Scout - Testimonials
i took my scouts out to big white, bc last week and had a great time with them--they are truly all mountain all condition as they handled powder to hard pack with hardly a break in rhythm. they ski as well as my "east coast" 149cm volkl tierra's. i can tell they are softer, but it didn't really matter as far as being able to ski in anything. before i left on my trip, i also skied with them at my home resort of wintergreen, va--not exactly a place where you would think a superfat would work--but it did great there too.
i'm sold on your brand--and a convert to the benefits of a wide waist--it's great to have a ski built for a little person--people in the lift lines admired the graphics and i recommended them to other small people who wanted to know about them.
fyi, while i was out at big white, a number of ski/snowboard makers had a mini-retailer day--two days where they invited retailers to come look at their stuff--lots of them are adding superfats to their line--even atomic is getting in on the act. looking at your demo schedule, perhaps it's time you broke into the eastern market. i know lots of small ski instructors who would like to give your skis a try.
anyway, my scouts are money well spent and i'm glad i went through the hassle of getting the bindings mounted on them--three ski shops and three weeks later, i finally got one shop to mount bindings on them--seems superfat gigs are not very common out here.
hope you are having a good season and best wishes for your 09-10 line,
~Cathy Margiotta
I wanted to let you know how well the Scout works with dynafit bindings and Scarpa F1 boots. I talked to you a while ago about this on the phone. I live in Michigan, and put dynafits on a pair of Karhu 10th mountain wax less cc skis which I use to ski into areas accessed by flat cc trails. I strap the Scouts on my pack and either drop into (with the Scouts) or skin up runs that look good as I get to them with the 10th mountains. The short length of the Scout works well on my pack, I don’t notice they're there when I'm moving along on the 10th mountains. As you may know, the Scarpa F1 is basically a tele boot with bellowed toes that has dynafit capability. Many thought this would be a poor match up as the boot would not have enough muscle to ski aggressive terrain. I've used this set-up out west last year in Tahoe to ski a couple laps on Mt. Tellac as well as steep tree runs at Kirkwood and the front face under the gondola at Heavenly following a big storm. My friends couldn't keep up! I have way more maneuverability on the Scouts, able to turn on a dime in tight situations. In Michigan, the trees are even tighter and the Scout makes it easy to ski unlimited terrain that no one else would venture into. Too bad for them, there's a lot. On hard pack runs the boot feels a little funny under foot, but works just fine. Your right, the faster you push these skis the better. At first I was scared to push it, as I thought the Dynafits would release the F1s, as they twist a bit d/t the bellowed toe. I didn't have one release, even on the steepest groomers. I ran them through a GS course, and though they aren't race skis (or boots), the set-up worked fine. I let my brother in law try the set up, and he is now trying to get outfitted with the same. Were going out to Park City on Feb. 5th, and intend to only bring this set-up, as we'll be going backcountry most of the time.
~Tim