Blizzard Firebird HRC vs Stockli Laser (Montero) AR

[av8or]

Anyone have first hand experience on either/both to compare? I grew up and still live back east so always had skinny skis and am most comfortable on them, I currently ski 2015 Head WC Rebels iGSR, they're 66mm underfoot and I love them, it's an ideal daily driver for me, I probably ski 60/40 groomer/moguls, seldom do trees. I ski 4+ weeks out west each year and past few years I've owned/demoed lots of candidates for a colorado/utah ski, but never really found anything that suited me. This year I demoed the Laser AR and really liked it, but it is a big jump for me from 66 to 85mm. I have not skied the HRC but at 78mm it appeals to me. This year instead of taking a wider ski out west, I just took my WC Rebels and was perfectly happy except obviously on days we got more than 6 inches of snow (I just rented wide skis for those days). For the most part I'm willing to give up the extra float of a wider ski, I kind of want the skinniest ski I can get that won't overly frustrate me in 8-10 inches of powder. I just find that even on big snow days, it gets skied off pretty quickly, but 66mm can be pretty frustrating in the back bowls, I guess for me something high 70's low 80's underfoot would give me enough to deal with 10 inches of powder until it skis off to crud. I want something with some heft, a "wide racing ski" if you will, that was the appeal of the laser AR for me, (my WC Rebels can get knocked around in heavy crud), at 78mm I'm thinking the HRC might be the middle ground between my WC Rebels and the Laser AR. Anyway, I'm rambling, any experience to share is appreciated?

 

[Brian Finch]

One of my clients ( a former US Dev Team speed skier ) didn’t get along with the HRC /174; he skied em one day & swapped them to myself.

I skied em half a day and waxed em up & placed em back in the closet.

What both of us realized was that at 174/hi 70s/Marker plate, the HRC needs some speed to get the skis turning, yet has a rather narrow bandwidth because it can get going excessively fast and then needs attending to the blunted tip. Best to just point em down & go! It’ll blast through crud like no one’s biz, but has a rather limited turn potential. I doubt I could make it 2 turns into a mogul field.

I have found both the Head iSpeed Pro and Volkl Deacon 84 have been a vastly more veritable ‘wide gs’. This is not to say that you may not love the HRC, we both happen to find that it was more challenging to flex into the turn and modulate the shape. It’s the stiffest ski underfoot I can recall.

 

[markojp]

Second the iSpeed Pro/eSpeed Pro for racish versatility. I actually like the HRC as well, but it isn't forgiving in offpiste crud. The Deacon 84 is a nice more all-mountainy carver for sure. The AR is a solid, really great ski... like a wide iSpeed Pro.

 

[SkiMore]

Laser AR in 182 is my daily driver. I've wanted to add a narrower pure carver to the quiver and recently demo'ed the HRC in a 182. I am 6'3" and it skied short for me. It was slushy spring conditions which was not what the ski is designed to excel on but I still got a good feel for the ski. I didn't love it and don't think I will be adding this to the quiver. I would really like to try the eSpeed Pros but demo options are limited.

 

[av8or]

Thanks for the replies, affirms my suspicion of the HRC, (I had a hunch it would be a one trick pony). How about one of the Head supershapes? I'm a tad brand loyal to Head (and I ski the raptor boots), so I was thinking perhaps the e-Ralley or e-Titan might be a good western daily driver for someone like me; looking for something that will be a respectable carver, has a very high speed limit (frequently ski well above 50 mph), has enough heft to bust crud, but still has enough mobility to get through bumps without a big fight. The Laser (montero) AR was one of the few that I've skied that I thought did all those jobs really well, so that's what I'm leaning towards, but wondering what else is similar? My buddy demoed the Laser AX one day last week, just watching him ski it, made me think it wasn't all that different from my WC Rebels, (it lacked the heft and width of the AR, so to me it seemed like a race ski that was just a bit more forgiving than usual, and I'm perfectly happy on my WC Rebels, don't really wish for something more forgiving, so the AX didn't make sense for me because it wasn't far enough away from what I already ski.)

 

[markojp]

Sounds like you need an Augment AM 88 or the next narrower. But honestly, if you demoed the AR's and they sang to you, you're done shopping.

 

[EricG]

But honestly, if you demoed the AR's and they sang to you, you're done shopping.

@av8or - quoted this for the truth & prevent over analyzing. The AR is great ski. Get it and be done.