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Thread: Get Down with Down (skis)
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12-31-2018, 04:43 PM #301
Look and sound great, Arild!
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12-31-2018, 10:38 PM #302Registered User
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- Oct 2004
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Those are some of the best looking skis I've seen. Nice work.
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12-31-2018, 10:58 PM #303
Finally getting out on the throwdowns tomorrow after a proper detune. Will report back but the first day left me impressed with the shape and dampness.
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01-01-2019, 12:42 PM #304
Finally got them mounted.
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01-01-2019, 01:28 PM #305
One of my life goals is to ride that snowboard on a deep day...
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01-01-2019, 01:30 PM #306
No skis can give you the pure joy in the deep as on that. I don't care what you make,Simen!
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01-01-2019, 01:33 PM #307
I was being dead serious despite the smiley.
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01-01-2019, 01:56 PM #308
I know you are. Want to keep it for the winter? Could send it to you,bindings and all.
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01-01-2019, 06:27 PM #309
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01-01-2019, 07:29 PM #310Registered User
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01-02-2019, 12:15 AM #311
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01-02-2019, 12:50 AM #312
I'll chuck the CD1 into this discussion...
Thanks for offer, Arild, i think I'll hold out for next winter when I'm more likely to get out more.
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01-02-2019, 01:42 AM #313
You just let me know.
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01-07-2019, 04:02 PM #314
Finally got out on my 196 CD114's. Mounted at recommended w/ Pivot 18's w/ 356mm BSL.
First impressions - This ski absolutely rips.
Took a run or two to get used to what felt like a very forward mounting point at first. First few turns felt like i was on a center mounted park ski (which was very odd after being on the 202cm SD105's that you have to really lean into the day before).
Skied them saturday and sunday up at Baker. Saturday was packed pow + chunder + pockets of cream cheese pow.
The skis felt super stable under foot with a very neutral balance point, but will speed check and crank turns as fast as you can give em, yet awesome on wide open big radius pow turns.
Hit a few 5-10 foot drops at varying speeds and they seemed very stable in landings. The tips really like to pop up out of a landing and you can remain VERY forward in landings which was an odd feeling but turned into wanting to pop off of or drop everything in sight.
Sunday was 7" overnight + varying can't see my feet low vis to dark and gray out. Spent most of the day in the trees seeing how they'd handle tight turns in somewhat heavy pow. The skis handled it well and definitely do not feel like 196's when you crank tight turns.
The only negatives i saw in weekend 1 were:
The skis deflect pretty bad on chop if you're not focusing hard on powering them where you want to go, but i'm also used to skiing heavier skis (line mothership for example used to be my daily drivers).
The top sheets are going to get thrashed hard. The tips just busting through some sunbaked crust at the top of Gunners at baker got some dents/gouges.
I clacked the edges together right behind my boots on a landing and took a good 4" strip of carbon off the inside topsheet edge that i'll have to seal with epoxy to reseal the carbon weave.
Overall I love the skis - they were firm and stable yet playful. Definitely not a straight line through chop ski and more of a pick a line and stick to it ski. The combo of the SD105's for no fresh/chop days and the CD114's for soft/pow days seems to be a killer combo at an insane deal if you pick em up on a group buy like i did.
As long as they last durability wise, i'm a fan of Down.
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01-07-2019, 04:07 PM #315
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01-07-2019, 04:28 PM #316
I have 8 days and ~23k' on my LD90s this season, so I'll give my thoughts thus far. Conditions included settled powder, powder, chunder/mank, and a thin bony tracked out couloir, although probably 50%+ of the days were soft. Mostly I've taken them on soft days just to get more used to them, that's not what I got them for. I have them mounted with Plum Race 150s at +1.5cm from recommended (topsheet markings were off and I forgot to tell the shop to measure from the tails, oh well).
My impression of these is highly colored by my previous Down skis, the Countdown 102L. The 102Ls were the best bad-conditions ski I've ever been on, you could ski breakable grabby death crust or all manner of mank and they just did what you told them. I've never skied a less hooky ski than the 102Ls. The LD90s are Similar in weight at ~1275g/ski, obviously narrower, with a 12m shorter turn radius, more tip rise (though a shorter section of tip rocker) and somewhat more camber underfoot, though still not a great deal of camber.
