2022 - 2023 snowboarding and ski thread

[Brent.ff]

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We've got our own sleds and I've got a big toboggan that I can tow behind my sled. So we brought a BBQ and beer and all that fun stuff.

We weren't able to ski the really big lines because of the avalanche conditions but we sure did ski some fantastic pillow lines and chutes with low consequence.

How far out did you have to book? Seems like quite the challenge.. Cody Townsend highlighting it / Kingsbury on his The Fifty series wont help..

[cam_wmh]

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We've got our own sleds and I've got a big toboggan that I can tow behind my sled. So we brought a BBQ and beer and all that fun stuff.

We weren't able to ski the really big lines because of the avalanche conditions but we sure did ski some fantastic pillow lines and chutes with low consequence.

Any dodging logging truck tales, on the Silent access road?

[g-m]

Did he? Must've missed that one. Brother in law did it a few months ago but yea hard to do. It wasn't my first time out there though, it's possible it's just like getting rolling Stones tickets.

No logging trucks but we have radios and were calling out. There was active logging I think we just came in while they were loading (10am ish). Road is in better shape than the trans Canada

If you have sleds Olive is a decent destination that's a lot less popular.

[BavarianBeast]

Great season so far. Some awesome storms last week, hopefully some more good dumps coming in

[sxtasy]

Nice pic. The Orca is fun.

[BavarianBeast]

Thanks, I love it. Have 2 Goldens geared up now and my wife has the standard Orca to ride. So much pop and fun in the pow. Blue one is for special days and orange/red is a daily pow driver. I use the TRS when there’s not much new snow as it’s more playful. One day I’ll have a wall of libtech boards instead of art collection haha.

[SR54RNR]

Hey another Lib tech collector!…. I have a T.rice Orca, a Lando Phoenix, and an older TRS currently

[JfuckinC]

Libtards unite!

I have 2 skunk apes, and a stump ape

None of which have seen any snow this year..

[r3ccOs]

fellas, looking for a couple skis - a Frontside to possibly race masters and a more 'all mountain' with more of a East rockies attitude.

For all mountain, I've owned alot of 100 underfoot skis, ranging from Soul 7, Nordica Enforcers, and my current set of Mantra M6 (96mm)... all are pretty good, but definitely much more powder oriented with a chattery shovel sin the front. I've also tried QSTs and Mindbenders, Chetlers and have the same opinion, and like with bikes, nobody seems to make a bad 'trail' or 'all mountain' ski.

However I prefer to be able to really charge hard and steady on both piste and off, and especially want something to point and shoot mashed potato/crud days. The ONLY two skis I've ever used with this type of confidence was the old 'pure camber' Bandit BSquad (B4) and the even older Volkl Explosiv.

Talking to a few shops, it looks like everyone is recommending the Blizzard Brahma and more specifically the 88, which is quite a few MM less underfoot, but apparently does quite well with the 'big snow days' we get East of Golden. Curious if anyone has any experience or alternative recommendations?

For racing, I still have my 2011 FIS RC4 World Cup GS skis, which TBH is too hardcore unless I'm racing gates. There are many 'racing' skis, of which due to FIS standards are all very similar in nature, so I'm looking for something that treads a carving frontside and a race ski... Options I've seen are the Rossi HERO masters, Volkl Racetiger, K2 Disruption etc. Not sure if anyone still cares about high speed carving on groomers here but if you do, also any recs would be appreciated!

[BavarianBeast]

Hell yeah, I’ve got another TRS and skunk ape hanging out at home too. Going to have a nice libtech wall at the ski condo haha. If any of you guys want to sell old decks with good art I will buy regardless of condition.

My buddy in Japan @libz_cacawo has about a 300 board collection. Pretty insane!

[sxtasy]

I do like Lib Tech's, I have the Lando Phoenix, Orca and my son rides the Banana Blaster and he absolutely rips it on that snowboard at 10yrs old.

