 Poster: A snowHead
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I skied the Crossfires last year and found them an excellent ski (or maybe I'm just ace and any old plank of wood will do!) on the piste and okay off. I was in PDS towards end of Feb, early March and it dumped it down so even the piste was pow for the morning session. I really liked the responsiveness of the Crossfires but wanted to increase the overall surface area to try and get more out of the powder. The obvious progression is the the K2 Apache Recons as they should meet that requirement whilst still remaining a good on-piste, carving ski.
Here's the issue, at the moment the skiing appears to be poor in the PDS and I may find that most of my days are spent on the groomers will the Recons be responsive and fast? Will they cut through the crud? Are they easy to control or do you need legs of steel? I found the Crossfires were very tiring on the flats and my legs would burn travelling slowly on these sections. (I do have a hunch that I was carrying a little quad muscle injury from over exercise leading up to the trip) How do they rate on the icier stuff, will they keep me upright?
I would also like to know what length Recon's I should get, I'm 176cm (5'9") 85kg and reasonably in shape. I would class myself as an advanced skier. Skiing since 9yo with 6 yrs in Canada.
Any other serious suggestions for alternative skis that are similar to the Apache range please feel free to post. Please do not post about skis you own or like just because they were good for you, they may be rubbish for me. I'm only really interested in ones that are between 50%Pister:50%Off-Piste - 70%Piste:30%Off-Piste
Thanks in advance.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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see my post somewhere recently below about which ski Fischer AMC76,79 or K2 Apache recon. Comments on the Recon there by people far more knowledgeable than mysself .Also if buying Recon you can buy them for under £200 with sport conrad. just google sport conrad. Look under K2 offers and choose the M11binding option. comes out at 279 euros. I hadn't skied the recon I was going to take a punt on the price. I've bought Fischer AMC 79 from ski bilek via auction for the bargain sum of 171 euros plus 28 euros p&p. I can't comment on the crossfire but would see it as as on pistetool rather than a ski for powder.
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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?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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PowderHunter, how about the Scott Aztec Pro. Loads of people seem to like them.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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174 Recon or 174 Outlaw which is a better allround ski IMV. The Recon is turney and responds to input ior you can just ride it...and the Outlaw is just a bit more effort. I wouldn't call either a hard work ski tho'. I would consider an AC4 for your type of skiing as well.
Movement spark has great edge hold and is wide enough at 82 to be more than useful in the fresh snow..it really doesn't take much effort there. Volkl Mantra is even better Off but is more than useful on piste, I just had to make sure I edged properly and out of all these, I felt the one to not to take liberties with on-piste but thats not to say it wasn't at home there. It was my fave ski last week, stonking, stonking stonking..!!
For 50-50 or more biased towards off-psite, I'd summarise
Mantra
Spark
Outlaw
B3..?
AC4
and if you spent more time on the Groomers then a Stockli XL if you could get the right lenght..again, think 174. As a piste blaster it outclasses the Recon totally IMV and is good off-piste although not in the Outlaw or Mantra league.
If you want to have fun railing the pistes as much as anywhere else, think AC4, Spark and XL.
Confusing, I know, but you can't have GS grip ---which the XL has in spades as does the AC4 and keep up with super fatties IMV so just a little compromise and there are some fab skis that almost do it all, IMV
P.S I haven't used a B3 but personally would take the word of its fans on here, its just there are so many other skis to get on with.
I'm sure its is every bit as good as they say.
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Just spent a week on Volkl AC3 in Tignes and thought they were brilliant. Stacks of edge hold and willing to turn, yet stiff enough to have good stability when getting a load of speed on. Didn't bother goingf off piste much as it was all compacted and not much different to the pistes, so can't comment on float in powder etc.
I'm 178 cm (5' 10") and 80kg, and the 170cm length was spot on.
A friend on the same trip tried B2, Apache Recon and AC3, ended up buying the AC3 at the end of the week.
OK, that's not quite the same as the AC4 which others are recommending, but if they are generally like the AC3 but with a bit more float off piste due to the few mm of extra width then they should be good.
Jon.
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The alternate solution I nearly went for is to buy a Fischer RX8 via admin see buy sell exchange 263 inc p&p (Excellent performance on piste) and an outlaw from post conrad. £400 for 2 skis. I suspect an AC4 will set you back that much. Blimey this place gives me bad ideas.
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