Hey all,
Whoa! I'm so happy I found this place!!
Here is my story, and how I got here. I grew up on the east coast, Boston, and started skiing from age 5-6. At 14 I got a pair of Solomon Snowblades and never looked back. They were just so so so good for the ice and hard pack. Way more fun! I'm ~30 now so been rocking the blades a long time. I always had a pair of "proper skis" but they were almost never ridden, 2x a season was a lot.
Since Jan of 16, I'm living in SoCal, Long Beach, and so my mountains and home field conditions have changed up big time. My first year out here in early '16 I hit BigBear a bit and the blades did great, very similar to east coast groomers and hard pack as it is almost 100% man made there. 2017 comes along and I'm Mammoth bound. Powder, its awesome, but the blades didn't do the trick... AT ALL.
I bought some 2017 Blizzard Brahmas, 180cm. They handled the powder fine, and are a killer West Coast all mountain, one quiver ski, but F$%& I HATE long skis. I'm indifferent to poles, sometime I use em with the blades, other times I don't. I always take em along when I'm on the big boys for the lift lines, but rarely use em on the way down....
I just got back from a 4 day stint in Whistler Canada as Mammoth is not getting much snow this year. It snowed at least a foot every day and night we were there. Early runs were magical but after lunch was a sloppy slush fest. Still deepest pow I have ever seen/skied.
POW is cool, I want to ski more POW and learn it, but I am sad I needed long skis... or so I thought
All I wish was that I had shorties. I hated the stance I needed and the 180's are a huge huge workout. Turning is like steering a cruise ship...lame. I rocked the blades for a half day and when I wasn't sinking, I was eating shit. Had to go back on the big boys.
I got home and found this place and the RVL8 and boy that made me tingle down under.
Time to get a couple pairs but I could use some help deciding.
About me, 5'9 205, mostly casual, playful, and once in a while hard charge aggressive. I love groomers, glades, and the park mostly little air and lots of boxes n rails. I stay out of the trees. Pow is new to me but it looks like I need to learn to love it as I have no plans of leaving the west coast.
Mountains I will be at
Mammoth 50-60%
Big Bear 20-30%
Whistler - At least one trip a season
Park City UT - One trip season
Vail/Jackson hole - 1x season
I'm currently looking at 1-2 pairs, but want some advice from the people on them....
Replace my All mountain Blizzards with some - 2018 Blunt XL's - All mountain, pow, groomers
Replace my tired Solomon Blades with some - Sticky Icky Icky's or Blunts - groomers, glades, park
Could the blunt XLs be my do it all? I also eyed the RC Condors and the Spliff, If I go for one of these, will I still want something sorter too?
I'm a happy camper with non-release(preferred) on or releases with leashes
Chime in ad help me spend some $$$$ and ditch the long boys, and the Solomons
Thanks in advance
~Pete
Whoa! I'm so happy I found this place!!
Here is my story, and how I got here. I grew up on the east coast, Boston, and started skiing from age 5-6. At 14 I got a pair of Solomon Snowblades and never looked back. They were just so so so good for the ice and hard pack. Way more fun! I'm ~30 now so been rocking the blades a long time. I always had a pair of "proper skis" but they were almost never ridden, 2x a season was a lot.
Since Jan of 16, I'm living in SoCal, Long Beach, and so my mountains and home field conditions have changed up big time. My first year out here in early '16 I hit BigBear a bit and the blades did great, very similar to east coast groomers and hard pack as it is almost 100% man made there. 2017 comes along and I'm Mammoth bound. Powder, its awesome, but the blades didn't do the trick... AT ALL.
I bought some 2017 Blizzard Brahmas, 180cm. They handled the powder fine, and are a killer West Coast all mountain, one quiver ski, but F$%& I HATE long skis. I'm indifferent to poles, sometime I use em with the blades, other times I don't. I always take em along when I'm on the big boys for the lift lines, but rarely use em on the way down....
I just got back from a 4 day stint in Whistler Canada as Mammoth is not getting much snow this year. It snowed at least a foot every day and night we were there. Early runs were magical but after lunch was a sloppy slush fest. Still deepest pow I have ever seen/skied.
POW is cool, I want to ski more POW and learn it, but I am sad I needed long skis... or so I thought
All I wish was that I had shorties. I hated the stance I needed and the 180's are a huge huge workout. Turning is like steering a cruise ship...lame. I rocked the blades for a half day and when I wasn't sinking, I was eating shit. Had to go back on the big boys.
I got home and found this place and the RVL8 and boy that made me tingle down under.
Time to get a couple pairs but I could use some help deciding.
About me, 5'9 205, mostly casual, playful, and once in a while hard charge aggressive. I love groomers, glades, and the park mostly little air and lots of boxes n rails. I stay out of the trees. Pow is new to me but it looks like I need to learn to love it as I have no plans of leaving the west coast.
Mountains I will be at
Mammoth 50-60%
Big Bear 20-30%
Whistler - At least one trip a season
Park City UT - One trip season
Vail/Jackson hole - 1x season
I'm currently looking at 1-2 pairs, but want some advice from the people on them....
Replace my All mountain Blizzards with some - 2018 Blunt XL's - All mountain, pow, groomers
Replace my tired Solomon Blades with some - Sticky Icky Icky's or Blunts - groomers, glades, park
Could the blunt XLs be my do it all? I also eyed the RC Condors and the Spliff, If I go for one of these, will I still want something sorter too?
I'm a happy camper with non-release(preferred) on or releases with leashes
Chime in ad help me spend some $$$$ and ditch the long boys, and the Solomons
Thanks in advance
~Pete
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