I demoed the Renoun Z-90 in a 165 length while visiting with Phil & Tricia at Northstar yesterday. Obviously, these were mounted the way Phil prefers and tuned to his specs. I'll let him weigh in on any questions about those technical details. I liked them enough that I decided to join the Forum and post this review.
Conditions: about 6" of fresh, light powder overnight that was covering powder that had fallen in the previous days. Conditions varied slightly around the mountain and throughout the day.
Me: 5'7"; 155-160 lbs; more of a smooth, technical skier than a charger, 45+ years skiing, currently 30+ days per year, mostly out west, although I live in New England.
Let me say at the outset, I have never skied any skis like these. In an all-day test, they were simply a pleasure to ski and handled every condition on the mountain. I completely agree with Phil's assessment that these are "game-changing skis." It's a shame that the price is going to restrict the market. Until you have actually skied them, it's hard to understand why we are raving about them.
On to the "test report"
Started out on powder covered groomers. Could not believe how well they performed in a variety of turns. Short-, medium-, and long-radius turns were all easy to initiate. The ski tracked well in loose powder and handled transitions between untracked and tracked powder beautifully.
Moved over to the glades. I was skiing mostly short-radius fall-line turns and again the ski tracked beautifully in the powder. They were extremely quick edge-to-edge and turns were easy to initiate. Modulating the turn radius to maneuver between trees was effortless. These skis inspire confidence. By the third run I felt very comfortable (maybe too comfortable) and was skiing as fast or faster than I usually would in trees. No complaints at all, even when I found some sun-crust below the fresh powder.
Back to the groomers, which were getting skied off. Spent some time skiing in the partially tracked edges of the trail and then out onto the trail. Again, the transitions from tracked to untracked and back were smooth. Most other skis I use throw me around a bit under these conditions. Ramped up the speed and experimented with a variety of turn radii at higher speeds. The ski transitions well from short- to long-radius turns and can handle every speed I tried (I doubt I got above 40). They felt very stable at all speeds. Transitions from long- to short-radius turns at speed did not require me to scrub speed. It's just a smooth carve. Incredible!
On steeper slopes the ski carved and held on both short-radius and long-radius fall line turns. They are rock-solid stable at speed and very quick edge-to-edge. They simply do not feel 90 wide. My racing days are a distant memory, but the Renoun Z-90s performed as well as any slalom race ski I have experienced. (I moved from Volkl SL race skis as my everyday ski to shaped skis around 2000).
Parts of the hill had some wind-blown powder, sun crust and fresh over the top of those conditions. No ski truly handles those conditions well. The Renoun Z-90 did as well as I could expect. No adverse reaction from the ski. You just know you are not skiing in loose powder anymore.
Short-radius turns in small moguls were smooth but I didn't make it onto a serious mogul run to test them.
The 165 length did not seem short to me at all. I didn't get out on the 174's to compare the two, but I was happy on the 165 length.
Like many of Phil's other testers, it looks like a pair of these is in my future. I'm hoping to get a pair out on the slopes when I'm back east and see how they perform in typical eastern conditions. I'd also like to see if I notice any significant difference between the 165 and 174 length. Overall, these skis are truly impressive. They were able to handle everything the mountain and I threw at them without any complaints. I've never skied any other ski which didn't have some obvious weakness. I suspect they will have a limit in truly deep powder, but most of us have a powder-specific ski for those conditions.
As an aside, I demoed the Stockli Stormrider 88 in similar conditions the day before I tested the Renoun Z-90s. The Renouns were equal or superior in every respect. The Renouns are much quicker edge-to edge; held better on packed and steep conditions and were much easier to initiate turns on. Both were stable.
Finally, in reading through the various online comments about the Renoun, I see some questions and comments about whether the Renoun 77 would be a better ski - particularly for eastern conditions. The Renoun Z-90 is so quick edge-to-edge that I truly can't see why most skiers would need the narrower ski. The Renoun Z-90 just does not feel like a typical "mid-fat." It would be interesting to hear from anyone who has actually skied both the 77 and 90 in eastern conditions.
