Most Important skis of the decades - Page 11

 

 

It was the only ski that matched his coat and boots. Definitely a choice of the decades.

 

 

I guess it's true, what they say about opinions being like a-holes.  Here's mine. The X-scream may have been ok in deep soft snow, I wouldn't know, but as a hard-snow groomer ski it sucked.  It had next to no grip, and was totally unstable at anything above a pedestrian speed.  As far as a stiff tail, the ski was a total noodle, it's just that the tail was not as over-cooked as the tips.  Just my humble opinion. 

 

Solomon did make some good groomer skis (e.g. Lab and Equipe), the X-scream was not amongst them.

 

^^^Prolink proved to be nothing but a worthless, mostly cosmetic gimmick just like those blinking K2 light thingies. Regardless, the XScreams and Scream 10s were very easy to ski at moderate speeds, but a disaster beyond that. 

Speaking of Solomon's, I had a couple of good seasons on the Crossmax 10.  Don't know about the decades, but they were important to me :)

 

JF

Me and my brothers used to build ski jumps at Sharp Mountain in Pottsville, Pa., in the 60's.We would spend multiple seasons perfecting back scratchers, spread eagles, daffney's (sp)  and yeard sale crashes. We were in grade school and our bodies were like rubber. We always bounced back. Today, call the surgeon. One day were were doing tip rolls off moguls and I broke a badly delaminated head standard. I wish I would have kept all of the Martini Family skis. In those day my parents were ski instructors and got skis directly from Head. Proform? My dad started skiing on barrel slats with leather straps to hold the boot. Lots of lateral movement and prerelease as it is called these days. A long long time ago. Fun stuff

Pesioelectric dampening system found on the "Four" and Merlin awesome for finding your ski in deep snow on midnight rides in Donner summit area. Just bang your pole in the snow around where you lst it and the lights would blink. Kind of like the shoes my four year old wears.

Ok for my old to new school picks

The Ski
Hexcels
K2 cheese burgers
Rossi SM
Rossi 7s
Rossi 3m
K2 TNC
K2 Mod X Pro
Rossi Bandit series
Solomon Course and Equipe 9
Volant Chubbs
Volkl Gotma
Dynastar Big
And the piste' de resistant Volkl Mantra
Not in the best of order just as they popped in my head and are skis that influenced me and my early " extreme skiing" buddies of the early squaw valley rippers of the mid 80's Like Scmidt, Day, Plake the flake from south lake, Andrews and the like,

Armada JJ, 

Gotama

Both very different and influential in the transition of full rockered and tip and tail rockered ski market.  

 

 

Rossi SM- The first GS ski that was real friendly and VERY important. 

 

 

I agree that the SM was a game changer.  Up until that point all high performance skis were based on the S/GS/DH models. The SM was the first high end ski that was designed to be easy to ski, but still deliver top performance.  I remember the racers called it the "Sloppy Mother."  That ski proved there was a market for non-race oriented (i.e. softer tail) high performance skis, which led the way to the diverse high end market we have now.
 

Salomon AxeCleaver - defined the hypercarving segment

If we're talking popularity contests..

 

The Olin Mark IVs, VI, VII, and Mark IV Comps were all over the place between 78 and 80. 

 

Early to mid 80s belonged to the K2 710, 810, and VOs

 

Sure, a lot of racers were on Rossis and Dynastars, but I recall the K2s and Olins being novel and the hot new thing to get back then.

 

Honorable mention to hart Freestyle.  Who liked to hit the jumps and never had a pair of those?

 

 

And final honorable mention to......................

 

 

Yep, how come nobody remembers the beginner skis in these discussions?  Those are even complete with the plastic disaster Besser bindings.  I had 202s on my Gremlins

 

 

 

 

 

But wouldn't popularity have a significant impact on a ski's impact,not just design?    In other words other ski's may of helped build a ski, but it's really the one that gets all the press and sells that actually makes an influence.  

 

Vincent van Gogh sold one (or maybe three) paintings in his lifetime.      The total number of Van Gogh sales in history is dwarfed by the number of Jack Vettriano sales (and he's still alive).   Which is more influential?

