Paul Forward’s Initial Review:
New for 16/17, the Meridian 107 has a full rocker profile and matching sidecut, which is something they’ve only previously done in the limited production Chipotle Banana, which was the inspiration for the Meridian 107.
With a more progressive mount (-5 cm) and a full twin tip design, the Meridian 107 is not a ski that would usually pique my curiosity. But after flexing the Meridian 107 and checking out the rocker and sidecut profile, I was intrigued.
Today, conditions ranged from 2-3 inches of fresh-but-recently-rained-on heavy snow, to full spring conditions including lots of corned-up bump skiing and some fairly deep, heavy chop.
After a morning of skiing on the 189 cm Kastle BMX 105, the 187 cm Meridian 107 immediately felt much lighter underfoot. While the Meridian 107 isn’t especially light (~2100+ g), its more centered mount and (possibly) its continuous rocker profile gave the immediate sensation of a low swing weight.
My first few turns did feel a bit awkward as I adjusted my stance to the forward mount. I wouldn’t say that I had to ski the Meridian 107 centered, but a slightly more upright body position seemed to be the most natural way to ski them, especially in the more cut up snow.
As I gained speed and especially in areas that were less bumped up, I was able to push into the tips to initiate turns and was rewarded with cleanly carved turns and great support at higher edge angles.
Most surprising to me was the fact that the Meridian 107 exhibited significantly less tip flap than the BMX 105 when smashing through slushy bumps, while also feeling much quicker and lighter than the BMX 105. Overall, the Meridian 107 is definitely more prone to deflection and feels less stable at higher speeds than the BMX 105 (which is 3 cm longer and weighs nearly 200 grams more than the Meridian 107).
But the Meridian 107 is still dramatically more powerful and stable feeling than the last poppy twin tip I’ve skied (K2 Marksman), and we’ll soon be weighing in on how the Armada ARV 106 stacks up against the Meridian 107 in this regard.
The thing that I’ve always liked about skis with continuous rocker profiles is that they feel very nimble when skied at low edge angles, but as they are tipped into increasingly high edge angles, the skier is rewarded with a commensurately longer effective edge and therefore more stability when you need it most. Based on my limited time on the Meridian 107, I think Moment has done a nice job executing this concept, and am excited to get them out into other conditions and areas.
Mount Point
While my initial inclination was to move the binding back so that it looked like a more traditional mount, I have so far resisted. It’s not my intent to try to make this ski into something that it’s not, and overall, I’ve been impressed with the current mount. That said, I do plan to play with the mount a little bit and will update when I do.
Bottom Line (For Now)
I’ve probably had the most fun on the Meridian 107 of any ski I’ve used in these conditions on the trip so far. This may be due to the variations in conditions and temperatures throughout the day, but I think there’s more to it. While I usually favor longer, heavier, damper skis, the Meridian 107 was a fun balance of offering enough stability to ski reasonably fast, while still feeling quite playful and slashy. I felt like the ski was constantly coaxing me into a more playful style of skiing, which is a cool sensation and something I look forward to exploring more.
Jonathan Ellsworth’s Review
Our time on the Meridian 107 has been a bit complicated, which in some ways isn’t a surprise since this is definitely a rather unusual ski.
We took the ski to New Zealand, where Paul Forward had positive initial impressions, but he was still figuring out and dialing in the ski. Then I got on the Meridian 107 at Bachelor and, despite the incredible conditions, completely hated the Meridian 107. I found it to be pretty much unskiable. Paul and I have never had radical disagreements about skis, so this was bizarre.
I left Mt Bachelor quite confused, but mostly thinking that I needed to detune the ski — especially the tails — and play some more with the mount point.
And then some of you wrote in with your own experiences on the Meridian 107, and nobody was reporting that they’d had an experience similar to mine. What’s going on here?
Last week, I was about to take the Meridian 107 up to the mountain with a gummy stone and diamond stone, and was prepared to detune the crap out of these skis.
But what I’d experienced at Mt Bachelor was so not-subtle that I wasn’t convinced that merely detuning the ski would bring it around. And frankly, I was scared to get on this reverse-camber ski in less-than-deep powder. So I put a true bar on the bases of the Meridian 107 to double check that they were flat. They weren’t. And the back half of the skis were “railed,” or were running “edge high” — the edges of the ski were higher than (i.e., were hitting the snow sooner than) the smooth, fast, p-tex material on the base of the ski.
