Trade ski test days at Blue Cow

[Paul Oberin]

Once again we made the trip to test next years skis, and once again we were very dissapointed to find many of the skis on offer had been badly retuned, skis that we know would be good skis really were hard to ski on and not fun at all, it makes me wonder how many of the public out there are skiing on great skis that really suck, due to poor tuning on a snowboard stone grinder.

Having said that some brands had skis that really kicked butt, Fischer and K2 in particular really stood out, I tried a few skis that I knew would be fantastic, only to find a really bad tune had me and my fellow testers shaking our heads and wondering why the importers would bother presenting skis that perform so badly.
I doubt I could do a decent trip report with so many skis coming up so badly.

The real stand outs for myself and my team were the K2 Charger, Rictor and After shock as I expected, the Fischer Motive 74 and Motive 76, as well as the Watea range in particular the Watea 94, such good edge hold for a wide ski, I was amazed.
The Motive 76 will be huge next year if the price is right, I pushed them hard on all types of snow and they were great, very similar in performance to the K2 Charger which was $1495 this year, I am told the Fischer will be around $1100 at most.

The other really great ski of course was the Blizzard G Force pro, which was not at the tests except we took our own, we were a little dissapointed that the model above the G force pro ( the supersonic) didn't have the same level of performance as our own skis and I suspect they had been dulled off a little to make them more user friendly. I will still buy some Supersonics all the same and do my own test next year.
The Blizzard Magnums were fantastic as were their race skis and lower end models for value for money.
One ski that I had heard so much about and was looking forward to testing was very dissapointing, and talking to other shop owners as you do, all that tested this so called wonder ski hated them strongly, one shop owner told me he liked all the skis he tested but this particular one.

I am not saying I can tune skis better than the guys who did retune the ones we used, what I am saying is the factory finish is very hard to duplicate especially when almost all shops now use a snowboard grinder to do both skis and boards, we happened to meet two Italians while at the ski tests, these guys could really ski and I am not sure who they were except they would have to be good enough to be the national team after watching them on skis, we discussed what they found and they made the comment that for some reason the Australian shops cannot tune skis back to factory settings like the shops in Europe can and this was quite obvious with certain skis they had tried.

[The Frog]

But did they look pretty?

[Paul Oberin]

I think the Blizzard skis look very pretty, could be why they go so fast. ;)

[The Frog]

Have to look the part you know.

[Podlettte]

thanks for the feedback Paul.

I'm baffled as to why the Disty's or importers provide ski shop owners with skis that are detuned or tuned badly/poorly/incorrectly or at all when straight out of the factory is supposed to be perfect. it baffles me even more considering these skis haven't been skied in the northern hemisphere ski test days yet as southerners get the jump on our northern hemi cousins.

I've read this complaint from you before, clearly the importers just don't listen. why?

[Pini Pow Pow]

Thanks for the report Paul!

[Paul Oberin]

thanks for the feedback Paul.

I'm baffled as to why the Disty's or importers provide ski shop owners with skis that are detuned or tuned badly/poorly/incorrectly or at all when straight out of the factory is supposed to be perfect. it baffles me even more considering these skis haven't been skied in the northern hemisphere ski test days yet as southerners get the jump on our northern hemi cousins.

I've read this complaint from you before, clearly the importers just don't listen. why?All I can put it down too is they feel ski shop buyers which are usually the owners can't ski that well, so they detune the skis edges so they slide a turn easier rather than hold an edge, or it could be the importers themselves can't ski very well and detune the skis so they can use them a little easier, either way it is stupid and for a shop owner that can tell the difference, and there are a lot of us out there, we buy what tests well and don't buy what tests poorly, so next year it will be K2, Fischer and some Blizzards for my shop based 99% on what I tested at Bluecow, to make the situation worse as you know I am fairly active on ski forums and I speak my mind, I tell people what I think are good skis and what I didn't like and I know that influences sales in Australia.
Some of the skis presented at Blue cow had been used earlier in the year at a Thredbo test session where they got trashed on Eagle way, they had to be retuned, I skied on some of them which I know were tuned on a Wintersteiger snowboard grinder not a dedicated ski grinder, and they were noticably hard to turn and skied like they were badly railed, which is fine for those who have no pivot in a turn and go from carve to carve.
One well talked up ski was very sharp in the "Early rise" section but blunt everywhere else, when edged over it gripped well at the front and slid everywhere else, and the ski wanted to rotate around the tip and slide out at the tail.

[Crystal]

Paul, did you manage to chat to anyone who tested the girlie skis.

[Paul Oberin]

Paul, did you manage to chat to anyone who tested the girlie skis.I did and a similar story, some were good, and others that I know are good skis didn't do too well.
I generally don't say what I like in detail until after the Tradeshow in October.

Ladies specific skis that I heard were good were the Blizzards, K2 and Fischer, just like in the Generic skis, I know the ladies Elans are a good ski, I know the ladies Atomics are a good ski, and a few others, some just have to leave them with the factory tune.
Really there are not many bad skis on the market, just badly tuned skis.

[Paul Oberin]

The importers who retune or detune their skis really are wasting my time and money, it is not cheap to take time off work for myself and staff, then pay extra staff to cover me back at the shop, pay for a place to stay while away for all of us, then food at resort prices, all to test out skis that only resemble what the factory sends out in graphics, thankfully some brands had skis with a factory tune so it wasn't a total waste of money and time.

[Paul Oberin]

Some pics from the tests.
http://www.paulski.com.au/pics/test1.jpg
http://www.paulski.com.au/pics/test2.jpg
http://www.paulski.com.au/pics/test3.jpg
http://www.paulski.com.au/pics/test4.jpg
http://www.paulski.com.au/pics/test5.jpg
http://www.paulski.com.au/pics/test6.jpg

[Crystal]

Look forward to hearing your thoughts after October trade show then

[Paul Oberin]

After seeing how well the new K2 skis sold this year, I will be stocking up on them again next year.

