:: View topic - Nov. 11, Mt Baker, WA

Well, three days after opening day, Baker was a totally different story. It started with a couple inches of fresh powder over a really brutal layer of crust underneath. As the day went on, the powder got deeper and deeper to the point that it was about 8-10 inches deep at the end of the day, and the groomers had turned into nice soft packed powder.

I took my first pair of skis, the Bremallows (pictures and full write up to follow). The Bremallows are about 130mm at the tip and tail, with about 150mm in the center. They also have a short section of normal shaped sidecut in the center of the ski. I had them tuned up before I took them skiing and I was really glad that the edges were sharp.

I was really impressed at how well they actually skied. I was expecting them to be really terrible and fall apart after a run or two, but they skied remarkably well on all of the gnarly crust and sticky snow that Baker is famous for, and they lasted the entire day! By the end of the day the tails had delaminated a little bit, but I had already riveted them together because I figured they would delaminate.

As far as how they skied, they were awesome in the powder, no hooking, and totally predictable. In the crust under the powder, they seemed to do as well as any other ski. Finally, they were really sketchy on the groomers that were hard packed. As a side note, I tried to do a 180 and ski backwards with them, and the reverse sidecut caused my legs to spread really wide, and then I fell over backwards in a really awkward feeling fall.

The best part, though, was all the comments I got from people. Everyone was amazed that I built my own skis, and I couldn't believe how many questions they asked.

greg

sweet! i'm glad to hear that someone is actually getting to ski. where the hell is the snow?! can't wait to see pics of the skis ...uh, i mean snowboards.

I also can't wait to see the write up. They sound a little similar to the DP Lotus 138 that were being discussed else where on the forum. Are they any better on hard snow than a regular reverse camber/sidcut ski?

Congrats on a job well done Greg!

http://www.skibuilders.com/gallery/submitted/Bremallow.shtml

keep up the good work, and we hope to see more skis....

Great job Greg! It's fantastic that there are some guys bringing the reverse sidecut skis forward

I skied these again today at Snoqualmie Pass. It was pretty much spring like conditions with slush and corn snow over harder stuff underneath. I started the day on some old straight skis (salomon 8's I think) to see how the conditions were. After skiing in the fog for about 2 hours I was ready to head home (for those of you from outside of the northwest, Snoqualmie has about 200m of vertical, and is extremely boring). Anyway, I walked back to the car, saw the Bremallows sitting there, and decided to take a few turns on them.

As before, they skied really well. They were a lot more fun to ski than the straight skis I skied earlier, and I am totally sold on the reverse side cut.

I figured out today that with reverse sidecut, if you lean forward really far when you turn, the skis will turn easier than any ski I have ever skied. With a little technique change to your skiing, you can make a huge ski feel like a snowblade!

Greg, i agree that the reverse is nice, and of course, fun! i've managed to make them work (The Doinks) in the backcountry. what i found most intriguing is how easy they are to maneuver. it's true that they do require a bit of technique in varied conditions, but if you're willing to accept a slight change in style (as you have mentioned), reverses are exciting. they add another dimension...

A group of us took advantage of the huge dump of snow that Washington has gotten and check out steven's pass before they opened. It was also a good opportunity to test the stiff upper lips and the daddies little girls. There was about 4' of very soft snow and you would immediately sink to your waist if you took off your skis. Skinning in this deep snow made progress very slow and eventually got too steep and deep to make any upward progress. We were able to get 3 good runs in though.

Justin was skiing the SUL, for most of the day, but we were able to swap for the second run. The DLGs seem to want to submarine in the deep soft snow and made if very difficult to ski. I think this is due to the huge camber, slightly lower tips, and I also mounted the binding on running length center, which put the binding about 2 cm forward of chord center. I basically had to lean way back and parrallel turn to keep from face planting. Justin had the same experience with the submarining.

The SULs were completely different and did not dive. These skis have normal camber, and the binding were mounted on chord center. They are a very fun ski.

Pic of Justin working the Stiff upper lips. Sorry for blurry picture, lighting was bad.

With over 80" of snow for opening day, I was suddenly feeling 'sick' and had to take a day off work. Apparently, a lot of 'sick' people had the same idea and the crowds were huge. The ticket line was wrapped around the parking lot. However, after the first run, it was totally worth the wait. Can you say, bottomless? I brought the Upper Krust and they definitely were the right tool for the job. They were easy to turn and floated through every thing, even stuff that was bogging down snowboarders.

By around 12:30 or 1, it was getting pretty compacted, and temps were warming up. The snow got harder and denser, and the UKs felt squirrely and was more work to control. Visibility was very poor and you had to ski by braille. After lunch, I swapped to the Stiff upper lips and gave them a much more thorough workout than at Stevens pass a few days earlier. What a difference sidecut makes; much more predictable on the compacted snow. They bust through the cut up snow and had the flotation in the small pockets of untracked snow that we could find. Overall, they were awesome and I think it is our best pair to date. The only thing I would change is maybe have a little more sidecut so they are quicker edge to edge.

not too shabby for early Nov.

You know what they say, let the good time roll.