Heritage Lab R99 Comp review

**pfluffenmeister** · 03-23-2023, 08:55 PM

Gah!!!

Have comp R87s on the way.

**lucknau** · 03-23-2023, 08:56 PM

… and now… we wait…

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**2FUNKY** · 03-23-2023, 09:01 PM

Noice! Did you mount them back or?

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**lucknau** · 03-23-2023, 09:40 PM

Originally Posted by 2FUNKY

Noice! Did you mount them back or?

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Oh, I put it at -12.5. I’ll give it a shot and move em forward a cm or two if it feels weird. The tail’s so stiff, I think the mount will work fine for what I’ve got in mind for them. Knees to skis all day long.

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**Marshal Olson** · 03-24-2023, 12:09 PM

Really excited for the first wave deliveries to get on snow this weekend! IMO... I would say -12.5 as "full charge" mount, and maybe -11.5 for touch more versatility. But I don't know that many people would enjoy going more forward than -11...

And great news that the rest of the comp ski shipment have finally been located and sorted with the shipping carrier, and hoping for them to arrive to me / ship to everyone next week (finally!)

Once that occurs, I will update this thread with all the specifics on each Comp build ski as well!

**east or bust** · 03-24-2023, 01:02 PM

Great news Marshal! Can't fucking wait to take these for a rip and upload my thoughts.

Very eager to hear from you folks skiing them this weekend regarding mount point.

**2FUNKY** · 03-24-2023, 01:17 PM

I’m on the line, -11.5 and they full charge without waiver there. Curious to hear the thoughts of peeps who go -12.5 with locked down heels.

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**lucknau** · 03-25-2023, 01:24 AM

Hoji method, if you buy into it, kind of makes my mount point moot. My BSL is 335mm, which would put my BCL ~1.5cm back from your (I think) 306mm BSL for a similar experience. I kind of buy into the method, so I usually mount on the line with the feeling that it makes for a proportionally forward mount compared to the typical BSLs of the developers or testers. I’ll giver a go, though, and share if it turns out I’m full of shite.

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**2FUNKY** · 03-25-2023, 07:53 AM

Damn dude, 335! You’re socks must be huge! Lol
Yeah, you’re probably right there.

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**lucknau** · 03-25-2023, 06:45 PM

Chewed up all the powder on Mt Hood today with my bigass C132s, so tomorrow’s R99 day. I feel like I’m going to the playground to show off a new toy.

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**lucknau** · 03-26-2023, 03:47 PM

Me: 6’8” 190lbs, 29.5 boot, been skiing for around 40 years

Skis: 188cm R99 Comp, mounted at -12.5 cm for 335mm BSL, no detune

Conditions: 20 deg F, 10/10 groom, 27” of shredded, sun and wind affected fresh snow off piste at Mt Hood Meadows

I started the day with a quick feeler run on the bunny lift, to shake off the slop I’ve acquired from skiing upright on decambered and reverse cambered skis for the whole season. Took a minute to get the forward stance back, and stop getting locked into turns. Knees to skis, my friends, knees to skis! All the lifts were running so I took a chair to the top of the area.

Off piste
First run was on a wind affected, sastrugi riddled bowl with no tracks. The “powder” was set up enough that I could lay trenches all the way down the 35 degree face, carefully avoiding bigger, but punchable sastrugi, and though it was technical for me in that I was still having to actively work to keep a forward stance, the skis cut through the set up, variable surface like a knife through butter.

The next ridge opened up into some relatively untracked, not wind affected, but heavy powder, and I definitely found myself having to keep my speed up, bounce and unweight turns, to stay in the game. Slowing down, meant submarining and stopping. What I would expect from a skinny (for me) ski with camber and not much rocker. It was good. I would like to try them out in deeper, fresher, softer snow, just to see how it goes.

The runout to Heather Canyon right now is all traverse tracks and little rollers that will rattle your fillings out. Not my favorite, but it was fine, and 100x nicer on these than it was yesterday on the C132. Skied a mogul or 50, which threw me off my game a bit. I ended up just straight-lining and absorbing the path of least resistance. Will try again with feeling during slush bump season.

I skied a couple of steep, really chopped up bowls for shits and giggles, and was no match for the weight and consistency of the snow, had to slow down, muscle up, and resort to billy goating down. Probably not my ski of choice for that terrain (YMMV), but man can they hold an edge. I hit more than a few patches of partially iced over sun crust and they calmed my panic right down with unshakable stability. Just don’t let your legs get the best of you and the skis will do the rest.

I skied no trees. I didn’t want to unconsciously lean back, lock into a turn, and eat tree.

On piste
Leg weary from the terrain, I decided to do some groomer hot laps on the upper mountain, and I concur that here they absolutely shine. Super comfortable and rock solid at speed, and easy as hell to shut down. This is what I was looking for in this ski, and now I can thin the herd a little (goodbye, 194cm Kastle M98, and Dynastar LP105), because the quiver slot is filled.

