Hellbent and Full Tilt review.

[iscariot]

so the FT's flex pushes you a little bit forward? but you got used to it in a couple runs so it wasnt a big deal hu. how different do they feel to my solly 1080 boots? i understand that these boots feel different and ski different but dont really understand how it is benificial besides the loss in weight. could you elaborate onthis for me? thanks

They are softer than the 1080's. The flex didn't push me forward. I'm used to have a lot of weight on the tongue of the boot (Lange race boots). With the FT, you didn't have to pressure the tongue as much. It makes you ski more balanced, more neutral. If you weight the tongue as much as some other boots, you basically just flex forward a lot, and tire your calf muscles. You can just ski them very neutral. I don't have the vocabulary to describe it another way.

[iscariot]

I gotta ask about Full Tilt - where did you find them? Haven't seen them in Canada anywhere but am aware of US availability. Did you find them in AB? BC?

Got 'em online. PortersTahoe.

http://www.porterstahoe.com/istar.as...UMBLEBEE!FULLT

http://www.porterstahoe.com/istar.as...LEBEEPRO!FULLT

http://www.porterstahoe.com/istar.asp?a=6&id=CAMO!FULLT

[BaconMan]

Thanks for the info

[lax]

I think I see what you're saying, but I'm not really following your logic here. If you're in a foot of powder, wouldn't the contact length run the length of the ski? I could see the huge rocker having an effect in lesser amounts of snow (say a few inches), but if you're talking feet, wouldn't the entire ski be engaged in the turn? I can't really imagine the tips riding that far out of the snow unless you're on the tails.

yea kind of a retarded point. i guess what i should have said is that the bents ski shorter than the praxis do (relatively, not actually). i don't plan on riding the bents on pure pow days (at least not at first), because praxis are the shweetest thing evah. but who knows, maybe i'll fall in love with bents...depending on their slarvability. i plan on using bents as my everyday/chewed ski when its soft or when i want to jib and do tricks etc. the ehps would be an everyday ski when its excessively hard, and also when i feel like charging.

(i will be skiing alta/bird/lcc backcountry everyday...and from my experience..pow/softness can pretty much always be found...and that's where i'll be skiing)


sorry for the hijack. end.

[lookinback]

Does anyone know how the hellbent sizes up with the faction 3 zero and or 13?? Ive been having a hard time trying to find a faction demo at whistler this year....

[jerr]

IMO, plenty workable in harder conditions. Super carveable. Super jibby. Butters like crazy. Granted, you wouldn't want them when it's HARD, but clearly you probably have a different ski for that.

Bottom line, I just picked up 189 Obsethed and 189 Hellbent and feel like with these two I've got a ski for every condition. Although I did keep my 195 Praxis with 916s just cuz it's fun to have a full reverse/reverse around.

So if you felt like giving it the doctor (hard charging) on a foot deep day which of those 3 skis would you take?

[grskier]

Iscariot: which Full Tilts are you skiing? The bumblebees or the others?

I'm starting to think that Sally boots just aren't the ticket... I've got a pretty narrow heel pocket, medium-width forefoot, and overall low-volume foot. Skiing Sally X2 plug boots with Dalbello Intuitions now. Boots are softened to 110 or 120, but a little softer would be ok. Sound anything like what you're skiing?

Good review on the HB's, too. Sound VERY fun.

Max, you don't want anything much stiffer than a 120 me thinks...

[Vicious]

So if you felt like giving it the doctor (hard charging) on a foot deep day which of those 3 skis would you take?

Tough call as all three perform fantastically in the deep, but in different ways. It would depend on my mood.

195 Praxis are super stable and rip the shyte out of pow, but sometimes at high speed on them I crave the feeling of setting more of an edge, which lead me to the K2s.

The HBs, too, rip the shyte out of pow, and have that setting an edge feeling that a full reverse sidecut does not, which is nice in wide open areas. However, the rocker on them makes them nearly as quick as the Praxis in trees. Pivoting is super quick, yet not as quick as the full reverse sc of the Praxis.

