Loveland Demo Day 2

After the demo day last weekend, we had found some skis we liked but we weren't quite sold. Fortunately there was another demo day at Loveland so we got to try out our favorite skis again, as well as some others.

The weather today was even better than last week. They had gotten some snow over the past week, and it was an uncharacteristically warm and calm day at Loveland. I started out at the Volkl booth with some AC3's for a couple runs followed by the AC2's. The AC3's are geared towards the advanced/expert skier. That's not me, which explains why I didn't like them as much as the AC2's. The AC2's felt great for me. I could have skied them all day, but I figured I should try out some other skis.

Just as last week, K2 was a disappointment as they brought a horrible selection of sizes. I've heard great things about their skis, but I guess I'll never know. I next tried a Head Monster. I had a hard time initiating turn with it. It was a little stiff, and (according to the rep) it was probably hard to flex with the AT boots I was wearing. Next it was on to Atomic to try out the "Sweet Daddy". Fun ski. It didn't behave really well when I got on some ice, but I don't care because I'm enough of a snob that I stay home when it's icy.

After a quick break for lunch we decided to take out our favorite skis for a couple more runs. My favorite was the Volkl AC2. Ironically Christine's favorite was the women's specific version of the same ski (the Volkl Attiva AC2). Christine was deciding between the Volkl's and a some Nordica's and what finally sold her on the AC2 was a short bump run. The AC2's way outperformed the Nordicas in her opinion. The only question remaining is whether to by this year's Volkl skis or save some cash and buy last year's model. It's pretty difficult to find out if anything besides the graphics has actually changed between this year and last year.

And now, a pubic service announcement about demo days:

To the vendors: Bring more than 1 size of each ski. You can't possibly expect me to like your ski if you give me something that's way too long or too short. Also, bring some womens skis in small sizes. There weren't a whole helluva lot of options for Christine to try out.

To the other demo-ers: Use a little etiquette. I know you're enjoying your time on those sweet new skis, but there are probably a lot of other people who would like to try out the same ski. Take a couple runs and return it.