OK, I got my new skis back from the shop the other day and took them out Friday to the local resort. We received ~10 inches of new snow. Nice dry freshy… oh yaa. We started out doing some car shuttles before the area opened, and made 4 runs on the backside with my Blizzard Titan XXLs (181, 122-82-102) just to see how the snow was. Steep, too many trees and the coverage on that side of the mountain was still a bit scary… especially down by the road. There was a bit of sun baked crud under the fresh snow on that side also.
When the lifts started up Korki, Doug, and I stopped at the car to drive to the top and ski the area where the wind deposition and hill aspect are much better. I pulled out the new Big Labowski Doods (Doods for short), adjusted the hammerheads to fit my boots and took off for the trees between the runs. The skis are 188 cm 128-87-108, ~8lb and pretty soft. So soft that I was not sure how they were going to do on the packed powder runs. The ski shop flattened/structured the bottoms and set the edges. No wax and I have not detuned the tip edges at all. They were a bit slow on the flats, but it was a bit weird because I would pass my ski partners with a bit of incline but they seemed to have no glide across some of the traverses we do at this area. I think that will clear up after I scrape off the fuzzies and restructure them if that doesn’t happen as I ski them.
The ride was awesome… as good as the Blizzards. I was a bit hesitant to let them cut loose at first, but I found that they wanted to be opened up and skied hard. I had to stay on top of them and keep forward pressure on the boots in most cases. I did have to make some tail turns to keep the tips out of the tree tops still exposed above the snow. I was very impressed with my first pair. For the conditions that day they skied well and handled the short amount of packed runs I did that day very well. Going down hill they are fast and nimble for the length. I was out pacing my friends in the trees and steeper slopes… even during the times when we were skiing by Braille. There were a couple of open slopes that we had no visual clues. It was difficult to tell if you were moving at times. They floated beautifully in the powder. Both tele and parallel turns are dreamy creamy.
Sunday I went out for a half day with my 12 year old daughter, so I stayed on or near the packed runs. The Doods are fast. The stickiness of the previous ski day was gone. The wind had come up the previous day and the snow had moved all over the mountain. I had hard pack, wind pack and powder all with in a few turns. The viability was good Sunday so I was really able to let the Doods run. I was able to transition from hard pack to wind pack to powder with impunity. Control at speed on hard pack (packed powder not ice… it never is here) was not the issue that I thought it might be. So far the Doods seem to be a great all mountain ski for this area.
I can’t want to get the Big Labowski Heavies done. They should be real hardpack screamers. I’ll post specs on a TR when I get them done. They still need a bit of work to the side walls and a trip to the shop for tuning.
Its supposed to snow here Wednesday night and Thursday. Time to take another day off.
Hafte
Tails of a nice pair
Moderators: Head Monkey, kelvin, bigKam, skidesmond, chrismp
Big Kam, thanks. I think the Doods ski as well as my Blizzards. Do they have a chance? Most definitely!! I’m happy enough with these that the blizzards will be the last skis I buy. I already have one person asking if I can make him some ascenders for climbing up and snowboarding down. We will also be making some snowboards soon too.
They have a silk and glass top sheet that I added after I trimmed the sidewalls, so they have kind of a capped look. Durability is my concern. I do mostly lift service skiing and get lots of vert in a day. My friend is going to give them a try tomorrow. He’s 235 lb. so that should be a really good test. He also has one of the largest quivers of skis around so he can give me some good feed back.
I’ll be here in March. I live in Ogden and ski at Powder Mountain. Let me know if you come up this way. Don’t tell anyone, but as mom and pop as this place is it kicks ass on SLC areas. Finding good snow here days after a storm is always possible.
Hafte
They have a silk and glass top sheet that I added after I trimmed the sidewalls, so they have kind of a capped look. Durability is my concern. I do mostly lift service skiing and get lots of vert in a day. My friend is going to give them a try tomorrow. He’s 235 lb. so that should be a really good test. He also has one of the largest quivers of skis around so he can give me some good feed back.
I’ll be here in March. I live in Ogden and ski at Powder Mountain. Let me know if you come up this way. Don’t tell anyone, but as mom and pop as this place is it kicks ass on SLC areas. Finding good snow here days after a storm is always possible.
