Well, I bought...a new ski!

[LivingProof]

Only a fool buys a ski just because its a good deal.   

Without a doubt, I agree with Trish on this point. But then again, "Ya get what you pay for" is an old adage that has been disproved many times.

Here's what Phil wrote on Epic last year regarding the Sultan 94:

Again another great Dawgs eye review. I agree 100% with everything Dawg posted including needing a tune out of the box. I picked up a pair of these to go with my MX88's after I felt the MX98 was too close of a feel to the MX88..wait the 98 was closer feel to the 88 than a 94? Funny you should ask but yes. The Sultan 94 is a much more playful feel than the Kastles and a completely different feel underfoot. The 94 will be a great soft snow ski and a blast in big bumps where the MX88 will be more hard snow biased and when we are in a snow drought. As Dawg says (and SJ too) this could be about as good of a 1 ski western quiver ski as there is.

Somehow, I believe if 3 major Epic reviewers give their blessings, then how foolish is it to take the plunge. Hey, we've all bought skis based on reviews, we've all been disappointed, and, probably more than once. A selling point, for me, is the shorter turning radius. I am perfectly prepared to accept risk that I may not like them. Unlike this years superstars by Blizzard and DPS, some reviews found the Sultan 94 wanting in some areas, duhhh...no surprise there. If I find a ski in Tahoe that gets the juices flowing....maybe I'll do an upgrade.

So Trish, please visit more often, always a pleasure to cross .......with you! Paybacks are hell! And happy birthday!

[LivingProof]

Mike, so thrilled for ya. My friend Paul bought a pair last season (he's your approx your height and weight) when we were skiing at Deer Valley...Had 8-10 of moist new snow and we stood at a gate, dove in and he just loved how they handled. On the groomers, they ripped, broken snow they crushed and pow they floated.....awesome choice. I'm sure you're going to love them. Paul compared them with the Rossi S3 and thought the Sulton was a stronger carver.

All the best...hope to make some turns with YOU riding those bad boys!

Best, G

PS....absolutely loved the video you posted...got me thinking dearly about being THERE!

G,

I was hoping someone would comment on the Sultan 94 video. I keep going back to watch it, not so much for the skis, but, damn, I would have loved to be there that day. I need to ski, not watch others.
May we all get our fix, sooner than later!

Hmmm...maybe the Sultan's and I will join your Holiday Valley outing. Ge great to make turns again.

[Svend]

Hmmm...maybe the Sultan's and I will join your Holiday Valley outing. Ge great to make turns again.

That would make a gathering of the Sultans, as G's friend Paul will be there with his 85's.  We'll be in the presence of Nobility   

Here's what Phil wrote on Epic last year regarding the Sultan 94:

Again another great Dawgs eye review. I agree 100% with everything Dawg posted including needing a tune out of the box. I picked up a pair of these to go with my MX88's after I felt the MX98 was too close of a feel to the MX88..wait the 98 was closer feel to the 88 than a 94? Funny you should ask but yes. The Sultan 94 is a much more playful feel than the Kastles and a completely different feel underfoot. The 94 will be a great soft snow ski and a blast in big bumps where the MX88 will be more hard snow biased and when we are in a snow drought. As Dawg says (and SJ too) this could be about as good of a 1 ski western quiver ski as there is.

Somehow, I believe if 3 major Epic reviewers give their blessings, then how foolish is it to take the plunge. Hey, we've all bought skis based on reviews, we've all been disappointed, and, probably more than once. A selling point, for me, is the shorter turning radius. I am perfectly prepared to accept risk that I may not like them. Unlike this years superstars by Blizzard and DPS, some reviews found the Sultan 94 wanting in some areas, duhhh...no surprise there. If I find a ski in Tahoe that gets the juices flowing....maybe I'll do an upgrade.

Pretty hard to see this as a risky purchase, given that you seem to have scored such a great deal.  Look at is this way -- even if you don't like them and sell them at a small loss, think of it as being the cost of a longish demo session.      You'd have paid more to demo them for a single day, than you'd likely lose on the resale.  So, no need to start questioning your purchase already.  Don't worry....Be happy!

BTW, if at first you don't click with these skis, I would recommend you give them at least 3 or 4 full days on the mountain before you decide whether or not they are keepers.  It took me that long to figure out how to make my Mythics work for me, as they were my first wider ski (am I right in thinking this is your first wide ski, too?).  But I'm glad I gave them the time, because now I would be hard-pressed to find a better ski for me in that width....except perhaps the Sultan 94    First impressions can change after greater familiarity....Pati ence, Grasshopper....