Why hadn’t we caught this earlier? Moment had hustled to get us this ski in time to take to New Zealand (since it was the #1 ski that Blister readers had asked us to review in NZ), and we received the ski the night before we left. But even so, our practice is to review skis exactly as they come from the factory, since that is what most people do — buy skis, get them mounted, go ski them. It’s only if we then experience something odd or off that we will then start playing with the tune.
Anyway, I took the skis to Alpine Sports in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Alpine did a full base grind and tune, and the skis came out perfectly flat and with a 2-degree side bevel, 1-degree base bevel. It was good-looking work.
I was certain that the Meridian 107’s were going to ski better, but honestly, they were so problematic at Mt Bachelor, I didn’t know how much better they’d be. But Monday, I broke them out at Taos to find out…
And right away, just skiing from the top of Chair 1 to the bottom of Chair 2, the skis felt very different. Whew.
And then I headed straight to one of my favorite reference runs, Reforma. The Meridian 107 felt fantastic. Literally every single issue that I’d experienced with the skis at Bachelor was gone. I was still skiing them mounted just shy of 1.5 cm behind the line (since I’d had that weird feeling I discussed above when mounted on the line). The skis performed beautifully, handling the double-fall line of Reforma, and some big moguls with some pretty deep, wind-scoured trenches just fine. And what Paul Forward was describing was starting to line up pretty exactly with my experience.
Subsequent laps down other runs (and of course, more Reforma laps), felt better and better as I gained more confidence that these skis weren’t going to behave unpredictably. I started skiing Reforma and Pollux (a relatively steep, moguled-up tree run) as fast as I would have on any other ski.
In some deeper, punchy snow in St. Bernard (off of West Basin), the reverse-camber profile of the Meridian 107 became a real asset — the skis weren’t getting caught up or hung up in the grabby snow, but would easily pivot out of deep snow that was clustering up in the narrow choke of St. B. On a lap down Taos’s Oster — that was forming pretty big moguls and some wind-scoured trenches — the Meridian 107 still performed well. The ski doesn’t have a tail rocker profile or a flex pattern that wants you to get on your heels on wind-scoured patches, but stay centered or forward, and these skis work very well in moguled-up, relatively steep tight lines, since their rocker profile makes them so easy to pivot.
Groomers
I didn’t detune the skis at all after I got them from Alpine Sports. So these had a fresh 2/1 tune on them. And while I definitely did not immediately trust that these skis would carve predictably, by the end of the day, I was skiing very fast and carving these hard. So much so that I can’t really comment yet about how these handle tighter turns at slower speeds. But at least on soft groomers, I can vouch for the Meridian 107’s ability to make very fast GS turns. The skis felt very good on edge.
As with any full-reverse-camber ski I had zero interest in running these skis bases flat on groomers or wind-scoured patches; keep these skis on edge, or they may well want to wander / swim on you. But get them on edge just a little — or a lot — and the skis felt quite locked in; not stuck (like they felt at Bachelor), but very confident and strong on edge, while still easy to break out of a carve and pivot through moguls, trees, etc.
Comparisons
I’m going to flesh this out in a Deep Dive article soon, after I get a bit more time on the Meridian 107. But for now, a few quick thoughts.
Keep in mind that I was skiing these about 1.3 – 1.4 cm behind the recommended line. But at that location, these skis reminded me a bit of the previous iteration of the Blizzard Cochise — before Blizzard gave the Cochise a bit of camber underfoot, or put carbon in the tips and tails. If you read my original review of the Cochise from back in 2012, we talked about how strong of ski it is, yet how willing it is to be thrown sideways, slash turns, and pivot. Welp, those things are all true of the Meridian 107.
There will be other comparisons to make here, of course, but for now — and given the pretty strong flex pattern of the Meridian 107 — you could do worse than to think of the Meridian 107 as a less-directional, more tip and tail rockered previous generation Cochise that has a twinned-up tail that you can butter and spin on. A strong ski (like the Cochise), but a more playful ski.
Of course, you can also reference skis like the ON3P Kartel 108, Faction Candide 3.0, and Whitedot Director when talking about the Meridian 107, and I’ll be saying more about all of those skis in the upcoming Deep Dive.
Mount Point Update — 1.08.17
Having now skied the Meridian 107 again at the recommended line (which is -5 cm from true center), I have to say that I personally prefer the Meridian 107 a bit further back; the skis felt really good to me when I was almost 1.5 cm behind the line (call it 6.3 cm behind center, if you wish). But the important note here is that I’m not spinning these things. And so using the Meridian 107 more as an all-mountain directional ski, I loved how hard I could push the ski when mounted in that -6 to -6.5 cm range. At -5 cm, I wanted just a bit more ski out in front of me. At -5 cm, I also still felt a little bit of that sensation that I first reported, that the flex pattern of the ski felt better when I was back just a bit. To be clear, I felt “fine” / okay at -5, but if I was going to ski the Meridian 107 all season, I would definitely drill my pair about 1.5 cm behind the line, and I would have a really good time.
