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Ski Review - High Society FR's

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Ok, so I sell these skis so the cynics out there can read this as an advertorial. Those that know me will know that I only stock/sell gear that I rate & use myself. Those that know me well with know that I'm now using these skis which I've actually bought myself in preference to the free pair of Atomic Nomad Crimson's that I had.

So here goes:

Skis:
High Society ‘FR’ in 179cm
124-92-114 sidecut
21.7m radius
VIST 816 Free bindings mounted on the ‘Freeride’ line
Total weight per pair 6065g

My Stats:
Advanced level/15wks
176cm
89kg
Atomic M-Tech 110 boots

Review:
High Society are a small Colorado based manufacturer that makes their own wood core skis which are hand finished after being machine pressed. Although they’ve been in business since 2003 they’ve only been imported in to the UK by Junkigear for this season. High Society only make two models, the FR (FreeRide) model which is an ‘all mountain’ ski in three sizes & the Classic model which is a specialist park ski available in two sizes.

I did my first week the latest 07/08 model FR’s over Christmas on perfect piste conditions in Courchevel but with nothing decent off-piste to try them on. I’ve just got back back from a Warren Smith Academy week in Verbier were the conditions were again perfect on piste but with plenty of skiable off-piste terrain in varied conditions to really give the FR’s a true ‘all mountain’ work out.

The FR has a poplar wood core construction with a carbon fibre stringer that makes it reasonably stiff longitudinally but with a bit of softness in the tips & tails which I found was great when off-piste & in bumps etc. When on-piste this allows them to be driven & carved like that of a mid-teens radius ski but the 22m radius is straight enough to give great stability in deep cruddy grippy stuff without the risk of the sidecut aggressively hooking-up & you being high-sided.

The ski has a lot of camber (a 22mm gap when held base to base) which gives it plenty of pop when driven but the rubber within the construction helps absorb a lot of shocks in bumps & variable snow whilst not making the ski overly damp like a lot of other similar skis.

The ski has high torsional stiffness which gives great edge hold but the skis are shipped with a 1 degree base edge angle & a 1 degree side edge angle. So to make best use of their inherent edge grip I trimmed back the sidewalls & set the side edges to 3 degrees which meant that I had total confidence to really crank them over on hard pistes & scraped-off steeps. The ski doesn’t have a huge sweet spot so there’s no room for lazy skiing but they’re not hugely demanding either, being equally easy to either carve or soft edge as required. Low speed control is also excellent & they handled superbly when doing braquage & other low speed drills.

Whilst the FR’s are no race ski they are as quick edge to edge as you’re going to get for a ski of that width & I certainly didn’t find their speed limit either when hooning it on-piste or when schussing off the bottom of Mont Fort. And surprisingly for a light weight ski they were very stable when making speedy GS turns crashing though soft grippy bumps on Tortin. At 92mm underfoot they also gave my plenty of float in the knee depth fresh stuff that that we encountered without me haven’t to go uncomfortably quickly.

The FR ski’s a tad shorter than it’s stated length due to it’s semi twin tip design that only has a slight upturn at the tail. In fact the 1530mm running length is exactly the same as that of the Atomic Nomad Crimson in 176cm so there’s very little effective length lost compared to a full twin tip design which is what I wanted. A true park rat will probably prefer a full twin tip design but the FR’s semi twin was perfect when selecting reverse when mountain goating around the rocks entering the narrow pitches off Mont Fort & Mont Gele as well as the traverses to Highway & across the top of Tortin etc.

Due to the avi risk I didn’t have the opportunity to climb in to Stairway To Heaven but I did that pitch last year carrying a pair of M:EX’s on my pack & was looking forward to doing it again this year with a set-up that even with my race bindings are only just over 6kg which is light for a ski of this size. Mounted with Fritchi’s the FR’s would make an excellent touring set-up.

In the first hour of their use in Courchevel I had a kid clatter in to the back of me in the lift line which took a chip out of the top sheet on the tail which I had to epoxy so I was a bit concerned about their durability. After two weeks of hard use & busy lift lines the top sheets & sidewalls seem as tough as on any other ski. More importantly the bases held up very well to my rock scrambling & rock hits that I thought at the time would need filling but upon later examination were fine. I’ve been lucky to stay upright for the two weeks I’ve used the FR’s but even without any wipe-out’s the FR’s are certainly tough - & have pretty cool graphics as well.

Overall a true & superb ‘all mountain’ ski that with the benefit of the current dollar rate is real snip wink
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
spyderjon, sounds good ,you mustnt be missing the old B5's wink
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
hedley, my FR's have your name on them for when my 08/09 one's arrive wink
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>> Due to the avi risk I didn’t have the opportunity to climb in to Stairway To Heaven

What was the risk in Verbier last week? plenty of safe tracks in secret resorts last week Smile
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kitenski, varied from 2-3 but our instructor/guide felt STH to be too risky after the recent snow had fallen following a warm spell etc. He said he wouldn't ski it himself let alone take a group on to it. We did see tracks on it & a few others skiing it. There was plenty of other aspect pitches with great & far more stable snow to ski so nothing was lost.

