 Poster: A snowHead
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Ski Info: Atomic Nomad Crimson Ti, 169cm, 127-86-113, r=17m
Me: 177cm, 90Kg, 18 years + skiing, CSIA Lv2 hoping to start thinking about training towards ISIA next season, Improving off piste
Conditions Tested: Just about everything from 40cm+ of light dry powder, heavy windblown, breakable crust  , smooth winter courdroy, freeze-thaw spring mornings, corn, heavy slush, bumps
Was looking to get an for an all mountain ski to complement my SL's and saw these for a good price online and took a gamble. Was initially nervous about the 86mm waist and how nimble they'd be on groomed but the 17m radius seemed like a good idea to get to grips with before tentitavely taking the first few steps down the ISIA road. (Had demoed the Nordica Hellcats previously and found them an absolute blast for a day but thought that they were a bit to much of a handfull for everyday and not ideal to teach on.)
On Piste: First thing that grabbed me was the low swing weight of these skis, I was worried how they'd perform for short turns but the light weight means that they are super agile for their size. Edge to edge they hide their width incredibly well for a ski with an 86mm waist, and will carve like a dream when pushed. I found them pleasingly stiff (especially torsionally) for an all mountain ski with plenty of rebound and you'll need to find a super quiet, wide stretch of piste and really go for it to even start approaching their speed limit. Edge hold is classic atomic rock-steady and they are well mannered in bumps and can be held in a rut line no problems.
Off Piste: Amazingly capable, they float well and once again the light weight really helps matters along. Can be a bit too turny in untracked snow but not the tool for big days really anyway. A few friends who tried them found them and a bit of a handfull (one described it like the ski was skiing her) but if you have the weight to make them work for you they are a blast particularly in cut up snow or slush when they can knife through just about anything.
All in all a fantastic ski, only downside seems to be that the topsheet seems to attract scratches and dings regularly (probably me being clumsy). Just wish I'd been braver and gone for the 176cm!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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yep, the topsheets do mark easily & yep, you should've gone for the 176's.
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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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SkiTigger, sounds good but I can't for the life of see why you skied a 169 with your stats.
The uber turney tendency of skis like this don't work for me either but that might be half down to the 169 that you would be really flexing with 90kgs....IMO..
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SkiTigger, nice report.... I was really tempted to get some of those but agree with the other lads that they are too short for you. If you are doing your ISIA in Europe i would suggest something a bit narrower underfoot. I went with Volkl AC30's for my exams..
JT, you recon at 17M rad they are too turney? i am still thinking about these in a 183 to replace my karmas as i hate twin tips
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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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Knew the minute they arrived I should have gone longer but always had a tendancy to buy shorter in the past so will have to live with it until I manage to kill em.
skimottaret, Was thinking the same thing to be honest, was lucky enough to get some training a few weeks ago from a chap who was getting ready for his ISTD tech course and he was raving about rossi 9x oversize. Think they were 80 underfoot with a 17m radius and looked pretty sweet (at least when he was skiing them), do you think that would still be too wide?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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skimottaret, I find anything under 20m too turney off piste & unsettling in good snow for big radius turns at speed. When having to straight line a run-out they're scarily unstable. The first time I ever felt secure was when I got my stiffish 187cm FR's which are 24m & didn't self steer. I've gone the whole hog now & my new 'un's are 196cm/39m radius & are just superb in this respect but are still real easy to ski short turns on piste.
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SkiTigger, gotta be a little careful as BASI has introduced new regulations regarding minimum radius (17M) for ISIA and ISTD tech courses. If you are going through the canadian system not sure what is best, i think it depends where you are taking it and what your weakest area is. To be honest most guys at ISIA level shouldnt have any trouble skiing off piste with narrow skis but will struggle making perfect technical SL and GS turns with skis much wider than 80. I think 70 -80 wide is about right. Lots of BASI guys are on the Rossi's and they seem pretty good all rounders to me although i havenet been on a pair, my AC30's are something like 76 wide, you might also look at skiercross skis which are a nice cross between GS skis with a slightly wider top and bottom section something like the SL12, they are a bit more of a piste oriented ski.
I too like a short ski but i messed up getting karmas in a 177 which isnt long enough for off piste stuff for me.
spyderjon, 39 M rad  , why dont you just get some DH boards... not to open up the "fat skis" arguement again but i struggle with "real easy to ski short radius turns on piste" with a 39M radius ski unless they are floppy. You will have to let me have a go with em sometime.
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skimottaret, yep..waaaaay too turney off-piste as you'll be fighting them too much unless you are bouncing s's. ... and the float and flex will do that for you anyway, should you want to do so...
The benefit is fast GS turns in deep snow.
I can understand TT aren't always the way to go... but if you skied them 10cms long then you'll get that lenght working well in deep snow and then ski shorter on-piste.