Bottom Line #2
I can already say with certainty (since I proved it yesterday) that in soft and mixed conditions, I can very happily ski the Meridian 107 — and push it hard — down my favorite lines, and in a wide range of conditions.
Those looking for a fun, pivoty ski that can still hold up to very hard and fast skiing in variable conditions and in bumped-up terrain … i.e., a freestyle ski with balls … the Meridian 107 should be on your radar. Those coming from soft, very playful skis will probably find the Meridian 107 to be too stiff. But those who find themselves taking more directional skis and mounting them forward (because they like the burliness that’s often found in directional skis, and not often found in more playful skis), may get along very well with the Meridian 107.
Deep Dive Comparisons: Moment Meridian 107
Become a Blister Member or Deep Dive subscriber and check out our Deep Dive of the Meridian 107 to see how it stacks up against the ON3P Kartel 108, Faction Candide 3.0 & Prodigy 3.0, 4FRNT Devastator, Folsom Blister Primary, Fischer Ranger 102 FR, Nordica Enforcer 110, and more…
NEXT: Luke Koppa’s Review of the Meridian 107
Jonathan,
Are you two-timing on us or did someone over at #$@ magazine steal your coat in order to add some cred to there 17 winter guide? Look forward to the new season, thanks for providing the early stoke here.
Ha, thanks Jon. I don’t know – I’m reviewing a couple new coats on this trip, so maybe someone did steal my jacket?
Finally! Anxious to learn whether the ski is worth the “Hype”.
Oh well and I hope the review will get into depth on the following quote from another review: “Asymmetric tips add sex Appeal” I deem this vital!!! Yet, I fear you get to much distraction from all the sexy gear you are reviewing and old college buddys with their questionable influences you are hanging out with in NZ.
Ha, nothing to worry about, Hannes. We’ve managed to stay pretty focused. Sadly, however, Volkl failed to get the Confession to us in time for the trip (after assuring us it would be here) … so we won’t be able to weigh in on that ski till this winter. But apparently, its on snow performance is kind of like your questionable college buddy or something.
Hey guys,
Did you manage to get the Faction 3.0 out to NZ with you? Would love to know your thoughts.
J
Interesting, two totally different perspectives on the same ski, it must come down to skiing style? I spent a day on a pair of 181cm that my son has that are mounted at -3 from true center and thought they skied great, quick, playful, carved well, liked them better then the PB&J, but not as well as my Bibbys (that’s why I own 4 pair of them and 1pr. of exit worlds). I have a 305bsl, and ski very centered and maybe slightly foreword, and off the balls of my feet, never off my heels. its funny that you think the mount point is maybe off, I have found for me that Moment’s mount points are too far back, I have skied about every ski they have made and found that they all ski better more foreword, my Bibbys are at -1.5cm to – 4cm from true center and I think they ski best their. It would be interesting to see what other people have thought on the ski.
Thanks for your comments, Billy. It’s definitely a bit odd, since Paul and I usually have quite similar takes on skis. But this is part of the reason why we try to get multiple reviews up on a ski — and why we always like to hear from anyone who has spent a decent amount of time on or in a product we’ve reviewed. So especially in this case, I’m hoping that a number of people will weigh in.
I recently spent three solid days on the 171 Meridian (mounted on the line) at Lake Louise and Sunshine Village in the Canadian Rockies and can weigh-in with a few thoughts. Conditions ranged from firm to soft-packed with some areas of 6-8” chop off-piste. I’m 5’6”, 140lbs. Other skis I really like: 14/15 Blizzard Bodacious (176, mounted +1 from line) and last year’s 4FRNT Kye 110 (174, mounted on the line). I’ve also spent time on the 170cm Kastle XX110 at different mount points.
