Heritage Lab R99 Comp review

[gwat]

Oh man it is going to be a gruelling wait for winter. Lots of carpet testing happening.
In the meantime I'm trying to find the most appropriate binding for these stunners....thinking this combo might be the ticket:

[phatty]

Oh man it is going to be a gruelling wait for winter. Lots of carpet testing happening.
In the meantime I'm trying to find the most appropriate binding for these stunners....thinking this combo might be the ticket:

Dude, those look hswt and scream the TGR Pivot King!

[2FUNKY]

Yasssss! MoAr Comps!!!!!!


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[waxloaf]

Oh man it is going to be a gruelling wait for winter. Lots of carpet testing happening.
In the meantime I'm trying to find the most appropriate binding for these stunners....thinking this combo might be the ticket:

If you don’t do this it will be a crime


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[Marshal Olson]

DUDE YES!!!

[arild]

If you don’t do this it will be a crime


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Agreed. Forza!

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[east or bust]

Going to mount my 188 comps this weekend, just did a reread of the thread to build the stoke back up.

Leaning heavily toward the line. I'm about 150lb/5'10.

Wish I had a line on some of those neon yellow STH2 WTR... but will probably just slap on some pivots and call it a day. Can't wait to get these on snow!

[ejj]

Jumping in late on your AM skis--do you plan to offer a narrower ski in the future? I like Blossom and HLabs--I'd love to support both.

[Marshal Olson]

Going to mount my 188 comps this weekend, just did a reread of the thread to build the stoke back up.

Leaning heavily toward the line. I'm about 150lb/5'10.

Wish I had a line on some of those neon yellow STH2 WTR... but will probably just slap on some pivots and call it a day. Can't wait to get these on snow!

Hey man! On the line sounds right to me. Can't wait for you to give them a rip.

[Marshal Olson]

Jumping in late on your AM skis--do you plan to offer a narrower ski in the future? I like Blossom and HLabs--I'd love to support both.

Howdy! Out of curiosity, how narrow are we talking? Or are you wondering about the R87 AM being re-run?
Please feel free to DM me any time.

[DoYou WannaDance]

These skis are fantastic thanks Marshal!

Didn't realize when buying but these are just like my Head/Palmers from a while back and that ski ripped.

I was replacing a clapped out Kastle FX HP 95 and intended to go skinnier and more hard pack but I'm glad I got these its pretty much that ski for edge hold but is more all mountain. Being Killington based this year this is the ski to take into chopped out steep runs like Outer Limits or Downdraft/Cascade/Escapade and just charge. Smooth damp and skis better when pointed down the hill.

I'd ski these in pow they are def wide enough to float which means they aren't edge to edge piste only skis as they can't be both but they are very nice on hard pack. Some of my best pow days ever were on those Palmers this is probably the same width. Excellent on edge can really load them up.

[TAFKALVS]

Anyone have some r99 Comp they wish they hadn’t bought? Really really really regretting not buying the r99 2nds Marshal had [emoji17].

[phatty]

Anyone have some r99 Comp they wish they hadn’t bought? Really really really regretting not buying the r99 2nds Marshal had [emoji17].

Same, same. I missed out and regret it.

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[abraham]

I might have a pair I'd let go depending on how the next couple month go. Hoping not to need to get rid of them though, they feel fun.

[Charlie Don't Surf]

I might have a pair I'd let go depending on how the next couple month go. Hoping not to need to get rid of them though, they feel fun.

Perfect ski for euro bii [emoji6]

[phatty]

I might have a pair I'd let go depending on how the next couple month go. Hoping not to need to get rid of them though, they feel fun.

If you decide to sell, LVS gets first dibs, but I'd be interested. You know where to find me!

[TAFKALVS]

I might have a pair I'd let go depending on how the next couple month go. Hoping not to need to get rid of them though, they feel fun.

Keep me in mind [emoji846]

[CascadeLuke]

Initiation weekend complete. Mark me down as a comp cult member. Such beautiful and balanced skis. Very versatile- handled family duty and hammered hot laps. Bravo Marshal!!

[2FUNKY]

Initiation weekend complete. Mark me down as a comp cult member. Such beautiful and balanced skis. Very versatile- handled family duty and hammered hot laps. Bravo Marshal!!

The coolaid is delicious.
Ps, super jealous as I want on mine so bad. Not enough coverage, way too many sharks.


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[CascadeLuke]

The coolaid is delicious.
Ps, super jealous as I want on mine so bad. Not enough coverage, way too many sharks.

We’re going through it too. Impatience won out. Pretty good conditions on main runs. Off piste, not much worth it. Anyhow, had ski decisions to make and wanted to get a taste of the koolaide. Will be moving on from a couple pairs as a result.

[phatty]

Initiation weekend complete. Mark me down as a comp cult member. Such beautiful and balanced skis. Very versatile- handled family duty and hammered hot laps. Bravo Marshal!!

Man, those look so rad!

[ZomblibulaX]

Finally got enough days to have an opinion on these:

TL;DR: They're fucking rad, aaaanndd...

