Salomon's New BBR Ski

Skiied these last week at a ski demo....really versetile and playful ski. 

I should have tried the pair we had available at the EpicSki Academy in Aspen last month. Although they sure look odd, one thing does intrigue me about that shape. In a way, when tipped on edge on firm snow, I would expect the ski to feel very much like a narrower ski with the same sidecut radius, when skiing in a pair of "abducted stance" boots. They might well carve better than they look on hard snow, and I would certainly expect the tips to float fairly well in powder.

Call me intrigued. Not sold yet, but intrigued, and willing to give them a shot, with the benefit of the doubt.

(On the other hand, if the past is any predictor, the Pocket Rocket was among my least favorite skis, ever!)

Best regards,
Bob

 

"Kraft wanted to build a ski that was all about "Freedom, Adventure, Fun" -- not about dimensions, which seemed to him to be a simplistic way of thinking and talking about skis. To Kraft, dimensions don't matter, a ski should be more about FUN. One of his passions is watersports, where he found that people tend to talk more about how much fun they had and not about technique or product specs as they do in skiing circles. He wanted to create a ski that must be experienced, not categorized."

 

Right.....?

I'm an addicted windsurfer and beginner surfer.

I'd rather go to Maui than Utah most days.

I can assure you that serious surfers and windsurfers are as geeked on equipment as any.

My personal windsurfing quiver consists of seven boards, twelve sails, nine masts, five booms and assorted bits to put it all together.

Along with this goes a surfboard, a stand up paddle board, a kayak and a trailer to put it all in.

Laird Hamilton has a huge warehouse to store his approximatly 100 big wave boards in.  " 

 

Kraft could have something with these skis but I'm pretty skeptical.

My experience is that a tool which fits all sizes doesn't really fit any very well!

My own one ski traveling quiver is an old pair Volkl AC4 82 mm skis in 170.

They carve just like a Volkl and sure beat a pair of straight 205 GS skis in the powder (which we used to think was pretty good).

I don't get it. I ski that is not about dimensions? It has dimensions. Salomon did not randomly generate some numbers to make the ski. Though I have heard good things about the ski, a few of my friends have been out on it. 

 

People at the high levels of any sport become, for the most part, gear heads that sometimes overly dwell on numbers and what the new big thing might be. This ski is not just some silly idea that is about "fun" not sure why they need to put out a press release that is so obviously just a marketing tactic for a new idea in ski dimensions. 

I don't own any skis that are not fun......

 

Marketing crap

But a one ski quiver is the LAST thing I want 

I saw my hero at Reno airport, he had 6 skis along with him for his trip!  Rossi Smash, that was in my quiver long ago, don't know where that one went.  That was from the ski shop that claimed that K2 had NEVER made a red white and blue ski!

Feb 15, 2011

 

Cool looking skis.  First thing that popped in my mind was that the skis were from the movie Avatar.  Must be the muted blue and orange coloring and snazzy shape.

 

Think snow,

 

CP
 

LOL, the muted blue and orange colouring made me think "Dynastar" at first sight.

Would this ski's "pintail" be some effort to reduce knee injuries?

Sure looks a lot like a larger version of the Axendo series. I haven't found a Salomon worth skiing on inn the last decade +. If I'm healed up next year, I might have to give these a whirl, but I don't know that the would translate well to the style of skiing I do today. Certainly not for tele...

Was on Volkl AC4-50 last 4 years and got some Line Motherships last year. They have made my Volkls  obsolete for crud and powder and are just as safe to ski on firm groomers as well, although to start off I was

a little nervous.  Their ability to handle like the ACs but better is due to the slightly rockered tip and softer tail than the ACs which offsets the 111mm width under foot.  They feel amazingly quick turning in powder/heavy snow as they dont sink much like the ACs do.

I already have the Mantra. 

Notice that if the tails -weren't- differently shaped there would be a large mismatch in groomer turn effective radius between the two ski lengths.  

Tog,  I worked for Salomon when their skis were first introduced and was a big fan of the Power Rating system because it placed the largest value on weight, then skiing level, and lastly the speed & aggressiveness culminating in a power reference.  Obviously a ski does not know how tall you are however it does know how much you weigh, how strongly you carve, and how aggressively you ski and this system accurately match these parameters to the stiffness of the shackle springs it placed under your feet.  I still think it genius!

I skied this ski 3 weeks ago, let me tell you the first thing that comes to mind when you but your boot in the bindings and go is "WEIRD" lol

 

It looks like you're on water ski's, kinda cool and certainly gets a lot of looks and questions like "What in the world are those"

 

After you get over that, skiing this thing is really great, but you can't ski it like a normal ski and put pressure on the shovel, trust me if you ski this ski like you would say a Head Chip 71, or the Nordica Spitfire EDT you're going to end up on the snow (oops). It likes to be skied more centered where you're pressure is downwards through the binding rather than loading the front. It can certainly hold an edge at high speeds on groomed trails. I unfortunately couldn't try it in powder or crud that time.

 

Turn initiation was quick and nimble and I found that you had to be careful at the end of the turn or the tails would wash out a bit. Which is likely from trying to ski it like a normal ski.

 

All in all I liked it, not sure I would buy one just yet but I am intrigued to see how it's going to develop.

 

One of the hills around here is supposedly getting some as demo's to use for "High Performance Carving" lessons, we'll see.

 

I should also add that I hadn't skied on a Salomon since the X-Scream maybe 7-8+ years ago and after trying the BBR I tried the Xwing Tornado Ti PL one night this week and WOW, was I surprised by what that ski can do. So much so that I kept it to try it this weekend again.

 

Jay

That's what my high school buddy who's the Salomon rep in CO told me. 

 

I'm kinda busy nursing a shredded ankle right now though.  Just sold one pair of Mantras...but replaced them with the new Bridges, which I won't be able to get on until next year! 

Skied it in powder last week and today. Looks funny. Works good.