The Meridian is the first fully-rockered ski I’ve been on (14/15 Bodacious has a smidge of camber), and I tend to gravitate to stronger directional skis. I was looking for a twin-tip, more center-mounted ski to play around on that still maintains some degree of backbone and stability. My natural stance is neutral to slightly ball-of-foot and fairly upright. I was surprised how little adjustment I needed to make to feel balanced and stable on this ski in a variety of terrain on mostly firmer snow. I felt confident skiing pretty fast and making different turn shapes, although after three days I’m not sure I would call this an especially “playful” ski. While the Meridian feels very stable, supportive, and easily maneuverable, it doesn’t seem to drift in softer snow as naturally as I was expecting, and similar to what Jonathan noted in his review, if I weighted the heel too heavily at the end of a turn, the ski would tend to launch out a bit ahead of me. Those moments reminded me a bit of the end-of-turn feel of my old neon-yellow Kastle slalom race skis (Pirmin Zurbriggen style) that I grew-up with on the East Coast. However, when I maintained my neutral stance and always kept my feet under my center of gravity, everything generally worked well. Prior to taking these out to the hill, I did conservatively detune a bit fore and aft of the tip and tail taper. My first thought after those three days was that I would definitely detune some more.
Another interesting(?) thing I noticed was that I had some difficulty dialing-in landings on this ski. I wasn’t spinning at all, just catching air off various sized kickers. If I didn’t land solidly in my neutral stance and was a bit off-balance, the tails seemed to throw me rather than support. I’m sure much of this is user deficiency as I’m not the most skilled in the air, but the Bodacious, Kyes and XX110s all immediately felt more intuitively secure (and more forgiving) on landings.
I’m looking forward to taking these into more consistently deeper conditions and steeper terrain (open and treed) at Revelstoke in a few weeks and will weigh-in again to the conversation. We’ll see how more detuning works out in combination with getting to know the ride better. I’ve certainly been having a fun time on these skis, and I’m wondering if packed-out resort conditions might be the sweet spot for this ski. That would be fine by me, but I wouldn’t mind a bit more natural slide and drift in the ride that would seem to correspond to this ski shape. Maybe that aspect will emerge with time and a further detune. At the end of the day, though, the “sex appeal” of the asymmetrical tips is all that matters, right? ;)
GREAT feedback, Eric! Thank you. Curious re: landings – you said the tails seemed to throw you — throw you forward, or throw you back?
Thrown back… right on my rear end… several times, and much to the amusement of my friend. I really can’t blame this on the ski, however. I think it’s just sloppy form on my part in the air and on landings. My point would be that I could get away with less-than stellar form on the Bodacious and Kyes and still stomp solid landings. Looking forward to getting to know this ski better, though, and I’ll report back to these comments when I have more to add.
Eric- The pair I rode where HEAVILY detuned which loosens them up quite a bit, I also noticed that off jumps you need to land pretty centered or even slightly foreword, because of the tail rocker, but I found the tips plenty supportive. If you have ever skied the Armada ARG, the tails of those and the Meridian feel the same, if you get just a little to far back on them you will feel the lose of control is huge. it’s defiantly a ski that you want to stay centered or even slightly foreword on.
Thanks, Billy. Interested in detuning a bit more and seeing how that works out. Feeling optimistic about it. And yes, three days on the Meridians made me realize I need to work on my form in the air and on landings. And that’s not such bad work to have to do, is it?
Well I guess it’s time for a detune…I’ve had the 181 Meridians out for a few spins this year and I couldn’t quite put my finger on why they didn’t seem as playful/fun as expected. A few days ago I took them into steep trees with soft snow and I felt like the tails were hooking which surprised me because I thought a 181 cm full rockered ski would be the perfect tool for these conditions. This past weekend I took out my 184 Blister Pro in 14″ of fresh and they crushed. I was in heaven. This led me to think that maybe the issue was that I put guardians on the Meridians and used them with the Salomon MTN Explore boot which has a lower cuff that the Fischer Vacuums I use with the Bibby’s. So the next day I went out my old 184 Deathwish that is setup with Marker Tour F12’s and the MTN Explorers and I had a blast. So not the boot. Would you suggest detune first and then perhaps move the mount back a bit (I was thinking they seem a bit forward on the line)?
Yep, detune first. That’s an easy one to play with / change / etc.
Hey Jonathan- a quick update. Detuned the tips and tails and the ride still sucked. Took ’em in for a base grind/complete tune and they were a bit better but I still seemed too far forward for my taste on the recommended line. Switched out the Salomon Guardians for some Look Pivots that I had them mount -1.5 and, along with my inbounds boot, it is a completely different experience! I’ve had two full days on the retooled stix and I actually can’t wait to get on them again. I even pulled ’em off ebay (yeah, I was that frustrated with them) and am now trying to decide whether to take just them, or my Blister Pro’s, to Big Sky in a couple weeks…I’ll probably find room for both but on all but the deepest days (or firmest days) I can see the Meridan becoming my goto ski. Thanks for the continued updates (and those of the other commenters) they are appreciated.