As for the out-of-box tune thing, that's good advice.  Dynastar seems to have a pretty flat base bevel as their factory tune, which makes their skis grabby and uncooperative.  1 and 2 deg. base/edge angles with detuned tips and tails works great for my Mythics, and I can see that being good for yours too.  Makes them very maneuverable and playful, with no surprises or back-talk.  Fun!

[LivingProof]

Svend,
Thanks for sharing.

The funny thing is my other wide ski is same Kastle 88 Phil compared with the Sultan 94. Hard snow vs a soft snow ski. Perhaps even funnier that all 3 of my skis, other is the Supershape, were bought almost new at major discounts over new. Given the accelerated depreciation of skis, buying at the right price keeps a lot of $$$ in my pockets (or at least until I go skiing).

I'm in violent agreement with all you wrote above. No buyers remorse, even from this east coast ice skier. And you just gave me some more reasons to get to Holiday Valley. It's a mere 7 hours drive in the dead of winter over some difficult terrain. Did it once in late spring to ski with G, so I have some appreciation of the trip and local ski terrain. I'm sure it would be a blast.

[Svend]

For some reason I had it in my mind that you hadn't owned a wider ski before -- sorry, didn't realize you had the MX88.  I can see why you'd want a more compliant soft snow biased ski, as I've heard that the MX are stiff and more hard snow-oriented.  Having said that, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how well the Sultan grips on hard groomers.  When I demoed them, I skied them in two-day old chop and crud, and on the hard groomers taking us back to the lifts -- no ice, but plenty of firm crusty morning spring snow -- and I was amazed at how well they held an edge and I could carve them.  So versatile, stable and smooth.  Just a great all-rounder.  1-ski quiver for a westerner is pretty accurate.  In that respect, they are an improvement over the Mythic Rider, which is cap build fore and aft, but sidewall underfoot -- the Mythic's edge grip on hard snow is nothing to shout about, but they're great everywhere else.

And, just between you and me, I have bought several skis that were nearly-new, and at less than half the price of a brand new pair.  I have never had a bad experience, and the money saved gets tossed into the ski trip piggy bank and helps get the whole family out on the slopes somewhere great.  My wife and daughters get the new skis, but I'm happy to go "gently pre-owned".   

Yeah, if you can make it to HV, that would be brilliant.  It's always a fun few days in a great little Eastern ski town.  And we'll make the 7 hour drive worth your while, with the appropriate restorative beverage waiting for you when you get there.   

[Gary]

Mike...I'm thinking it's a great transitions ski for you as well...thinking it's a bit softer than the 88's and a more compliant shovel but yet a supportive tail.

AND yes...Paul will be at HV with his pair...you guys should hit it off well especially if you like apple martini's as much as he does.

Come early and ski Bristil with me for a few days...let's make a 5day skiing event out of it!

So...have you checked the edges and waxed those new puppies 10 times? I'm sure Greg had them in pristine condition...still.. ..you must "love them and hold them and squeeze them"!

Best, G

[bushwacka]

Congrats on the new skis!

If you guys to HV try to make it to Holimont as well. So much better i everyway and way better tree skiing. Holiday Valley kicks you out for skiing trees and I will forever boycott them for that.

[Svend]

Hey Josh, we usually ski HV only for one day, and then Holimont the other days.  Great place.  Impeccable grooming for smooth cruising.

Mike, if you're still looking for bindings, then check here:
http://www.evo.com/outlet-shop/ski/bindings.aspx#/outlet-shop/ski/bindings.aspx

There are lots of bindings on sale, including Dynastar, Look, and Marker.  They have the Schizo for $295, which seems to be a pretty good deal.  Adjustable too, I think.  The Marker Squire is $123; Dynastar PX12 for $95.  Great prices all round....

[LivingProof]

@ Josh, G and Svend

Holimount is where Gary and I skied several winters ago at the end of the season. I was still in recovery from shoulder separation, so, we did not do trees. the place was so empty that Gary and I could always see our tracks from prior runs. G et al....did you guys do tree skiing in past years? At this point, they would have to have descent spacing.

All
My binding decision is a pair of lightly used Marker Griffions via Philpug. They fit the existing hole patterns (should anyway as both bindings and skis are not here yet) and I will mount on the line. This was the original plan. Thanks for the various thoughts. If I was going all new and needed a full mount, adjustable bindings would have won the day.

In a concurrent thread, there is some discussion about why we skiers buy new equipment. I can't think of any sport where the bond between participant and equipment is as strong as between skier and ski. Somehow, we self identify. Like many of you, I believe that the experience of new rarely, if ever, equals the expectation, and, we can get by very well with the old. My thinking is that new ski purchases are based in a spiritual renewal that tomorrow is another day, and, it will be better. Hope is a marvelous human characteristic. Of course, that conflicts with my other thinking that materialism needs to be extinguished and I need to work on becoming more happy/content with that already in my life. The ying and yang at work, that's life.