[John Deere]

K2 over the last few years have made a decent bunch of phat skis, and one or two reasonable on piste skis too. They have also promoted well with the use of guys like Plake, Seth Morrison, Doug Coombs etc, add to this that they are not badly priced and its not surprising they sell well.

[powderhog]

They have a set of the limited edition McConkey K2's in the Perisher Centre.

Some of the phattest skis I have seen:

http://www.feedthehabit.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/shaneMcConkeySki.jpg

[abominable]

Some of the skis presented at Blue Cow had been used earlier in the year at a Thredbo test session where they got trashed on Eagle way, they had to be retuned, I skied on some of them which I know were tuned on a Wintersteiger snowboard grinder not a dedicated ski grinder, and they were noticably hard to turn and skied like they were badly railed, which is fine for those who have no pivot in a turn and go from carve to carve.
One well talked up ski was very sharp in the "Early rise" section but blunt everywhere else, when edged over it gripped well at the front and slid everywhere else, and the ski wanted to rotate around the tip and slide out at the tail.

Methotrexate has done such a fantastic job in suppressing my arthritis that after visiting the NSW skifields to test my body and knees, Operation Snowman 2011 has been approved (without my doctor's knowledge).

I will hit Europe at the start of January and stay the full 90 days allowed in the Shengen states (or come home with my tail between my legs should the arthritis win out).

I will test and buy new skis when I arrive, but clearly I will need the skis worked on often.
So how do I identify which shops to let loose on my skis.
You imply, stay away from Wintersteiger snowboard grinders.
So how do I identify which shops and which machines are the best to work on my skis.
I remember back in the early 80s, before snowboards were invented, it was easy, look for those magic words Crystal Glide.
That seemed to be the key to good ski preparation then, but what do I look for now?

[Paul Oberin]

That is a very controversial topic and many industry people have vested interests in the answer they give.
Economics these days dictate if you can, then use the one machine to do both boards and skis, a decent snowboard grinder can cost over $70,000 and a dedicated ski grinder almost as much, many shops feel the snowboard grinder is wide enough to do skis so why not use it, I am yet to ski on a set of skis that have been tuned on any snowboard grinder, that have edges tuned as they do when leaving the factory, the simple answer in Australia at least is to keep the factory tune for as long as you can, as that is as good as your skis will ever be.
There are basically two main brands of stone grinders in use in Australia, Montana and Wintersteiger, Montana use a fairly hard stone and it is capable of grinding steel edges, the Wintersteiger one can't, so the skis have to placed over a bevel machine first to put a bevel on them so the edges don't touch the softer stone, using a belt made to do snowboards to achieve this simply doesn't work, and for the price people are prepared to pay hand tuning is out of the question.
I use a Montana machine that was designed only to do skis, then I hand tune the bevel afterwards, this is closer than a Snowboard grinder but still not as good as the factory settings.
Hand tuning can get it close, if you have the time, by using a combination of Chrome files and various Diamond files set up into expensive file guides providing your Ptex base is dead flat (not concave), you can get them very close.

[Tonester]

Interesting read.

Paul, I am guessing then that the ideal would be to get a shop base grind (when needed) to flatten the base and then hand bevel and tune the edges yourself?? Assuming one has correct equipment and technique.

[Paul Oberin]

Interesting read.

Paul, I am guessing then that the ideal would be to get a shop base grind (when needed) to flatten the base and then hand bevel and tune the edges yourself?? Assuming one has correct equipment and technique.I do think that is the way to go these days.

[mitch]

mate it shouldnt matter about the tune you should be able to hold an edge on anything if you can ski !!!

[Polaris]

mate it shouldnt matter about the tune you should be able to hold an edge on anything if you can ski !!!

Nice start buddy but anyone with any idea knows better that would you have put forward. Think about it and get back to us

[Paul Oberin]

I can hold an edge on almost any ski under any condition, it is not about how well I can ski, but as a professional ski tester we test skis with a view of what skiers across all abilities will find and report based on that, otherwise my ski test reports would say all skis are fine, just buy any of them based on colour or price.

[Paul Oberin]

Nice start buddy but anyone with any idea knows better that would you have put forward. Think about it and get back to usI wouldn't be too concerned about that post, Mitch is either trolling for trouble or has no idea about skiing at different levels, it was a pretty stupid comment to make otherwise.

[mitch]

what about the mx 78's and 88's i see that they got a gold medal in the ski mag ski tests and everyone is raving about them and you seemed to not like them where did you test them and under what conditions

[Paul Oberin]

Tested them at Winter park, under Australian like icy conditions, and they may have got a gold medal for a certain category, doesn't mean they are the best ski on the market, it just means the testers for the ski mag liked them, I think you will find there were gold medals galore given out, one for each category.
I didn't say I did not like them, you are not reading what is written very clearly I see, I just said personally I wouldn't rave about them, and judging by all the people wanting to buy them in Australia and the requests I am getting for them, not many others here in Australia are raving about them either, in fact until this week I don't think I have heard them mentioned on this forum or on SI as a ski to be raved about.

I think the word "Everyone" is a little exaggerated in reference as to who is raving about what ski.

[Straight_Line]

Do they detune the demo ski's much on punter test days as well? I hope not, because I can hold an edge but I haven't been skiing long enought to be able to tell if a ski is crap because of the tune or just crap. When I demo a ski I want to be able to demo them based on what I will receive when I buy them. I will then maintain the tune based (hand tune) on what has been suplied, ie factory.