The LD90s perform better than most skis in heinous conditions (such as frozen wind-scoured nonsense), though at 1.2cm narrower and a 29m radius, understandably not as well as their 41m radius cousins. I do wish I had mounted them back somewhat, probably +0.5cm would be the sweet spot for me on this ski. I may remount on the line proper at some point, though I am loath to do so, having had a previous pair of skis break in half on old toe holes in front of the current toe mount. Alas. At any rate, the LD90s are light, quite stuff and ski like a heavier and wider ski. I'm amused and surprised how well they ski powder, and they're the ideal ski to bring on a day where the north half will be soft but the southern exits will be shit.
I recall I think auvgeek saying something about how he found the tips inaccessible, and I have a related thought about these: while the tip rocker length is (imo) perfect, the actual splay is somewhat too much, these would be completely and absolutely the perfect ski with a lower tip height (say 1/2 of whatever it is now). I would buy another pair tomorrow if that were an option. That said, all the tip rocker does make them ski great in fresh or settled powder. Also at +1.5, I have a little more ability to press the tips, at least in 3d snow.
In the limited times I've had them in steep terrain this season, they are even better than the 102Ls. Pretty much the perfect steep skiing ski, for someone like me anyway. Super low swing weight, a longish section of rocker but very low rise on a stiff tail that gives you somehow the best of both worlds, the smooth easy turn initiation/release in steep terrain, and the reassuring feeling of a stiff flat tail. They're confidence-inspiring and intuitive in steep terrain, and moreso than the 102Ls, their bad-snow performance seems to improve with slope angle. They pivot on a dime and even in narrow packed-down icy hiking trail conditions at relatively high speed, it's nothing to throw them sideways and slam to a halt. I can't wait to ski some steeper/narrower lines with them... it should be a dream.
It might be all in my head, but I do kinda wish I had mounted them at recommended (or +0.5 or something). I also wish the tip rise was say, 3cm instead of 6. Still, they're a near-perfect ski for me, and I suspect that once we get into the later winter / early spring months, I'll be on these basically every day. If these come back next year with 2-3cm lower tip height, I'll start hoarding them.
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01-07-2019, 04:34 PM #317
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01-07-2019, 07:46 PM #318
What the hell is that thing? Looks incredible.
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voltaire
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01-07-2019, 11:36 PM #319
https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...d.php?t=169568
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01-13-2019, 10:54 AM #320Registered User
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- Feb 2010
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- 795
Easy. That is the best way for me to describe it.
A couple of hours on groomers, two powder days (about a foot of variable density snow on a hard base), and two short tours. Enough for me to make an impression.
The skis behave well. No trouble making short turns on groomers, not overly chattery at speed. The fresh snow I skied on would have been fun on any skis, and were predictably fun on these.
The strong point or me with these skis was that they were super easy in the trees. They go where I point them, and pivot really quickly.
I did get some strings off my topsheet, and will keep an eye on that.
IIRC, somebody with these (Thom?) detuned pretty aggressively. Any thoughts on that? I skied them straight out of the wrappers.
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01-13-2019, 11:28 PM #321Registered User
- Join Date
- Jun 2015
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- 50
Word. Unfortunately we have basically no snow here so only couple touring days wtih 104 but I totally agree.
I also did some detuning with diamond file before skiing. Last year tried 114 without detuning and they were hooky in some conditions. I prefer aggressive detune to rockered sections.
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01-14-2019, 08:10 AM #322
Aggressive detuning to where the sidecut starts has worked nicely for me.
Rounded over closer to the shovel, and nearly sharp by the time I reach the sidecut.
... Thom
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01-14-2019, 10:53 AM #323
This. With all Down skis.
My first day on the LD102 was so bad I thought about putting the skis on a shelf and never taking them out again. I felt like I had mounted a stubborn and malevolent 2x4.
Then I attacked them with a gummy stone and completely nuked the edge to a couple of inches back from the sidecut starts. They're still a handful but it's mostly a result of their short size and high stiffness.
As an aside, I've been beating the everlasting shit out of my CD114L in what feels like a great Wasatch season but is realistically still a pretty lean one. Full speed rock hits, tree schwacking, dowclimbing rock slabs, everything goes. They are holding up like bosses. I'm still considering remounting them a couple cm back but at this point it's mostly out of nostalgia for the feel of the Lotus120.
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01-14-2019, 10:59 AM #324
^ might have seen you saturday by spruces th? I was driving down and saw someone with CD114Ls and figured it had to be a mag...
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01-14-2019, 02:42 PM #325
Last edited by Boissal; 01-14-2019 at 03:53 PM.
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