Jonathan’s Gear for AK, Luke’s Latest Crash, & More (Ep.240)

4 comments on “Jonathan’s Gear for AK, Luke’s Latest Crash, & More (Ep.240)”

1. The soul 7 comparison was made by Ski Essentials:

   “Generally when you get a ski this wide with a tail as bulbous as it is, there’s some amount of catchy-ness and it can be a lot for some skiers. Low angle trees at moderate speeds were incredibly easy to ski, which feels just like that Soul 7, but the other side of this ski’s range of capabilities is the power and freestyle influence in its build and shape. Go win a Freeride World Tour stop. Go do a backflip off your favorite wind lip. Go look for weird hidden giant east coast gaps like I was finding on it. Go build a backcountry jump. Heck, go do a cork 9 off it and land switch. All of those things come to mind when I think about this ski, but it still has that easy side too. You could make a good argument that the Black Ops 118 has all those latter elements too, but that ski is nowhere near as easy to ski. It’s a tank and pretty tiring. There’s not much Soul 7 in a Black Ops 118. I don’t think anyone would disagree with me there. Also, not only does this Sender Free provide easy performance for a Soul 7 customer, it actually makes all those other things easier too”

   • Interesting. Based strictly on what you’ve quote here, I don’t see these claims as outlandish — it’s fair enough to try to answer the question of how this new 110 compares to the Soul 7.

     But Luke and I clearly believe that it’s far more misleading than helpful to try to draw parallels between the Soul 7 and the 110. If someone says to us that they’re looking for the closest thing to replace their Soul 7s, we won’t direct them to this ski. But I also think that a number of skiers who, say, really clicked with the 188 cm Soul 7 could get along well with the 184 cm 110 mounted at about -5.5 or -6.

2. I’m a gear nerd and all… but I wasn’t expecting this to be an episode on which boot liner to bring to Ak. You guys are on another level.

   • Nothing compares to an injected foam liner for precision and tight fit, but they can kill circulation because of the way they press against every part of your foot (the “weird feeling” that Luke describes). I used to near-exclusively use injected liners, but even back then I would think twice before bringing them on a heli or cat trip in cold conditions. When I did I brought extra boot-heater batteries. It’s actually a really important thing to think about for “off-resort” skiing IMO.

     The other thing about injected foam liners is that if you foot gets a little bit out of position during molding then that’s how they will ski in perpetuity. The molding process itself puts a lot of pressure on your foot, and if it gets a little out of balance (more pressure on lateral than medial side for example) then your foot can get pushed into a “bad” position regardless of how hard you try to stay centered. The tighter your shell is to begin with the less of an issue this is, but even so I’ve seen high-level (FIS+) racers walk in with multiple pairs, shoot them all, and keep the best one for each foot. I’ve hard that’s much less common now than it used to though (this was in the 80s-90s).

     Jonathan is spot on about modern stock liners. If (like me, and IIRC Jonathan) you have a foot that’s a good match to one or more makers’ LV boot lasts (perhaps with a reasonable amount of punching/grinding), then an Intuition-style heat-moldable liner can get you remarkably close. They key is not to ask a liner like that to fill much volume, hence the bit about your foot matching somebody’s LV last. Thickness that isn’t there can’t pack out.

     Finally, I personally think that the ZipFit provides the best balance overall. As Luke says it provides support close to an injectable liner where it really matters (heel pocket) and is fundamentally “adaptable”, i.e. you can use it in different shells, add cork, gradually remold it with the help of heat, etc.