Happy New Year!

We have been quiet for the Christmas holidays and taking it easy with our families, relatives and friends. However, when you are relaxed all kind of new ideas and things just suddenly pop into your mind. So, stay tuned for some pretty cool stuff coming in the upcoming weeks, e.g. an interview of probably one of the best telemarkers in the world, Joonas Karhumaa. But before that some new ski test content.

Christmas come late - a new test pair of K2 Extreme and Marker Jester SchizoFrantic

 

We have been enjoying a really great early winter here in Finland. There is, finally after many years, some proper cold temperatures and even plenty of snow here in Southern Finland. Personally, I have taken the opportunity to hone my telemark skills and in an unusual way started the ski season with plenty of “just” turns – instead of the usual icy slamming in the local parks (I am already 36 and have to admit that those icy landings haven’t been so tempting  when there is some extra rare soft, quality turns to be had!).

Also, while I have been quite pleased with my current park skis (read the Salomon 1080 CR Lab review for more information), I have been looking for some more versatility to my alpine “park” skis too. This meaning that as I am getting  older and more cautious I am no longer hitting the icy stuff and need a ski that can be cruised comfortably on the groomers too when needed.

In my opinion the problem with the center mounted park skis is the lack of versatility that comes with the park/jib optimized stance. While you can somehow get used to the long ski tail and centered binding location, it still doesn’t feel like it should be for an old schooler like me. On the other hand you can by some real carvers and be happy with even more skis in the “quiver” (yeah, like I need some more skis, see below. And sorry about the crappy mobile phone pictures this time). Anyway, modern twin tips are pretty good all mountain skis after all, so in a way it all comes down to a mounting point: for cruising/all mountain the more “traditional mount” works the best and for jumps and any jibs center mount just rules, even more so if you land and hit stuff switch. 

 

Quiver of a homeboy

 One solution to the mentioned problem could be the so called rental/demo bindings. But for the expert/advanced skier there comes a trade-off; they are heavy, quite high off the ski and often come with a little bit of “slop”, affecting the feel and touch of the skier.

Enter Marker’s new SchizoFrantic line: low stack, beefy freeride bindings with the ability to move the binding six centimeters along the ski, very clever solution for the skier just like me. And luckily web shop www.suksikauppa.com gave us a test pair of Marker Jester SchizoFrantic bindings for a long time test use. And with the bindings came some pretty cool sticks too: a pair of 179cm K2 Extreme skis. Nice all mountain skis with measurements of 118-85-109mm (tip-middle-tail) and very cool “hot dog” graphics of skiers doing classic daffies, spreads and mule kicks (how cool is that for an old school mogul guy like me? I have to say I have been drooling for this particular ski model for a long time!)

K2 Extreme and a box of Marker Jester SchizoFrantic at the www.suksikauppa.com office

We are planning to give this test pair a good beating on the local mole hills, including some moguls, park jumps, groomers and maybe some pressure boxes/rails too. And I am more than willing to lend the pair for some friend who like to test the combo on some bigger hills too (if I don’t get the opportunity to do that myself). I guess Scandinavian Lapland/Mountains would be quite perfect for the set-up: just change the mounting point for the different use, off-piste, slopes, park.

Stay tune for some test result in the upcoming weeks. We are pretty stoked to take these skis out to the slopes as soon as possible. I will also post some more pics when the binding mount is finished.

Big thanks to Sakke Ekman of www.suksikauppa.com (Finnish) – be sure to check out the different country/national versions of the shop too:

http://www.skidbutiken.com (Sweden)

http://www.skishopen.com (Norway)

http://www.skishoppen.com (Denmark)

http://www.skiwebkauf.com (Germany and Austria)

These shops are specialized for the freeride skis, so you will find plenty of models that doesn’t necessarily belong to the assortment of your local sport shop. The deal includes binding mounting too, if you want to, and there is some great, good-value offers of different binding/ski combinations. We can highly recommend the shop and we have also heard some pretty good feedback on their accuracy of delivery and good service.

via homeboyski.com