realskiers

Wow,
Great input and ideas.  Sorry I have been so slow to respond, I had a bunch of stuff to do at the end of the year, mostly documenting my 50 hours of continuing education required each year.  I got to ski yesterday on a poor eastern snow day, but it was great to be on the skis.

Mike,
your point about not spending vacation messing with demos is a powerful and valuable point.  A helpful suggestion that I will weigh against the value of demo before you buy

Phil,
you are likely to get a call sometime soon.  I think talking to you with the back and forth that affords will help me.  The deal on the Kastle's is extra nice and definitely tempting.  I am not sure about the length for me.  Does that ski have an early rise tip?

Jim,
I re-read that thread.  It really summarizes my dilemma.   I read the review and was ready to buy the UC - the points about the craftsmanship are persuasive, then read Noodler's posts about the benefit of rocker and it really makes me think.  Here is the bottom line, for most conditions the UC will be pretty darn good.  But if you are at Steamboat, Snowbasin, etc. and you happen to get DUMPED ON, those days that everybody watches video on and wishes to be in, are you wishing you had a little rocker on your ski tip.  I have been in that situation before, out in Vail twice with big snows and on skis that really couldn't take advantage of it. They were great days but would have been hugely improved with the right ski.  The last time I had to quit way early (4 feet of new snow on the SS magnum) my legs were shot by 1PM.

Here is another big part of my history that affects my thought process.  I once demoed a bunch of skis including the Dynastar 8000 and ended up buying the Head IM 75 (which I couldn't demo) based on the realskiers recommendation.  The problem was that I really loved the 8000 and regretted not buying it later.  The Monster was still a great ski and held their value - just sold them on Ebay for $200, but I think for me, the 8000 would have been the ski.

I keep going back to the Sultan 95 in part because of that but of course that doesn't make any real sense, different skis, different times, different options.

Anyway, I have indulged you all too long with my ramblings.  Your input has been very helpful and I appreciate it.  Jim, I only hope that if I don't go with the UC that someday we can swap skis an a nice day and have some fun together.  In the end, that is what it is all about and what causes me to love this sport enough to do all this research.