What's In Your Quiver? 25Jan20

I had many of the skis out today to tune and wax and took inventory for grins. Living a lot of time in Summit Co in winter brings one to ski mainly when it snows, mainly when or where it is not crowded, and on task-appropriate boards. I have three sets of alpine skis, all from Liberty right here in Eagle Co; I have two pair of AT skis and one pair of backcountry boards. I love the Liberty skis for their light and lively bamboo cores plus their Colorado lineage. First is the Helix 187cm 135-105-120 with STH 12 bindings - these were my prior daily go to skis; they are pretty straight, pretty flat, fat enough and with tiny turned up tips called bomb rocker- FAST. Next are my current alpine daily drivers, though most call 'em mid-fats - but I need that for when I choose to ski. The Origin 182cm (bought them used so a bit short) 146-116-136 with STH 13 bindings are twin-tipped turning torrents - full rocker-camber-rocker... so fun with keen graphics to boot. Finally when lift-aided, the Genome 187cm 170-141-150 with STH 12 bindings. Yep, these are the fattest skis ever made and dump selection to a foot or more of new snow makes there use very specialized for me. Just 2-3 days/season but oh baby on those days I float like a butterfly. Plus, I'm always comfy in my Solomon 80 boots.

In the Alpine Touring (AT) realm I have two contenders. I don nice Scarpa AT boots for these and try to keep my kick weight reasonable. First is a pair of 178cm K2 Work Stinx 125-88-110 with Dynafit Radical bindings. These are good for everyday work in the backcountry and I repurposed them from my telemark days; the skins are still fine. Next up are some special 188cm Skilogik (RIP) Bomb Squad 148-122-140 pow hounds with gorgeous tops and Dynafit FT bindings. Here again the conditions need to be right but when they are these boards are spectacularly fun. Plus, fun fact, I acquired them from Fritz Sperry of legendary Colorado backcountry descent lines and books.

Finally, on cross country days or days out with Kala I've got a pair of Fischer SBound 112s. These 179cm 112-78-95 skis with Rotofella XT NNN bindings have metal edges, great sidecut, and plenty of width to romp where trails don't go (they do not fit in tracks). The bases are outfitted with "offtrack crown" scales which dig in well but the camber is extreme so with flourocarbon on the tips and tails I can really take off on the flats. I even have kicker skins for steeper ups. Getting down is sometimes an issue and I need some snow to execute telemark turns (without true down-pressure) from my awesome Alpina Alaska boots. Go where few go...

Good news is that I have used them all this year. Come skiing.