Trab or Goode skis

Re: Goode Skis. <br>Firstly, about myself: 51 year old male, 6 feet even, 180 lbs, skied since I was 10. Grew up in Colo. but now live in So. Cal. with Mammoth and the Eastern Sierra as home turf. The majority of my days are in-bounds, but I do get in several decent backcountry tours each season. I've skied exclusively randonee gear since '86 starting on a pair of 185 Chouinard Tua Excaliburs with Petzl Ski'Alp bindings. My most recent setup was 183 Atomic TM10's mounted with Fritschi Diamir Titanal II's. I use Scarpa Laser boots. The Atomics were simply too narrow for the prodigious powder dumps we've had in the Eastern Sierra Nevada the past two seasons, so I started looking around for something wider, but weight is a serious concern. I started demo-ing every fattie I could find but they were all really heavy and not willing to turn quick enough. I read about the Goode Carbon 82's in "Backcountry" mag. and set out to find a pair to demo. They showed up in the Mammoth pro shop last year over the holidays and I tried a pair on a day after a massive 40 inch dump. Unreal! Absolutely loved 'em and had to have 'em. I got a pair of 176's through Bentgate Mountaineering mounted with Fritschi Freerides. The first time I took them out, the pow had been hit with days of sun and was rock-hard ice. I struggled with the Goodes on the hardpack and had immediate buyer's remorse. I had never skied a ski this short and really had a hard time feeling secure on the hard snow. But I didn't give up. A friend analyzed my form and said what I always knew but hadn't corrected: that I sit too far back. He told me to get up over the skis and get in the driver's seat on them. I spent a few days on the piste and re-learned how to ski and gradually grew to like these boards. Then... the powder returned. Oh my god, these skis are AWESOME in the soft stuff! I've taken my skiiing to a completely different level on these boards and feel absolutely bulletproof on all terrain and any type of snow. I'm loving them on the hardpack now, too. The best days were in the Sierra backcountry, however. They are so freakin' LIGHT that breaking trail is - I dare say - a pleasure! Skinning uphill on these lightweights is a whole new experience. These are quite posssibly the skis I've wished for my whole life - powder, crust, bumps, trees, the steeps, nothing fazes me. Once again, if your style is to sit back, you'll think they're squirrely, but put some pressure on the fronts and you're back in charge. Now my next question - can I afford the Carbon 95's?

Thanks for the good info. It is nice to hear fronm someone who skis on Goode skis.

I buy (and end up selling) a lot of skis in the search for the perfect quiver. 2 yrs ago I bought the Trab Freerando and had them shipped here along with some boots...the euro was weak, so the trabs cost me about $US 300. I got the 185 cm Freerandos and figured i'd use my Scarpa T2's (which were gathering dust) as a light setup. <br><br>Over the years I've tended to have several heavy-duty skis for lift served, and AT skis mounted tele (various Atomic AT skis, both foam and air-channelled wood core). I would say the Freerando was a little better on the descents than the typical AT ski, but not by much. I vaguely recall the weight being around 6.2-6.3 lbs for the 185 cm...can anyone confirm? <br><br>at any rate, after skiing it in in various sierra snow conditions i decided to sell it (which was easy to do, since trabs were pretty rare in the US). most of the skis i currently use are 80+ or 90+ in the waist, but I do have the old yellow pair of atomic beta ride 9.22 skis, which are not much more in weight (.7 lb??) than the freerando but 100X better on the descents--on hardpack or in wet sierra snow. When I got back on the 9.22 I was able to lean and angulate and enjoy a powerful turn--unlike the freerando, which required me to modify my technique and use very light edge pressure.<br><br>it sounds like i'm saying the trab freerandos are garbage--I'm not. They pretty much felt like a typical lightweight wood core AT ski. I was expecting something better, I guess. I concur with the current Backcountry Mag review of the Freerando: good for 'Euro-style long tours'. 'light tour oriented ski'. Which is fine--nothing wrong with that--but some of the hype on internet would have you believe the Freerando magically provides 'enough' ski for spirited, aggressive descents. I suppose it could for a sub-150 lb skier on the right snow. But there again---old faithful, atomic 9.22, in a shorter length (say 180) would outski the 185 freerando hands-down.<br><br>The Goode skis feel entirely different in the hand. While the Freerando has a very torsionally (and longitudinally) soft forebody, the Goode is quite stiff in both dimensions. I've talked to two local acquaintances who've liked the Goode--but it took them a few runs to get accustomed to them--but I have heard of some fatigue failures (i.e. broken in half). perhaps just a rumor. however the local shop will be having Goodes mounted with AT bindings for demo'ing, and I will try those out to see for myself how they feel.<br><br>Meanwhile, the new dynafit freeride carbon 10.0 has been getting very strong reviews in several places. And at 88mm, the waist is at least a bit closer to what is optimal in the Sierra.<br><br>At least we have choices.<br><br><br><br><br>

No way, lurker! The US importer and distributor of Trab says they're the best thing since sliced bread, he must be right!

Thanks for the input. I have already paid and ordered the Dynafit FR 10. I am taking the risk involved with change and going "short" to a 178 cm. I gleefully anticipate using my Dynafit Aero boots (bought last March from Cham3S) on the new FR 10. The initial teasing reports sounded pretty convincing, and the more recent reports for the FR 10 are very positive. I will be totally Dynafitted.

Lurker,<br><br>I respect your opinion, however there are many others who feel the FreeRando is a very capable resort ski.  16 independent testers for FreeRide Mag concluded that the FreeRando performed favorably in a test conducted at Snowbird on May 1st of this year.  Several of the testers, including Catherine Crim of the US telemark ski team; picked the FreeRando as their favorite ski of the test.  <br><br>Backcountry described the FreeRando as "Stable, stiff, lightweight...the best guide/light tour oriented ski I have found. Fun in the bumps, stable in the crud." Adam Howard even commented immediately following the ski test that the FreeRando "was the best performing of all carbon based skis in their test".  I can personally say the FreeRando is more than capable of "spirited, aggressive descents".<br><br>One needs to consider more than width when deciding on a ski.  The oversized, softened, turned up tip of the FreeRando goes a long ways toward making the ski feel significanty "wider" than it's dimensions would imply, imparting the feeling of a much larger ski while maintaining many of the performance characteristics of a narrower ski.