Paul, curious to hear an update on your experience on the Meridians, especially re how they compare to the Deathwish(es?) – your opinion on both skis would really valuable as I’m tossing up between the two. Anything in particular you love/hate about each ski – and which would be your quiver-killer of choice?
Shay, I’m really liking the Meridians right now – I hated them out of the box – but after Jonathan’s suggested tweaks they are a good time and a different ride than my other skis. I like variety. The Meridian’s are especially fun with a little fresh snow and in the trees. They also are surprisingly good on firmer snow when laid over, high edge. The Deathwishes I have, I bought used, and are a little beat up – that’s what I ‘hate’ about them – but they are a super fun versatile ski. And, personally, I really like the triple camber as I seem to get that serrated knife edge feeling when laying them over on even the firmest snow. I feel more control with the Deathwishes than the Meridian or Bibby’s on firm snow. The Deathwish is super fun when you let the bases run flat. Smeary and surfy. If I was staring fresh and could only pick on of these I’d buy a new pair of the 184 Deathwish. Starting fresh and picking two I might go 181 Meridian and 190 Blister/Bibby Pro. All of this is predicated on being 5’10” 180 lbs and skiing almost exclusively in the Rocky Mountain West.
Damn, Paul, I think Shay owes you a beer. Thanks for the solid feedback-ing.
Yo, 5,9” 160 pounds, been riding 184 SFB and 189 Armada Norwalk. Picked up the 187 Meridian this year looking for an all mountain reverse camber ski to play all over the resort and back country. Mounted dukes at 2cm back from true center. 4 days in and the experience has been good. At first felt really hooky at tip and tail, gave it 2 days to feel them out and with a bit of adjusted skiing style got better but I did end up detuning tips and tails, made a big difference, easy to throw sideways and smear when needed now. Way stiffer than both the Bacon and the Norwalk but still fun and playful. I have no issue carving and hooking up turns on groom but definitely a bit more work making different radious archs. Plenty of confidence at speed. Got a chance to take them through some steep, skied, chopped wide open snow today, all smiles, they exelled and exceeded expectation. I could charge with zero reservations. Still early but so far very pleased. Think they will be a great all mountain option that can be a good short tour ski also.
Really appreciate the feedback Scott. And really interesting to hear them compared against the SFB and Norwalk, two very different skis. So I’m glad that, coming from those, you’re digging this one, too.
Very long effective edge on the meridian. Even with an aggressive detune they railed on groom. Felt much more loose after rounding the corners. Had them mounted originally at the line, moved them forward 3cm after 2 days. Like the more centered position, maybe because its closer to the mount I run on the SFB.
Well this is a bummer.. i thought it might be somewhat like the sickle.. and from the sounds of.. not at all.
well.. detuned heavily they seem vaguely sickle like… but i like full rocker because i can slash/slarve turns with them very easily.. and it doesn’t sound like this is the case with this ski.
so back to looking at rocker camber rocker… though man.. every ski i’ve been interested in lately seems to not what i want based on the reviews here.
Detune them a bunch, and I do believe that you will be able to loosen up the Meridian, as several people here have attested to. But the thing about the Sickle: its reverse camber / full rocker profile was super, super subtle. In terms of rocker profile, the Sickle is much closer to a ski like the V-Werks Katana or current Volkl Mantra — of course, the Mantra and Katana are very different skis in other ways.
Hey Jonathan, skied these a bit last spring and LOVED them. How would you compare them to the Metals? Curious…
Hey, Ryan – I’m going to get a bit more time on the Meridians before writing my Deep Dive comparisons article, but the most pronounced difference is that I would feel pretty comfortable putting a low-level skier on The Metal, whereas I think the stiffness and the rocker profile of the Meridian is going to be better suited to more advanced skiers. The shovels of the Meridian are also stiffer than The Metal, so while I’d want to keep the Meridian in at least fairly soft snow, I think the Meridian would hold up better to skiing hard and fast in soft chop / tracked-up pow. So just a couple preliminary thoughts, and I’ll flesh this out soon….
Volkl One sounds really similar. I have been thinking to make a move on it but this might make things different…
Your thoughts on differences?
Having skied both, the Volkl One is waaaaaay more of a noodle, and flops around way more on groomers. Meridian much stiffer overall and I think a better ski for firm snow, lay it down and it carves a real pretty turn.