[SR54RNR]

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Hell yeah, I’ve got another TRS and skunk ape hanging out at home too. Going to have a nice libtech wall at the ski condo haha. If any of you guys want to sell old decks with good art I will buy regardless of condition.

My buddy in Japan @libz_cacawo has about a 300 board collection. Pretty insane!

What size Orca are you riding? Might be just the perspective in the photos but looks like your have quite a longer tail. Mine is a 153

[sxtasy]

I have the exact same Orca also in a 153, riding at 5'11", 185lbs size 11 boot. It's so much nicer to be able to size down, especially for quick turns in steep off piste terrain, while still maintaining float in powder.

I believe the regular Orca is supposed to be sized down more so than the Apex or Golden Orca by about 3cm, as it's more directional in shape.

[BavarianBeast]

I could probably get away with the 153 but all my boards are 157. I’m 5’10” and it works for me, my wife’s Orca is 153 and she’s about 5’8”. I’ve ridden her board a couple times and it’s fun as hell but I find i can control my longer board a bit better in steep terrain.

[cet]

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fellas, looking for a couple skis - a Frontside to possibly race masters and a more 'all mountain' with more of a East rockies attitude.

For all mountain, I've owned alot of 100 underfoot skis, ranging from Soul 7, Nordica Enforcers, and my current set of Mantra M6 (96mm)... all are pretty good, but definitely much more powder oriented with a chattery shovel sin the front. I've also tried QSTs and Mindbenders, Chetlers and have the same opinion, and like with bikes, nobody seems to make a bad 'trail' or 'all mountain' ski.

However I prefer to be able to really charge hard and steady on both piste and off, and especially want something to point and shoot mashed potato/crud days. The ONLY two skis I've ever used with this type of confidence was the old 'pure camber' Bandit BSquad (B4) and the even older Volkl Explosiv.

Talking to a few shops, it looks like everyone is recommending the Blizzard Brahma and more specifically the 88, which is quite a few MM less underfoot, but apparently does quite well with the 'big snow days' we get East of Golden. Curious if anyone has any experience or alternative recommendations?

For racing, I still have my 2011 FIS RC4 World Cup GS skis, which TBH is too hardcore unless I'm racing gates. There are many 'racing' skis, of which due to FIS standards are all very similar in nature, so I'm looking for something that treads a carving frontside and a race ski... Options I've seen are the Rossi HERO masters, Volkl Racetiger, K2 Disruption etc. Not sure if anyone still cares about high speed carving on groomers here but if you do, also any recs would be appreciated!

I was looking at the Volkl Mantra M5 when I was buying new skis a couple of years ago and at the last minute went with the Kendo 88's. Same construction as the M5 but 88 under foot. I'm pretty happy with them. They are heavy as hell and you have to be on them to get them to perform at the top end but I haven't had much issue taking them all over the mountain. Having said that, when they eventually get replaced I'm looking for something a bit lighter and wider that will still perform well.

I was also looking for a set of carving skis to rip the groomers when I'm skiing with my daughter or when the conditions are like they are now. I'd settled on the Racetiger RC's, racing inspired but a bit more on the recreational side. They aren't super easy to find though.

[r3ccOs]

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I was looking at the Volkl Mantra M5 when I was buying new skis a couple of years ago and at the last minute went with the Kendo 88's. Same construction as the M5 but 88 under foot. I'm pretty happy with them. They are heavy as hell and you have to be on them to get them to perform at the top end but I haven't had much issue taking them all over the mountain. Having said that, when they eventually get replaced I'm looking for something a bit lighter and wider that will still perform well.

I was also looking for a set of carving skis to rip the groomers when I'm skiing with my daughter or when the conditions are like they are now. I'd settled on the Racetiger RC's, racing inspired but a bit more on the recreational side. They aren't super easy to find though.