Being unnaturally tall, I try to get the longest skis I can find, to meet the demands of my high center of gravity. Although these are on the short end of my acceptable range (they’re my shortest skis), the longer effective edge, greater stiffness, and the ski shape check all the boxes. I wouldn’t go any further forward on the mount, personally, but maybe take that with a grain of salt, if you’re not built like a treant.

Looking forward to spring skiing at mach looney on the Palmer glacier.

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**::: :::** · 03-26-2023, 04:15 PM

As a fellow tall skier, thx for the write-up!
Pow in open bowls was heavy/dense yesterday. Jax served up deeper & more powdery turns (tho the lift itself was the slowdown, not the crowds). abmag ftw.

**GBB** · 03-26-2023, 06:30 PM

Fuck. Do I need a pair of Comps instead of AM after all?

**goran** · 03-26-2023, 06:59 PM

Chiming in to say that being tempted toward comps had prompted me to pull a nearly forgotten pair of motherships off the wall and throw bindings on them. Loving the AMs but it's been a while since I've had a true charger on my feet...

**MagnificentUnicorn** · 03-26-2023, 07:02 PM

Originally Posted by GBB

Fuck. Do I need a pair of Comps instead of AM after all?

I guess it depends on if you want something more versatile. I haven’t been on the comps I switched my order to the AM. They have a very high speed limit but aren’t a handful in tighter situations. It sounds like the AM isn’t as much of a bottom feeder as the Comp in powder and likely easier in funky grabby snow. Pretty manageable in bumps if you stay on top of them. You don’t have to stay over the tips, you can ski more upright if you want. Hard crust and groomer performance is very good.

If you just want a ski for rage skiing on groomers and crud the Comp is probably is probably what you want.

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**lucknau** · 03-26-2023, 09:16 PM

^ this tracks… for me, anyway.

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**Norseman** · 03-26-2023, 11:17 PM

first few runs on the comps today... unfortunately kids became ill so had to bail early...

I enjoyed the AM version and would ski them if I wanted to slow down a bit, but THESE are the droids. The maple metal sandwich is the shit. The cushion for the pushin. Quiet, powerful, precise. It's double the ski of the AM flavor. Strong vibes of im102/supermojo, which I spent probably 200 days on... but with an updated tip and carveable radius that makes it easier to ski and floatier while being stiffer. A modern shit-kicker.

lucknau, I think you're insane for skiing these without detuning. I did what I'd call a standard blend ~15cm in from the tail and ~20 from the tip, plus a couple diamond swipes along the whole length, and may do a touch more next time out, but was happy with how the skis behaved in a bunch of conditions. Chalk and cold buff to boot top pow to sun-baked-refrozen steeps to groom, all predictable and fast af. Could shut em down when needed and they were very much more manageable than I expected given the stiffness. No detune sounds scary.

Bravo Marshal, these are sweet.

**2FUNKY** · 03-27-2023, 08:41 AM

Nice reviews doods!
I too am tweaking my detune Norse. Thanks for your detune points as mine was looking to be similar.

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**Norseman** · 03-27-2023, 08:45 AM

... and I'll post some more thoughtful comments as I get more miles on these bad muthas. My hot take above is pretty useless.

- edited to clarify that it's my words - not Funky's - that are lame

**2FUNKY** · 03-27-2023, 08:55 AM

Originally Posted by Norseman

... and I'll post some more thoughtful comments as I get more miles on these bad muthas. The hot take above is pretty useless.

I was hoping to ski them this weekend again but had to ski pow instead….

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**Marshal Olson** · 03-27-2023, 12:58 PM

Well, the 185 R120 Comp (2550g) and 180 R99 Comp (2200g) both arrived... Holy F they both turned out sweet.

Still waiting for 3 more boxes (more 188 R99, 182 R87, 175 R87)... and still battling with FedEx to figure out what is delivery timing. sigh.

Boycott Fedex Forever.

(edited for typo)

**J. Barron DeJong** · 03-27-2023, 01:58 PM

Originally Posted by Marshal Olson

Well, the 185 R120 Comp (2550g) and 180 R99 Comp (2200g) both arrived... Holy F they both turned out sweet.

Still waiting for 3 more boxes (more 188 R99, 182 R99, 175 R99)... and still battling with FedEx to figure out what is delivery timing. sigh.

Boycott Fedex Forever.

Assume that should be 182 R87, not 99?

**Marshal Olson** · 03-27-2023, 02:08 PM

correct! good catch. will update.

**pfluffenmeister** · 03-27-2023, 04:40 PM

Originally Posted by Marshal Olson

correct! good catch. will update.

Phew!

**ZomblibulaX** · 03-27-2023, 04:57 PM

I haven't been through all 40+ pages of the Heritage Labs thread to find out, but can we get a direct flex comparison for the 188 R99 Comp? "Stiff" and "very stiff" only put it in a ball park, and I need ca. 2010 historical data because I'm old now. Are we talking B Squad or Titan Pro?