Yes, even at 49 years, 48 months, I still get jibby.
Hmmm, do the kids still say “jibby” ... or did they ever say it? Not sure, but either way, even in my advancing years. I still like to play in the park, hit a box, and throw a 3 (aka heli). Thanks to Jason Levinthal, we can do lots of fun stuff on skis because he had the bright idea of putting a tip on the back of the ski: now we can land and ski backward on purpose. Jason in his TedX talk said he was never in this for the money because, well, because IMHO he was being polite: every ski manufacturer who has ever offered a twin tip owes Jason a few bucks. (Which is a few bucks per ski that he will never see.) Fast forward to today: after selling Line Skis to K2, Jason took some time off and then started a new project, J Skis. He took what he knew in ski design and created a direct sales model to get his hand-signed skis straight to the consumer.
J Skis' participant in this cage match is The Metal. One word that cane to mind as soon as I got on these was playful, like a golden retriever puppy. Not only did they gravitate toward the park, but they wanted to hit every pile of snow and pop off every knoll; when they weren’t doing that, they were made beautiful round turns while up on edge.
From a sales and marketing standpoint, the Blizzard Peacemaker was never a huge success; it was was either considered the Gunsmoke's little brother or overshadowed by the sales juggernaut of the Bonafide. This is a shame because it is a worthy ski on its own merits. I know it is @Spencer’s favorite ski, a skier who has strong technical skills yet loves to tussle in trees and patch-skis every month in summer. The Peacemaker is a stronger ski than The Metal; they are both modes of skiing transportation, but where the Peacemaker is a mountain bike, the Metal is a skateboard.
Hmmm, do the kids still say “jibby” ... or did they ever say it? Not sure, but either way, even in my advancing years. I still like to play in the park, hit a box, and throw a 3 (aka heli). Thanks to Jason Levinthal, we can do lots of fun stuff on skis because he had the bright idea of putting a tip on the back of the ski: now we can land and ski backward on purpose. Jason in his TedX talk said he was never in this for the money because, well, because IMHO he was being polite: every ski manufacturer who has ever offered a twin tip owes Jason a few bucks. (Which is a few bucks per ski that he will never see.) Fast forward to today: after selling Line Skis to K2, Jason took some time off and then started a new project, J Skis. He took what he knew in ski design and created a direct sales model to get his hand-signed skis straight to the consumer.
J Skis' participant in this cage match is The Metal. One word that cane to mind as soon as I got on these was playful, like a golden retriever puppy. Not only did they gravitate toward the park, but they wanted to hit every pile of snow and pop off every knoll; when they weren’t doing that, they were made beautiful round turns while up on edge.
From a sales and marketing standpoint, the Blizzard Peacemaker was never a huge success; it was was either considered the Gunsmoke's little brother or overshadowed by the sales juggernaut of the Bonafide. This is a shame because it is a worthy ski on its own merits. I know it is @Spencer’s favorite ski, a skier who has strong technical skills yet loves to tussle in trees and patch-skis every month in summer. The Peacemaker is a stronger ski than The Metal; they are both modes of skiing transportation, but where the Peacemaker is a mountain bike, the Metal is a skateboard.
- Why choose The Metal? It's just damn playful. You want the whole mountain as your playground and you see everything is a feature. Take em for a ride.
- Why choose the Peacemaker? You want a great all-mountain ski that is stable yet will play. It's a ski that takes you back to your youth or buys another season in the sun.
- Other skis in the class: K2 Marksman, Line Sir Francis Bacon, Dynastar Slicer Factory.