Still waiting on Blister’s review of the current 4FRNT 184 cm Devastator. Seems like a direct competitor to the Meridian. Maybe a little less jibby with less tail splay and a more subtle rocker profile throughout, but still similar.
And for you, Ian, I’m pretty sure you’ll like the 184 cm Devastator if the 186 cm Sickle was your prior favorite.
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php/301737-Is-the-4FRNT-Devastator-the-new-and-improved-Rossignol-Sickle
This has been an interesting review to follow regarding the different experiences of the testers on this ski. It does shine light on the only consistent blind spot in Blister’s comprehensive reviews and that is simply the state of tune of the ski being tested out of the wrapper. Would love to see all the reviews start with a proper tune, until the ski has one how do you really know the nuances?
It might come as no surprise, but I completely disagree with this. (I’ve talked about this before on the site, multiple times.) This isn’t a “blind spot” in how we do things, it is a very deliberate, conscious decision. As I wrote in this review (and having talked to a number of ski shops about this), 80-90% of people get a ski, stick a binding on it, and go ski it. The vast majority of skiers do not first put a perfect tune on their skis. So what we want to identify is how a ski performs right out of the wrapper. Sometimes, the skis are great. Sometimes, they need to be detuned — and we can then note in the review exactly where we felt the need to, which might be useful if other folks are having a similar experience / difficulty (e.g., my review of the Liberty Origin 96). If we put the exact same tune on every ski before we go ski it … we lose this potentially useful information. And what sets Blister apart is that we will then keep coming back to a ski until we have made the necessary adjustments (e.g., our reviews of the mount points of the previous Rossi Squad 7, and the current Soul 7 HD). So you can disagree with our process, but by no means are these blind spots. And while there might be a rare exception from time to time, I’m not tempted to change our general process.
I don’t know. By that logic, you would start riding them all at the recommended line. Looking back at this review, you pretty thoroughly trashed this ski with your stream of consciousness writing. I have no horse in this race, but simply saying “tune out of the wrapper was bad” – after base grind, my impression was X would have made for a better read.
First, we do start by testing the vast majority of our skis on the recommended line, then move away from the line if and when we find reason to. (There were a couple exceptions to this, but most of those were in the early days of Blister. The policy for years, now, has been to start on the line unless we have very good reasons to depart. And if we do depart, we say why.)
Second, I’ve already explained why I proceeded as I did. And that wasn’t stream of consciousness, it was struggling to identify and articulate exactly what I was feeling on snow, which sounds like it was useful to some readers who were having some struggles themselves.
So I honestly don’t give a damn about whether this could have been “a better read.” Once in a great while, things get messy, and that happened here. So it became more of a process, but things got sorted out. Our job is to be honest about all of it, and we were.
A “proper” tune is also pretty subjective and dependent on a skier’s style of skiing. I appreciate your “out of the wrapper” approach, especially when you come back with updates on mount points or tuning suggestions.
I’m looking forward to hearing about more of your skis you brought to NZ! Moment Bibby Tour and 4FRNT Raven please! And did you guys get your hands on some Faction CT 3.0s???
I have spent time on both the 184 4front devastator and the Meridian, even thou they seam similar they ski VERY different, the Meridian is way quicker and more playful and I thought it held a way better edge, the Devastator feels heavy and planky and it is, and even thou the Meridian is quite a bit lighter its just as good in the sierra chop, stiffness is about the same, maybe the 4front is a slightly stiffer. I can say I was VERY underwhelmed with the 4front.
Could the Meridian become a good Sickle replacement, some of us have been waiting for?
Having read through all of the Blister Meridian reviews, I’m confused as to where they are best mounted?
Regardless, every single unflattering word Jonathan said about the ski, I agreed with. I even put a true bar on them prior to skiing, noticed they were convex starting about 15cm behind the mount point (both skis! hasty manufacturing?), and rushed to ski them anyway. I had one of the worst days skiing in my life.
I’m likely to re-mount further back, base grind, and de-tune (slightly) before I throw these out the window…. because after the first day I skied them, I almost threw the thousand dollar Meridian and Kingpin setup out the friggin’ window. Ugh.
(Admittedly, with the asymmetry of the reviews, I was shocked to find them so frequently recommended in the Blister printed mag.)
Hey, James – I’m skiing the Meridian again today, and while I didn’t really feel like moving them forward of my last mount (about -1.3 cm behind the recommended line, where I really loved the skis slightly set back), I’m trying the recommended line again and will report back. UPDATE: See the new section on mount points in my review.)
