Fischer Kehua Backcountry Freestyle Powder Skis

Details: 177cm, radii 20.0, sidecut 127/92/115mm, cut inlay base, sandwich construction, twin twip
Average retail price: $750
Conditions: Heavenly (Lake Tahoe), 20-30F, sunny, 20 inches of fresh powder in 24 hours.
Terrain: Expert out of bounds deep powder stash, groomed intermediate trails, advanced moguls with moderate powder coverage and ice interspersed, uneven chop on intermediate transitional merges
Review: As with many of the freestyle skis, this one's graphics were clean, but kind of boring. Obviously inspired by Pacific island culture, the tattoo art feels a little out of place on a ski, but whatever. I found it especially curious that it's such a *white* ski, which makes it very difficult to find in powder if you ever lose it. Performance-wise, these skis are a ton of fun, and were surprisingly much more versatile than I expected. They did a very good job at floating on top of the powder, but were also extremely stable at speed on conduroy, responsive and quick in the mogul fields, and calmly predictable through uneven chop. The only place they may have slightly faltered was in the really deep, heavy powder, where they produce a "bounce" effect. As the skis float you over the snow, they kind of bounce you out, forcing you into a turn, or a weird seasick feeling if you want to straightline. This is probably a good thing when carving long lines of s-turns, but is pretty brutal on the quads if you don't to turn as much, or want to try and stop for a break. Overall powder performance not quite as good as the Volkl Gotomas.
Score (scale of 1-3): 3 - Loved them, really versatile, would probably prefer to buy the Gotomas instead though.

Skiing in Tahoe

Is it coincidence, or an indicator of great power? Both last season and this season, the first time that John went up to Tahoe, he was met with an epic snowstorm. The entire Wei family congregated in Tahoe this holiday season for a few days of skiing which happened to coincide with over 20" of fresh powder...the first major snowstorm this season. We all had a great time either skiing Heavenly and carving first tracks, or cruising through Heavenly Village and checking out the great shopping.

A bun in the oven

Somebody mentioned the other day that John had a twinkle in his eye. lol. Our big announcement for the year is that Carrie's pregnant! The bundle of joy is due on June 18, 2008. That's a Gemini, year of the Rat, for those who are counting. Twins do run in the family, but the ultrasound is only showing one for now. :) We find out pink or blue next month, and we'll keep everybody posted on progress here.