I decided to buy a season pass, and start riding a chair regularly again for the 1rst time in twenty years. I needed a piste ski, I decided on the Pariah 97. It seemed like it might be wide to me, as my widest ski was 86 mm UF.
The ski is relatively light, but it is a birch/aspen core with a rubber foil dampening layer. I mounted it Voile Transit, because as a backcountry type guy I was interested in the binding. I’m skiing it with an F-1 boot.
I’ve found edgehold to be good, even on very firm steep Vermont blacks. I’m no racer, I just ski kind of fast, making whatever size turn seems like fun. The ski is also pretty quick edge to edge, again using a Vermont example, I had a lot of fun skiing those narrow, twisty, Vermont trails. The ski has handled heavy snow and mank well. I had it out yesterday in soft 50 degree F manmade. It floated well flat, and threw contrails on edge.
It’s a nice kind of all mountain ski, if that’s still a term. It has a little pop, but it’s easy to ride. It’s reasonably damp, but I certainly can feel glacier refrozen corduroy over dust. I guess the best thing I can say about it, is that I am strongly considering buying the scaled version. The downhill performance would be very good. I am confident the scales are the equal of Voile. It’s the glide that is my concern. I have a Falketind X and a Tindan, the Pariah doesn’t share the flex characteristics that make the first two skis glide. I’ve yet to get someone whom has skied both a Vector and a Vagabond 97, so I would know how the skis compare in the glide category.