 Poster: A snowHead
|
So Monday was a typical torrential downpour day in Vancouver, fortunately the temperature gauge on the car on the way home was still what it was when I went to work at a steady 4C, this looked promising for a bit of snow on the local mountains, so an after-work trip was required.
Even better a few weeks back my shiny new Preachers and Redeemers turned up, and the Redeemers were still awaiting an outing after a couple of weeks of chest-infection enforced slope exile. Well I thought I'd risk it having not yet tried them out and opportunities at Whistler running out fast for this season, and if skiing 128 was a little too excessive for the local ski hill at least it's not far to go home again and swap them for something 'sensible'
So off I went to Grouse Mountain, got there, realised I'd forgotton my poles  Nevermind there's a rental shop at the top so that wasn't too much of an issue.
On reaching the top, couldn't see a right lot (but heh this is the BC coast!), 60cm of fresh pow was awaiting me and all of a sudden I realised that I had the perfect conditions for testing out the Redeemers  Having obtained some poles, I was off 
Even more surprising than 60cm of fresh stuff was the fact that quite a lot of it was still at worst lightly tracked (at 6pm!), and was even quite light at the top - better still Grouse ski patrol were good enough to keep all their terrain open until nearly 7 (there is night skiing until 10 but that is limited to the floodlit trails)
So the Redeemers were in their element, I was still feeling a bit ropey after my previous illness, but still gave them a reasonable workout through the trees and pow underneath the Peak chair. For such big skis (and to start with I really felt they were _big_) they are surprisingly maneouverable, and really quite easy to ski. Near the bottom of the lift the snow was getting pretty heavy (a bit of an understatement!), but a slight technique adjustment to use them a bit more like a couple of snowboards yielded great results. So a few more laps and I realised a problem with these skis - I could just hoon around the mountain faster and faster jumping off stuff with reckless abandon, raggedy technique, and big smile, safe in the knowledge that my errors would be fixed by a couple of big skis.
When I got to the marbly tracks back to the lifts at the bottom I was a bit all over the place, but heh I guess I'll just have to work on how to deal that part.
On the chopped up snow, it was kind of tricky to tell how they were working partly because visibility had reduced to about nothing, and partly because it was super heavy chopped up stuff, so difficult to judge, but on that sort of stuff I had the feeling my Mantras or some Gotamas may work better due to the Tiger tank parts making them the ultimate stiff crud blasters; the Redeemers are relatively light and a bit more flexible so I'm not sure if this might count against them here? I shall have to do (a lot  ) more testing to find out.
I still need to take them to Whistler where I shall give them a more thorough workout - hopefully conditions will oblige soon.
Since it is not uncommon to get fairly significant dumps of fairly heavy snow in these parts, and they are surprisingly nimble, I think these skis could actually see quite a lot of action, despite my original thoughts when they turned up that I would need to be winning some heliskiing trips
They are definitely very distinctive and got quite a bit of attention - hopefully Whitedot skis will be a lot more common out this way soon
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
Cheers STU, nice review, hope you have some more snow! Back out to Austria soon and can't wait to get back on my Red's!
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
Well only 23cm on the local hill last night (and they're due to close on May 1st - with a 6m base!)
Up to Whistler for most of next week so hopefully it'll stay cold and keep snowing (or if not be glorious and sunny spring skiing)
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
| the_doc wrote: |
| Cheers STU, nice review, hope you have some more snow! Back out to Austria soon and can't wait to get back on my Red's! |
Sounds like you might have the conditions for it, just had a beer with Eva who's 'slightly distressed' to have driven 9 hours to Chamonix, for a magazine photo shoot, to find no snow when she is reporting a metre of fresh back in Austria!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
stuarth, glad you're enjoying the skis
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
| midgetbiker wrote: |
| the_doc wrote: |
| Cheers STU, nice review, hope you have some more snow! Back out to Austria soon and can't wait to get back on my Red's! |
Sounds like you might have the conditions for it, just had a beer with Eva who's 'slightly distressed' to have driven 9 hours to Chamonix, for a magazine photo shoot, to find no snow when she is reporting a metre of fresh back in Austria! |
Having looked at the snow report -3C and now up to 38cms in the last 24hrs, I felt 'slightly distressed' this evening having driven 15 minutes to arrive at the mountain and be told it was shutdown due to a lightning storm 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
stuarth,
| Quote: |
They are definitely very distinctive and got quite a bit of attention - hopefully Whitedot skis will be a lot more common out this way soon
|
Saw a pair of Redeemers at Whistler about a week before your post: the owner seemed to be having a lot of fun!
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
Ah oh, must be getting downright common already!!
Wasn't me I'm afraid. But have been hooning around on my Preachers the last few days and it's been pretty awesome - great conditions, great skis. Proper review to follow shortlly...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
