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Individual Review 21/22 Moment Wildcat 116 184 cm

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Ron

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I haven't been on the 190 but the 184 is THAT playful charger they advertise. And, I wish I could compare the previous incarnation (last 2 seasons?) but yeah this not a lightweight touring ski by any means. The 184 still rips the skied out groomers better than it should. You do need to be aware of your COM and have a good feel for when to pressure the ski vs moving your COM back to "neutral". there's a distinct feel on this ski once you are in the neutral zone and the ski is just floating along calmly.
 

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I am going to have to drop by Moment and see if I can get on a pair of Commander 98s. I've had Deathwish (a few runs, didn't mesh, sold them), Tahoe (fine at speed but didn't mesh), and Night Trains (125 under foot but cool graphics). I use them to ski at Chez Ziggy or down my street. Abysmal on groomers and I'm never sure I was in enough powder to make them work well. I keep asking Luke at Moment to make a narrow ski for guys like me who would really prefer a <90 for a DD but it's not going to happen. And that's OK; he and his crew know their market and are doing well enough that they're moving to a new place that is, I believe, about 3x the size of where they are now.
Hi, Andy. To me, there is a reason that Blistergear waxed so enthusiastic about the Bibby Pro in both 184 and 190 (and not any other Moment ski), even got Moment to re-issue it when they tried to end it, and have waited with a comparatively lukewarm, faintly "meh" response to its successor, the lighter weight Wildcat. With due respect, please do not underestimate this.

That ski is a big deal, pretty much uniquely, and the newest, heavier Wildcat, may well be what they were waiting for, a return or better.

Also, to be clear, not sure what other folks do with it, but this ski is not a one ski quiver, or Daily Driver, near as I can tell: it is a soft snow ski minimally. Narrower Moments tried to duplicate the Bibby Pro in a narrower, DD package, and didn't fully succeed, near as I can tell. (I think the PB&J was an example of this.) For me, the 116 Bibby comes out at about 3-4", give or take - maybe a bit more. (I do not use it to groomer charge, except on very soft "new snow" groomers - where it shines.) It especially comes out if new snow conditions are going to be rugged, or a real workout, for me, with other skis.

On the Commander 98 (and 108), I skied the 108 on a 3" day just past the WROD period. (So I have not had it in enough variety of slopes to have any certainty here.) It was a nice ski, exceptional in some ways, with almost the same dynamic turn as the Bibby Pro/Wildcat - but is still very different than the Wildcat/Bibby Pro. And it is maybe a more specialized, limited appeal ski, even for experts, to me, than the Bibby/Wildcat, whatever the width.

So a caveat, gentle warning, the Commander has that classic Bibby Pro turn and carve, and powder/crud ability, on a taste of steroids. It is not quite as easy a playful charger. It is as if it had some Faction Dictator 3.0 genes spliced into it. It is a bit more testy, precise, stiff and demanding - with a high performance carve, not as laid back or versatile as the Bibby 184 or 190, and to me a slightly different critter. It is a ski that I could get in trouble with, less margin or sweet spot: if you like that somewhat higher demand carve in a fatter ski, have at it.
 

Tony S

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Forgive me for the memories, but I can remember vividly the day (10" easier day at Loveland) when I first tried out my new Moment Bibby Pros 184, the ski the new, heavier Wildcats are like again. They had been billed as more playful than charger, in contrast to the 190, which was more charger than playful. I was in the fall line, basically testing the "charge" of the 184s, and it was like a light bulb going on: for a 150 lbs./5'10" guy like me who is a good but by no means elite skier, these things could both charge and be playful; they were so dialed in as they almost carved the powder, as if by themselves - just a dialed in, amazing turn and feel. Drop off into steep powder and drifts: my heavens, unflappable. Into the trees: my heavens again, so easy to flow/turn these babies there in a very fun way. And in the chop? Almost as though it wasn't there, or rather, as if it were almost as great a medium as pure powder. A ski that made wide skis make sense.

As I was getting tired and wanting to slow down a bit with more playfulness and turniness, and be throwing them sideways a bit also, in chop and crud, another light bulb went off, for what has become, for me, the defining quality of this ski - the way it finds a neat rhythm with its playfulness, slow or fast, just making any powder/crud conditions a sweet spot kinda day. It's a dang safe, comfortable ski, with almost no upper limit as a bonus.*
Are you in sales? Because you should be.
 

