The Andorra 2023/24 Skiboarding Report

[ysb33r]

I have been mainly riding Crossbows the whole season, but now that we have finally got some decent snow, I switched to Slingshots. I think with another 50cm or so of snow, we should be adequately covered for in the short term.

[ysb33r]

I borrowed a pair of touring skis from the local rental shop. The owner said I have to try the Movement Alp 98 skis - they are carbon fibre. Since the my boots were just too long for the binding, he moved them last night and I picked them up early this morning. I did exactly the same route as two days ago.

As they are CF-based, I expected them to be super stiff. They are even marked as the stiffest on offer from Movement. They do have some rocker in the front too, which was nice. The core is Karuba, not Poplar.

Anyways, off I went. I felt a bit more tired than two days ago on the ascent, but it turned out to be roughly the same ascent time.

Compared to to the Invertigos I have, there eas no slippage at all, even though I think the conditions were slightly more hardpack. As I did not use the same skins, it is not quite a like-for-like comparison.

Come the downhill. These bamboo sticks are 162cm - the shortest they have in this model range. The descent involves a red run, followed by a blue run. All hardpack, scraped off in places, showing sheets of ice. I descended with precaution as I had no idea how these would turn. Well, I got my turns, having to unweight the inner leg everytime, but I got down the steeper bits and dodged my way through all the traffic, that lead into the beginners area. I was really impressed that I never fell over.

Compared to the Invertigos, I did not go as fast, but I definitely held back. However, it felt much more pleasant on these than the Invertigos. They did not feel as stiff in comparison either. I am definitely leaning towards a pair of these to enjoy skimo outings, whilst I remain in search of the holy grail of a real skimo skiboard. I am just with some practice, my downhill technique on these will improve.

P.S. Quite impressed with those Leki poles in-resort, but I won't take them out of bounds as they cannot be collapsed. For that I'll stick to my BD poles.

[ysb33r]

On your skimo trip, ysb33r, did you use skins on your skiboards or is any uphill motion purely from edging or pushing with ski poles?
Well done.

I use Gecko skins

[Gromit]

We end 2023 with a skimo trip to Pic de Cubil. It is an "easy" trip as it is 99% in-resort.

I've been using Crossbows primarily for downhill this season. I have noticed that the Invertigos are slower than the Crossbows on the same downhill tracks.

On your skimo trip, ysb33r, did you use skins on your skiboards or is any uphill motion purely from edging or pushing with ski poles?
Well done.

[ysb33r]

We end 2023 with a skimo trip to Pic de Cubil. It is an "easy" trip as it is 99% in-resort.

I've been using Crossbows primarily for downhill this season. I have noticed that the Invertigos are slower than the Crossbows on the same downhill tracks.

[newbie2011]

So good to already see some snow over there !

The preparation for EuroShredfest 2024 starts now!

Yessir, I was on it over the weekend, waxing some boards and adjusting bindings

[ysb33r]

Can't wait to see you. Is there any skiboards that you want me to bring up with me. Free shipping from RVL8.

Rick

Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

I'll keep that in mind.

[rickylink]

Can't wait to see you. Is there any skiboards that you want me to bring up with me. Free shipping from RVL8.

Rick

Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

[ysb33r]

Officially the season only opens here on 1 December, but most places are still in doubt due to lack of snowfall.

However one resort is already open. They have adequate cover in back bowl, to run some one chairlift, one draglift and a gondola.

I went up there this morning, did two runs for the fun of it and called it a day as I had other stuff to do as well.

As I just got back from Nepal late Thursday night, I have not had the chance to setup for this season's skiboarding. My ski closet only had a pair of DLPs with rental bindings, but I did not feel taking those out, so I arbitrarily pulled one of my Monkey bags out of storage and it contained a set of Crossbows with Rvl8 risers that I set up for me last season. That was my choice for the day.

As I got of the chairlift I just slotted back into riding as if the previous season just closed yesterday. I was quite surprised. No early season wobbles, just nothing.

The preparation for EuroShredfest 2024 starts now!