Hafte
Hafte:
I'm interested in hearing more about how your Doods ski after your friend takes them out. Durability is also a concern for us, but as time passes I'm confident we'll understand the process better to make more robust skis.
Powder Mtn is a great little resort. I'm familiar with the area; in fact, skied there a number of times while studying at the Univ. of Utah. It's a great place, much like Beaver Mtn. in Logan Canyon where I learned to ski; Beaver was close to the little town of Tremonton where I spent my younger years. I recall that Power Mtn has catskiing.
I'll be sure to let you know when I visit.
I'm interested in hearing more about how your Doods ski after your friend takes them out. Durability is also a concern for us, but as time passes I'm confident we'll understand the process better to make more robust skis.
Powder Mtn is a great little resort. I'm familiar with the area; in fact, skied there a number of times while studying at the Univ. of Utah. It's a great place, much like Beaver Mtn. in Logan Canyon where I learned to ski; Beaver was close to the little town of Tremonton where I spent my younger years. I recall that Power Mtn has catskiing.
I'll be sure to let you know when I visit.
Ben, crash in all you want. I think it would be cool to see what you’re doing. I should have a nice selection by then to check out.
Kam, the cat skiing has changed here over the last several years. They are only running the cat up Lightening Ridge towards James Peak. The newish pair-a-dice lift runs down to the old cat skiing pick up and goes up the ridge line to the top of Lakeview. All of the cat skiing on the east side of the area is accessed by the Sunrise Palma lift.
We were hit Thursday with a nice bit of snow in the morning. ~ 10 “ fell from 4 am – 11am. And the snow was nice on top with a crust underneath that you could feel with the tails of your skis through the turns. My friend Korki put on the doods and rode them all day Thursday and half the day Friday. He’s 250 lb with gear on 5’-10” and skis very hard and fast. He has ~40 years experience skiing and one of the biggest ski quivers I know about. Comments from him were “Wow I’m impressed”, “they don’t feel like home made skis… there is no home made fell to them” ( he made this out to be a good thing. They have a nice solid feel and pop out of the turns nicely), “Make me a pair like them for stiffness only use my salomans side cut and taper”. I have this pattern done and have a pair in the shop now getting tuned up, but they are much stiffer. 1 ½ mm of thickness and 3mm instead of 2mm tips makes a huge difference. One other thing he mentioned after skiing all day on them was that if he didn’t like them he would have traded back out to one of his other pairs of skis. He wants to get out to the shop and help do the layup on the next few pairs and some snowboards. For a durability test he piled up into a cat track first run hiding in the foggy snowy conditions Thursday. I came in behind and saw him trying to get up. The skis held up well to the crash, and so did Koki
On Friday afternoon my friend Doug gave them a go. He’s 143 lb ~6’ tall and has skied for the 20 or so years I have known him. He seemed to have no problem handling these skis. We made one long loop around the east side of the resort on some low aspect runs. He liked them, but would rather ski something in the 175-178 range.
I put in another day on the Doods with my daughter on the groomes Monday. What a blast. Morgan is still in the high speed snow plow stage, but having fun.
She is getting into the terrain park and testing her jumping skills a bit, so I was following her around clearing the table top and running the half pipe for fun. I haven’t done much in the way of jumping in years, but had a good time. The doods took a real pounding and stood up well to the weekend. The glass top sheet is showing some wear already, but no worse than the Titans did after a few days. I noticed a small ding on the top inside of the left ski, but no big deal. With the snow conditions as they are I’m glad I have not hit much of anything. I plan to ski on these the rest of the season to see how they hold up.
Hafte
Kam, the cat skiing has changed here over the last several years. They are only running the cat up Lightening Ridge towards James Peak. The newish pair-a-dice lift runs down to the old cat skiing pick up and goes up the ridge line to the top of Lakeview. All of the cat skiing on the east side of the area is accessed by the Sunrise Palma lift.
