Making a late decision to head out to Zermatt and test some skis, I stopped off in Grimentz to collect my kit en-route and was on my skis for 11am on Friday morning. A beautiful sunny day, and perfect to settle down on my Stockli's, before testing some skis over the next two days. The ski area was quite busy, and the cable car up to Furi was quite a squeeze. I had left behind my Transceiver to ensure that I stayed away from the early season off-piste. That resolution lasted a whole one run before I headed under the rope and into the fresh powder.
After skiing I settled into my hotel, and took a walk around the resort, and thought my hotel room had a pretty good view.
The view was excellent, however the bathroom was not. The sign on the door was a bit of an omen.
No matter how I tried to fold my legs into the bath, there was no way in which I could soak my tired knees, and I'm only 164cm tall.
I made sure that I was up and ready for Saturday breakfast starting at 7.30, though I had not really considered that I would be late. On reaching the breakfast room it seemed that the breakfast buffet had been hit by a plague of locusts, and the room was pretty full. I settled down for some protein free left overs, and made a mental note to be earlier on Sunday.
Of course, I was now at the rear of the weekend warriors mass ascent of the Klein Matterhorn, and by the time I reached Trockner Steg, I had discovered that most of the crowd seemed to be participating in the Swiss Ski Test since the test centre seemed to be rather full of people and empty of skis. I briefly considered giving up and going down to get my Stockli's, then joined the scrum.
I was asked what sort of skis I wanted, and what type of skiing I like to do, and I offered up a list of likely models having done some research. So, I'd said I had wanted mid fat skis, 50% off piste profile, and what I was offered were narrow waisted carvers, suitable for piste use only and generally in cute colours. I decided to go for self selection!
Binding setting was quite funny, the ski tech yells what sounds like "sowlalanga" at me which I took to mean boot sole length, and then complains when I'm unable to step the heel piece down on a binding which is still set to the last user who weighed 100 kilos (so I'm told). I'm not 100kg BTW.
The first ski I tried was the Scott Neo. 166cm 122/82/111
I thought this was a really good piste ski, and it's pretty good in soft snow, though it got chucked around in crud. Quite easy to live with.
Next up I tried the Scott Crusade 169cm 139/90/118
This was a really surprising ski on groomed slopes. It turns really easily and is quite fun. Off piste, it seemed to need quite a bit of speed before starting to turn. It has a split personality and turns into a big mountain charger away from the groomed slopes.
I returned the Scotts to the rack and picked up a pair of Dynastar Legend 8000
165, 120/79/103, took a warm up run and headed for lunch. I had wanted to try some 8000's as Andy has some and is really fond of his, so straight after lunch headed up the Klein Matterhorn cable car for a decent blast down to Trockner Steg. So, I walk down the access tunnel and down to the start of the piste, pop the skis down on the snow, and one ski starts to slide rapidly, heading under the safety rope and off onto the crevassed area of the glacier.
I could not understand how the ski could do this, the snow was powdery and the brake should have stopped it sliding. There was no way I could have gone after it, and it was now out of sight, so I stood the other ski in the side of the slope, so that a searcher would know where to start looking and headed back down the cable car to the test centre. The test centre sent me back up to collect the single ski, and with amazing luck, the escaped ski had been spotted and was now beside it's mate in the snow.
On examining the ski, it was obvious what had happened, the binding heel piece was open, and the brake was up, not down. A faulty ski binding with no functional brake to stop the ski. I returned both skis to the test centre, and whilst I was there another skier returned his test pair, but carrying a detached ski brake. I wonder if I should use my own skis on Sunday.
Saturday night, saw the weekend drunks out in force, kicking the E-bus shelter outside at 10pm, shouting in the street at 3am and in my hotel corridor at 4am, so I had hopes that breakfast might be a little less popular, no such luck, even though I was a few minutes early.
I had decided to give the test centre another chance, so braved the scrum for the cable cars and then picked up the Movement Black Rose 175, 121/88/110. This is a women's specific ski and the top of the range for Movement women's skis, the target user group is expert. I took my Leatherman tool and did my own checks on the bindings, before I used the skis.
I enjoyed using these so much, I hung onto them all day. They are a wonderful ski, well balanced, great on piste, light and springy. Off piste they inspire confidence. I really wish that there had been a length suitable for me to really test properly. I'm not convinced that testing a ski 11cm over head height is all that accurate, but I did my best!
There is no way that I could be described as an expert skier, and I'm left wondering that Movement could sell lots more stock if they re-worded their target group in the catalogue.
Of course, as this was Sunday, all of the crowds were heading off the hill and I got a decent nights sleep! So, as I was skiing on Monday, naturally I headed down to breakfast just a few minutes early, to be told by my hotelier that breakfast started at 7.30. So I made do with yesterdays' bread, and grabbed some meat from the buffet. It was good to see what was supposed to be laid out.
I was back on my Stockli's and it was good to be on my own kit! A little windy though!
