From: Utah Outside http://www.utahoutside.com/?p=829
(Yes, we did have the IQ Max Slider for the 09/10 season - but people are starting to really take notice - The IQ Max Slider grabbed people's attention this year in Denver at SIA.)
For the 2010/11 ski season, Blizzard is introducing the IQ Max System. It’s a new, innovative way of mounting bindings to skis. According to Blizzard, you can mount any binding to a “Slider,” which then slides onto the ski securely between two “rails.” Once in, it takes only one screw to mount to binding to the topsheet.
Another advantage to this seems to be the ability to adjust the binding forward or backwards, on-the-fly. Maybe it’s a powder day and you want to keep your tips up. Slide the binding back a little. Ready to hit the moguls? Slide the binding forward. There is 7cm of adjustment room on the Slider, so there are lots of options depending on your skiing style. I think this IQ Max System Blizzard came up with has a lot of potential and I’m looking forward to seeing how skiers take to it when it becomes available next season.
(Yes, we did have the IQ Max Slider for the 09/10 season - but people are starting to really take notice - The IQ Max Slider grabbed people's attention this year in Denver at SIA.)
For the 2010/11 ski season, Blizzard is introducing the IQ Max System. It’s a new, innovative way of mounting bindings to skis. According to Blizzard, you can mount any binding to a “Slider,” which then slides onto the ski securely between two “rails.” Once in, it takes only one screw to mount to binding to the topsheet.
Another advantage to this seems to be the ability to adjust the binding forward or backwards, on-the-fly. Maybe it’s a powder day and you want to keep your tips up. Slide the binding back a little. Ready to hit the moguls? Slide the binding forward. There is 7cm of adjustment room on the Slider, so there are lots of options depending on your skiing style. I think this IQ Max System Blizzard came up with has a lot of potential and I’m looking forward to seeing how skiers take to it when it becomes available next season.
I am 5’8’’ 145 lb. aggressive, all mountain skier – Level 9-10. I like to ski out back, steep couloirs, natural snow, western steep tree runs, deep pow and also high speed carve turns on the eastern and western groomers.
I was looking for a pair of ski with better carving capability and quicker edge action than my Volkl Mantra ( 177 cm , 130-94-113mm, R23m) without sacrificing other qualities except perhaps deep back-country pow. test
I didn’t find it in Volkl line but ironically in Blizzard, Magnum 8.7 ( 174cm, 128-87-113 mm , R18.5m, IQ integrated binding, also slightly stiffer).
What made this ski stand out among all the other all mountains / big mountain midfat skis was its balance, stability and versatility at high performance level.
If you like to finesse the edge, move from carve to skid at any part of the turn, adjust the amount of skid or radius and speed of carve at will, this ski is for you!
What ever snow condition you are on, on piste or off piste, it would feel like the packed powder groomer. Not once I felt off balance – well may be a couple of times in the irregular icy bumps in Killington tree runs when I first put them on. No matter what I tried, taking air in the park, the spring bumps, the frozen rutted crud from rain fall two days ago, the alternating ice and pile in Saturday afternoon in Killington, hitting an unexpected roll at high speed ( 50 mph ) carved long turn, I remain centered, balanced and stable. They always went where I wanted them to go. All at high level of performance. That is a lot to say about a pair of ski!
This ski carves beautifully and moves from turn to turn with great ease and good rebound but with no unexpected exaggerated reaction very similar to my Volkl 183 GS Racing skis but with better stability in the crud. This was what attracted me to them first. What I tried first. But then I fell in love with its balance, stability and versatility.
I haven’t tried them in deep pow but I am willing to bet that they do better than most mid fat skis specially for lighter skiers because they are not super stiff and do not have too much camber and have a relatively wide profile 128-87-113 mm.
These are great high performance ski, a real confidence builder for advanced skier who wants to have fun when performing at high level. I can’t put them down.
Happy turning folks.
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