Length Ridden - 187cm
Dimensions - 138/107/127 mm
Bindings - Pivot 18s (Dins at 12-14)
Mount Location - Rec
Days Ridden (so far) - 6
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About me
Height - 5'9
Weight - 165lbs
I've gotten asked from a few people how I liked the meridians so far so I thought I'd share my thoughts so far. I know that I could have easily ridden the 181s but I wanted something for blasting through choppy days without a worry in the world so with a desire for a little more ski I picked up the 187s.
To start, this is a burly ski. Now, what do I mean by burly? We can obviously tell its not some 120+ underfoot cliff sender but this ski is damp throughout, decently weighty and with a turn radius of 23m its pretty much a point and go. Blister has this ski averaging around an 8-8.5 flex all throughout and I'd have to agree with them on that. With this being said, however, the dampness of the ski doesn't kill its playful nature. I like natural features and cliffs so I wanted something still able to be fun and not just a crud busting pair of sticks. The Meridian delivers. The rockered profile of this ski allows for stupidly easy and fun jibbing and slashing in the snow. When ripping down groomers, you need some speed to engage the edges of these skis but in the trees, there's a different story. When dodging and ducking, dipping and diving in and out of the trees, these skis are alive. You can engage the underfoot at a moments notice and immediately go where you want. Plus there isn't any rebound from camber so its a pivoty smear-fest which is a plus for me.
For tricks, these skis are good but there are other options. They are heavy-ish skis all things considered (~2000g) and with not much taper, the skis have a big swing weight. Smaller tricks are what I'd stick to (1s, 3s, 5s, butters, etc) but I don't know if i'd expect anyone to whip out a nosebutter 7 on these guys. I forgot to mention before, the tips and tails of these skis are much softer than the underfoot. Not noodley or even al-dente by any means but id say around a 7 flex. You can still ollie and butter on these guys but it will take some leg power so get started on those calf raises.
For pure crud-busting, I don't think I'd pick another ski. I still haven't gotten ANY POWDER DAYS YET (Luv ya Mt. Bachelor) but I have gotten up late on some 4 inch days or weekday leftovers and these skis outperformed by expectations. They don't have a speed limit and don't feel like ice skates when standing neutral (despite most-everyone's belief about rockered skis). Their dampness kills it in choppy snow and wont annihilate your shins and knees by end of day. If I could pick a ski to compare it too, it would have to be the Billy Goat from ON3P. The billys are another ski made for blasting through tracked out snow so in my eyes the Meridians are like the billys with a quicker edge to edge thanks to a smaller waist and no camber.
Where do these skis suffer? Well, an obvious answer is hard groomers and ice. The skis manage but fully rockered skis don't love the ice and I could see many people having much more fun on a ~90mm underfoot ski for this respect. Soft groomers, the skis are sick. Super easy to lay edge into and you dont slip out at all when laying down trenches. Another area where I can see this skis falter is powder in the double digits. I get it. You might say, "Dude, what you saying about fully rockered skis not performing in pow?" and the such but hear me out. These skis, despite their profile don't have alot of splay, taper or lightness to them so I can forsee them diving in pow. I HAVEN'T TRIED THEM IN POW YET, so I could be wrong on this one but from what I've seen so far, It is a speculation I have. As well, Jonathan Ellsworth (a reviewer from blister) wrote "But the Meridian did not feel loose at all in deeper snow. I’ve never felt so “stuck” on a fully-rockered ski..." so I guess I have to try them out and see for myself.
You want to try them? If you ever find yourself at Mt Bachelor in Oregon, hit me up. I have alot of sticks (most of them without pivots) but I can adjust them to your boots so you can get a feel for them. Currently im set up at a 315mm bsl so Id say 313mm-317mm bsls could probably squeeze into these babies at their current mount point.
Any Questions? Ask away! If I haven't tried it yet, then ill bring em up to the mtn and test it out. Hope this helped!