Hopefully Parlour will be along as I'd like to hear his opinion.
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Interesting, cheers, Where did you manage to ski and how was the course (Maybe wanna answer on a new thread to avoid wrecking this one Wink

regards,

Greg
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
OK so don't keep us in suspense - what is your price?
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
westrg wrote:
OK so don't keep us in suspense - what is your price?

£339 in the flat but will do a deal on a ski & binding package.
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 brian
brian
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spyderjon, mr kiwi1 has them for £288, are you guys not operating together then ?
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Nice spot Brian. Sales have just started on HSFC products You'll still be able to get them through Syderjon at that price.
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Well I liked the 179 FR's so much I've just bought myself a pair of the 187's: 136-104-126 & 23.7m radius. Roll on March Toofy Grin


Last edited by snowHeads are a friendly bunch. on Fri 8-02-08 12:12; edited 1 time in total
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
spyderjon, I noticed the top sheet on my Empire was easily damaged: mainly in lift queues/on chairs.

As an aside the graphics on the 2008 model are so much cooler than those on the 2009.
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Well I liked the 179's so much that I bought the 187's as well Toofy Grin

Skis:
High Society ‘FR’ in 187cm
136-104-126 sidecut. Note that, unusually compared to other makes, this ski actually gets fatter as it gets longer.
23.7m radius
VIST 816 Free bindings mounted on the ‘Freeride’ line
Total weight per pair 6880g

My Stats:
As above

Review:
Just got back from the 3V's were we'd had a couple of small dumps earlier in the week & then got 40-60cm during Thurs night & Fri . The longer & fatter 187's are a tad stiffer than the 179's but not so you'd notice. All the benefits of the 179's but with the additional off-piste float. The only downside compared to the 179's is that the 187's are a little slower edge to edge on piste which is understandable. They are however still very manoeuvrable, even more stable at speed & give exceptional float. I still haven't got the smile off my face after one long run were they allowed me to handle the firm bumps down Grand Couloir, make a fast traverse across the bowl & then rip GS turns down Croix Des Verdon in the deep fresh stuff Cool

With the great conditions we'd had there was no chance to try them on true hardpack but I'd set the side edges to 3 degrees (like that on my 179's) which, when combined with their added stiffness, should make them pretty good on piste for a ski of this width.


Last edited by So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much on Sun 25-05-08 11:38; edited 1 time in total
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
As you can see the piste's were a bit crowded for using skis with a big radius!
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Thought I'd add a pic to this post showing the 187 & 179 FR's. The orange ones are my new 08/09 model Vist Superfront Two piste blasters which EoSBasher's will recognise from kiwi1's test fleet.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
spyderjon wrote:
Ok, so I sell these skis so the cynics out there can read this as an advertorial. Those that know me will know that I only stock/sell gear that I rate & use myself. Those that know me well with know that I'm now using these skis which I've actually bought myself in preference to the free pair of Atomic Nomad Crimson's that I had.

So here goes:

Skis:
High Society ‘FR’ in 179cm
124-92-114 sidecut
21.7m radius
VIST 816 Free bindings mounted on the ‘Freeride’ line
Total weight per pair 6065g
[...]
And surprisingly for a light weight ski they were very stable when making speedy GS turns crashing though soft grippy bumps on Tortin. At 92mm underfoot they also gave my plenty of float in the knee depth fresh stuff that that we encountered without me haven’t to go uncomfortably quickly.



Sorry, but 6 kilos/pair is hardly leightweight, or is it?
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
demos, they're a lot lighter with proper mens bindings on them. Say Rossi/Look 120's. Little Angel wink
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Mosha Marc, right. And I thought that that my old Head Monsters which weigh 4kg a pair without the equally old Salomon's 912 metallic bindings were a drag already.
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demos, 4kg without bindings seems fairly heavy. spyderjons weights include bindings.
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spyderjon wrote:

Skis:
High Society ‘FR’ in 179cm
124-92-114 sidecut
21.7m radius
VIST 816 Free bindings mounted on the ‘Freeride’ line
Total weight per pair 6065g

demos, note the word "total", ie the total weight including the 816 'all metal' race bindings.

The 179's are actually 3320g per pair in the flat & the 187's are 3700g per pair in the flat which is light for a pucka wood cored ski of this length & width.
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Ok, now it gets clear. I did not expect the bindings to be that heavy even if they are all metal. bug. I should probably weigh mine now (183cm and 103 underfoot, woodcore and two metallic sheets and full metal bindings)...
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
demos, According to my old Head onfo the Monster 103's in 183cm weigh 5170g per pair in the flat so will probably be over 7kg with your 912's NehNeh wink
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Oh... It just means that I am so strong they only feel like 4... snowHead
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Spyderjon -

You mentioned both High Society FR and Atomic Crimson skis in your review. Can you compare the two please? (also mention if it's the regular crimson or the crimson ti).

Thx
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spyderjon, Out of interest how much are sidewall trimmers? My new skis came with a 1 degree edge and whilst ok they did tend to skip a bit on the icy patches.
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Hold that thought... just took a look on your site Laughing
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