 Poster: A snowHead
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I'll try and be a little more verbose about these than the B4s...
Me: lightweight, short@rse. Enjoys the odd well deserved libation and values mountain dining nearly as highly as good descents.
Conditions: a rather tired Vallee Blanche (Plan d'envers route) too long after the last snowfall. Mostly hardpack, bumps (moguls) everywhere and some rather nice pitches on the steeper and lesser skied bits.
Hot, damn hot and gorgeous weather. Rather like Mrs M although she wasn't tired as we managed to avoid drinking to 6 am with her insane sister the night before. Excellent guiding from the ever marvellous Lars the Mountain Penguin.
Skis rented from Ski Max - who I have to say were a delight, charming, had excellent and varied stock and do their own maintenance properly by hand.
So to the skis.
Well, a big, big improvement over the horrible B4 things. Very much more responsive, would charge along nicely if given their head and generally very nice.
Would I buy a pair?
No.
The things I didn't like.
They seemed imbalanced fore and aft in that the tail seemed "stiffer". Regular readers will know that I take no prisoners on the topic of exogenous descriptions of stiffness. This however was the sensation. We were sideslipping a few trickier bits and the damn things just didn't want to slip sideways. Tails consistently wanted to slip less than the tips. Very odd. I also felt the tails "grabbing and sntaching" rather a lot when I didn't want them to.
P.S. my everyday skis are race stock slalom, so I am quite familiar with skis that want to grip the snow.
They were very, very twitchy on the traverse out along the mer de Glace. Not relaxing at all. Nearly had me over a few times if my superhuman, secret formula enhanced reflexes hadn't saved me. (I'm typing this from my secret underground lair as a break from planning my next global conquest, mwahhh haah hah hah!)
Cambering. As usual broad skis underfoot result in the usual cambering issues. Why do people use broad skis on piste? They're just not fun.
All that said, they were otherwise really rather nice, almost certainly a delight in softer and deeper snow and now I want to try the Red Apples.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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DM,
I like them and don't recognise any of the things you pull them up for. When you first mentioned Envers, I thought 'maybe not the 1st choice ski' but with the conditions you had, I think they should do well there.
Can't work out why they behaved like this for you.
I want to check out Thunders and Gladiators as I think I like Movement skis.
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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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David Murdoch, Perhaps you found them twitchy because they wanted to be skied like carvers? I have also tried a couple of models of Movement Skis. The Demon Flame, (now the Flame) wanted to be kept on edge all the time, so not too stable in a straight line, flappy tip on hardpack. I skied the Red Apple 74 in 168 with Freeride+ bindings last month and found them to be quite snappy and well mannered on piste and predictable off it. I'm also a short@rse at 165 and 65 kilos. Given your exp and skill level, I think you might find them a little dull.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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JT, I wonder whether it might just be tuning - although I do generally like a fully tuned ski...Definitely a quality feel to them though, would view any Movement kit in a positive light...
snowbunny, my every day SL are about as "perfect" a carver as you could get and still hold a straighter line happily. You might be right about dull though. I am increasingly convinced that the ideal off piste ski is a well mannered SG in about a 205cm.
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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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| David Murdoch wrote: |
Cambering. As usual broad skis underfoot result in the usual cambering issues. Why do people use broad skis on piste? They're just not fun.
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Wide skis are considered cool. I suspect that's the main reason many people buy them. I can understand people tolerating them on piste while cruising over to their next big bottomless powder run, but I go all sceptical when they start saying how amazing they are on-piste.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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uktrailmonster, yep. Agreed. Lot sof people skiing on kit that isn't helping them at all. FOOOOLLLS...
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David Murdoch, I've just remembered that I tried another pair of Movement Skis on the Swiss Ski Test last autumn. I had blocked the experience from my memory as they were so dire. You definitely won't be wanting to try the Movement Chicka, mostly as they're from the women's range, but also as they were horrible chattery flappy things  It took me an hour or two to get my ski head back on, once I handed them back.
Agree about the SL being the perfect carver, but I guess you understand my point. Monster 82 or 88 without the rail system might be worth a look.
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snowbunny, funnily enough the chap in SkiMax (because he has some available) suggested the Heads.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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David Murdoch, The Heads may be worth a couple of hours of your time, and go give them some welly. Even the 77's might be worth it, fairly plump shovel, but still turn tight on hardpack....no flapping and pretty stable. Avoid the rail system, it's too heavy for regular or prolonged off piste excursions IMHO. Choose a longer ski than Head suggest for your height/weight. A little more effort at the start of the turn, but pays dividends with stability at speed.
If they fail to float your boat, just buy a pair of Stormriders, they do have a GS'y profile after all. It's funny how the search for ski nirvana usually ends up back with Stockli
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I've got Head iM72s and iM82s. After 2 weeks on the 82s I think I like them enough on-piste to do without the 72s. Moguls are the only question mark for me, where the 72s are certainly better. The 82s are definately easier to ski off-piste, but even the unfashionably narrow waisted 72s are quite good off piste. So I'll certainly keep the 82s as my main all-purpose ski and probably replace the 72s with a full-on piste ski like the Head Supershapes. I'll decide after my next 2 weeks skiing 
I have got the railflex bindings on both and haven't noticed the weight. But then I weigh close to 90kg myself, so maybe it's not so important.
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