For now, if I were you, I might hold off on mounting back, but I would highly recommend getting that base grind. Obviously, it barely sums up the difference to say that my experience has been night and day. Stay tuned…
Jonathan,
I do agree with your statement about what 80-90% people do. I would suggest its not the best approach. A ski will only ski its best with a “good’ to perfect tune on it. Anything less than a good tune (it is a bit subjective) will hurt the performance of the ski. So the method you choose to evaluate a ski, is testing both the ski and the quality control of the tuning dept at the ski manufacturer. I give Blister a lot of credit for sorting out a bad tune on a ski and reporting it.
A different approach, is toinspect and/or measure every ski before using it to get an idea of the state of the tune. That will drastically shorten your test cycle for a badly tuned ski. I am a coach on a race team and have become very experienced on how the tune (actually the base bevel to be even more specific) effects the performance of the ski. I can say through experience, that every ski I have detuned to deal with some issue was completely cured of the issue with a base grind and proper tune. If you put a proper tune on every ski before you tested it, I would predict you would almost never need to detune a ski. I am sure there are exceptions and that some people like certain types of behavior that can be enhanced with detuning.
Here’s my point, if all skis you test do not have a “good” tune, then they will have some degree of “bad” performance. If the factory provides a good tune you are ready to test out of the box. If the factory delivers a bad tune you figure it out (sincere kudos to you guys). But if the factory provides an in between tune, you might just assume its the way the ski performs and report it that way. Inspecting the tune would clear that up.
You guys are still the best testers out there by far.
Jonathan wrote:
“This isn’t a “blind spot” in how we do things, it is a very deliberate, conscious decision. As I wrote in this review (and having talked to a number of ski shops about this), 80-90% of people get a ski, stick a binding on it, and go ski it. The vast majority of skiers do not first put a perfect tune on their skis. So what we want to identify is how a ski performs right out of the wrapper. Sometimes, the skis are great. Sometimes, they need to be detuned — and we can then note in the review exactly where we felt the need to, which might be useful if other folks are having a similar experience / difficulty (e.g., my review of the Liberty Origin 96). If we put the exact same tune on every ski before we go ski it … we lose this potentially useful information. And what sets Blister apart is that we will then keep coming back to a ski until we have made the necessary adjustments (e.g., our reviews of the mount points of the previous Rossi Squad 7, and the current Soul 7 HD). So you can disagree with our process, but by no means are these blind spots. “
Johnathan. Speaking of tunes how do you like to tune your Bibby’s at 190. I’m 6′ 210. Love the ski. Thanks for the recommendation.
Hi, Steve – I’ve always gone with a 1/1 tune on my 190s, and I don’t think I’ve ever needed to detune them when I’ve gotten them back from the shop. But on this point, everyone should feel free to detune away if they wish – no right or wrong answer to that one.
Great review and not surprised at your experience given they were base high. To others asking about tuning “preferences”, getting a set of skis that are edge high and flattening and rebeveling them is not a preference issue. It’s just fixing something that is very wrong. I am a moment guy and disappointed to learn they shipped skis without a flat base to edge. Poor QC to say the least. I have recent experience with this as my 4 year old pair of Bibbys came back edge high. It totally changed a ski that is my all time favorite to something that was borderline dangerous on Firm snow. Had to get that rectified immediately with a new stone grind but unfortunately took some confidence away in the ski naturally that I’ll have to get back with a properly set base edge.
Long story short, an edge high base can ruin any ski, particularly a wide ski, and really hope this is a one off rare occurrence from moment and not a new trend. Can be fixed fairly easily with a stone grind and reset base bevel but you’d like to trust skis you get from the factory. Moment is supposed to ship skis at 1/1 bevels. No Bueno.
FWIW, Bob – we have skied a bunch of skis from Moment over the years, and this is the first time there was ever an issue with a ski being edge high. I’m not worried about this being a trend.
Jonathan and Paul,
I am surprised by your review on the Meridian. I expected that they would not be versatile.
From Moment I currently own the 188 PB&J and 190 Deathwish. I tried the 190 Bibby’s for a season but didn’t love them because I felt they were only lively at speeds around Mach 10 (strange I know). The Deathwish are fairly versatile and serve as my go to when I only want to travel with one ski. I had a lot of fun on 189 Hellbent’s back in the day but I couldn’t seem to find a balanced position on the Hoji’s.
I won’t have an opportunity to demo the Meridian so would you advise giving them a whirl considering the above?
