leg off.
We skied the rest of the day with Tom and at 3:45 realized our other skis were still at the top and rushed back to collect them. At the end of the day Tom hooked us up with a couple sets of skis to keep.
If you are east coast and want to give these things a whirl drop me a pm.
They are certainly unconventional and I'm not sure how big the target market for this type of ski is. But, if you are an EC tree skier or a Midwesterner these are a fun set to have in your quiver. Even if you look like a tool in the liftline there is fun to be had on these.
Rax Ski is still in pretty early stages but they were saying they might try to get some pairs on the market in the US next year for $200 or under.
Thanks for the hookup Tom! These will be a fun addition to my quiver and if you see someone on jongish looking short skis with steel blades on the heel say hi. It is probably me, Reganized, VT Session or one of our lurker friends.
Some pics below of the adventure.
http://members.aon.at/edvsyste/DSC00801X.JPG
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/p...pictureid=1232
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/p...pictureid=1231
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/p...pictureid=1230
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/p...pictureid=1235
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/p...pictureid=1234
Check out the girl scoping my short sticks.
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/p...pictureid=1233
Some day two dust on crust. Not too shabby considering what Day 1 had to offer.
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/p...pictureid=1237
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/p...pictureid=1236
We shot some video but nothing came out very good. Next time we go out we will post some RAX Ski action.
Best of luck to the Rax guys and thanks for the fun day.