Comments on: 5 Days of Black Diamond — Day 5 – Go Skiing

By: Lou

Lou — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:11:39 +0000

Dan, at your weight and considering you’ll probably be doing sidecountry, I’d think the 180s might be better, but you should try the 170s as it’s surprising how short you can go in fatter skis.

I think you’ll find boots such as the Mega-Ride, while excellent for human powered vert, to be a bit soft for larger skis carrying your weight if you’re doing multiple laps.

The FT-12 will be fine if you’re mostly oriented to human powered vertical, but don’t expect any lighter weight rando binding to hold up for multiple hard core resort days. If you want a one-rig setup that will see tons of resort vertical, Marker Duke or Baron is the way to go.

Louweenie will now retreat back to his mountain cave for some meditation on cosmic snowflakes.

By: Dan

Dan — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:02:04 +0000

Lou,
Looking for some BC ski quiver advice. Been reading much of your site after hearing about it a few weeks ago.

History:
I\’m trying to get into the backcountry skiing. Been an avid 4 season hiker, backpacker, snowshoer and resort skier for 7 years, and am now comfortable enough with my ski skills to venture into the BC to get some more extreme turns in. Extreme skiing has always intrigued me and been a goal since I first heard of skiing. My nearer term goals are to ski mountaineer the 14ers and other peaks, but also just get out and rip some big lines in wide open untracked snow, and maybe get in a few hut tours.

Skier type…:
Height: 5\’ 9.5\". Weight without pack: fit 180lb. I do not have any backcountry skiing experience, so all I can do without going out on a tour with you is to inform you what type of skier I currently am. I typically head straight to the backcountry gates/back bowls at any of the resorts, hike as far in as I can with my skinny alpine system (7 year old 176 Fischer RX8\’s & clearance Dalbello boots). Once I get there, I attempt, with the skinny alpine set up, to rip a GS line down any wide open bowls/faces such as available at Breck or Keystone, then manuever through the trees at the end as fast as I can, looking for soft freshies. Or, if at A-Basin, or Breck\’s Lake Chutes for example, I maneuver through the chutes, when/if they\’re open, then try and rip a GS line down to the names trails. Taos I feel had two types of skiing from the ridges. Either extreme chutes and trees, or wide open Kachina peak to Hunziger bowl ending in trees and/or narrow moguled up named trails. I\’m drawn to the double diamond slopes and back bowls whichever resort I go to… So basically I love the technical aspect of chutes, and also the high speed nirvana aspect of wide open untracked snow. To me trees are simply an ever present force that must be dealt with happily, with a set of capable skis, to enjoy the rest of the day, but also have the gift of untracked powder when the rest of the resort is packed out.

That said, I\’m a big fan of Black Diamond gear and have been very impressed with the reviews on their BC skis. I found a pair of 08/09 170 cm Verdicts (The 180\’s were not available, and the salesperson, without knowing my weight, insisted 170\’s would be great), and a pair of Garmont Mega-Rides on a good discount. Now looking back: Are the 170\’s too little ski for my height, weight, and skiing type? Should I have gotten the 180\’s…even for narrow chutes? Or, are Verdicts even the right ski to begin my BC quiver? What are your expert opinions on these questions based on my height, weight, and \’verbal\’ skiing description? And a third question: Are Dynafit FT Z12\’s enough binding for this type of skiing?

Thanks so much for reading my novel above. And thanks so much in advance for any expert opinion you can provide.

By: al

al — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 02:06:56 +0000

if I wanted to ski Verdicts in the BC and was worried about the size/stiffness I would go down 10cms from what they recommend for my weight for ease of handling … there would still be more than enough ski there to handle whatever

I think I might put tele binding back on my old verdicts ,leave my new verdicts alpine and put my AT bindings on some apache chiefs I am getting cheap from a heli op

anybody know anything about the chiefs ,apparently they are the same size as the coombas but heavier without the coomba tip .

For 80$ I figure give em a try … on a lost night you can easily spend 80$ in the bar

By: Lou

Lou — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:25:58 +0000

And, all remember that the Coomba will next season be the Coomback, as part of the K2 Backside gear line. Next year’s version has slight shovel rocker. Also, remember that the Anti Piste is the same ski as the Coomba, only with inserts.

By: Mark Worley

Mark Worley — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 04:13:59 +0000

The new wood core Verdicts ski well and are somewhat different from the old foam core version which I also liked. I skied the new Justice recently, and the ski is NOTICEABLY, MARKEDLY different from the Verdicts. In powder, likely a dream board, but not as versatile as Verdicts for non-powder conditions. Verdicts are considerably more well-rounded in harder or icier conditions. Next year’s Coombas are nice too and do handle hardpack better than the BD Justice. For the record, the Coombas are significantly heavier than the Dynafit Manaslus, though both are really great skis.