These
skis are great if you spend about 60% of the time off piste and
40% on the trails. They're wide enought that they give you very
good floatation on the deeper, lighter stuff at a lower velocity.
They are also very good crud busters and are able to power through
the crud and death cookies without feeling like they get pushed
around. They are one of the few skis that I've ridden that feel
stable at high speeds in crud and/or death cookies. One the groom,
they are very fast and stable skis. You can hold a very nice,
deep carve with them and they don't loose grip of chatter. They
track very straight on hard pack but start to feel a little bit
squirley at high speeds on ice.
The only knock
against these skis are that you aren't going to be doing any Jonny
Mosely runs in the bumps. They're a little bit sluggish from edge
to edge compared to some of the thin, straight skis that I've
ridden before. However, if you're a strong skiier, you should
have no problems in the bumps, you just might be able to do them
faster with a lighter, thinner pair of skis.
The Bandits
also have a 20mm twin tip. This, combined with the very good balance
and light construction, makes it an excellent park ski as well.
The twin tip isn't huge and I wouldn't try landing any back-country
booters switch with them, but in the soft/hard pack of the park,
they work great. Also, at 177cm, they're slightly longer than
an ideal park ski, but that's the compromise you make if you actually
want to go other places rather than the park all day. All in all,
this is a ski that is designed to excel in many areas. Its not
a heli-ski (one mono-board per foot), its not a park rat's dream,
and you won't see Jonny Mosely on one of these anytime soon, but
if you don't have the money to buy three different sticks, these
are the best all around ski that you'll find.
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I
got these boots at an end of the season blowout sale. I've always
like Rossignol boots as they seem to fit my feet the best. I used
to have a pair of Energy STX boots which felt better than my tennis
shoes, and these boots are no different. I have a pair of custom
footbeds in my boots to help make them feel tighter (they might
be slightly too big for me). The boots themselves have a nice
forward lean to them which helps keep you from leaning back. The
stiffness is somewhere in between a racing boot and a park boot,
which fits perfectly for a pair of Bandit XX. So unless you like
changing boots in between runs, I highly recommend this boot for
both its comfort and performance.
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