forget shaped carver - RAX Generation 2008

A snowHead

Hello, Snow Heads !

We have learned from your criticism and incorporated it in new 2008 models.

- no back seat, no leaning back required to make fins carve and control
- front pair of fins was shifted forward to the heel, now bearing the skier's weight directly
- muscles and ligaments of foot, shin and calf are no longer strained on hard pack snow,
the centered stance on short ski is the best remedy for shin bang
- one single model covers freeride and piste, soft snow and ice as well as a wide range of skills and speeds
- the binding has been mounted on the diagonal carrier, such improving the adjustability and accessibility
- the diagonal carrier is less steep (4 degrees instead of 8 to 16 degrees before)
- the Rax concept can now be applied to All Mountain and shaped skis

All these improvements base upon one single idea:
shifting the diagonal carrier forward by 25 to 40 cm and mounting the binding on it.
This idea emerged last October as an ultimate skiing gear for icy couloirs
and was quickly recognized as "the solution" for normal skiing.

The Rax Generation 2008 will expand into the realm of fat powder and shaped carver skis,
just adding the fin control and possibly a hydrofoil for surfing on powder snow.
We shall see their performance in powder or slalom competition.

Older Rax models remain excellent freeride skis for all soft snow arts, in trees and corned snow (Firn)
as well as in heavy snow and soft moguls.

A snowHead

I always prefer having an erection as steep as possible

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

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Tom from Austria,

Are they different to the pair I skied last Saturday? The fins look to be now under the heel rather than behind it.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Being a bit stupid now - but isn't that just a pair of blades with harscheisen mounted under the heel piece? Toofy Grin

DB, how did it work out?

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Tom from Austria, put me down for a dozen Tom - Sehr Schon Laughing

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

DB, looking forward to Reading the full report DB

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Thanks Tom, I remember it looking a bit different.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Introduction
========
So anyway, on a wet Saturday morning I met Tom at a motorway service station south of Vienna. We put my stuff into his car and drove south in the rain. I'd guess Tom is about the same young age as David Goldsmith perhaps younger (only Tom is still skiing). Tom had around 8 pairs of Rax edition skis in his boot (give or take ca 10 pairs). The rain certainly didn't dampen his enthusiasm to demonstrate his creations and around 45 mins later we were taking our first gondola ride of the day at Semmering. Semmering is a small family resort with a family run, a few steepish reds and a slightly steeper black. http://www.bergfex.com/semmering-hirschenkogel/

Conditions
=======
The conditions were great ............... for Scotland Wink

. A temp of around 4 Deg C with wind, driving rain and intermittent fog. The light was pretty flat too and sadly we never got round to doing a video (maybe next time). There had been a good base that had been snowed on and then rainned on, it was suffering in places though (brown patches). Most runs were mashed potatoes on a bumpy hard base below. It was hard to tell what was just a mound of slush or a hidden ice mogul. Skiers of all levels were suffering, there was hardly a run skied where someone wasn't picking their skis out of the snow - including me but more about that later.

Tom on Rax skis me on conventional skis
============================
I took a couple of runs on my own skis first just to see how Tom rode the Rax skis and examine the terrain before 'strapping on the Rax'. I'd opted to take my wider all mountain skis (90mm underfoot) as they were the only ones that fit my alpine boots (tend to use downhill oriented touring boots all the time these days but Tom didn't have a Rax ski with touring binding). Tom skied pretty much the same as in the video only faster. His Rax skis were near horizontal with the tips out of the snow, when the slope was ca 30 deg his skis were often around 10 deg. It looked unconventional but on the red/black pistes he shot down the fall-line and I needed to pick up quite a bit of speed while committing to the fall-line to get past him. Something I only managed once when there was just the two of us on a steeper piste. On the flater pistes however I was able to put in larger carves whereas the drag on Tom's skis left him behind.

The moment of truth
==============
We go back to the car and Tom hands me the blue ski above. Like his other skis it's an older straight ski that Tom had picked up second hand and modified himself. It was clear this was a one man project, it was his enthusiasm for skiing and not a big company development budget that was driving this. Remember thinking what the hell am I doing? I'd never skied a straight ski before let alone a saw off pair with fins. The butterflys in my stomach weren't helped by Tom confirming in the gondola on the way up that I would be the third person ever to ski the Rax ski. So I click in the old bindings and push off.

The first thing I noticed is that on the flats the fins drag a little. As we descend down a red run my feet start to wiggle from side to side independently. Instead of edging and angulating it was possible just make a turn by twisting flat feet. It was strange and took a bit of time before I could keep my feet parralell but it was easier to stay upright than when I first learnt to ski. Tom was zipping around shouting tips and encouragement. After a short run I managed to stop the skis flapping around so much and started to get a bit of confidence and a lot more control. Now these things don't have a reverse gear, don't try to travel backwards unless you are able to do at least 3 backward summersaults. I only managed a half. rolling eyes

Where I would normally curve round on my normal skis and then do a quick little reserve turn at the side of the piste I'd managed to confuse everyone around me by just throwing myself on the floor backwards. Tom was soon there, a few more tips and we were off again.

Later Tom explained it was on the steeps where the Rax skis really came into their own so it was off to the black slope although it was more brown and bumpy in places. Shock

Tom explained that straight down the fall line & short turns were what was needed. On normal skis it's something that only a much better bump skier than I would manage but on the Rax ski it was possible. The drag slowed things down a bit and I was having fun until my ski caught something underneath and I was out of the binding - (this may of been because the binding wasn't set up correctly for me). Later I was descending the steeper slopes faster than most of the skiers around but still not at the same pace as Tom. To begin with I was tense and I was begining to feel the strain on my legs so it was time to change back to normal skis before I broke something.

