Well I was at liberty for 4 hours today until the demo guys struck their camp. I couldn't get a hold of every ski I wanted to test. I never got arround to riding Stockli Stormrider XL, Bandit B2, and they didn't have the Head IM75s. Interestingly enough my favorite ski was an 80mm ski so maybe it would be worth while to keep trying 'em bigger. My reviews follow.

Ski Make: Fischer
Ski Model: Big stix 7.6
Ski Length: 175
Snow Conditions Used In: Spring Conditions: Light crud Corn/Crud, Ice, Bumps, hard pack
Number of Days Used: 1
Your Ability: 8
How Many Years Have You Been Skiing: 13
Avg. Days per Year Skiing: 25
Other Skis You Like: Volkl 5* 168,
Your Height/Weight: 5' 10" / 200 lbs.
Comments:
This was the ski I was most looking forward to Demoing. I found it to be amazingly light and surprisingly stiff. The result is a lively and well rounded ski that excels in most conditiosn I experienced today. The ski has a nice rebound, but is not exactly bouncy. The flex is very smooth. It, is good in a variety of turn shapes and likes to carve. This ski is very good on ice. The light weight made bumps very do able for this wider ski and I was glad of the ski's good edges on some icy bumps. Also it does well in softer stuff. Cuts right throught the softer snow to hard pack beneath. Most of the groomers were iced over and this was able to carve through that crust. It is stable at speed (considering how light it is) on icy / waterlogged groomers. The only negative: the tails washed out on me a couple of times when I tried to crank some short turns in a tight spot on an icy groomer. The ski was a breeze on softer snow. The graphite core has a weird feeling for a guy who is used to wood cored K2s and Volkls. I might like it even more if I had more ride time to get used to it.

Over all this was my 3rd favorite ski all day. It is a good ski and is well suited to the conditions I encountered today and it the east coast overall. It would be great for my off piste adventures.

Ski Make: Fischer
Ski Model: Big Stix 8.0
Ski Length: 170
Snow Conditions Used In: Spring Conditions: Light crud Corn/Crud, Ice, Bumps, hard pack
Number of Days Used: 1
Your Ability: 8
How Many Years Have You Been Skiing: 13
Avg. Days per Year Skiing: 25
Other Skis You Like: Volkl 5* 168,
Your Height/Weight: 5' 10" / 200 lbs.
Comments:

This was my favorite ski of the day. This ski has a wood core and vertical sidewall. The ski jiggles when you twick it a bit. Has a straighter profile than most other skis I used today and even at 170cm has a 20+m turn radius. This ski is pretty burly and stands up to the rough stuff very well. Has good edge grip and Carves long turns even on rough icy terrain. For example when making long carves going down a frozen over cat track, the ski chattered a bit, but the ride was perfectly smooth. I was able to change speeds well on this ski by cranking out short turns at almost any speed. The 80mm waist does great in softer snow and can punch through crud. At this length with an even flex the ski is good in bumps, despite its width. I really liked this ski.

Ski Make: Dynastar
Ski Model: 8000
Ski Length: 165
Snow Conditions Used In: Spring Conditions: Light crud Corn/Crud, Ice, Bumps, hard pack
Number of Days Used: 1
Your Ability: 8
How Many Years Have You Been Skiing: 13
Avg. Days per Year Skiing: 25
Other Skis You Like: Volkl 5* 168,
Your Height/Weight: 5' 10" / 200 lbs.
Comments:

I skied this very short since they were out of 172s. I was amazed by the versatility and easy of turning in almost anyshape I chose. The skis have some good rebound and springyness to them. The ski makes great short and medium turns even in the ice. I think the excellent grip was because given a shorter ski I was able to fully engage the entire edge all the way to the tip. They were some problems doing long turns on the icier pistes since you need to really pressure the edges on ice and in this length it wants to carve a shorter turn. There was no real instability at higher speeds (even in this short length) and this was the best ski for the bumps I used today. Overall this was my second favorite ski. I would like to try it in 172, but according to the rep I talked to they are all gone. Well, there is always ebay.

Ski Make: K2
Ski Model: Apache Recon
Ski Length: 174
Snow Conditions Used In: Spring Conditions: Light crud Corn/Crud, Ice, Bumps, hard pack
Number of Days Used: 1
Your Ability: 8
How Many Years Have You Been Skiing: 13
Avg. Days per Year Skiing: 25
Other Skis You Like: Volkl 5* 168,
Your Height/Weight: 5' 10" / 200 lbs.
Comments:I have skied K2s before, this had all of ther virtues and more than enough of their faults. It was heavy, very damp, and stable on anything that wasn't icy. However, despite that I never felt stable on ice at any speed. It was hard to work shorter turns without a rebound. And I found it to be the slowest edge to edge of the skis I tried today. Long turns were easy in softer snow. The ski has a stiff flex and high mass. It isn't suprising that the ski was a bear in the bumps. I had one pretty bad yardsale on my only bump run on these skis. These were tight, icy, and slushy bumps, but its worst of class so far. The ski is, I think, not really as versatile as people have pegged it. I think this is a big mountain ski for more western conditions, Powder, packed powder, tracked out powder, and other crud conditions. Tight turns, hard ice, etc... need not apply. This wasn't my cup of tea for an east coast tree ski, where tight turns, bumps, and ice are all likely to be on the menu.