Tony S

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Hah!
Oh, dear Heavens, save me. Maybe once every few years or more, you'd get such dog-like devotion from me on anything.
That's part of why it's compelling.
 
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Hah!
Oh, dear Heavens, save me. Maybe once every few years or more, you'd get such dog-like devotion from me on anything.

yeah, so think about the fact that I DO get out on a fair amount of skis and I AM so psyched about the 108 and 116 (both 184). the ski IS that good.

the 108 will come out when theres 4" over soft, I think the 116 will come out when there 6"+. there's much more going on than just the width of the ski
 

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'
Fanboi? Me?

271583361_1140032923467257_1900077198234784404_n.jpeg
 

Andy Mink

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so psyched about the 108
Compared to Augment AM108? Different? Similar? Two different animals? Just curious and trying to expand my comparison database.
 
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Compared to Augment AM108? Different? Similar? Two different animals? Just curious and trying to expand my comparison database.
didnt ski the Augment 108 however, you need to fondle and inspect one up close. its a very different design and it frankly doesnt ski like you will think it should. It has such deep rocker lines, especially in the tail but when in deeper snow, you would never think it. its supportive and enough to finish a turn. the tip rocker lines are also deep and long but on edge, they have more contact than you would imagine. The Tip splay is less than you think it has but I have not been able to submarine it or spear a swale or mogul. The magic is in the details of this ski. Part of that magic is the camber and where they taper the sidewalls and the suggested mount point. I think the placement of the camber relative to the BOF has a lot to do with how it reacts when pressured and released. they are pretty emphatic about not staying too far off that suggested line.

I would be very interested to know if the 190 is much stiffer or have a different construction.
 
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Tom K.

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Great review @Ron!

I find myself "reading" a few between the lines comments that lead me to believe you'd like it even more at -1. ;)
 
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Great review @Ron!

I find myself "reading" a few between the lines comments that lead me to believe you'd like it even more at -1. ;)

maybe time for new glasses! :). Wouldn't touch the mount point. Actually considering remounting my 108's to the factory line. they are mounted at -7mm from factory. For trees and quick fun turns, they are dialed. if you were skiing more open, you could move them back but no, for where Im skiing factory is puuuurfect.
 

Mike Rogers

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To me, there is a reason that Blistergear waxed so enthusiastic about the Bibby Pro in both 184 and 190 (and not any other Moment ski).

Paul Forward really liked the Chipotle Banana and Cy Whitling really liked the Deathwish and Deathwish Tour.

"From current-model skis, the Moment Chipotle Banana is the best big pow ski I’ve used for smashing around under the lifts"
- Forward, Blister's 2 ski quiver picks 2021/22

"The Deathwish Tour is the most versatile touring ski I’ve ever been on, and the most confidence inspiring. The Deathwish Tour has raised my own personal bar for what a good backcountry ski should be, and that’s the highest praise I can give."
-Whitling, Blister's Deathwish Tour Review



The Wildcat (heavier) and Bibby are special skis, but Blister has been pretty high on some of their other models as well.
 

BC.

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maybe time for new glasses! :). Wouldn't touch the mount point. Actually considering remounting my 108's to the factory line. they are mounted at -7mm from factory. For trees and quick fun turns, they are dialed. if you were skiing more open, you could move them back but no, for where Im skiing factory is puuuurfect.
Yeah, I also found the Moment factory line on my C98’s to be right on the money…they ski just the way I like…
 
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ski otter 2

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Paul Forward really liked the Chipotle Banana and Cy Whitling really liked the Deathwish and Deathwish Tour.

"From current-model skis, the Moment Chipotle Banana is the best big pow ski I’ve used for smashing around under the lifts"
- Forward, Blister's 2 ski quiver picks 2021/22

"The Deathwish Tour is the most versatile touring ski I’ve ever been on, and the most confidence inspiring. The Deathwish Tour has raised my own personal bar for what a good backcountry ski should be, and that’s the highest praise I can give."
-Whitling, Blister's Deathwish Tour Review



The Wildcat (heavier) and Bibby are special skis, but Blister has been pretty high on some of their other models as well.
Correction accepted.
Funny you should mention that CB! Thanks!
(An unusual ski in its own right, seems like, from the Blistergear - and Paul Forward - reviews.)