Back to normal skis
==============
In comparison to the rax skis my skis suddenly felt super slippy. I spent the next two runs doing a full on Bode Miller in the back seat. Eventually I found the middle of the ski again but it was unnerving until I did. In comparison the conventional skis acquired a higher speed but the need to turn around bumps etc meant the Rax skis were quicker down to the bottom of a steep hill in mushy bumpy snow. Tom tried a longer 160cm rax si and after a few more runs we decided to call it a day.

Pro's
====
Something different
Excel on steeper slopes where the snow is less than perfect
Quick turning

Con's
====
Doesn't glide like a normal ski/flat piste performance
Can't slide backwards (may be restrictive in certain circumstances)
Skis are short = less surface area = less float (although I didn't test in powder)
Very steep pistes (50 deg+ slope) might be a problem

Conclusion
========

Probably not a total replacement for the conventional ski (at least not for me) but another tool to take out when the conditions warrant it.
Maybe later skis with greater surface area will provide a better all-mountain solution.

Good to see Tom pushing the development of the ski further.

snow reports

DB, Thanks for your thoughtful and interesting review! Very Happy

good review, glad you got to test them in the end.

Sounds like a shame about the bad conditions though ?

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

DB, Good review, glad you guys managed to get together at last. I wouldn't say that you have been converted, but it's good that you had a (mainly) positive experience.

A snowHead

Hi, Snowheads.
This weekend we are testing Rax skis in Obertauern near Salzburg.
You can join us (tel *43 650 5252550) or we can visit you if you are skiing east of Innsbruck.

Since the last weekend we have assembled the first shaped carver with fins
and the Ultimate Rax 2008: a skiing ice axe for extreme hard and steep walls.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

DB, what an amazing narrative. I think I get the picture - they do work well where it is steep - in pretty much all conditions. But maybe where there are long traverses and shallow runouts you would get left behind by a party on more conventional skis? Might be fun if Tom from Austria, dropped by us at Wengen at the MSB.

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Tom from Austria, Tom, may I ask if you approached the mainstream ski manufacturers with your business plan? Alternatively is there a 'Dragons Den' type TV show over there in Grostel land where you might be able to showcase your product to entrepeneurs? In short, what is you route to market?

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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Tom from Austria,
Not knocking your ingenuity but I have a few nagging doubts in my mind that perhaps you could address:

I can see a few problems with the concept of Rax as a freeride tool:
- Not being able to go backwards and sideslip to get out of really awkward spots.
- Lack of subtle edge control - don't think I'd want to be dropping cornices without that. It would be like doing it on race skis - done that once don't need to do it again! - but even worse! Shocked

- What happens when you (inevitably - see the bottom of my skis!) hit or have to ski/climb over a rock?

I also can see a few problems with it as a race tool:
- It is going to tear great chunks out of the course, therefore no course director will ever let you use them
- Carving a run on shaped skis (or unshaped skis even) does not seem to me that it causes a lot of drag - do the fins not do this?
- I presume you don't get the rebound you get from bending a carving ski?

Also do you have to look like you're wedeling to make them work - that would be the kiss of death!! wink

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

DB, good that you managed to try them, there was alot of negative comments which I thought was out of order as nobody had actually given them a go, so well done. Very Happy

stuarth, Interesting to consider the limitations, but there are also limitations to boards (I can only go backwards when it is down hill wink

) and traditional skis that these Rax over come, I would suppose the whole point of these is that they work a bit like short skis in that you can easily walk or side walk with quite a bit of grip using the fins, and they are all about going straight down narrow off-piste runs rather than side slippng the first steep bit.

Any one fancy trying a simple two meter drop-in with them? Laughing

After all it is free

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

DB, I think you seem to come to the conclusion that the Rax are quite versatile, but with certain (major) limitations, and maybe a fun thing to ride on a particular day depending on conditions. Whilst I am not a skier, I have followed this topic more to do with how new technology is perceived and accepted in to the main stream. I think it is great that you have made the effort to have a go on the Rax and give a real opinion that is neither biased for or against the Rax, and with the greatest respect to Tom from Austria, your view is more interesting than his (for obvious reasons) and others who have not used them.

One question, did you feel worried about injury to your self or others due to the fins, are they really like lethal blades as suggested by some of the previous err..... vocal.... posters a month or two ago?

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

snow reports

DB, cheers

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Tom from Austria,
Thanks for the explanation, not quite sure I'm ready to hang up my Voelkls just yet, but it is good to see someone trying new things - I guess people thought the same about there 25555 Blizzards when shorter carving skis came out!! wink

A snowHead

DB, shame there is no video Laughing

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Tom from Austria, I just wanted to see DB swinging his arms around sitting back on his heels Laughing

but it seems the fins are more under foot on these versions of your Rax than the previous ones that seemed to be behind the heel, previously giving that 'leaning back' slightly comic appearance Very Happy

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Great stuff.

After all the initial flak, DB has now been able to give an independent view.

One of the very best threads of 2008 - a nice change from posters slagging one another off about nothing.

After all it is free

As they don't go backwards how well would they go with a touring binding to save messing about with skins (obviously when developed further for off-piste)?

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

I am racing Derby de la Meije April 4.
From Mar 30 on we are in Les 2 Alpes and La Grave,
staying in residence Village near the base station
of Valentine chair lift in Les 2 Alpes.

You can test Rax skis !!
My mobile is * 43 650 5252550

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forget shaped carver - RAX Generation 2008

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