Corduroy Performance
Corduroy Performance
Displaying 1 - 10 of 26
September 23, 2010
Nordica took last year’s burly, damp Nemesis and lightened it up, replacing the two sheets of metal with carbon to make it significantly easier to handle. One thing hasn’t changed: It’s still an aggressive charger with a more demanding feel. Pro: It carves cleanly on hardpack, making it one of the more multitalented skis
in the category. Con: It doesn’t have the buttery smooth feel of some of the powder purists in the category, and it requires a skilled, powerful driver. (It scored last among winners in Forgiveness.) “Solid at speed and holds a nice edge,” said Humes. “This is definitely a ski for an aggressive woman.”
September 23, 2010
Let’s hope the still-small, reemergent Blizzard factory is fully staffed: These skis are going to sell. The redesigned Crush blows through everything in its path. All you have to do is look down your line, and this ski will take you there. Steep, tight trees? Chuck yourself in. Chopped up crud? Ditto. Groomers? It rips. A rockered tip and tail work with its sidecut for supreme contact on hard snow, making it the most versatile in the category—tops in Hard-Snow Grip, Crud, Rebound and Stability. And yes, it smears lusciously through pow. “I couldn’t go as fast as this ski wanted to,” said Beale. “What a standout.”
September 23, 2010
Interesting: Testers liked K2’s lower performing ski, the Free Luv (see left), better than the Burnin’, an expert ski layered with metal laminates. Perhaps with a waist of 70 mm—the narrowest in the test—it got penalized for not being as versatile as others. As you’d expect, though, it was one of the quickest sticks—its edge-to-edge rhythm is as automatic as a metronome’s. But it insisted on short turns, and some felt the new “speed rocker” tip—a slight rise to ease initiation and transition—took some getting used to. “Best suited for an Easterner who wants to carve, carve, carve,” said Wilde.
September 23, 2010
Our testers were shocked by this ski: It was so heavy they had to drag it to the lift, but it zipped playfully—joyfully—down the hill. Atomic’s “double deck” construction is responsible: Two independently flexing decks are stacked on top of each other. The lower deck absorbs the shock, and the upper deck distributes your power to stiffen the tip and tail as needed at higher speeds (hence the energetic pop). The end result is a ski that’s both damp and stable and snappy and lively. It is still an Atomic, though, so you’d better be in for a race-like ride. “A great hard-snow and crud-buster ski,” said Gibbons.
September 23, 2010
For years we’ve been saying nothing smears better in powder than rocker, but get on groomed and, well, good luck steering around those lift towers. So imagine our curiosity about K2’s new line, in which every ski—even carvers—incorporates reverse camber. The verdict? K2 wins—again. The Free Luv’s elevated tip effortlessly scouts lines through variable snow. It initiates and releases with ease, earning it No. 1 in Forgiveness. Testers admired its versatility, but found it to be a standout in no one criterion. Racer types will want more grip. “Perfect meat-of-the-market ski; forgiving and easy,” said Shultz.
September 23, 2010
If precision and control are what you’re after, the Tierra is your ski. Its aptly named “double grip” construction adds more material to support the edges and distribute pressure evenly down the ski when it’s flexed at high speeds. Translation: It has the control of a Ferrari and edge-bite of an ice skate. It should come with a warning label for non-experts, though: The Tierra always revs high, and it refuses to deviate from the fall line. Scoring first in Hard-Snow Grip and last among winners in Forgiveness, it makes you pay for your mistakes. “Begged for speed and didn’t get nervous or break away,” said Schultz.
September 23, 2010
Every ski has character traits. This ski has personality. It’s snappy, lively, bubbly—and so responsive, it seems to read your mind. Just think about turning, and you’re ripping perfect GS turns down the steeps. Powerful, yes, but polite, too—patiently skidding when you need to scrub speed. Though most at home on hardpack, its 81-mm waist is wide enough to bust crud and float though pow. Are we gushing? Absolutely: It was No. 1 in Rebound Energy, Forgiveness, Hard-Snow Grip and Balance of Skills. “This ski blew my mind,” said Humes. “Quick, stable, snappy—everything I love in a carver.”
September 23, 2010
Head added 7 mm to the waist of its top-end Supershape, giving the perennial winner an added measure of versatility. But it still has the deepest sidecut in the category—a 13.5-meter radius that dives in and carves at the barest hint of edge angle. What continues to surprise us is its combination of thrilling high-speed performance with an undomineering personality and versatility of turn shapes. Crud? Not on the menu. But Titan slithered through bumps with ease. At its heart it’s a slalom race ski, but fun to freeski as well. “Instantaneous hookup, rally-car performance; versatile for a carver,” said Gleason.
September 23, 2010
While it’s amazing what some of the wider skis in the category can do, nothing beats a narrow waist for quickness and edge-grip. Throw in a dose of exciting rebound energy and a ton of sidecut, and you’ve got one thrilling ride. The G Power is a race ski with manners—quiet, confident and obedient in high-speed arcs. Carve technicians will love it, and corduroy is its preferred medium, but its supreme Quickness (No. 1) translates well to moguls. (Hence its No. 1 ranking in Balance of Skills.) Little ski; big fun. “Super lively feel combined with superior carving performance,” said Scholey.
September 23, 2010
Was it the biggest, baddest carver in the test? Yes it was: No. 1 in Stability at Speed and Hard-Snow Grip. D2 stands for “double deck”: It has a primary core plus a secondary structure on top. The second core’s shearing action insulates skiers from vibrations and beefs up tip and tail stiffness when the ski is flexed at speed (hence the VF, for “vario flex”). Testers kept trying to find its speed limit, but chickened out every time. Nothing shakes its quiet stability, and yet for all its raciness, it’s wide enough for soft snow. Beware, it’s the least forgiving among winners. “As long as I was willing to go way too fast, this ski lit it up,” said Elling.
Gear 101
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