Rich's Tongfamily (Richtong.net add-on)

Had a great time skiing, back at it after a year with a torn ACL. It is amazing how you knee won’t hurt if everything else aches :-).
In any case, I had new boot, bindings and skis, but only got to use them a few times before blowing out my knee last year. Here’s a quick review of them:
“K2 Axis XP”:http://www.skiingmag.com/skiing/gear/item/ski/0,18056,478571,00.html. Skiing Magazine rated them 53% Carvers and 47% Floates and I’d have to agree, they are so wide (115mm tip, 78mm waist and 105mm tail) that they are hard to turn really sharply. They like medium turns only. They are very high with a 16mm high side cut, so if you lay them down, they dig big trenches, but you have to be strong to do that. Caused me plenty of aching quads (Skiing rates them 59% power and 42% finesse and I’d have to agree). They are incredibly stable on both hard pack and in spring crud (in February can you believe it). Skiing rated them 3.42 out of 4.0 for speed, 3.15 off-piste and 3.18 on corduroy. I’d agree. They are super stable as well. For me as an intermediate, it has been a channel learning to lean that far over with hips to get them to carve, but well worth it.
In 2005, these skis are now named “K2 Apache Recon”:http://www.skiingmag.com/skiing/gear/item/ski/0,18056,700206,00.html which imho is a much cooler name than Axis XP. Now listing at $1,175 with bindings. Roughly the same scores as the Axis XP (Power/Finesse of 67.5/32.5 ratio). And similar scores 3.25 speed, 1.48 off-piste (they are using a different scoring system now for this), 2.63 corduroy and 40/60 carve to float.
“Salomon X Wave 9.0”:http://www.skiingmag.com/skiing/gear/item/boot/0,18056,478668,00.html. I love and hate these boots. They are so snug that they make my toes black and blue (yes, I’m going to have them refit), but they provide so much more control than the old rentals I had. They are performance boots, so they need strength to flex which is great at the start of the day, but certainly not for beginners. Main thing right now for me is a custom footbed. The el cheapo foot beds I bought cause the boots to just jam the old toes and squish hard across the width. The most important part of skiing is these boots and getting to fit is hard.
And now for the things I still need to get…
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CamelBak FlashFlo
Camelbak FlashFlo