2 Days of PNW 2013 Demos - Skis that make skiing easy

[klikboom]

Over the past 2 saturdays I've gone to the Crystal and Stevens 2013 demo days and tried out a whole bunch of skis. I tried to check off all the well-known "benchmark" skis so as to give weight to other folks reviews in the future.

All mountain winner at crystal was Volkl Gotama, Pow/Crud winner at Stevens was ON3P Billy Goat. Official most awesome 2013 nod going to Billy Goats.

Skis I own: 188 4Frnt CRJ (11-12), 182 4Frnt Turbo (10-11), 186 On3p Vicik+Dynafits, 176 Head Mojo 90. I weigh 160lbs being skiing for many years in the PNW only recently became a gear whore. I prefer tree/bump style skiing to charging over bumps.

Crystal Demo: 2 days after pow dump. Some fluff, some pow affected, crust in morning, bumps, and heavy soft sun warmed at the end of the day. I stuck to mid-fats for the day as the conditions were suited to a ski that can handle bumps and heavy deep.

Overall Crystal winners: Gotama, Soul Rider. I never appreciated the reviews of the Gotamas, they are effortless. They cut the chop fine, could carve at an acceptable level on groomers, they skied bumps with EASE. I was shocked by how awesome these were. The soul riders were a close 2nd and they offered a bit more feedback than the Gotamas but they couldn't float to the same degree in heavy mank.

1. 184 Volkl Mantra. I hated this ski in bumps. I have an issue with stiff tails, must be my technique that makes me I have trouble releasing stiff tails. I made them ski bumps but i had to carve the bumps and it took a lot of energy.
2. 184 Line Sir Francis Bacons. Great all mountain tool. There is plenty of feedback on these so I won't add too much.
3. 179 Volkl Gotama (only size available). These were effortless, still floated, supremely easy ski to ski. They still carve even with full rocker?? They felt quicker than Bacons.
4. 183 Armada TST. Similar in function to Vicik, very different to ski. These ski way easier than a stock Vicik. The massive tip rocker floated the heavy stuff, I could still swing them around in bumps (not as well as Bacaon/Gotamas). The tip seems very soft, not as damp as ON3P. They're very light, could be a money dynafit combo to replace Viciks down the road. The ski wasn't particularly breathtaking but conditions weren't perfect for it. It carved acceptably.
5. Nordica Soul Rider. All mountain ski. Great energy and rebound. IT was damp enough to carve well and didn't feel noodly. I could ski this in between pow days absolutely. This would be a great Mojo 90 step-up/replacement for me. Seems like a well thought out ski.

Stevens Pass: Snowing heavily, pow day leftovers being added to by heavy wet snowfall.

1. Moment Bibby Pro - 184. First 2 runs of the day. Fresh tracks were AMAZING in this ski it was awesome. When things got bumped i had to work a bit more than I generally like to make these move quickly/pivot. This is a ski that would reward me more and more as I charged harder, but I couldn't shut them down as fast as I like.
2. Moment Deathwish - 1 run and back to the tent. They were all kinds of weird hooky. I'll give them the nod that they carved well but they didn't want to pivot and the different cambers felt like they interfered with each other when not carving.
3. ON3P Jeffrey 186 - I did not like this ski much. It was maybe similar to Bibbys but worse in everythan Bibbys. It felt kind of lifeless to me and I had trouble skiing them well. I experienced some tip dive (did not in Bibbys), they were slower to pivot and slower edge-to-edge.
4. Nordica Patron 185. I don't think Nordica gets enough praise, these skis are phenomenal in-bounds ski that can float very well, pivot easily, and ski bumps when the soft goes away. If i was looking for an everything but hardpack ski this could be it.
5. ON3P Billy Goats 186 - I haven't skied BG's before, and apparently they are different for 2013. These were AMAZING. I had perma-grin. Crust, heavy chop, soft bumps. These are damp, extremely quick, full of energy overall my new favorite ski of all time. I'm having trouble finding where I put these in my quiver as I'd have to sell my CRJs. I can't decide if these replace my Vicik/Ft12s or my CRJs? Either way I have to sell something maybe just a set of DynaLooks. I'm bummed no presale this year or I'd be breaking out the Credit Card. I did a lot of work to try to make my Viciks ski like the BGs do out of the box. I really had my skiing changed by the BG's, I'm rethinking my whole quiver. Oh and THEY CARVE TOO! I don't understand how this ski can have all these conflicting qualities but it does, or at least it seems to in 4 demo runs.
6. ON3P Vicik 186 - This iteration now has some tail rocker, but they skied similar to my 10/11 Viciks. The flex on these feels much better than my Viciks. It's more rounded and gives more feedback to the skier. The tails still want to lock in for bumps skiing and they're hard to pivot. I fixed this on mine with a bit more forward mount and heavy detuning. Slow speed tight turns were no problem turning, but i tried to bump them i couldn't get the tails to unlock, had to carve them. A better charging skier probably would make them move fine.
7. MOment Ghost Chant - I dont know what size they were but too short and not my style. They felt like snowblades.

I got to talk with the guys from ON3P and they had a proto set there of 105 waisted Billy Goat, this could seriously be a daily driver ticket depending on how it floats with a smaller waist. I'm really stoked to ski that model.

After the day was done I hopped on my CRJs and in the same conditions they skied very well a close match to my style BUT i was wanting that Billy Goat tip/tail feel. The CRJ now felt too wimpy in the chop/anything hard surfaced but maybe not bad enough of a feel to throw them on Gear Swap and fork out $700 ....

[skimaxpower]

Conditions at Crystal yesterday were whacky. Any ski that made that manky mashed potato snow "effortless" for you is a keeper.

[klikboom]

The Stevens snow yesterday was quite variable to say the least. It was a great non perfect pow day for testing wide skis though. The shaded and higher snow was remarkably better than anything east facing.

I'm keeping my eyes open for a used pair of Gotamas, and wondering how much different the 11/12 Billy Goats ski from the 12/13 Billy Goats.

[ncwskier.]

and wondering how much different the 11/12 Billy Goats ski from the 12/13 Billy Goats.

The groomer performance is not nearly as good. In deep I would imagine they are pretty comparable(haven't had a chance to ski this years in deep snow). Over all if you can afford it you should spring for next years, they are my new daily driver and I won't be looking back. The key difference for anyone not aware is the incorporation of what on3p is calling RES (reverse elliptical sidecut), basically reverse sidecut from boot center forward, and traditional from boot center back. It really allows the ski to crave well on groomers, and as you noticed they bust through crud/chop like no body's business. I think I was the one that gave you your CRJ's back after you were done, glad to hear you liked the ski, it's my new personal favorite.