Still - pardon the thread drift - that Deathwish tour is an outlier, a touring ski not a directional Alpine ski - and Cy Whitling is a freestyler who jumps, flips and switches down the mountain, an outlier also from the rest of that crew, as are his skis. And that fits that (touring) ski, rather than the skis for more Alpine, directional and freeride skiers at Blister, and around here. How many folks do you know who are in the air and tricking half the time, and in the park too?

Paul Forward's reviews - and opinions on skis - on the other hand, are about directional Alpine skiing, and are among my favorites there, something relevant to me sometimes that I respect and read closely, but centered on Alaska Heli trips and the Alyeska resort, so not always representative of the states. That said, I agree that as of just this past year, that ski got resort respect - but a very recent occurrence - in through the back door, you might say.
( I'd like to try that ski a lot.)

For myself, the CB gets into a different, small category of skis, my favorites, it turns out; about the only kind of powder ski I rank more highly than the "playful charger" category of the Bibbys (though maybe it's like the difference between rubies and sapphires, both top stuff). The CB goes with the heavier tank crud buster class, which are better in crud, in a smoother and damper way, than even the Bibbys - if one can handle the weight. Examples:
1. maybe K2 116 Obsethed (not the earlier, narrower versions)
2. K2 Pettitor 120,
3. Rossi Black Ops 118 (and the 118 Gamer, same ski),
4. maybe Rossi Sender Squad 112 (mounted a bit forward to change how it handles),
5. maybe DPS Koala 119 & 118 (the new revised version just posted/reviewed at Blistergear today, as it happens, along with deep dive comparisons to the Black Ops and Chipotle Bananas, among others),
6. Chipotle Banana 120.

There may be others I can't recall at the moment, or that others know about, but this is a pretty small set of skis, with only two or three member skis until recently. And these skis also, by themselves, make wider (resort) skis important still, for me and others. Tank crud busters.
 
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ski otter 2

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didnt ski the Augment 108 however, you need to fondle and inspect one up close. its a very different design and it frankly doesnt ski like you will think it should. It has such deep rocker lines, especially in the tail but when in deeper snow, you would never think it. its supportive and enough to finish a turn. the tip rocker lines are also deep and long but on edge, they have more contact than you would imagine. The Tip splay is less than you think it has but I have not been able to submarine it or spear a swale or mogul. The magic is in the details of this ski. Part of that magic is the camber and where they taper the sidewalls and the suggested mount point. I think the placement of the camber relative to the BOF has a lot to do with how it reacts when pressured and released. they are pretty emphatic about not staying too far off that suggested line.

I would be very interested to know if the 190 is much stiffer or have a different construction.
I assume you're talking about the 116 Wildcat here, not the Augment. (Correct me if I'm wrong.)

This is well said; what made the Bibby/Wildcat work so well has had me confounded for a long time. It's part of the reason I must have thrown up my hands at some point, and just decided to go by how a ski handles directly, rather than be able to figure it all out: "How did they do that? Who are those guys?"
 
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Tony S

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Okay, now I'm back to snoozing through "none of this is relevant to me" land. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.
 

Mike Rogers

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I think you would like the cb.

Mount them back if you have a more traditional style.

I've had a dozen days on 186 CB. They're mounted with pins, and although they're a bit of a chore on the uptrack, they're a lot of fun in the alpine or in nicely spaced trees. I'm planning on putting pivots on them next season though. I ski in a lot of tight spaces in the backcountry, and these are best with a bit of speed.

The deathwish (I have about 30 days on the tour and a lot of days between two pairs of the resort weight version) is not a charger, but it's very good in trees and kicking Horse chutes. It's my favorite ski, but definitely on the playful side of the spectrum.

In my quiver, it fits between the cb and the commander tour and salomon mnt 95 for touring and the billygoat and mantra 102 for resorts. Different than the others, but a lot of fun!


Back on topic:

My partner skis on the 179 wildcat and 174 wildcat tour. She also has a semi retired 174 first gen (the light one) wildcat.The heavier, longer cat is a charger for her (5'7" 135 lbs) but it seems to suit her style. It seems like the old bibby/new cat construction is a winner.

I would like to try a 184 Wildcat one day. Liz is a huge fan.

We'll be skiing fernie tomorrow with 40 cm or more of fresh. Liz will be on the wildcats.
 

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