 

 

 

I

 

 

I'm just saying the Mantra was a great ski (still is), but the Gotama got all the rave and had a full rocker instead of regular camber, so which would be more important.  The mantra with regular camber or the Gotama with full rocker and a different flex from tip to tail.    I really don't know anything about art so....  :) 

Well you have some good points here but all the red makes me feel like I'm getting graded in school again LOL the mod x pros ugly, yes but very influential in my life and many others. They really solidified the staple of shape skis and defined what a performance mid fat was (not so mid by today's standards) and who can say no to MOD technology. I thought I might throw an influential boot in the mix as well, Nordica Polaris knee high rear entry acl ripper bump skiers just loved them I shoveled a lot of drive ways to get some and my parents threw in a pair of K2 proflex bump skis and a pair of Look Nevada bindings and Roffe neoprene stretch pants with integrated gators . That Equipement let me enjoy skiing without having to be crammed in to my trappuer racing boots ( stiff as nails) and super stiff Volkl rentigers oh wait VOLKL RENTIGERS how did I forget those things took me to the next level on the school race team. Then I started hanging out with the wrong crowd Palmer and Plake according to my principal and guidance counselor. Well enough of memory lane.

Phil, I can't figure out your Gotama comment. You should go back and actually read the reviews of the first Goats. No coat tails. It was perceived as a very different ski than the Mantra from the get go, aimed at different skiers, and it in no way shape or form borrowed anything in the way of construction or design. So ????

 

 

yea I was scratching my head on that one as well,  The gotama is a Completely different ski, full rocker, and different flex zones etc....   I have skied both and the are not even close to the same ski.  

 

 

 

The Mantra had the halo marketing power that allowed Volkl to  penetrate the market with the Got - skiers were prepared to listen to why they might want the Got instead of the Mantra because they trusted the reputation of the Mantra as a stiff, performance, fat ski.     Hence, coat tails.

 

Well those were the only goats I was talking bout. :)     How about my old Dynastar Assault verticals. :) 

 

 

 

Yes!     I skied them until they were literally missing several feet of edges on each side.  

 

 

the mantra rode the coat tails of the explosive and g4, and really was in essence the combination of the 2 (flex pattern and sidecut of g4 + width of explosive)... which reminds me, that the g4 should be included in this thread, somewhere or another.  

Every market is different but here is a list of skis (or series of skis) roughly in sequential order that were important in our shop:

 

Rossignol FP/SM

Rossignol 4Sk - wow, couldn't ski anywhere without stepping on Teal skis in lift lines.

Volkl P9's

K2 Extreme

Salomon 9000 series original monocoque skis

Salomon Force 9 and Super Force models

Salomon X-Mountain then later the SuperMountain

K2 Four with shape and piezo - these skis legitimized the shape ski revolution

Head Cyber 20x & 24x - nearly as important as the Four's in legitimizing shapes

Volkl Snow Ranger -

Volant Power Karve - cult classic, if someone did a remake of this ski, we would sell a ton, even in today's market

Salomon X-Scream - probably just about as dominant in our market as the 4Sk in its day.

Rossignol Bandit Series - nearly all models and vintages

Volkl Vertigo Series  - again nearly all models and vintages

Fischer Watea 84 and 94

 

70's - Dynastar Omeglass
Early 80's - Dynastar Course 84 ?
80"s Rossi 4s
90's Salomon 9000
From a Scottish and European perspective !!

I remember my Head Standards.  I still have the scar on my nose from the shovel of the right ski.  Stinkin' safety strap!  I beat the crap out of those boards.  Had the Olin IV's, too.  Learned to bump on em'.

Seventies,Rossignol ROC
Eighties,Volkl Renntiger

But ..... didn't the first Goats (black w/silver Buddha, squared off twin tip tail) come out a year or two before the first Mantra?  Pretty sure I picked up a pair of those Goats and a couple pair of the last Explosives (plumb w/silver Buddha) at the same time ('02? '03?), so not sure who was on who's coattails