Perfection on The Piste (and off it!) (Salomon 1080 (Teneighty))

Member Name: mr_shagwell23

Product:	Salomon 1080 (Teneighty)
Date:	20/04/03 (1985 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Flexible, good for jumping, Powder's a pleasure, Quite cheap now

Disadvantages: Short turning not too easy

I have recently finished a season in Val d'Isere and after some stressful months on some, first, 190cm P30 Volkls and then some 4 year old Rossignol 170cm 'cuts', I decided to acquire some Salomon 1080's. Helpfully through a friend who worked for salomon so I got them cheap!
These skis are something else. The 1080 range has been out for about 3 years now and I bought the latest ones. The 1080's were the first twin tip skis around and really helped accelerate the popularity of 'freestyle' skiing. I tried the old ones, the yellow ones with the blue salomon logo on, and they were very good, obviously tipped at both ends though also shaped like a carving ski. This meant short turns, long turns, skiing backwards and jumping were all a pleasure. However, it got better with the latest range (I didn't try out last years model).

The latest 1080's of the 2002/2003 season come in 3 sizes, with different colours to match. You can get 161cm (green), 171cm (silver/white) and 181cm (orange). They are all made with the new salomon 'spaceframe' which is a super light carbon fibre frame. This makes the skis easier to carry as well as them being a lot lighter on your feet when jumping.
I chose the 181cm, and got the salomon S912 'black fizz' bindings to go with them. The design is super, having little computer style graphic shapes on the top and then 'salomon' in big blue letters on the bottom with a light yellow background.

The skis I've skied on previously were both carvers, though I still found the 1080's relatively good for carving. Short turning, though not a real hassle, were some what more difficult though long, carved turning was alright. Half way through a nice long turn you can feel the flexible ends really kick in which gives you that buzz you always look for when on a slope.
The skis measure at about 8cm in the middle and 11cm at the top which makes them pretty wide. I wide ba
se makes good for skiing powder and this is another superior advantage that these skis have over others. Carving in powder on these skis is like floating down a long white dream! Really, they're superb, a real joy to ski on.

Jumping is yet another advantage of these skis. The 1080's are quite sturdy in the middle though quite flexible at each end which, for reasons that I'm not too sure about, make them good for jumping. Landing on the back of your skis will bend the back end which then makes for a smooth landing as it cushions the impact of the landing, though this is true for nearly all the freestyle skis. As I said before, the lightness of the skis also makes it easy to jump and a bonus which I like is the design on the bottom which looks well good when you bring your skis up to your side!
If you're looking to impress further, I found the 1080's to be as stable skiing backwards as skiing forwards. Brilliant!

These are truly good skis and I await to see what next seasons model are like. There is heavy competition in the twin tip field now, with Rossignol bringout the impressive Scratch FS and Scratch BC's and Dynastar now showing their worth with the new Trouble Makers. I've skied on all of these but its the 1080's that do it for me.

Obviously its for you to make your own decisions about but I find Salomon to be very reliable skis, and for anyone looking to get into freestyle skiing then I would recommend the 1080 range, past and present.

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