[Gary]

We always have a great time in Ellicottville. We've also had some sweet snow, pow and crud every trip we've made there as a group.

Holimont is our favorite and we have found a nice tree run but most of the time we're rippin groomers, playing along the edges in the crud, and trying to find untracked. Some of the tree areas near Greer can be pretty thin cover or hard ice bumped up....but there have been a few times when we got some soft snow with good base and there's good spacing.

Beautiful Zen approach to life Mike. Which means you need to ski with us more to be happy and content with life....ha!

So...whatcha going to do with the 88's if the 94's "complete you"? I thinking there's lots of cross over there.

Best, G

[Svend]

In a concurrent thread, there is some discussion about why we skiers buy new equipment. I can't think of any sport where the bond between participant and equipment is as strong as between skier and ski. Somehow, we self identify. Like many of you, I believe that the experience of new rarely, if ever, equals the expectation, and, we can get by very well with the old. My thinking is that new ski purchases are based in a spiritual renewal that tomorrow is another day, and, it will be better. Hope is a marvelous human characteristic. Of course, that conflicts with my other thinking that materialism needs to be extinguished and I need to work on becoming more happy/content with that already in my life. The ying and yang at work, that's life.

Mike, you are right-on in all that you said there.  In the first few years when we took up skiing as a family, I was totally gonzo about buying every bit of new gear in sight.  The gloss got dulled a bit when I began to realize that many of the changes in ski models from year to year were nothing more than cosmetic, and the few millimeters in added waist width did little to improve the performance, and sometimes actually degraded it.  So, buying almost-new gear has really been a great way to fill some gaps in our quivers without taking money away from flights and lift tickets, which is where the real fun is.  Any upgrades now are because the skier is improving, and needs higher-performance gear to suit,    and not because the gear is improving or changing in any great way.

And to be honest, skiing three- or four-year-old gear doesn't necessarily feel much different than skiing the new stuff.  This is especially true in the hard snow sub-80 mm group of skis, but even sometimes with wider skis.  Case in point:  if the topsheets were blanked out, I would be hard pressed to tell the difference in performance over the '11 Sultan 94 and my '08 Mythic Riders, they're that similar in feel.  Likewise, the '08 Nordica Mach 3 that I bought last season as my cheap Banff ski (to leave at my sister-in-laws basement there), actually ski far better than any recent Nordicas I've tried.  Since I don't need or want a rockered ski, I have resisted jumping on that bandwagon.

I like your comments on materialism, and must say it's rare and refreshing to see such words posted here.  Strikes a nice balance, and is sometimes a necessary tonic to snap one back into reality.  Good on ya!

Cheers!

[LivingProof]

So...have you checked the edges and waxed those new puppies 10 times? I'm sure Greg had them in pristine condition...still.. ..you must "love them and hold them and squeeze them"!

Best, G

G,
They arrived today, and, for sure, Greg took very good care....minty is a good word.

But, unlike some people I know, I sleep with my wife, the Tennis Diva, and not my skis.

BTW, while there is overlap with the MX88's, my view is they are my western ski and soft, spring eastern ski. It's nice to have a sport tube large enough for 2 pair, and, both will be in Tahoe. Trust me, my home mountain is much more suited to a hard snow ski...that's life at the southern end of eastern skiing. Don't know if you ever had a Logic course, but, Venn diagrams were used to illustrate the overlap principal. Think of 2 circles with overlap, the more overlap, the more in common. If there is too much at seasons end, one of my children might be placed for adoption. Cold, cold decision.

JB - What are your Tahoe skis....just guessing but I presume you have something for the various conditions.

[Gary]

Nice to hear you have them Mike....yes...pleas e continue to sleep with your wife...skis can be unsympathetic and judgemental! 

Good thought on using the 88's for your hard snow east coast ski....

I'm surmising from watching my friend Paul ski his Sultan 94's...it is very versatile including soft groomers. Still it's nice to have that hard snow ski with ya when traveling.

Never did take a Logic course but I should have you know..."I live in those circles,... daily,.... for everything"! 

Best, G

[Svend]

Never did take a Logic course but I should have you know..."I live in those circles,... daily,.... for everything"! 

They say that having overlapping Logic circles in the brain is a sign of superior intelligence    Right brain overlaps left brain....that sort of thing.    

Gary -- if I may make a small correction.....I'm pretty sure your friend Paul has the Sultan 85, not the 94.  Also a fantastic ski, just different in character. 

Cheers....

[Gary]

Svend....have I drifted out of the circles...?

I know he was demoing to compare the S3 and the Sultan....I thought it was the 94. the S3 is 98 underfoot....hmmmmm,....I'll have to email him.

It's so hard to stay within the circles...