Best BC Ski for Randonee

In 2001 I picked up some Hagan skis @ MEC in Vancouver during a pre-Christmas trip to Whistler. They are stiff and stable randonnee skis, but most interestingly, the Hagen ski is relatively inexpensive. If cost is a consideration, Hagan skis are one to consider.

While looking at gear online I noticed the following description:



Hagan Alpin Carv Skis

Weight: 2.78kg (170cm)

$178.93 USD

Made in AUSTRIA


Stiff for its length, this is a classic, easy handling, European style touring ski. For good touring / skiing performance, select skis that are 5cm shorter than your height, or perhaps a little shorter.

* Cap construction.
* Coex top sheet, polymid GFK laminate, and aircell foam core.
* Steel edges tuned with ceramic disc grinders.
* HM-PE running base.
* Dimensions are 107 - 71 - 94mm (tip - waist - tail).


www.mec.ca




FreeRando
by Ski Trab

Price: $535.00
Sale price: $499.00

Fun. The ultralight freeride ski that saves weight without sacrificing performance. Torsion Box construction using Quadraxial Carbon Reinforced Glass produces exceptional torsional rigidity while remaining longitudinally soft, delivering a responsive ride with exceptional float. The High Molecular Density sintered base improves glide and resists gouging. Stategically Placed Rubber eliminates chatter & 52 HRC Steel Edges add to the already great edge hold. The FreeRando is the most versatile, light freeride ski around that rips in all conditions!

Features:

* Weight: 2.58 kg pair (171cm length)
* Dimensions: 108-78-93

randogear.com/


In regard to gear in general, I like to stop at MEC in Vancouver during a Whistler trip. Last spring I found a nice light Gore Tex parka reduced to about 1/3 of retail

I’ve always wondered about Hagan skis: granted their 71mm ski is 32% heavier than the lightest 73mm Trab, but still, the price is an outrageous deal.  Too bad they lack a U.S. distributor . . . and too bad that MEC won’t ship Hagan to the U.S. even though they wouldn’t be infringing on the terrority of any U.S. distributor?  (Unfortunately, the one time I’ve been fortunate enough to visit Vancouver, although the early July skiing on Rainier was still great, the MEC store had put away *all* the ski gear!)

In 2001 I picked up some Hagan skis @ MEC in Vancouver during a pre-Christmas trip to Whistler. They are stiff and stable randonnee skis, but most interestingly, the Hagen ski is relatively inexpensive. If cost is a consideration, Hagan skis are one to consider.
While looking at gear online I noticed the following description:

Hagan Alpin Carv Skis
Weight: 2.78kg (170cm)
$178.93 USD
Made in AUSTRIA
Stiff for its length, this is a classic, easy handling, European style touring ski. For good touring / skiing performance, select skis that are 5cm shorter than your height, or perhaps a little shorter.
* Cap construction.
* Coex top sheet, polymid GFK laminate, and aircell foam core.
* Steel edges tuned with ceramic disc grinders.
* HM-PE running base.
* Dimensions are 107 - 71 - 94mm (tip - waist - tail).
www.mec.ca

FreeRando
by Ski Trab
Price: $535.00
Sale price: $499.00
Fun. The ultralight freeride ski that saves weight without sacrificing performance. Torsion Box construction using Quadraxial Carbon Reinforced Glass produces exceptional torsional rigidity while remaining longitudinally soft, delivering a responsive ride with exceptional float. The High Molecular Density sintered base improves glide and resists gouging. Stategically Placed Rubber eliminates chatter & 52 HRC Steel Edges add to the already great edge hold. The FreeRando is the most versatile, light freeride ski around that rips in all conditions!
Features:
* Weight: 2.58 kg pair (171cm length)
* Dimensions: 108-78-93
randogear.com/
In regard to gear in general, I like to stop at MEC in Vancouver during a Whistler trip. Last spring I found a nice light Gore Tex parka reduced to about 1/3 of retail

Good info...
Seems like either one of these would be good successors to my Sumos.

If you want some 193 cm bright red Hagan Valdez Extreme, 107/ 75/ ?, 1700 gm, Ron, you can have them for almost nothing...I took the Tri Step bindings off of them, but you could actually have the Tri Steps if you really want to live dangerously and risk injury. I have been on Dynafit since 2001 and the only (sking DH) release that I have experienced was while on the red Hagans in a (stupidly) high speed carve on a hard refrozen 25 degree slope the Tri Step toe opened one side and the ski skipped sideways until I finally crashed and slid, happy to have BD self- arrest poles and a helmet. I drove straight to Pro Ski after that and bought (sale) Shuksans and the improved Tri Step...which actually worked a little better. I could have just put the new bindings on the Hagans, I guess, but a guy does not want to run out of skis and the Shuksans were 30% off, they were practically paying me to take them...

The 193 Hagan skis are quite stiff and stable if one likes to plow through anything in a stable fashion. Or they would be good for a young flexible cliff hucker whose testosterone still outweighs his orthopaedic deficit. I think of them as rather "insensitive to powder" of the Wenatchee Mtn. variety. They just motor through crud, mank, glaunch, or carve boilerplate. Perfect for the greater westerly Cascades.

I really like my TMXs, so much so that I bought another pair at an ubeatable price when I had the opportunity

Speaking of which, does anyone have direct experience with both the T:MX/R:EX and their current incarnation (same footprint), the Kongur?
The Kongur seems to be available cheap, probably because most people hated the graphics . . . I've also heard reports that they don't ski the same as the older skis . . .

i've always been curious about Hagan skis...I remember a long time ago (ten years maybe)...I was working in a climbing shop in Oregon and we had a Climb High (i think) catalog...they were distributing Hagan boards...a lot of them were really inexpensive and one in particular seemed way ahead of its time, the Dolphin...I think it had a 120mm waist or something absurd like that.

Greg, I've got a pair of REX's and Kongurs.  The REX's are 184 and mounted with hammerheads as my resort setup and the Kongurs are 177 with dynafits for all-around backcountry skiin'.
I like them both a lot, but between the different bindings and length its tough to tell what difference there is in the skis themselves.  If I could've found the REXs as cheap as the Kongurs were going for I would've bought them instead since the REX's do seem a bit stiffer, but I'm still really happy with the Kongurs as a lighter-ish weight backcountry setup.  (I'm not a good enough skier to get away with skiing ultralight skis, I'll stick with the mid-fat, mid-heavy skis for now).