Of course, you have to decide how they ski in a tight turn but mine are very responsive in trees and they are 25mtrs. If they work in deep snow in trees, they will work in a steep gulley with deep snow If I ski them on-piste, then the compromise might be in edge hold but not the turn shape even at 92mm. I am more pissed that they don't nail a really fast turn as the TT kicks in..now this may be pilot error, but I don't get that on-piste instability from the tail from a Racetiger, for example....
If I go up a size, then I expect the ski to be a handful somewhere...but the trick is to get one that does great in what you want to ski most of the time and lump it elsewhere....
As long as you can throw them sideways into the moguls...that sorts that ski out, AFAIAC... if you are bothered about doing much better there..then factor that into your ski-choice.
For me, for what I want....23-25mtrs rad is where I would start.....
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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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spyderjon, what are the new boards with 39Rad? I really would like to give some of those type of skis a go but a snowdome is pretty pointless to test those kind of skis out.
JT, definately food for thought... im very keen to get into some deep stuff next year with some of these newer technology type of boards.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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skimottaret, The mindset says planks but as spyderjon says, things have moved on. A few years ago, and I would defo agree, but the reason the Mantra, at 96mm, is well regarded, for example. is that it performs admirably where you would be convinced it would make you struggle unless right at the top of your game.
At 96mm, you'd expect it to bomb a line pretty well in deep stuff..and you would just be hanging on...but when you get to the trees or tight spots, you think..hard work. Not so, it turns on a sixpence...and I would venture the new indie skis are far better.
That is why I would be very excited to try the Whitedot series... and I have friends who can vouch for Icelantics...and they will be other skis out there as well
Maybe, the indies are trading the same sort of ideas and ski templates ...and I call Movement the same sort of maker, albeit with a higher and bigger profile of late being a 5 yr old company....
but skis no longer conform to the old big ungainly thinking of a few years ago. I'd venture that you can get a 99mm of today perform like a 75mm or so ski of a few years back, and that is through technology and design progress, IMV.
If you want a great blast on-piste as a carver, then use those 68mm skis..and nothing will change that as they have gotten better and better as well... but ..and I don't want to start up a fat V thin war again, but fatter skis are way more verstatile and allround skiable these days...IMV.
Last edited by snowHeads are a friendly bunch. on Sun 19-04-09 8:05; 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.
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another thing..and I don't see much way round this, IMO..
some skis fit and some don't... If you are 184 cms tall, it isn't much use skiing at 184 TT, IMV..add another 5cms or so...but that might rule out that model
That is assuming you don't need to use lenght as a turning issue.
184 regular ski and 184 height is ok if average weight...if too light or too heavy adjust accordingly...
This is why my next ski will be 184 plus and 99mm and not a TT... I don't have much need for a TT anyway...but a semi-twin would be ideal...for backing up in tight spots.
If it had a TT, then 189 plus would what I'd look for...
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You know it makes sense.
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| skimottaret wrote: |
| spyderjon, what are the new boards with 39Rad? I really would like to give some of those type of skis a go but a snowdome is pretty pointless to test those kind of skis out...... |
Why not? The 39m radius is for stability in variable & deep snow so if you just want to park & ride the sidecut then yes, the radius would be too big for a snowdome. However it's rare that an all mountain ski is skied like that in actual use. A snowdome is plenty wide enough to ski the width of track that it would be used for on the mountain. You're not gonna get up much of a lick so you couldn't test stability at speed etc but it's ideal for testing lower speed manoeurability, performance in bumps, short & mid radius turns & for trying out any of your normal drills etc. That lot can give an great incite in to a ski without having to take it to the mountain.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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spyderjon, arv, they look cool but i would mainly use a pair of skis like that only if venturing off piste hence my comments about snowdome demoing not being of much use to me. That said it would be cool to see how they perform on piste and drills in the dome would certainly tell me a lot.
JT all good food for thought and i need to test some of these newer boards out. if they help my skiing as much as my big headed driver helped my golf i could be persuaded to go fat and wide!
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Poster: A snowHead
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| skimottaret wrote: |
| .....if they help my skiing as much as my big headed driver helped my golf i could be persuaded to go fat and wide! |
That's an excellent analogy to how they perform.
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FAQ
In fact they're the exact opposite of what your experience would lead you to think! The latest gear coming from (mostly) independent manufacturers is quickly changing what seemed hard & fast rules just a few years ago. No, not floppy at all. The centre section of the ski is very stiff, equivalent to a punter race ski. Very skiable on piste as rockered tip means a running surface of only 161cm & the carbon construction gives not only a low actual weight (only 3.33kg per ski with all metal race bindings) but also a very low swing weight so unless you look down they feel no different in flex or length to a slalom ski. A decent pilot could definately make mid radius pucka carved turns on a blue but my technique/angulation/inclination isn't up to that but I can manage passable GS & bigger carves when there's space. Obviously you couldn't get short radius pucka carved turns out of them but the type of short radius turns I'm thinking of is when on steeper slopes, off piste or in trees when you'd be applying a lot more steering/skidding irrespective of what ski you're on. Braquage is a doddle. I'd really like you to have a spin on 'em but my 307mm binding length wouldn't adjust to your canoes 