6’2″ 190 lbs
Cheers,
Chris
Just to make it clear, my bases were “edge high” in the lower 1/3rd of the ski, but there were other issues. I can’t post pictures here, but the edges had very deep ridges. The guys at Precision Ski (in Frisco, CO) said they’d never seen anything quite like it. Imagine deep grooves down the length of the metal edge (top of ski to bottom) as though someone combed it from top to bottom. This was an additional reason I could not turn the ski whatsoever in hard pack. Lastly, they said the ski had a grind pattern more suited for Northwest “wetter snow” although I personally don’t know what that means and they adjusted it for skiing here in Colorado.
They are fully re-tuned, but I still see some ridges in the edges and so will likely have those ground even more. I have not yet gotten back up on them, but like many here, I will start out being very leery of this ski due to the very bad first experience.
Can you Guys please do a review of the Bella (female version of the Meridian). Thanks!
how would you compare the meridian to the SN 108 and the wren 108? saw your comments comparing the wren and the SN 108 and was wondering if you could weigh in on the meridian in that comparison….
the sn108 and wren 108 are both rocker/camber/rocker so I’m not sure its a fair comparison
The Meridian looks fantastic how does it compare to Sego Prospect 120 with partial swallow tail ? Having skied the Prospect 120 with partial swallow tail the Meridian has some stiff currently predictable competition.
Since I could not demo Meridian anywhere in the PNW no one ski shop stocks it i went withSeg6 Prospect 120 ….and LOVE IT……BETTER MAYBE EVEN OVER THE BIBBY AT LEAST FOR ME 510 205 LBS IN A 187 YUM
Hey Guys — Is there is a 117 Meridian review coming? I opted for the 107mm underfoot Whitedot Director (based on Will Brown’s review of the ski) over the 107mm underfoot Meridian and couldn’t be happier with the selection, however I am looking for a slightly fatter version of that shape to go between the Directors and the 128mm underfoot Whitedot Redeemers which I save for the deep mechanized days. Thanks for all the beta.
Thanks as always for the great reviews – the level of care and detail you put into these articles is awesome!
How do you guys think the 187cm Meridian (either the 107mm or 117mm) would compare to the 187cm 4frnt Hoji? I had a pair of 2014 Hojis that seemed to have a comparable rocker profile, mount point, and weight, but I lost a ski in a nasty bail last winter and I’m looking to replace them with something similar. 4frnt switched up the ski and made it a lot lighter, so I don’t think it’s what I’m looking for any more in terms of weight/stability (looking to mount with alpine bindings for resort days when there’s new snow). I’m 6ft, 170lbs, lifelong skier living in Whistler BC. I have a pretty centred stance but I ski aggressively. Plenty of fresh snow to go around here, but the terrain is pretty varied – everything from big turns in alpine terrain to booting it through lower-elevation trees. I liked how the Hoji was super floaty in deep snow and able to handle super long-radius turns in open terrain, while still being super nimble and playful in the trees or when it came time to slarve and smear. If you guys have any other suggestions that would be cool as well!
Thanks,
Chris
I’ve been following this discussion as I had a very different experience on the meridian 107 when I demoed them (181 cm, surfy, fun) vs when I purchased my pair (187 cm, stuck, cumbersome to turn). Long story short, I ended up putting a tyrolia attack demo binding on and through experimentation, I’ve arrived at a mount point of approximately -3.5 cm from true center (1.5 cm in front of the recommended line) as my sweet spot.
Hope this helps someone, rather than adding to any confusion.
After much more experimentation I’d like to update my experience. If I want to ski off the middle of my foot and carve, the above works best for me (+1.5 cm from recommended). If I want to ski off the ball of my foot and surf and slarve around, I went to -3 from recommended. I don’t think its’s how the ski was designed, but its what works for me. Both fun ways to ski!!
Thank you for the great reviews! I love reading these write-ups and find them super in depth.
Have you all skied or looked into the Meridian Tour 107? I am thinking about getting some rockered skis to have a bit of fun with and for the most part have liked what I have heard about the Meridian 107’s. I would like something lighter to use as a 50/50 ski with some Barons and the Meridian Tour 107s seem to answer that call, I am just wondering how much dampness and stiffness I may be losing for that lighter weight.
Question for Luke – You say they don’t feel* like they’d be great for slow speed butters, etc. How would they compare to, say, a Candide 4.0 in the butter department? Jibby skier looking for an all mountain ski to round out my quiver (ON3P Magnus in the park and Candide 4.0 in the pow).
Thanks for a great review. My holy grail is a lower weight Devastator and this might fit the bill, however, it’s still is a little hefty for 50/50 use.
Any idea on how the Meridian Tour compares?