Ski Make: Head
Ski Model: Mad Trix
Ski Length: 172
Snow Conditions Used In: Spring Conditions: soft wet snow: Corn/Crud, Ice, Bumps, hard pack
Number of Days Used: 1
Your Ability: 8
How Many Years Have You Been Skiing: 13
Avg. Days per Year Skiing: 25
Other Skis You Like: Volkl 5* 168,
Your Height/Weight: 5' 10" / 200 lbs.
Comments:
I could only take this one out for a few rusn so my review isn't fully complete. I really like the graphic on this ski. It has probabbly the best graphic I have seen. The ski is pretty nice. It prefers medium length turns. Both short and long turns work well. There is some stiffness in this ski so it can take speed. This ski did fine on the one run I took in the softer snow and light crud. The ski did have trouble on one run due to rough icy terrain and a lack of built in damping features on this ski. However it was the end of the day and my legs were tired. Even with my tired legt this ski still did well in the bumps. I think it would be a good ski for my purposes, but its not as versatile as the other skis on firmer conditions.

Well it didn't take me very long to follow up on my demo with a purchase. I bought the Fischer 7.6.

They have a great deal at Sierra Trading Post. This ski is going for $171 Shipped. Even though the 8.0 was prefered I had to go for the amazing deal.

Nice review. I had to go and find a graphic of the head ski, so I could see for myself. It is pretty cool, except the snake looks like he's stoned to me. Congrat's on the new skis.

Nice job tromano. I think a ski tester/reviewer for DCSki is born! Glad the day was profitable. I ski on a pair of Fischer's (different model) from the 2000 timeframe and enjoy them. Weather must not have been too bad for you to log 4 hrs? Sorry I chickened out. What's your prognosis on the health of Liberty's trail conditions for the next few days?

Jim,

Visibility was bad. About 50-100 ft. I was skiing in the clouds at the top. There was sprinkling rain or mist the whole time. In the 4 hours 2 bands of heavier rain came through as well. Thankfully no wind. I was fine for about the first 2 hours. After that my glove got wet when I took it off and I had to close my pit zips as well. After 4 houtrs I was wet tired, and ready to head home.

The slopes were in pretty bad shape. There is not much base left on many trails. All slopes on the back side had a crispy ice crust from the rain. In some places you could carve throught to softer snow. In others it was hard frozen. The front had more softer snow (loose granular). There were brown snow and bare spots on every trail. The Double black trails on the back side were tough, but some what managable becuase the snow was softer.

There was a Crevase forming at the top of ultra with perhaps a 1 inch wide gap at the top. I had a brief day dream about an inbound avalanche if that sucker gave way right before skiing down.

Thanks Tromano.... I like Jim had to make a last minute decision to ditch out. I've been fighting a nasty virus, and I'm heading out to Utah on Sat. Couldn't risk the relapse from being out in the chilly damp air.

I was really bummed too.

Nice review. What is the waist width of the 7.6? What length did you end up buying?

The poor and variable conditions were probably very useful for shaking out the performance of the different skis. All skis are nice on perfect packed powder.

ESB,

I actually felt pretty sore and rotten this morning. I am not sure the damp was good for me either.

JohnL,

Thanks. My operating assumption was that any of these skis will be good in softer snow. But their versatility in bad conditions will probably be a deciding factor. I really don't want a ski that is only good in soft stuff.

I ended up getting the 175cm ski online at closeout. The 03-04 Big Stix 7.6 measures 115-76-100 and has an Air Carbon core. There is a little bit of controversy about these skis. Let me elaborate, according to Fisher's web sight:

"Upgraded for 2004-05, this dynamic chassis (or core) is even lighter! Both the Big Stix 8.6 and 7.6 feature CFC [emphasis mine]. The CFC's profile determines the weight and flex characteristics of the ski. The Big Stix 7.6 weighs 20% less than its 03/04 model. CFC delivers an overall lighter, stronger and more consistent flexing core."

This sort of has me worried, but I am sure that it's all good. They probably just found a way to make the ski just as strong with less weight of material. The 04-05 7.6 was the lightest ski I have used so it could stand a to gain a pound or two. Furthermore, the 04-05 Big Stix 8.0 uses Air Carbon (as opposed to CFC) and I loved that ski. Another thread on epic discusses this in the last few posts. : Big Stix 7.6. Anyway, for a buck 50 you can't go wrong.

Thanks to all who contributed to this thread earlier. Also thanks to the forum at Epic Ski as they influenced me for the good and pointed out a few excelent deals.

I just picked my new skis from Ski Challet today after mounting. My Fischer Big Stix 7.6 in the 175 are now mounted up with Rossignol Axial 110 bindings. Sweet! The first thing I noticed when picking them up was the camber it is huge. They seem more bowed out than any ski I have ever seen. and the wieght, its pretty light. And darn they ware stiff with theo bindings on there. Wow this is goign to be a ripping good ride. I will take them out for a full day on Sunday and post an extended follow up. I am also writing a season long culminating review of my Volkl 5* T50s this week as a prelude.