Best BC Ski for Randonee

I just bought a pair of Trab Duo Sint Aero skis - expensive, but they appear to have an outstanding performance:weight ratio. (Once my old Miras die entirely, I will replace them w/ the Free Rando.)

I have found the U.S. distributor to be very helpful and informative, both in his public forum posts and in his private email communications. I can’t fault him for having lots of confidence in his product line and trying to publicize it efficiently: here he is importing a ski that dominates international rando racing, is very popular for touring in the Alps, yet is almost unknown in the U.S.

Plus in general I’m all in favor of distributors and reps posting in public forums, just so long as they clearly identify themselves as such. (Personal disclosure: yes, I did get a discount, but for being a race coach, ski instructor, ski patroller, and avalanche instructor-in-training, not for any past or future publicity efforts.) Industry insiders' participation could fill a huge void between the glib product brochures and the combination of guesses and misinformation that random skiers often spread. (Couloir & Backcountry are unfortunately far too focused on skis for lift-served telemark skiing - as opposed to the lightweight touring models from Trab, Dynafit, Atomic and Volkl - plus too many typos, other errors, and meaningless statements filling up their reviews.)

I also can't fault tele_mark for making his enthusiasm for Trab known on this and other online forums - he was a regular poster on them before he began distributing skis. Keep in mind that his promotional budget is a tiny fraction of, say, K2 Telemark's (which in turn pales in comparison to K2 Alpine). Distributing a small specialty line like Trab is not exactly a get-rich-quick scheme.

I had been looking for Trab skis for a couple of years, and Mark was very helpful in getting a pair into my hands.  If his "high pressure" sales tactics (?) rankle anyone, no one's forcing you to buy.

As I understand it, 2 of the 3 previous posts praising Trabs are from individuals who have not skied on a Trab (?).

As I posted above, I thought the Trab Duo Sint Aero looked good per the specs, and I have been interested. They are a bit skinny. I have not skied a Trab and cannot comment from that basis.

However, a ski used for randonnee racing by elite athletes weighing 130 to 150 lbs. may not fit my needs or the needs of other US ski tourers.

Also, a ski the works so well in the high cold Alps is not necessarily the ticket as I see it. During our trip on the Valais Haute Route I experienced conditions that were often very different from the Cascades especially (obvious point?). I can see how a narrow and stiff ski would work well in those conditions.

The lesson that I learned from my FR 10 is that an expensive carbon fiber ski can break just like that (yea, now someone will say that a Trab would not break...whatever). In all of my skiing I have only broken a ski once, and that was when I hit a rock at Alta. I was skiing that ridiculously poofy stuff there at Alta that they call snow (humor) and naively assumed that it safely covered the rocks. That snow, of course, is very different from the 3/8" of wet, heavy Cascade snow that would allow one to slide over a rock (more humor?). Since I am pleased with the relatively inexpensive Chogori, I guess I will go with it and not have the worry of an expensive ski disappointing or failing me.

You're correct that I have yet to ski them. And with their distribution having gone through only one season so far, very few people in the U.S. have skied them. (As a sidenote, other ski gear that was very popular in Europe for at least one full season before it was distributed in the U.S. include the Scarpa Laser, Scarpa Magic, and Fritschi Diamir Freeride - I'm not asserting that Trab will one day be as popular as that gear became, but just b/c we in the U.S. are deprived of something doesn't mean it's deficient.)

And Trab's lineup does max out at 84mm - although there's more to performance in PNW bottomless gloppity glop that waist width, I can understand how these wanting very wide skis would look elsewhere.

I did consider the Chogori, and also the Volkl Norbert Joos that Silas has, as well as the Atomic MX:8 -- those choices would certainly have saved considerable $$, but I decided the additional weight savings and glowing reviews were worth it.

Trab Duo FreeRando

112/110-79-96

1350g

www.wasatchski.com/skis.htm





K2 Chogori

112-70-97

1360g (174 cm)

www.k2telemark.com/skis/ski.asp?productID=13

Yes, that is a good price on the Chogori. (Although everyone here probably already knows how to use google/froogle to find the best price on it.)

But otherwise, that post requires some further elaboration - surely the implication is not that skis with 70mm and 79mm waists are comparable in performance and hence their comparable weights have any meaning?

As I mentioned before, I did consider the 70mm Chogori, but since it weighed 30% more than the comparable 73mm Trab (please note the clear and explicit reference to the model name in my prior post), I decided to spend the extra money.

(Similarly, when earlier I had been thinking instead about buying a new ski in a wider waist width for this coming season, I did consider the 78mm K2 Shuksan, but it weighed 19% more than the comparable 78mm Trab Duo FreeRando.)