Then there is the Obsethed. Probably the most straight forward ripper of the three. Normal (well, progressive to be exact) sidecut and less rocker allow you the feeling of skiing pow more traditionally, yet the rocker makes it super smoove and easy. Contrary to a few comments I've read about these, they are super stable and nothing near the noodle I've heard them called. Plenty of ski for a large majority of people.

[gramboh]

Nice review of both pieces of gear, what day were you at the Shine with these? I'm guessing you were up there today and will be tomorrow, sick timing to get that setup dude.

What type of feet do you have? I'm about the same size as you, 5'10 and 200 but I have pretty wide feet (my running shoes are 2E width) so I have trouble with narrower boots (I've been in Head's freeride boot the last few seasons). I want to try Full Tilt or another Flexon type boot but I hear they are narrow last.

[iscariot]

Nice review of both pieces of gear, what day were you at the Shine with these? I'm guessing you were up there today and will be tomorrow, sick timing to get that setup dude.

What type of feet do you have? I'm about the same size as you, 5'10 and 200 but I have pretty wide feet (my running shoes are 2E width) so I have trouble with narrower boots (I've been in Head's freeride boot the last few seasons). I want to try Full Tilt or another Flexon type boot but I hear they are narrow last.

The FT's are narrow. I fit a typical Lange race boot perfectly with no punching or grinding. I think it has something to do with skiing Lange boots since I was 12 years old. My foot grew to fit the boot.

The FT's fit similar to Lange. Narrow.

I wouldn't recommend the FT's for wide feet or hight insteps. I think Nordica or Technica might work better for your foot type.


50 in 24?!? And still snowing hard.

I'm there for Saturday and Sunday

[iscariot]

So if you felt like giving it the doctor (hard charging) on a foot deep day which of those 3 skis would you take?

I always give the undercarriage a bit of a how's your father (charge hard).

[workinforturns]

They are softer than the 1080's.

is this with the yellow or orange tounge? and do you think it is possible to make them a little stiffer forward backwards?

[iscariot]

is this with the yellow or orange tounge? and do you think it is possible to make them a little stiffer forward backwards?

Yellow for now...I have the Orange tongue on order. It will stiffen the forward flex considerably.

[meatdrink9]

Interesting read. After my Targhee trip I was blown away by the Hellbent's. I pretty much echo everything iscariot and vicious have had to say. They're like Made'ns but 100 times better. They do all the same stuff, but better. I can't believe how stable they feel, but you can carve a crazy tight turn (as well as spin like a top). You just want to jump and spin off everything in sight. Landing switch in pow is not an issue at all. I have the 179s (actually 184's) and feel like it's plenty of ski, but yet still very jib friendly. I was hoping I'd get a 189, but now that I've ridden the 179's I'm glad I didn't (I'm 6 foot, 160). I mounted mine on the K2 recommended line.

I think I mounted my Obseth'ed too far forward (on the K2 recommended line). I think I'm going to need to remount these before next season. I'm going as far back as possible. I'm on the 179's. They did stomp out some big airs, but the tip just always looked so small to me (and I got the tail caught-up in the hill on a couple of kick turns (tail felt huge). I think moving the mount back should make them perfect for me.

[lax]

md9...did you only ski them in pow? why are you glad you didn't get the 189?

[iscariot]

Okay...so 50cm of fresh blower pow at sunshine in 24 hours = perfect HB testing.

Its not a heavy ski,...its a bomber ski. Plows through chop effortlessly,...GS, super-G, and pivot turns all good. Floats like a butterfly, stings like when I pee. You can't submarine these things. So many airs to landing that would have been over the bars on any other ski. Saved them all. More face shots than Jenna Jameson. Carves and floats the pow. Regular or switch. Super pop-y and playful at every speed. I just kept going for bigger and bigger air because I knew the landings wouldn't be a problem. Confidence inspiring. Quick turning in very tight trees.

I think this is my new favorite ski (it used to be my Seth's). Talk about fun.

[seanpistol]

Hellbents and Full Tilts... such an amazing combination.

I know plenty of people that ski Hellbents everyday. Such a fun ski.

[Vitamin I]

Does anyone know how the hellbent sizes up with the faction 3 zero and or 13?? Ive been having a hard time trying to find a faction demo at whistler this year....