I was thinking about the Racetigers, specifically the Masters GS and with the 115 67 98 at 183, though on paper, they aren't so much different than a FIS ski (or my GS skis at that)... would love to try them to compare and I am still mostly partial to wood (ash/birch) as opposed to ti or comp materials for cambered racing skis.

That said, weight is always a consideration if they are going to be an all day carver, so backing off to maybe a carbon ski in something like the RCs, Fischer Curv, Disruptor etc...

back to the Kendo... ever find yourself looking for more girth, err Width?

[cet]

At the moment, not a lot. The conditions have been terrible around here this year and last. I don't remember the last time we had a decent powder day. So for charging around the groomers and hard pack they have been great. Smaller radius lets me get some tighter turns if I want, and they cut through any crud that happens to be around. Rock solid at speed. Speed for me though is usually a top of somewhere between 70 and 80. On the odd day we have had a bit of powder, I do find they don't float as much as I'd like. that's probably a combination of the weight and size under foot.

[bigboom]

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fellas, looking for a couple skis - a Frontside to possibly race masters and a more 'all mountain' with more of a East rockies attitude.

For all mountain, I've owned alot of 100 underfoot skis, ranging from Soul 7, Nordica Enforcers, and my current set of Mantra M6 (96mm)... all are pretty good, but definitely much more powder oriented with a chattery shovel sin the front. I've also tried QSTs and Mindbenders, Chetlers and have the same opinion, and like with bikes, nobody seems to make a bad 'trail' or 'all mountain' ski.

However I prefer to be able to really charge hard and steady on both piste and off, and especially want something to point and shoot mashed potato/crud days. The ONLY two skis I've ever used with this type of confidence was the old 'pure camber' Bandit BSquad (B4) and the even older Volkl Explosiv.

Talking to a few shops, it looks like everyone is recommending the Blizzard Brahma and more specifically the 88, which is quite a few MM less underfoot, but apparently does quite well with the 'big snow days' we get East of Golden. Curious if anyone has any experience or alternative recommendations?

For racing, I still have my 2011 FIS RC4 World Cup GS skis, which TBH is too hardcore unless I'm racing gates. There are many 'racing' skis, of which due to FIS standards are all very similar in nature, so I'm looking for something that treads a carving frontside and a race ski... Options I've seen are the Rossi HERO masters, Volkl Racetiger, K2 Disruption etc. Not sure if anyone still cares about high speed carving on groomers here but if you do, also any recs would be appreciated!

If you're looking for an all mountain charger look at something like the Blizzard Cochise 106, that's one ski that i think really fits what you are looking for. Other than that, you mentioned you tried the Mindbender, what version of the Mindbender was it? If you tried that 106ti and found that soft in the tips, i'm not sure there's going to be much stiffer options. If you tried the mindbender but in the non-ti versions i definitely agree with you in them being soft.

[r3ccOs]

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If you're looking for an all mountain charger look at something like the Blizzard Cochise 106, that's one ski that i think really fits what you are looking for. Other than that, you mentioned you tried the Mindbender, what version of the Mindbender was it? If you tried that 106ti and found that soft in the tips, i'm not sure there's going to be much stiffer options. If you tried the mindbender but in the non-ti versions i definitely agree with you in them being soft.

I've had a number of 100+ underfoot skis for some time, but I feel that the introduction of the big rocker since Rossi changed the game with the Soul, which has its benefits, but also has some how made it the norm to have fat chattery skis, and with the wide underfoot, tough to effectively use all of the edge (tips specifically) effectively.

Also with a underfoot larger than say 9x+ I find in general the skis are less torsionally stiff (obviously) but then get heavier with the bigger, wider plates that are put in to compensate.

with that said, if I were to look for a M6 replacement for aa hard charging all mountain, big pow ski... it would be the Cochise, as essentially its a more traditional ski, like the Nordica Enforcer but even stiffer

[g-m]

Man we have very different preferences lol. My daily drivers are Armada tracer 118 CHX with Duke PTs and I find them great for everything from carving ice to full day touring in 50cm of fresh