A fun modern all-mountain ski with some tail

 

Product:

Length Tested: 178cm

Dimensions/Turn Radius: 113 / 97 / 133, 15m radius

Camber: Rockered Tip w/camber

Binding: Demo

Mount point: Suggested

 

Environment & Conditions:

Location of Test: Squaw Valley

Number of Runs: All day

Snow Conditions: Spring conditions, not quite corn

Demo or Own: Demo

 

Tester Info:

Username: Xela

Age: 41

Height/Weight: 5'9", 150 lbs.

Ski Days/Season: 30

Years Skiing: ~20

Aggressiveness: Aggressive

Current Quiver: 2012 Blizzard Bonafide 180; 2006 Dynastar Legend 8000 172

Home Area: Squaw Valley

Preferred Terrain: bumps, off-piste, trees

 

Conclusion: A fun modern all-mountain ski with some tail.

 

Pros: Nice "pop" out of turns.  Pivotable.  Rails if you lay it over.

 

Cons: Some tip flap.  Debatable tail.

 

Review:

 

My initial impression of the Cham 97 was that it was easy and familiar.  Having spent most of this season on Bonafides, that's not surprising.  The Cham feels pretty similar at first.  It has a similar pivoty feel and also needs exaggerated tipping to get it to carve.  It should be skied from the center of the foot.

 

What pleasantly surprised me was the energy of the Cham 97.  It delivered a nice pop at the end of the turn.  If the Bonafide is a hiking boot, the Cham 97 is a sneaker.

 

On paper, the Cham 97 has an aggressive turn radius.  Perhaps it was the soft snow, but I didn't really feel it.  To me that's a good thing.  I'm not looking for this size of ski to do slalom turns.  And I don't think any skis in this class are ice skates.

 

In chopped-up snow at speed, I noticed some tip flap, which is not surprising for a big, wide, rockered tip.  Still, the ski tracked fine and turned as desired.  Here's a look at the Cham 97's shape:

 

 

 

It's pretty clear from the picture that the tip rocker isn't matched by any corresponding rocker in the tail.  Instead, the tail appears more traditionally flat.  What the designers have done is to thin the sandwich fairly abruptly behind the binding, making the tail flexible, but present.

 

I think the tail of this ski is the most interesting and, probably, controversial part.  Likely, people will love it or hate it.  Personally, I had the tail catch on me a few times in off-piste conditions.  I don't enjoy surprises like that.  For a ski with tip rocker and a pivoty feel, having a flat tail like that seems a bit odd.

 

I could have switched these skis out for my Bonafides easily, but I ended up keeping them for the whole day.  I think by the afternoon, I had adjusted my skiing style to take advantage of the tail.  It can be reassuring to have it there, even if it sometimes prevents the ski from smearing cleanly around moguls.  I'm not sure, but it may be that the tail provides some of that pop that I liked.