Whistler had free demos the day you posted (and all this weekend, and all last weekend), including Faction and K2. Hope you didn't miss it.

I skied Faction 13 and Hellbent 179cm and a bunch of other skis, so I'll post my reviews soon.

EDIT: Wrote the reviews on hard drive, forgot to post them, finally posted months later at http://tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=128430
.

[lax]

real interested in any further reviews.

[Vitamin I]

...the reason i'm getting longer hellbents , is because i want them to have a reasonable contact length...

lax already clarified what he wrote above, but it reminded me about contact length...

Before I demoed the 179 Hellbents last weekend, I asked for a 189. The guy working the K2 demo tent said, "We don't have the 189 today, but it doesn't matter. The 179 and 189 both ski these firm conditions the same anyway, because the 189 has the same body as the 179, and the 189's extra length is just more length of tip and tail up off the firm snow."

He might be right, but I am inclined NOT to believe this guy until I see it for myself. Plenty of stupid and wrong statements were made by other demo tent guys that weekend.

.

[lax]

i hope that's true...sort of makes sense...

edit - by the way i asked andy mahre on newschoolers which he uses...he said 179 the majority of the time, unless he's skiing something gnar...and then he goes for the 189. he said he gets into trouble w/ the 189s because he trucks too much and ends up going too fast into tight spots etc.

[2nd mate]

I love my 179's with Krypton Pro's. was blown away when i got them(HB) in the mail last year and stood them up next to my 179 pistols. after 15 days on them in all conditions east and west the only thing i don't love...and in fact hate is i feel like i am going to rotate like brian boitano when i am nearing top speed on hard groomers. I know this is not what the ski is made for so i really don't let it bother me

[StumpJumper]

You can buy this year's full tilts at http://search.backcountry.com/exec/?...l+tilt&x=0&y=0

Next year they are coming out with different colors including a grey/purple version for all you purp-heads out there.

I ski pontoons everyday! Love 'em. I also love getting all the questions from people on hard days. "How do those things do on the groomers?" They are fine, I can carve GS turns and haul ass on hardpack. This my go to ski. Camber hates freedom.

That being said I would like a reverse camber twin. I have skied the hellbents in a 179 (my toons are a 179) and loved them. I would buy a pair if I could find em anywhere. A lot of fun, softer than pontoons. Great for skiing switch. Not a true twin but better than toons. You can definitely ski this ski everyday. It will carve fine on hardpack.

I skied next years Line EP pro's about a month ago. The ski is unchanged but just has a new top sheet. It is definitely softer than the Hellbents. The first air I tried to land switch on hard pack with these, the tips were so soft that I went way forward upon landing and took my ski pole off my face. Ouch!

After that run I found some fresh and loved the EP's!! I could ski switch in pow so easily. And all landings were awesome. I took the ski through the park as well and they are super fun for popping and landing on the wide ski.

In other areas I skied the Dynastar HUGE Troubles last week in about 10in of snow. A good all around ski, I think a lot of people will like this next year. Fun shape, 0 camber but still its not reverse camber. The tips just dove in fresh. I felt like I was submarining. Remember 0 camber is just sitting on the fence, you need to be against camber, camber hates freedom.

Also my roommate rides a 156 lib tech skate banana and he said is selling all his other boards. I have not seen him ride anything else all year.

[ski whore]

Hated the Hellbents in a 189 for whatever reason. I think the wheelie action is crap. I do however swear by the 179 Obsethed...that's the best ski with the most perfect amount of rocker I've ever been on. Currently I'm selling a pair of 189s on ebay because IMO the 179 is a better ski.

MD9, interested to hear how your seth's ski back from the recommended. I dig mine at +3.

[lax]

just picked up a pair of 179 bents...they look super short. wishing i sacked up for the 189. gotta keep in mind they they are meant to be center mounted. they look plenty long when i stand them next to my praxis, but when you stand on them (center mounted) they look like snowblades. haven't skied them, and i know its sort of dumb to judge them w/o skiing them, but i'm 90% sure they're too small. bought them small thinking they'd be easier for booter/jibbin, but i feel silly scoping how small they look.

5'11", 175. been on the fence and a deal popped up that seemed perfect...a little to antsy with nothing to do but cruise ski forums.