We were hit Thursday with a nice bit of snow in the morning. ~ 10 “ fell from 4 am – 11am. And the snow was nice on top with a crust underneath that you could feel with the tails of your skis through the turns. My friend Korki put on the doods and rode them all day Thursday and half the day Friday. He’s 250 lb with gear on 5’-10” and skis very hard and fast. He has ~40 years experience skiing and one of the biggest ski quivers I know about. Comments from him were “Wow I’m impressed”, “they don’t feel like home made skis… there is no home made fell to them” ( he made this out to be a good thing. They have a nice solid feel and pop out of the turns nicely), “Make me a pair like them for stiffness only use my salomans side cut and taper”. I have this pattern done and have a pair in the shop now getting tuned up, but they are much stiffer. 1 ½ mm of thickness and 3mm instead of 2mm tips makes a huge difference. One other thing he mentioned after skiing all day on them was that if he didn’t like them he would have traded back out to one of his other pairs of skis. He wants to get out to the shop and help do the layup on the next few pairs and some snowboards. For a durability test he piled up into a cat track first run hiding in the foggy snowy conditions Thursday. I came in behind and saw him trying to get up. The skis held up well to the crash, and so did Koki
On Friday afternoon my friend Doug gave them a go. He’s 143 lb ~6’ tall and has skied for the 20 or so years I have known him. He seemed to have no problem handling these skis. We made one long loop around the east side of the resort on some low aspect runs. He liked them, but would rather ski something in the 175-178 range.
I put in another day on the Doods with my daughter on the groomes Monday. What a blast. Morgan is still in the high speed snow plow stage, but having fun.
She is getting into the terrain park and testing her jumping skills a bit, so I was following her around clearing the table top and running the half pipe for fun. I haven’t done much in the way of jumping in years, but had a good time. The doods took a real pounding and stood up well to the weekend. The glass top sheet is showing some wear already, but no worse than the Titans did after a few days. I noticed a small ding on the top inside of the left ski, but no big deal. With the snow conditions as they are I’m glad I have not hit much of anything. I plan to ski on these the rest of the season to see how they hold up.
Hafte
Here are a couple of pics of the skis. The color of the red ones (Doods) is really red when you see them in person. The others are my Blizzard titans and the Big Labowskis.
http://home.comcast.net/~mhafte/images/skis.jpg
My camera phone really sucks. Sorry about the poor quality.
Hafte
http://home.comcast.net/~mhafte/images/skis.jpg
My camera phone really sucks. Sorry about the poor quality.
Hafte
Kam, you are going to get me in trouble with the missus. 
Just today we figured out that this Saturday would be the first one in a long time that I wouldn't be skiing, hiking or doing something other than housework. A honeydo list quickly materialized. Regardless I will make it work. I'll shoot you a pm so we can meet up. So where are we going?
Just today we figured out that this Saturday would be the first one in a long time that I wouldn't be skiing, hiking or doing something other than housework. A honeydo list quickly materialized. Regardless I will make it work. I'll shoot you a pm so we can meet up. So where are we going?
- Ben
Ben,
I do backcountry ski patrol at our local volcano. The crews start plowing the road in early March, but don't generally get the road open until July 1st because of 20 to 30 feet of snow. Those of us who are on the patrol get access past the locked road gates, to the point where the plows are working, so that we can more easily keep tabs on what's going on in the backcountry. The gate pass also gives us primo access to mountain terrain which is only available to non-patrol folks via a 7 mile approach. There's a waiting list for my patrol position. I usually ski the great spring corn until July 4th.
I'm sworn to secrecy regarding the above location, but if you do get out this way next year, let me know a bit ahead of time. I just might be able to get you 'past the locked gate' to spring corn paradise.
Oh, ya, this year is pretty different and pretty sad... not much snow, and what we do have is melting fast with the 70 degree early March days. There may not be any skiing in July (or even May) this year.
G-man
I do backcountry ski patrol at our local volcano. The crews start plowing the road in early March, but don't generally get the road open until July 1st because of 20 to 30 feet of snow. Those of us who are on the patrol get access past the locked road gates, to the point where the plows are working, so that we can more easily keep tabs on what's going on in the backcountry. The gate pass also gives us primo access to mountain terrain which is only available to non-patrol folks via a 7 mile approach. There's a waiting list for my patrol position. I usually ski the great spring corn until July 4th.
I'm sworn to secrecy regarding the above location, but if you do get out this way next year, let me know a bit ahead of time. I just might be able to get you 'past the locked gate' to spring corn paradise.
Oh, ya, this year is pretty different and pretty sad... not much snow, and what we do have is melting fast with the 70 degree early March days. There may not be any skiing in July (or even May) this year.
G-man