I'm shopping for an ice ski

Well, yeah, it's been that kind of winter. I need a good, eastern boilerplate to blue ice ski, short turning. I tried the Rossi Avenger 82, 170 length at Gore Saturday, and I thought they were pretty cool. Railed nicely, but could run. I'm trying to avoid a pure race slalom, because I want to play in snowmaking bumps with these things, which would be the softest conditions before I switch to soft snow skis. Any ideas? They have to be stiff. No fooling around.

Ha, one thing that makes me laugh is seeing some people on powder skis at a place like Gore on Saturday. I swear, I saw some kid with some new reverse camber/sidecut things in line at the top with tele bindings. What was he thinking? How is it even possible to ski on those things on boilerplate. Is it a fashion statement? I see it a lot. Dudes, this isn't Jackson Hole, you know.

Atomic. There is a reason they alway score well in edge hold. I've got old metron 10 but they hold on ice.

Have you tried Volkl AC50s? Sounds like what you want. Only problem, they stopped making them Get 'em while they last!

I'm sure Sudsnbumps will chime in about them. He loves his.

Raymo40 wrote

Atomic. There is a reason they alway score well in edge hold. I've got old metron 10 but they hold on ice.

Pretty happy with the Atomic Crimson Ti's.  In fact your post inspired me to update mine from last year:

http://forum.nyskiblog.com/Atomic-Crimson-Ti-tp3555326p3767879.html

I think the Smoke is the next size down if you want something thinner.  I think its 79 at the waist.  The Crimson is 88.  They have not come down much in price.

Blizzard SLR's all the way

any closeout Stockli

I cannot comment on the others, I am sure they are good.  

My choice would be the "Omeglass" series of Dynastar.    The new TL has two layers of Ti,   Its not as stiff as the WC so you can ski it all day.  I have a friend who weighs 150 and is on 167's of the WC.  He can get about 4 hours of freesking before he is done.   He has the TLs too (which I have used) and can last the day, on ice and in the bumps.   We have shear ice, ice bumps and then slush...rarely snow in between.  


The part I like about this ski is the 67mm waist.   That said, we are on a small narrow hill where short turns are a good thing.  

I have two pair of Omeglass that are both basically dead after 8 yrs of skiing them hard and buying them 1-2 yrs used.   They are ice/rock skis now.  

For a bigger mountain like Gore, the longer Cm will benefit as the turn radius will be slightly larger, but in any event, the largest ski is a 167, so it will still be small and quick in the bumps.      

Negative:  They are HEAVY.    

Have used the Atomic Metron 9 (164) for ice and fun, 12m radius also great running NASTAR gates.  Not stable at speed however and as a side note, selling these for $200 inc binding and they are tuned from shop, not used this season due to:

Now I am on Volkl Tigershark 11 which is great on ice, but almost like a SL ski as not a lot fun in the bumps (even the manmade ones, think early season Hawkeye) nor the trees, even though running a length of 168.   Does have better stability.

So the Metrons are more intermediate/advanced while the TS11 are advanced.  

Any ski with wood core laminate construction, 2X Ti and full camber will fit the bill IMHO.

That said, I’m pretty jazzed about a new entry into Nordica’s Fire Arrow line, the FireArrow EDT84. It has all I mentioned above plus a new profile they call Rapid Race, very blunt tip, similar to a race ski, that helps you get into the turn. This ski is best used as a front side carver, but its dimensions (127-84-11) in a 168 (tip and tail get a little wider as it gets longer), gives the user some versatility.

Interesting, do you know what the turning radius is for the Nordica?

Hoser wrote

Interesting, do you know what the turning radius is for the Nordica?

160 = 15.5
168 = 17
176 = 18
184 = 19.5

Atomic makes awesome skis!! Good shout.

My Atomic SX 10's are freaking GINSU knives on ice !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Benny Profane wrote

I need a good, eastern boilerplate to blue ice ski, short turning.

Benny - did you make a move?  

Hope not cause this season is going to be blower.

Nope, not yet. Winter's coming.