Like the 08-09 Surface Watch Life, the Bluehouse Antics struggled to rebound when going forward and landing slightly backseat, or going switch and landing tip-heavy. I’ve always been drawn to slightly stiffer park skis because of their forgiving nature in situations like these.
Blister Gear Review: Bluehouse Antics 182 from Scott Nelson on Vimeo.
But the issue with the connection points in the edge design proved to be the ski’s biggest issue. The eight main contact points of the ski and aren’t spot-welded together or firmly connected, and this caused significant durability problems. The result was frustrating; over time, the edges pulled out of the ski, away from the connection point on either side, and caused the tips and tails to delaminate. This problem steadily worsened while I was skiing on them. As the edges would pull away, the protruding section of edge would often drag and catch on the snow, and I’d be forced to cut out the jutting edge. On my Antics, this ultimately caused delamination in the tips and tails in addition to the edge ripping out beyond the contact point, leaving me with no edge at all in such crucial locations of the ski.
This design flaw overshadowed my otherwise positive experience with the Bluehouse Antics. I really wanted to like the ski—its minimal swing-weight and soft flex pattern made them very fun on rails and small- to medium-sized jumps. After about the fifth day of riding, however, the issue with the edges and impending tip delamination became a hassle and at times made hitting jumps somewhat dangerous.
I’m confident that if Bluehouse addresses this issue, skiers will really enjoy the many positive qualities of the Antics.
edge issues, problem solved… checkmate