This is an amazing thread. I have been away at Tahoe skiing for the last 8 days, and we finally got enough snow to make it skiable. In fact the conditions were actually pretty good. What's amazing is that the only two skis I was on were the Head SS's in a 170 and the Fischer WC SC's in a 165 cm from 3 seasons ago (which is now being sold new in Europe as the RX Fire). I picked up the Sc's hardly used recently and I knew that these were great skis.
I skied both skis at Squaw for several days. The conditions were 2 day old softer snow on the first day and harder conditions each day afterwards. I rarely skied off the groomed terrain as the coverage was so poor that I would have destroyed skis (and unfortunately I did some damage to my SS's hitting rocks twice on groomed terrain). At the end of each day there were a lot of skied off areas and with some re-freezing conditions the surface did get quite hard.
SS is 170 cm and R of 12.1. The SC is 165cm and R of 11.
I hate to dissappoint Michael, but for me the SS was a vastly superior ski in almost every category. I will talk about each to some degree.
Feel: the SC is a little livelier and zippier than the SS. This may due to the fact that I skied it in a 165 vs 170 on the SS. The SS is damper but not to the point of feeling heavy. With this dampness comes a feeling of stability that is far beyond what I felt on the SC's.
Quickness: Edge to Edge there is not much difference between the two, bit if I had to pick I would say that the SC is slightly quicker, and a little lighter feeling.
Edge Hold: hands down, the SS is superior. Both skis were tuned the day before and both were 2 degrees side and 1 degree base. This is where the SS shines in my opinion and it relates alot to the tail. The tail is much stiffer on the SS which was a surprise for me as the SC in a shorter length should have been harder to skid. I first noticed this about the SS the first day I skied them. It is hard to skid this ski and at first it felt very unforgiving. Now after skiing it for 15 days, I love the fact that it is hard for the tail to displace. This gives the ski incredible edge hold in arcs, and a feeling of stability at speed that dwarfed the SC. The SC because of this is a much more forgiving ski, but IMO lacks the high end power and performance of the SS.
Stability at Speed: again for the reasons previously mentioned, the SS is vastly Superior IMO.
Turn Initaion and Hookup: they are about equal. Both have wide tips and the skis hookup immedaitely and pull you right into the arc. I will say that carving the High C portion of the turn is easier for me on the SS. It will take more pressue on the tail in the early part of the turn. This is not to say that you can't carve the High C on the SC's, you just have to be more gentle when engaging the edge of the new downhill ski.
Ability to alter Turn Shape : I found that the SC's were great in tight slalom turns, but larger radius turns were less stable than on the SS, which can arc GS turns at speed with great stability. Interestingly even though the SS does GS turns better, I also found it an easier ski to bend to tighten the the radius. When I took it into steeper terrain, and did short radius turns with lots of inside leg flexion creating lots of pressure to bend the outside ski, the SS's performed wonderfully whereas the SC's were actually harder to bend. This could be due to the shorter length.
For me, the SS is a vastly superior ski, to the point that I am giving the SC's to my brother. I know I will never ski them as along as I have my SS's. The SS's are the ultimate do everything carvers. They arc tight turns with any slalom ski. They have incredible edge hold and that wonderful damp sandwich feel. They have the stability of a stiff all mountain ski, without losing the quickness edge to edge. I came away asking my self why I own any other skis beside powder skis. I also skied the SS's in 10 inches of fresh on Wednesday, and they ski wonderfully in fresh snow (I didn't include this because I did not ski the Sc's in the same conditions).
I think Peter's comments are dead on when he said that the more you put into the SS's the more you get out of them. If there is a performance top to these skis I have not found it, and I clearly did on the SC's.
Michael, if you haven't demoed the SS's you must. This is the best ski I have ever been on!!!
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