Pure Powder ski recommendation

A snowHead

Right, finally after skiing over the weekend here's my thoughts, please excuse the direct lift from the "White Dot Redeemer review" thread. The forecast was for a fair amount of fresh powder but most of what was around was fairly well tracked by the time i got to it. The skis were a 190 but didnt seem to be any trickier than my 174 coombas, they are however much heavier, if you're spending most of the day muscling them around in cut up snow you will know about it by the end of the day!

They did cope very well with everything i could throw at them though, steep moguls, cut up deep snow, windblown crust, and the occasional bit of hardpack and ice. Just before lunch I hiked for some turns in the fresh and thats where these things really come into their own. They really want to charge and encourage you to stand up and forwards and really drive the turns. Strangely the steeper it gets the more they seem to excel and as described above when your bottle runs out you can always pivot/smear a turn to scrub off some speed. As a side note they also seem to be built very well and will take the knocks with ease. Overall an awesome set of skis that encourage you to really power down the hill and will undoubtely extend most peoples off piste skills.

I couldnt find anywhere to demo the Volkl Kuro's again over the weekend so a direct comparison is a little more tricky but I'l try my best. When I skied the kuro the conditions were fairly similar but the first hour in the morning I had more time in untracked deeper powder. Without the rose tinted specs that better conditions obviously bring I would say the kuros pipped the redeemers in most catagories for me. The overall performance was at least as good, but they seemed to be more playful and less work to move around in tight spots. I'd guess some of this comes from their reduced weight, and some from the fact they were 185cm vs 190cm of the redeemers. They arent as easy to pivot/smear turns but I feel like I've ruined my run when I have to do this anyway so its no such a concern. The only major downside I can see is that I dont think the kuros will hold up aswell as the redeemers...but that just gives me an excuse to change them in a few seasons Very Happy

.

I also skied some hellbents and ep pros on the last day, I dont want to ramble on about either of these, but I didnt get on with either of them aswell as the redeemers or kuros. I also never intentionally ski backwards in powder, and dont jump an awful lot so the design of either of these skis seems a little compromised, hey ho, they fit for some people I'm sure. So, the kuros seems to win, but trying to find a set is proving to be a little tricky...anyone know where there's some hiding?

Cheers

Mark

Help!!

Pure Powder ski recommendation

snowHeads Forum Index >>> Equipment Reviews/Questions