2010/11 EHP mount point and love this thread.
To the first reviewer above... was great to read your review from two years ago. I was in line when the Ripper opened, and damn, it was -30 C or something (-22F) That season got going late late, end of March.
Anyway, I'm not sure how much the EHP has changed since 2009, but looking at my 2010's (In August). The recommended line looks like its about 4 cm ahead of where I have it on very similar pow skis (Faction 13s). I'm wondering if the more forward point is for lighter skiers (like Eric?) I'm 200 lb, 6-2 ex racer, usually find that Volkl puts the line really far back, but these EHPs look crazy forward.
Anyway, a lot of geeking out, but any advice based on you guys' 193s?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
gramboh
Really nice and detailed review. I'll add a few points from the 2 days I've had on mine so far:
5'10", 203lbs, 27 y/o ex-racer (junior level, never did FIS)
2008-09 EHP 193 mounted with Marker Duke at suggested line
Haven't skied any other ski with early rise tip/reverse camber/reverse sidecut etc, these are the first 'non-conventional' powder ski I've been on
Conditions were a mix of fresh pow shin-knee deep, soft packed and hard pack groomers on the lower mountain
- Absolutely slay pow and want to ski really quickly, you move fast on these
- Totally agree with comments above about how the ski comes 'alive' in pow once it gets planing. I think it's because that is when the softer tip gets engaged and gives you a lot of energy from turn to turn
- Fun surfy/slarvy feeling when they are floating in pow, but not super pivoty, wasn't sure what to expect here (pivot/slarve wise) since I haven't been on any other non-traditional pow ski before
- Like iscariot says, these things float on anything, even a couple CM over soft packed and you can feel it, really cool
- Bit of work in tighter trees with variable snow (e.g. one turn untracked, then onto harder snow/traverse, back into untracked etc), probably would prefer the 186 here
- Surprised with them on hardpack, as iscariot says above you can't just roll on them and use the sidecut, but I found them really easy to get down the groomers on. If I put energy into them I could get decent super-G like turns or I could skid out the tails without feeling unstable, they are really damp and do not flap at all, no confidence issues
- I love the feeling of being able to kick out the tails really easily, not sure how to describe it, but I used it lot on traverses when I'd get going really fast I could just throw them sideways to dump speed and back forward with no effort, but they feel stable when going straight (what I mean is this feature doesn't compromise the stability when on edge)
- Good grip in icy entrances to chutes, no confidence issues
- Moguls are not fun, although I found I could pivot pretty easily, really I was just trying to get down without wasting energy
- Pretty damn heavy with Dukes, didn't go to the sidecountry due to sketch conditions, just played around a bit, although holding them in my hand they feel the same as my ANT's w/ metal S900's.
All in all I am happy with them, I honestly didn't think I gave up too much on hardpack performance from my other skis (07-08 Armada ANT 191) although I definitely prefer the ANTs in hardpack performance. HUGE improvement in pow performance from the ANTs, I felt like I could ski centered/aggressive on the EHPs versus having to sit back on the ANTs, the surfy feeling is awesome too as welll as the energy in pow.
Made a couple decent core shots (small) which I wasn't surprised with as cover is still thin at KH. As well as a decent side topsheet chip, not sure how (might have been gondola loading since I didn't take any falls), kind of pissed at that, not sure if it needs repair or not but I don't want to lose more in the same area and compromise the integrity of the ski.