My new toys - Hellbents

[skea 457]

Picked them up yesterday, mounted at +1 (I do no jibbing). I demoed a set at +2 and they felt a fraction forward for my liking. They smear and surf like nothing else and turn on a dime, but they are a real handful on ice and groomers. Definitely a powder ski for the club fields here, I also have a set of Mantras and between the two of them I think I am covered for any conditions.

[Dromond]

Man, I can't imagine how those ski. I mean...... can you carve them? So strange. Well either way have a blast

[iriponsnow]

I want to hear more about the handful on groomers/ice

nice skis

[mc_roon]

wtf is up with the rivets?

[iriponsnow]

wtf is up with the rivets?

overseas production outsourcing

[laseranimal]

overseas production outsourcing

probably have lead paint on em too

I'm super interested in the hellbents, but they just look like way too much sidecut for a rockered ski

[Dromond]

wtf is up with the rivets?

The skis are turn specific - you can only turn right. Thus is doesn't matter if the left half of your tip delams.

[skea 457]

The difficult part about hard snow on any ski this width is that the edge is actually a long way to the side of your foot. So to actually get them up on edge takes a lot more leverage compared to something in the 95mm range. When I was riding a surface tow the track was rutted and lumpy and every time you went over one of these ruts it wrenched your knee to one side or the other. It was absolutely impossible to keep your legs in a steady stance.

Reverse camber skis are not about edgeing, they are about surfing soft snow which they do incredibly well. My Mantras can be a lot of effort in soft snow to flex them and keep them on track in soft snow takes muscle. But the Hellbents are perfectly happy to surf through it all and do whatever you want them to. They were ideal in tight chutes with fresh snow, and anything more than 6 inches of fresh they love it.

So if there is less than 6 inches of fresh I go for Mantras, if there is more than 6 inches of fresh I go for Hellbents.

[Dromond]

Reverse camber skis are not about edgeing, they are about surfing soft snow which they do incredibly well....

I agree completely. That's why I can't figure out why they have so much sidecut - which is for edging. As far as I am aware, anyways.

Sounds like a pretty sweet quiver. The Mantra sounds like a great all-rounder.

[skikola]

I agree completely. That's why I can't figure out why they have so much sidecut - which is for edging. As far as I am aware, anyways.

Sounds like a pretty sweet quiver. The Mantra sounds like a great all-rounder.

I'm not sure I get the full rocker with sidecut thing either.
Salomon seems to be thinking the most progressively with The Rocker...
Rocker in the tip, some sidecut, no rocker in the tail for more stability.
Those Hellbents do look sick though, I'm sure they ski great.
And Mantra's rule...I have a first gen. and it's such a stable go-anywhere ski.

[FrozenKiwi]

Nice sticks bro! One of the patrollers up here at Ruapehu has the 189's he recons they are really versatile and was skiing them as every day skis till like 3 weeks ago when he got seths. Maybe hes crazy or you get used to them I don't know, but he could pull a sled skating etc on our ice with no problems from what I could see. He seems to carve on them sweet to.

On a side note Mantra's are an alsome ski aye! I love there stiffness relative to my K.W mids and seths.

[adimmen]

Nice sticks bro! One of the patrollers up here at Ruapehu has the 189's he recons they are really versatile and was skiing them as every day skis till like 3 weeks ago when he got seths. Maybe hes crazy or you get used to them I don't know, but he could pull a sled skating etc on our ice with no problems from what I could see. He seems to carve on them sweet to.

The 138s were my one ski quiver this year. Once you get used to the tip flapping and the short edge they aren't that bad on groomers. Not my first choice but you can still open them up. That said, I could be a happy man if I never skied another frozen mogul field in those things.

It's all about your mindset. Nothing is perfect in all conditions so you need to do the best with what you have.

[Jumper Bones]

DO WANT!!!

[trouble]

demo'd the hellbents at whistler in april, after a few runs I felt perfectly comfortable on groomers and all that, its not too big a deal, and with the sidecut you can actually carve if you lean them over enough. obviously wouldn't be the choice for skiing groomers, but you can get where you need to go no problem.

as far as soft snow, obviously they kick ass. for whatever reason I liked skiing these a lot more than the pontoons, I felt like I was forced back farther than I wanted to be on pontoons, but was much more centered on these.

my opinion is there is a place for rockered sidecut skis, you can make much rounder turns in powder than I've seen most people do with slarver type skis and you still have skis that refuse tip dive.

[summit]

those graphics are beyond gnar!

only problem is i wonder if, unlike a reverse sidecut, the hellbents will hook in windbuff/crust?

[Dromond]

...my opinion is there is a place for rockered sidecut skis, you can make much rounder turns in powder than I've seen most people do with slarver type skis and you still have skis that refuse tip dive.

You see, I'm all about that. As much as I hate to admit it I love th feeling of a solid carve, and with a Spatula type ski you lose that completely. No matter how much pressure you put on the edge it just doesn't support you, even in pow. The plus side of course being that it doesn't get caught on anything and you pretty much can't get knocked over.

those graphics are beyond gnar!

only problem is i wonder if, unlike a reverse sidecut, the hellbents will hook in windbuff/crust?

I imagine so. Can anyone confirm? It's interesting to see so many ideas tried out, but i think it's straigh/minimal sidecut and tip rocker for me.

[sandflea]

What length are those bad boyz?

[TDJ]

What I don't understand: Why did they create the hellbend while there also is the pontoon! And why the f did K2 kill the AK enemy!

[Bandit Man]

What I don't understand: Why did they create the hellbend while there also is the pontoon!

Yeah, I have been thinking about the same thing. HB's retail at $649 and 'Toons at $799, so I'm curious if the 'Toons (which I own) are worth the extra dough. Would love to do a back-to-back comparison on a pow day to see for myself. The Pontoons rock in the deep, so I'm curious what you get/give up with the HB, especially since "groomer performance" is not what I'm looking for in a 120-mm+ waisted ski.

[bossass]

The Seth got wider and is closer to a Made'n now (AK enemy my ass).

AND, pontoons are not the shit for riding fakey in pow.

Any other questions I can answer?

[bigbuds]

^^^ Sure... you wanna give me a pair of hellbents?

[bossass]

I don't have any. Next.

[trouble]

Yeah, I have been thinking about the same thing. HB's retail at $649 and 'Toons at $799, so I'm curious if the 'Toons (which I own) are worth the extra dough. Would love to do a back-to-back comparison on a pow day to see for myself. The Pontoons rock in the deep, so I'm curious what you get/give up with the HB, especially since "groomer performance" is not what I'm looking for in a 120-mm+ waisted ski.

I have ridden both in powder, though not back to back. I much, much preferred hellbents for reasons mentioned previously

[TyeStick]

The Seth got wider and is closer to a Made'n now (AK enemy my ass).

AND, pontoons are not the shit for riding fakey in pow.

Any other questions I can answer?

I thought the seth was still 130/98/118????, but with some rocker in the tips??

[laseranimal]

I thought it was 102 underfoot now