Rebuilding the 3+ ski quiver.
This is for Hakuba.
I'm 43. Used to be strong. One year post-ACL reconstruction. Ironically, I still go fast. Will be working in the industry next season with a career change. I expect to be on the hill more than the current 20-30 days/yr. I want this quiver to last about 5 years.
Keeping:
New Snow/Fresh lines/Forest Ski:
- '13 4FRNT Renegade 186. 122mm underfoot and reverse camber. STH16.
Need & Considering:
New Snow Resort/Crud/Variable/Side-Country Ski:
- ON3P Billy Goat + P18/CAST.
Old Snow Resort/Variable/Side-Country Ski:
- Mantra M5 + P18CAST (?) ... debate being the high alpine melt/freeze April/May touring season. If my crud ski (Billy Goat) can pull rank on melt/freeze, maybe this M5 class will be designated to groomers... in which case it won't get CAST.
- I'm also interested in blending the two above skis into one category with an ON3P Wren 108ti, or a K2 Mindbender 108ti. Can they pull old snow/groomer duty during high pressures? I demoed the 108ti Mindbender on firm groomers and was legitimately surprised at its edge hold... just weary of its crud performance the day after the storm. I fear the tip folds. And the day after the storm is when my Renegade is lacking the suspension of traditional camber.
As such, it makes sense to buy two skis for both old and new/crud snow resort days. Either way, My Renegade is still designated to fresh forest lines.
Looks like I'll be driving these with Lange RS130s and Full Tilt Ascendants.
Maybe a trip to NZ this year.
I don't care about price, I just want it right.
Thoughts?
Discarding:
2006 Nordica Jet Fuel: 126-84-112 r20 186. These skis absolutely ripped but are just too much now. Too stiff, too much camber. Only turn at mach looney. (But man they were fun on the firm in March when I was super strong.)
2004 Volkl Gotama. Need I say more? At this point it's just a family ski with the kids, but I'll be damned if that wasn't the most legit, cadillac, legend-of-a-ski I have ever owned. The ski is fine, but the binding is bullshit.
Rebuilding the 3+ ski quiver.
Not sure what the snow is like in Hakuba, but out here, if you go 105ish underfoot for a charger ski, I don’t see a major reason to go Billy Goat and Mantra to make a 3 ski quiver. You would be just fine with the two skis.
In wide open terrain, modern narrower skis with a good rocker profile do just fine for those first few untracked runs in our fluff. And they can perform better than the 115mm class once it gets tracked out. They’re often a better choice. For manky deep snow locales like the PNW or Tahoe, a fatter daily driver can make sense though.
Rebuilding the 3+ ski quiver.
Doesn't make sense to me to have alpine bindings on your big pow ski and CAST on your heavier, crud busting ski. I don't live in Japan so take this with a giant grain of salt, but If I was set on 3 skis I'd do this:
118+ waist with Shift/CAST/Tecton. Could you just remount your Renegades for this? If not the new, lighter renegade, Head Kore, Nocta, QST 118, Protest, 138 would all be on my list.
105 - 112 waist with P18/916/Shift/CAST depending on what you want to use this for. Personally I'd go Shift or CAST and use this as your travel ski for NZ. There are so many good skis in this category.
90 waist with alpine bindings if you need a groomer only ski. Or inserts for alpine and tech binders if this will see more duty as a longer touring ski than a high speed groomer ski.
Rebuilding the 3+ ski quiver.
My (fairly limited) impression of Hakuba-area snow is that it’s often similar to Tahoe snow. It seems relatively warm there and the snow is denser than the blower that everyone in the us seems to expect from japan because of Hokkaido, and it seems like storms often come with a ton of wind like in Tahoe.
So, I’m fully on board with a billy goat as a daily driver for Hakuba. For places like instantly skied-out kortina side-country trees it’s the perfect tool. It’s also great for skiing mank after big warm storms or when the sun has got on the pow. I think a wren 108 is narrower than I’d want most of the time in Hakuba. I wouldn’t want to tour on billy goats for weight, but if you’ve got the legs have at it I guess.
For spring skiing I don’t think anything is really bad, but the billy goat is kind of the last thing I’d want to use. My 12/13s don’t have much edgehold and 116 is a lot of ski to roll over on 2d snow.
If I skied mostly resort and sidecountry in Hakuba and had three skis, I think I’d want Noctas with a touring binding (light enough to do long tours, plenty of ski for inbounds deep untracked), billy goats with pivots for most days and something around 90-100 wide for spring skiing.
Rebuilding the 3+ ski quiver.
Praxis MVP are pretty close to what you are describing. ~110mm wide and a smidge of camber
Edited cause I put the wrong praxis ski in [emoji23][emoji23]
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