Me: 6'3", 210, pretty much a race dick. I like making the same turn regardless of conditions. Surfy isn't really a characteristic I look for in skis.

R99 Comp is pretty much my dream ski, being anachronistic, big, and pretty dumb. I picked up a pair last year, but put a pedal through my shin before I could get out on them, so it's been bulletproof manmade with the occasional dust on crust to less occasional boot-top dust on crust this year. Perfect test conditions IMO.

Hardpack/groomers: Yup. I really like the tip on this thing; just soft enough to tip up and roll in to a turn, but the strong forebody gives it not so much a big sweet spot, but a big gas pedal. You can initiate a turn anywhere in front of the binding and it's happy to comply. Grips like a race ski because it is. The tail doesn't play well with slackers, but is pretty balanced with the rest of the ski so I don't find it particularly punishing. It doesn't so much take you for a ride if you get backseat as it just locks you in to whatever dumb idea you were perpetrating and lets you deal with it. I've seen some people in this thread detuning the tail pretty extensively, and I think it does the ski a bit of a disservice. It has a really nice, tight finish if you don't round off the tails. It can be a little hooky in bumps if you're not on top of it, but I'm happy to focus on my form there so I can have that full edge in a carve.

Dust on crust: (2-8" dry on top of bulletproof) This ski loves this shit. We've finally got in to a reasonable storm cycle, and saying conditions are variable is putting it pretty nicely. Typically I go for a LP 105 in these conditions, and skiing both of these back to back, I think I prefer the R99. The LP 105 is better at following contours (going from scraped-off ice through a soft bump back to scraped off ice), so you can rail an edge, get a little light and smoosh over something and pick up right where you left off, where the R99 either goes straight through without relinquishing edge hold or requires a little more active extension to get the tip back down and reinstate the edge. This isn't really a knock, because deflection is basically a non-issue with the R99, it just requires a little more energetic style than the LP 105's trophy truck feel. But the R99 is quicker edge to edge, has better grip and torsional stability, and is less of a submarine than the LP despite it's narrower waist, lack of rocker and stiffer flex.

On the little untracked powder I've been able to ski this year, I was genuinely impressed with the R99's float. The shape really reminds me of the OG (Ca. 2009) Nordica Enforcer, that the shovel doesn't really plane up, but just is hard to sink because of it's spoonyness and relatively high profile. I dig it, I would much rather have a more pronounced tip shape with less rocker in a narrower all-mountain ski than a low-profile or tapered tip with a bunch of splay to keep it up top.

CascadeLuke said above that it handled family duty and hammered hot laps, and this is where I think this ski's strongest point is: it's rewarding and skis exceptionally well driving the tip and forebody of the ski, AND it's fun and skis exceptionally well just standing up and rolling it on edge. It's perfectly happy to make turns on the prescribed radius, in just about any condition, without sending your knees a foot out in front of your toes. It's not exactly easy-going, but it makes very nice, clean carved turns with a neutral stance and input from the middle of your foot. But, if you drive the tip like you hate it, it hooks up like a race ski should and locks in like you're on rails. There really aren't a lot of skis that do both of those things well, and it's pretty interesting in a ski that is so clearly designed to have a balls-to-the-wall feel.

That being said, my one gripe (and it's hard to call it that) is that the flex doesn't always feel like it matches up with the sidecut. Say what you will about stated sidecut radii, they at least give you an idea of what the turn is going to be like when you put the ski on edge. And with a full GS build, the R99 feels like it wants a little more time on edge to build the turn, but the sidecut brings the ski across the fall line quickly enough that it feels like I'm going uphill by the time the ski is fully decambered and loaded up. What this translates to on snow is that the ski feels a little overdamped in longer radius carves. So on long radius turns, I've compensated by either angulating far less (which is no fun and doesn't look rad, bruh), or making a more double-footed, neutral turn with a compact transition on to the new edge, which basically just means less time on the edge. Long story short: I'm more of a Ligety, the R99 wants you to be more of a Hirscher. It has been very fun finding the happy place, and a good exercise for me to dig deeper in the tool box a little more often.

I'm going to be skiing the hell out of these skis for a while, and probably shopping for another pair. I grabbed an R99 AM closeout for some A/B testing, and I've been hard pressed to find a scenario where the AM build is better. It's easier to flex the ski on the snow, but it's still a ski that likes speed to function well, so it feels a bit sluggish compared to the Comp build, as well as being noodly when pressed in to hard service. I even liked the Comp build better in bumps, despite how stiff the tail is, as it's just a more consistent flex pattern and feels quicker, even if you have to do more work (compression/extension) to make it so. Recovering on the Comp is as easy as getting a little air under you to pull your heels back, or a Plake-style hip thrust, and the relatively tight sidecut just puts you right back in it. Pretty good shit, hats off to Marshal for taking a good design and cranking it up to 11.

[phatty]

Can anyone compare these to Moment Commander 98s?

[jackattack]

Can anyone compare these to Moment Commander 98s?

Very different approaches to ski design.

[2FUNKY]

Awesome review Z!


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