1 run reviews: 187 Bonafide & 189 Obsethed

[Shorty_J]

They had demo days at Kickinghorse on Saturday, and I was really hoping to try out the Rossignol Sickle, but they didn't have that ski available for demo (and I can't even find anyone in Calgary that even carries the ski to look at it). Hey Rossi... not everyone wants an S7, and you're going to make a ski and market it, maybe you should make that ski available to try.

But I digress back to the reviews...

Conditions were about 5cm of new overnight, light snow all day, over a base that was quite firm in some places, to fairly soft in others.

187 Bonafide:
Dropped into Bowl Over into cut-up powder at the top of the pitch, a bit more scraped of and firm/moguls on the steeper pitches. They tracked very well and predictably in the cut up pow at slower speeds. On the scraped off moguls they were decent, but I hadn't warmed up yet and blame pilot error. And these pitches are a bit challenging on any ski.

Next onto Show Off where there was more cut-up powder and soft crud, with occasional firm crusty patches underneath. The Bonafide was excellent here and was confidence inspiring in faster and more aggressive turns. I could also power slide the tails out in high-speed lateral directions. Really nice!

On groomers, this is one of the best carvers I have been on in years... absolutely amazing! They initiated extremely intuitively despite the continuous rocker, and held and edge confidently... I didn't find a speed limit.

I would liked to have taken these for another run requiring some billy-goating and higher-speed crud charging, but the rep made it clear from his body language that he wanted the skis back.

I was very impressed with this ski!

189 Obsethed:
When I returned this ski I found out from the rep they had them mounted at +3, which explains why I felt like there was so much tail to this ski.

I took these down steeper north facing runs on CPR ridge and Fuez bowl. In the billy-goating entries to these runs, I found there was too much tail to these and they would get caught up. In the cut-up but softer sections, the skis performed better, but I still felt like there was too much tail for my personal tastes.

In lower-angled soft bumps and crud on the lower mountain, I found this ski far more nimble and playful that I thought a 189 would be... very fun! I think this is due to the softer flex, and while I find myself skiing stiffer skis these days, this softer flex was actually quite enjoyable to me. I really liked bouncing off the small bumps and terrain features, and the skis had some nice pop without bucking me.

On groomed terrain they did not initiate turns as intuitively as the Bonafide or my 186 ON3P Vicik's (daily driver). When going fast and flat, I felt the skis were a bit wobbly and a bit nerve racking, but they held and edge fairly well once fully engaged and tilted on edge, enough so that I had confidence the ski would hold for me at fairly high speeds. Despite the fact that the tips were flapping around like crazy, it didn't really seem to affect the ski... but the ski did not impart the feeling that I could pull a high-g turn at these higher speeds like the Bonafide or my Vicik's.

I would like to try the same ski mounted at the 0 line, and I think some of the issues I had with the ski would be mitigated with this mount point.

[sf]

+1 on the Bonafides. Will post a review soon. I have 4 days now, Only manmade and ice though

[JayPowHound]

They initiated extremely intuitively despite the continuous rocker, and held and edge confidently... I didn't find a speed limit.

Dosen't the Bonafide have some camber underfoot?

[hrdude]

The new Blizzard's sound great, can't wait to try a pair.

[Shorty_J]

Dosen't the Bonafide have some camber underfoot?

I'll admit that I didn't even look because I thought they were full rocker. Someone feel free to correct if I'm wrong.

Edit: If they are cambered under foot, the entire argument about "flipcore" seems pretty bunk... which isn't to say that it I'm right at all.

[BushwackerinPA]

I'll admit that I didn't even look because I thought they were full rocker. Someone feel free to correct if I'm wrong.

Edit: If they are cambered under foot, the entire argument about "flipcore" seems pretty bunk... which isn't to say that it I'm right at all.

they are cambered underfoot

The flipped core is then pressed into camber underfoot giving the ski a much springer and natural flex than just about anything else.

[Shorty_J]

they are cambered underfoot

The flipped core is then pressed into camber underfoot giving the ski a much springer and natural flex than just about anything else.

Fair enough... but if their point is that it's more natural to not force the ski into a rockered position, then it doesn't make any sense to force/press the ski into a cambered position either. Just sayin....


Edit: Just read the description of "flipcore" on Blizzards website...
http://www.blizzard-ski.com/index.php?id=5#126,1,0,0,0

"... whose downward-facing convex side forms the natural rocker shape of the ski, withouth having to bend or artificially shape the ski in a press."

I still really like the ski, but that statement is marketing BS if they are pressing camber into the ski.