At this point it was January early Feb 2010 and Arne was just destroying the competition on the big mountain circuit.
Arne was using the Tiatn Zeus which was a 194cm Braveheart broadsword of a ski. Not forgiving at all, but really stable. Arne only used it in competition because it was too burly for actual freeskiing. He wanted something that was easy, lively, poppy and most importantly rockered without the unaesthetic kinks/bends in the rocker. He also was really inspired by guys like Sean Petitt and Eric Hjorliefson who are smaller dudes, but used relatively long (189cm+ length) skis. Easy plus length (rather than width) is what he really wanted to take his skiing to the next level. After not a whole lot of deliberation we also both thought that somewhere around 118mm was the perfect, most versatile waist width for a big mountain specific ski, especially for the Sierra/Coastal/AK snowpacks we wanted the ski to excel in. From there they broke the line out in 10mm waist widths starting at 118mm and finishing at 88mm. In March Stefano Mantegazza (International product NINJA) and Jed Duke (USA Director of Product) flew out to Kirkwood where we were having our annual team summit/video/product shoot. They brought the first proto flip core skis, which was a 108mm waisted 193cm version of whats now the Cochise. To be honest, one look at these weapons and every single one of us lost our shit when Stefano pulled them out of the bag. Absolutely the sickest looking flat tailed, wood, metal, petex perfection any of us had ever seen. We hadn't even put the bindings on it! The next day we went to Squaw to ski 6" on crust and put the ski through its paces with the team. Arne absolutely loved it. "I feel like a ninja on this thing". Jed, Stefano, Robin McElroy, Arne and myself went to the River Ranch for dinner that night. We were really fired up about the skis, and also we really fired up (much to his chagrin) on Arne! He had just won the first ever McConkey Cup, which was now the trophy for the overall Freeskiing World Tour winner. We were going off to Stefano about how rad that was, and also how Arne and been filming with Matchstick Productions and Warren Miller, really hyping him up. Stefano was very excited, as this was going to mark a new era for our company. He told Arne that we would make the Bodacious Arne's signature ski! Also 196cm for the long size Bodacious! We were FIRED UP!! He asked Arne to email him his signature along with pics of his Sickbird buckle he won at Revelstoke. (The Sickbird Buckles are what gave us the inspiration for the Bull theme We have 7 buckles between 4 team members!).
A month later Arne had just returned from Chamonix, where he had been making a been making a name for himself "going left" off the Aquile de Midi. http://arnebackstrom.blogspot.com/2009/10/mallory.html
He spent the month there training and getting ready for a ski mountaineering expedition with Kip Garre and Dave Rosenbarger in the Cordillera Blanca region of Peru. Arne took off in late May. I drove up to his place in Squaw to grab his signature- which he had practiced 5 or so times till it was perfect. I scanned it an emailed it to Stefano, so fired up for him to get a signature ski.
We got news of Arne's passing on June 3, 2010. I won't attempt to put into words what the loss was for all of us that were close to him. We are all stoked that some of his legacy lives on in a set of skis that he himself would be very proud of, and are game changers for the rest of us.
THE REVIEW!!!!
Ok enough background, but I felt it was necessary for the reader to know how special we feel these skis are. The Bodacious is available in two lengths 186 and 196cm. The sidecut is 142-118-132 for both. Radius is 32 and 33m respectively. There are two sheets of titanal sandwiching a lightweight wood core. The light core makes the ski very light(duh!) and lively for it being such a large ski. The sidewall is vertical ABS. Whats also really cool is the rocker profile. It has a rockered tip flowing into a flat cambered mid section, appx. 90cm long, then flows into a rockered tail.
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| bottom of Humble Pie |
I got these skis just before I left for SIA in Denver, right around January 16th. We hadn't received snow in Tahoe since the 1st, and were going through a quick thaw, then deep freeze cycle which we would spend 6 weeks in such pattern. Conditions for that time were like a world cup downhill- bulletproof. That being said for that time period I was blown away at how smooth, stable and easily they turned on really firm snow. I couldn't wait for the high pressure to break down.
On Feb 16 it started to dump and didn't stop until June. The next few months on these skis were so amazing and memorable for me. I felt like I could do no wrong on these things. They were floaty, surfy, easy to do do the power skid "schmear" turns on. Easy in short turns, plenty forgiving, but still unrivaled in stability off of cliffs and in crud. They made this out of shape ski rep (I usually get more days in the car then I do on the hill) feel like a hero. The Flip Core eliminates any of the negative side effects like nervousness and tip flap- it is extremely stable, balanced and smooth, but still easy when you need it. I loved having such a long ski that so easy to knife around on.They smashed effortlessly through crud, broke through sun/wind crust with ease, no grabbing and were insane in the nice smokey powder we had so much of this winter. They were also very lively and rewarding when I wanted them to be, they didn't have that dead, planky feel that skis with lotsa wood and metal tend to have. I love the waist width because normally with really wide skis I would feel the sides of my feet and knees after skiing all day on if it wasn't perfect. Whereas these I could ski all day 90% off the conditions we get here in Tahoe. They are truly a versatile, big mountain/resort ski. That being said the Bodacious are more tool than toy. Think Hurt Locker versus Harry Potter. I see so many skis now which are all about being super easy, tons of rocker, playful and soft. That's great for a lot of people for the first few runs on a powder day but their drawbacks are felt usually around 11 O'clock in the morning.
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| On the top of Humble Pie with some great company! L-R Will Paden, Clem Smith, Jason Peck, Dana Greenwood, Glen Morden and Tucker Patton |
Well thats the review/history on the Bodacious! We have made a limited number of these gems for this season so ask your local retailer about them if you can't find em in your shop. A portion of the sales generated by the Bodacious will be donated to Arne's Memorial Fund which will help provide children with outdoor opportunities and raise environmental awareness. Anyway here is a POV vid from Humble Pie. It was the best run I've ever had on my most favorite ski I'll ever own. Thanks Arne!
Here another link to the Blizzard Page:
http://youtu.be/d0D1gN1Nwxw
