3/20/16 What bump skis for Enduro Comp

Doing Gunbarrel 25 at Heavenly Valley April 2nd. It's a medium steep, 1600' bump run you try to do 25 times in 4 hrs or less.

When I go to a shop or demo tent and ask what they have for bump skis I get a wide variety of mostly bs answers. I know my Mantras (177's) would be tough but I do have some older Shoguns that are about a 168 but are still 98 under foot - wide enough to not be that "nimble".

I can demo for a day.

I have skied a 165 slalom ski in bumps and liked it but they might be too stiff and unforgiving for 4-6 hours.

All thoughts welcome. If anyone has something appropriate to borrow that would be great as well. (I'd make it worth your while)

Brian

Hmm let me think.  You would like a ski that will help you ski 40000 vertical feet in 4 hours...

Will you be skiing around the moguls or hammering down the zipper line because going over the top is the shortest route to the bottom.

In any event as a former mogul skier I will say... u da man!

I would go narrow 80mm under foot and not too short.  If you don't want to buy or you can't demo or borrow  then  you can use my circa 1979 Head Yahoo's in Juicy Fruit Yellow.  70mm underfoot, 185cm long, and 237m sidecut.  Perrfecctt!  Easy turning (or not) and tend to run in a straight line.

The safety straps, if they still work, will ensure that if you yard sale hard on your 24th lap the skis will be really close by for retrieval -even to the point of extraction. 

Good luck hombre.  Way to keep the stoke alive.

I've got a pair of skis that might work for you - pm just sent, and I'll double that up with an email too. Good luck!

Hmm let me think.  You would like a ski that will help you ski 40000 vertical feet in 4 hours...

Will you be skiing around the moguls or hammering down the zipper line because going over the top is the shortest route to the bottom.

In any event as a former mogul skier I will say... u da man!

I would go narrow 80mm under foot and not too short.  If you don't want to buy or you can't demo or borrow  then  you can use my circa 1979 Head Yahoo's in Juicy Fruit Yellow.  70mm underfoot, 185cm long, and 237m sidecut.  Perrfecctt!  Easy turning (or not) and tend to run in a straight line.

The safety straps, if they still work, will ensure that if you yard sale hard on your 24th lap the skis will be really close by for retrieval -even to the point of extraction. 

Good luck hombre.  Way to keep the stoke alive.

I love your reply Slacker! Yes, I am the man...but I have also been the man with bad judgement...the way you said 40,000' in 4 hours makes me hope that that chair moves really fast!

In 1979 I was hammering - at 59 I'm hammered, and will be going around the bumps unless they slush up a lot. I agree that a ski in the 80's would be the right width. I appreciate the offer for the skis, but the last time I used safety straps was at Hyak and slid 3 lift towers of Iced bumps with my skis trying to kill me the whole way.

Thanks for the good luck wish.

Thank you Fibo (Phil) for setting me up with John. I got a pair of CL Ascente from him that are 66 under foot and he swears I'll love them as a carving ski. In a previous life as a Hart ski, they won World Cup bump events. I'm sure I'll enjoy them!

All in the spirit
Johan has truly been around in the world of skiing.
Good luck in the comp and I'm sure he tuned you into the quality of Ascente.

Well..? And what were the skis de jour..? nevermind the 24 yo winner..

Honestly I skied on my old Salomon Sho Guns - the direct descendant of the 1080's and the Pocket Rocket. They were a good choice as I was so used to them, and the conditions were so difficult and icy - as in water ice - till early afternoon...and even then...The bumps on the bottom 2/3's of the course were too steep, hard, straight sided to be able to ski it all out. The upper 1/3 was perfect after 1:00 and it kept a smile on my face all day.

I am 59 and wasn't sure if I had waited too long to do this - I hadn't - I'm happy to say. Unbelievably to me, I finished 32 nasty laps and was still doing the same time Each lap at 4pm. I'm also proud to say that I honestly skied the bumps the right way - every chance I got. There were ways that the fast guys used that were not true to bump skiing. The winners were extremely good skiers but because of the competitiveness of the day, the fastest skiers were doing high speed side slips way off the bumps on the edges of the run and even on an adjacent run. I was one of the few doing zipper lines on the top section and trying to show Glenn Plake "how I ski the bumps".......unfortunately Glen wasn't there that day.

I had a great time! I've done a lot of athletic things in my life, and this was one of the best. I will be spending some time next season getting re used to those 66 under foot weapons I bought. I think they will be great for playing on high speed groomers.

I recommend this competition. It's in a beautiful setting and who doesn't love Tahoe! I think as a springtime event it's going to usually be icy and difficult in the am.