Miller Soft report

As some of you may recall, I scored a pair of original Miller Soft skis
early in the season at a consignment shop, in good shape with good
bases. These skis were probably made in the early 1970s IIRC; at least
that's about the era when I first noticed them. They were specifically
designed by Earl Miller
http://www.lib.utah.edu/spc/mss/accn1570/accn1570.html for Utah powder
aqnd had limited distribution - you pretty much had to go to Utah to buy
them. Thus began a covetious relationship with what I thought was
unobtainable - owning and skiing Miller Softs. I was surprised and
gratified to discover this pair for sale (at $50.) I had my shop mount
them with demo bindings - I imagined others might like to test drive
such a (now) rare ski.

OK, enough background.
I tried them last Thursday at Alpine Meadows, in deep California Cement,
and hated them. Minimum sidecut, narrow, and no stiffness meant they
couldn't crank a GS turn in the deep. Two footed technique would send
each in a different direction, and outside weighting would leave the
outside ski buried tracking unforgiving snow leading to arkward lurching
to get the ski free for the next turn. And when making the last run into
the lift on the packed they didn't behave themselves (that minimal
sidecut thing again.) Very difficult skiing - I gave them three deep
snow runs and went into the locker for my regular California Cement deep
snow skis (K2 Piste Stinx) which have more sidecut and are stiffer,
while still relatively narrow. They would crank GS turns in the heavy.
Oh well - maybe it was another experiment with limited reward.

But last night we had another 18inches of reasonably light snow (at
least by California standards. And the Millers became stars today. The
narrowness meant I had none of that surface gliding - they would alway
porpoise deep into the soft and the soft shovel would bring them right
back up for the next turn. They really shined on steep where one could
launch a freefall drop into the soft and let the compression launch the
next turn, and the next, and the next. As long as the surface remained
soft they even managed crud and tracked up with aplomb, and handled the
lift return runout easily.

They were Beautiful. They were a Revelation. And they also put wide
plank "powder" skis to shame. Earl Miller got it right 35 years ago. IMO
it's a crying shame what people today are subjected to - skis that won't
allow the skier to enter the three dimensional world of deep snow
skiing, that force the skier to remain on top of the snow. It's time for
a ski counter-revolution. It's time for manufacturers to offer capable
skiers the choice of skiing in the snow rather than on the snow. Leave
the training skis for those who ski 8 or 10 days a year, and build some
new real powder skis for the rest of us.

In article ,
lal_truckee writes:
Leave the training skis for those who ski 8 or 10 days a year, and
build some new real powder skis for the rest of us.

So I'm curious: The Miller Soft are (were) by definition specialized
powder skis. What makes them any less of a cheating ski than say a
current mid fat ?

bruno.

Miko the pooch wrote:
In article ,
lal_truckee writes:

Leave the training skis for those who ski 8 or 10 days a year, and
build some new real powder skis for the rest of us.


So I'm curious: The Miller Soft are (were) by definition specialized
powder skis. What makes them any less of a cheating ski than say a
current mid fat ?

Narrow.

I'm interested in what a 3-D powder experience would feel like, ski
like. I think I understand the idea, but top to bottom there aren't
many places where a guy could actually experience it. But, maybe I have
the wrong idea about what you are saying.

chennai wrote:
I'm interested in what a 3-D powder experience would feel like, ski
like. I think I understand the idea, but top to bottom there aren't
many places where a guy could actually experience it. But, maybe I have
the wrong idea about what you are saying.

Short, edifying video
http://jacksonhole.com/movies/012702.mov
First half - boarder doing it in two dimensions
Second half - skier doing it in three dimensions

lal_truckee wrote:

chennai wrote:

I'm interested in what a 3-D powder experience would feel like, ski
like. I think I understand the idea, but top to bottom there aren't
many places where a guy could actually experience it. But, maybe I
have the wrong idea about what you are saying.


Short, edifying video
http://jacksonhole.com/movies/012702.mov
First half - boarder doing it in two dimensions
Second half - skier doing it in three dimensions

Ah, yes. I remember that video.

Currently, my skis - dynastar intuitiv 71s - are only moderately wide,
and - unlike the boarder - I definitely am not on the top surface of the
snow. Yet, I don't think I have any top to bottom control. Maybe I've
just never learned to do it right. Do the wider skis really stay on top
like the snowboard in the video?