Ok - so we had about 2.5 ft of snow the week prior to the Demo Day - sun and blue skies for Demo Day - boot high or more soft snow off piste and soft groomers. Great day.
I did not get on all of the skis I wanted to - pretty busy event - but did get on some. I will put my simple observations and thoughts I had while skiing them. Feel free to ask anything more specific and I will do my best to answer.
Volkl Mantra M5 - 177 -- first ski of the day! I was pretty interested to try these -as was everyone else (long line at Volkl tent) - I got 3 runs on them before I reluctantly turned them in. For the conditions we had - these were great (but all skis were gonna be pretty good). I have the Bonafides in 180 with the first iteration of Carbon (15-16) as a baseline for comparison. The M5's were stable, felt quick underfoot, playful, more compliant to various turn shapes and much better at slow speeds than my Bones. The Bones have a higher top end from what I can tell. They were good in the boot high soft snow - but I felt my Bones might have planed up a bit better. Great carvers - better than my bones. Less demanding than my Bones. Never really got any heavy chop but the chop I did get into - they performed well. I think the Bones are tough to beat in crud and chop and doubt the M5's will be quite as good. Overall - a really fun ski in most all conditions. What I thought was funny was the rep was touting these as a great carving ski - nothing else - and when I told him I expect more for a 96 underfoot ski than just carving he stumbled a bit in his response. In summary - this is a great ski and probably a better ski for me and my mountain ... hmmmmmm.
Dynastar Legend X106 - 182 I had tried this last year but conditions were not great for a ski of this size - but I liked them. I wanted to try them in the proper conditions to get a feel for them. Good ski - yes. Ski for me - no. Ski felt great carving or floating but the tip felt pretty soft and did not work for me in the deeper stuff. Not sure what it was. Could have been length for my size but this was the only one available at the time.
Salomon QST 106 - 181 I liked this ski much better than the D*. They added Basalt stringers (rocks - really?) and they say it improves the dampness and helps with tip chatter at speeds. I have not been on the previous version but these felt pretty damp and great at speed in regards to chatter. These are a great all mountain 1-Oh-something --- good on grooms, good in soft deep resort pow and decent in crud and chop. Felt light on the feet and quick maneuverability .
Dynastar Legend X88 - 181 I had high hopes for these but something was missing. They are damp - with 2 sheets of metal (IIRC). Great carver. Good off piste. Felt heavy. But - they felt muted - not a lot of feedback in any condition.
Head Monster 88 - 177 For the record - I have never been on any of the Monster skis. I do have the Head Rev 85 Pro in my quiver - which I like. WOW. I really liked these Monster 88's. Fun, stable, quick, damp, very connected to the snow. They felt stiff when handling them but felt great on the snow. I took these on the exact same runs as I did the Mantra M5 - and outside of the M5 being better in deeper snow (not a ton though) I had as much fun if not more on the Monster 88. They are so similar that I could not have them both in the same quiver - just me though. Really - really - liked them!
Nordica Enforcer 110 - 185 I have the Nordica Patron for my powder ski and really like them. I wanted to see what its replacement was like. The enforcer is stouter, better in crud, more all mountain performance, better carver. But my Patron is more fun, more playful, good carver, lighter feeling underfoot. Will ride my Patrons until they die I guess.
By this time I was pretty tired as I was getting 2-3 runs on each and headed into the lodge for some food and beers. I did ride a couple after lunch:
Meier Big Hoss (104) - 185 Planky feeling, bad on groomers, pretty good in the soft snow - not damp at all.
Blizzard Rustler 11 I liked these better than the new Enforcer 110. More playful in deeper snow which is what I look for.
Happy to go deeper if needed but I find my self thinking that I could swap my Bones for the Mantra M5 and be perfectly happy as it is less demanding and more playful. I also think I could swap my Bones and Head Rev 85 for the Monster 88 and add a Rustler 10 and be perfectly happy.
