I've been skiing on Volkl 188 G31's and G41's since 2001. That's a long time to go without an equipment upgrade. For the past several years I've been eyeing out the Salomon Pocket Rockets, which were a huge hit on the mountain here. Last year my friend VC bought a pair of Salomon 1080 Foils, a successor to the now discontinued Pocket Rocket. He bought them as a pair of backcountry skis, putting a Diamir Fritchie Alpine Touring binding on them, but wound up using them as an all mountain alpine ski as well.
Yesterday I stepped into Kirkwood's Sports Shop in the village to warm up and see what gear they had this season. I noticed they had last year's 1080 Foil in the size I wanted (174cm), and better yet they were 40% off due to being last year's model. So I couldn't help myself and got a pair, putting a set of Salomon 914 bindings on them. The shop mounted the bindings and did a new ski prep in 45 minutes and this morning I got to see what they could do.
I can now say that all the hype about this ski is well deserved. It's an amazing ski. The short length makes a huge difference in cutting rapid turns down mogul fields or kick turns on the steeps. They also held up incredibly well doing speed runs down the Reut. I flew down Thunder Saddle in a way I never could do with my aging Volkls. I like these guys so much I may need to go out and get a fair of 1080 Guns for deep powder days as well.
