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Anyone ever enjoy skiing gear made for skiers BELOW thier ability level?

Uncle-A

In the words of Paul Simon "You can call me Al"
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On more than few occasions I have skied on intermediate skis and did enjoy them. A few of them surprised me and it still sticks with me when we all talk about the top of the line skis and we try to measure the micro differences between skis. One was a Intermediate Rossignol called the Stratoflex (Solid Orange Color ski) it was part of the Rossi line around the same time as the Strato 102. A buddy of mine hade a pair and gave them to me, I put a pair of Solomon Demo bindings on them and skied them till the end of the season. What a fine ski to ride, even on the east coast ice. The second one that surprised me was the K2 610 (Not the foam core model) I enjoyed taking that ski into the bumps. Maybe that is not what it was designed to but it did do it well and was fun to ski. One of the early Kastle shape skis that was considered an intermediate ski also gave me a pleasant surprise but I have not found a Kastle I didn't like.
 

Marty McSly

Getting off the lift
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I picked up a pair of Salomon BBR 7.9, 159cm, crazy cheap a couple of years ago, something like 20% of list price. The black and burgundy ones. Why, you ask? For shits and giggles, and because I could.

Gave them a couple of days last year in the Australian winter. We had hard snow days and slush days. The 2 days I took them out turned out to be hard snow days, so not really their element.

Under me they had trouble holding an edge through rounded turns. Surprisingly they worked best for long, shallow, big radius turns down the fall line. On green and easy blue runs, so not huge speeds.

I'm still amazed that I found them confidence inspiring. I certainly wasn't expecting that.
 

KevinF

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I spent a winter teaching in Pennsylvania at Ski Roundtop. The year I was there was a low-snow year even by the standards of the mid-Atlantic; they barely had snowmaking weather even.

At any rate,to pass the time we started taking rental skis from the shop (*) and go ski some "thin cover" terrain. It was awesome fun. :D:eek::rolleyes:

(*) We were allowed to grab rental skis at any time so that our personal skis wouldn't get trashed during the lessons...

About a week or two after we did that, signs went up in the locker room indicating that we weren't supposed to treat rental skis as rock skis. So our fun came to a quick end. But it was memorable. :thumb:
 

Philpug

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Absolutely. We test a lot of skis, not all of them are top of the line models. One of the reason I started my "Steals & Deals" was to show the skis that ski above their price point. The skis that opened the possibility was the original SCX's, the red Monocoque was the flagship at the time but the blue cap was a really nice option. While it didn't have the power of the red one, it was a bit more playful in that the ski could be worked. Currently skis the K2 Charger (non Super), Nordica Soul Riders, Atomic Vantage X 80 are skis that come to mind that might be a step or two down from the top offerings but ski well above their pay grade.
 
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crgildart

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What I'll often do, especially in the spring, is start the day on a good carver for some fast, high bank carving on the hard, refrozen empty slopes. Then, around early lunch I will swap out to a more forgiving, fun shaped ski for slush bump busting..

Day one this season I think I'll reverse that a bit... Start out on those Nomads for some easy moderate speed warmups then swap out to something a little beefier for mid day cruising. Whether I ski the Nomads ever again or just keep them stashed for the growing kid will depend on if I actually like them at all. Not convinced I will but who knows hahahaha.
 

HeluvaSkier

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Absolutely. The ski that I feel is possibly the best modern ski ever made was actually marketed as an intermediate level alpine ski or intended to be skied AT or telemark. The ski is the Blossom Snoras... also known as the Hart Pulse, Hart Stage 1 and Vist X-Free, but made by Blossom. The ski came onto the scene [I think] around 2003--at least 2003 was the first review I ever saw by someone in the states... done by @epic on EpicSki. If I'm recalling correctly it was a fantastically glowing review--basically blowing away anything reviewed at the time across every category including edge hold--comparing against race skis of the era.

Thanks to @Philpug I found the ski when he was involved with Hart--skiing it as the Stage 1... and I eventually bought Phil's pair from @Living Proof who bought them from Phil. What I discovered owning the ski was that it was fairly soft feeling but loved to bend into an arc and loved to be pushed... anything from SL turns to GS to bumps and powder this ski could take it. I've skied them everywhere from Whiteface, to Summit County, to Yellow Stone Club and Big Sky... They rip.

If there is any question as to what they are capable of, see this (remember, this is a ski marketed as an intermediate to advanced all mountain ski or telemark ski):

The original ski claimed dimensions of 116-77-110, while the newer models claim 124-77-110. I eventually bought a pair of VIST X-Frees from the era that @epic reviewed them (2004 I think) mostly out of curiosity... I laid my Blossom Snoras [last pair that Blossom had at the factory] skis base to base with them... same mold, same dimensions.

Sadly the ski only lives on as the Blossom Wind Shear, however this ski has metal in it and is much stiffer... the original did not, which is what made it so special. The latest iteration is good, but does not display the versatility that the older ski did. Suffice to say, this ski in one form or another (top sheet, claimed dimensions, etc.) has been around for about 15 years - largely unchanged.

I know @Philpug has his "Once in a decade" ski, but I'd argue this is a "Once in a two-to-three decade" ski... they are that good, and were WAY ahead of their time when initially introduced. I, my wife, my brother, my dad, several of my friends and their kids all ski version of this ski--all skiers of varying ability, intermediate through expert. I classify these as the best ski I've ever been on... they truly handle anything at any level.
 

PisteOff

Jeff
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Definitely..... I like the Rossi E80 when out with the grandkids because I can bend it at any speed........
 
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crgildart

crgildart

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How are you defining 'intermediate skis" and 'expert skis'?
I guess the same way those EVO charts do with round, square, and diamond bars for beginner, intermediate, advanced, and expert. FIS SL or GS would be expert. Dedicated bump ski would be expert. Mid fat all mountain would be intermediate if on the softer side... stiffer would be advanced. Noodles as beginner skis.
 

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