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Thread: Salomon Guns

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
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    27

    Salomon Guns

    First post here...

    I've spent the past couple days reading on here and haven't found much info on the Salomon Guns. I demo'd them a bit over a week ago in a little over a foot of fresh pow and they were great fun. Mainly tree skiing and I really liked how well the floated, and how snappy/poppy they were in the turns. I skied a 164(or5) which seemed pretty short for my size, but still did well. I am 180lbs, 6'2" and since I'm a mainly New England skier, most of the days I use a Salomon XWing 10 in 170cm.

    Skiing the guns really opened my eyes to the world of big mountain/powder skis and I was impressed, I really want to pick something up like this since they handled SO MUCH better in the crud, pow, and even the bumps in the trees. I make it out west ~avg 1 time a year, so don't spend a ton of time in the HUGE powder dumps you get out there.

    I like these guns and am considering picking some up, but I'm wondering if there are other skis that compare to these, and what I might gain/lose between the comparable skis?

    Also, I'm wondering if I should size up to a 174 or 181cm ski? I am an advanced to expert skier, I can rip anything, but I'm also not shredding through the trees and hucking off any cornice I find, when I do huck it's often off a spot I've previously scoped out, etc. I'm dying to improve, though!

    Thanks in advance to any info you guys can give me to help!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
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    Ski-attle
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    4,216
    It's a fun ski. I'd go 174 for your size, at least.
    ROBOTS ARE EATING MY FACE.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    PacNW
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    954
    My buddy from NYC is about your size/ability and demo'd the Guns in a 181 at Alta a few weeks back. Worked well for him. They're pretty soft, so the extra length shouldn't slow you down much but will provide the float and enough heft to bust through the soft choppy stuff.

    Pretty sure Bluehouse Districts are similar in design (Soft). If you want to go a little stiffer, 179 Prophet 100 or Jak BC (same ski) or 179 softs Bros would be the ticket. There are probably many others that would fit the bill in the 100ish waist department.
    "Don't tease me about my hobbies, I don't tease you about being an asshole"

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    End of the line.
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    238

    Salomon Guns

    I rode the 188 guns until this season when I got the183 goats.
    Guns were center mounted so there was a lot of ski behind me.
    Maybe go with the boot center for less tail.
    Maybe my 188's were just too long for me.

    I really like the 183 Gotamas I am on now, the Fritschi's took a little getting used to.

    I wouldn't recommend the guns for groomers unless you will be in the park alot!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Sandy, Utah
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    14,410
    Quote Originally Posted by 183GotamasA/T View Post
    I rode the 188 guns until this season when I got the183 goats.
    Guns were center mounted so there was a lot of ski behind me.
    Maybe go with the boot center for less tail.
    Maybe my 188's were just too long for me.

    I really like the 183 Gotamas I am on now, the Fritschi's took a little getting used to.

    I wouldn't recommend the guns for groomers unless you will be in the park alot!
    I have GUNS 188 (first year model not baby blues). Skied them as my sole ski for a while and enjoyed them. They are now a touring rig with Naxos. I too bought gots in a 190. The gots too are light and soft like the GUNS, but I think the gots handle 100000000 times better dont really know why, but i cranked my skiing up a notch on the gots.

    My buddy used the GUN rig a week or so ago and is also from the east coast and loved them even with the touring binders on em.

    I used them many times on Killington "hardpack" and they handled much better than I expected. I dont know much about the 100mm version but id bet theyd be fine in most of the east and could be the ski you go to most often.

    Dont know if that helps at all, but... my $.02

    M

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Posts
    27
    thanks for all the input, guys.

    are there other skis similar to the guns that I should be considering? the mantra's and bridge's also seem similar, but a friend says that they're not nearly as "snappy" and "easy" to ski as the guns...is this true?

    I've looked at the gotama, but I wonder if that's too much of a fat ski for primarily east coast stuff.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Lapping the pow with the GSA in the PNW
    Posts
    5,161
    Quote Originally Posted by shocker View Post
    thanks for all the input, guys.

    are there other skis similar to the guns that I should be considering? the mantra's and bridge's also seem similar, but a friend says that they're not nearly as "snappy" and "easy" to ski as the guns...is this true?

    I've looked at the gotama, but I wonder if that's too much of a fat ski for primarily east coast stuff.
    The Guns are the easiest to ski of the three, and Gotamas are going to be closer to the Guns than Mantras. Guns are playful but have a limit to how hard you can charge on them. Goats will surprise you about how versatile they are, especially the latest version with a tad more sidecut. It really improved the harder snow feel versus the old sidecut. Mantras like speed and are damp. I weigh about the same as you and own all three (Guns 188/Mantra 184/Goats 190) and would say that a 181 or longer Gun would work for you. I have my 188's mounted -2-cm from the line and think that they are very easy to ski and are quite versatile as an all-mtn. tool versus the more forward factory mount.

    You could also throw a Line Prophet 100 in the mix, too, but that might be hard to find since it was such a popular ski.

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