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I bought the Bentchetler at the beginning of the season with the idea that I was going to use it as my everyday ski living in Revelstoke, as the season progressed and my I tried some different gear this turned out not to be the case. The Bentchetler is a phenomenal deep pow ski, if you are like Chris and are fortunate enough to be skiing in Japan, flying in helicopters, driving sleds, or riding in cats on a daily basis than this is an epic ski. If you are riding 1700m top to bottom with crazy terrain and condition changes on the way down than maybe it will not be the best. My biggest issue with the ski is how soft the tails are. It does make the ski playful in the soft snow but that is about the only advantage that I have been able to find thus far. With the very soft tail I have found that you sacrifice stability at speeds, the ability to confidently drive the tip through crud, stability on hardpack/ice and most importantly a significant amount of pop when compared side by side to other similar powder skis. When I'm charging through trees and need to make a very quick adjustment or turn I can't get the response from the skis that I would like. Because of this I have adjusted my style of skiing in a way that I can only describe as "surfy" (keeping the skis floating sideways as opposed to charging them straight down the fall line). This riding style is not beneficial for me when Im navigating tight coulouirs and riding out of larger cliff features. All in all the Bentchetler is fun for deep snow and backcountry jumps and hits but it certainly is not my everyday ski that I was hoping it to be. 6/10
Overall Overall this is a fantastic ski for the park. This is my fourth pair of park specific skis and these have been my favourite. Good pop, low swing weight, great stability and wicked flex make this the best ski I have ever owned. Performance This product has performed extremely well for so far. From jumps to rails these things kill it! Super easy to carve off of lips on jumps and a low swing weight make these things an awesome jump ski. Switch riding is also very nice on these, it feels very natural compared to skis that i have had in the past. On rails these skis are also very fun. The early rise in the front and back make doing presses on these much easier than traditional park skis. Nollies are also very easy to do on boxes and onto rails and park features. The low swing weight with these skis make doing switch ups and spins on and off much easier as well. I was worried that with such a long ski I would have problems doing switchups and spinning onto and off of rails. This has not been the case with these skis. When it comes to riding normally at first it was a bit weird because of the reverse sidecut and the early rise but within a few runs I had adjusted and they were great. They ski well on groomers but not fantastic. I live in Ontario so all I have skied with them is park and groomers so I cannot say how they do in pow or crud. Design The graphic is a bit to bright and busy for my taste but other people seem to like it. With the reverse sidecut they look very different from a normal ski prompting many comments from gapers and friends alike. Value I paid $600 Canadian for these skis and it was definitely worth it. They ski incredibly in the park and are super durable. In the case of this ski you get what you paid for and more. Fit The fit that I got was great. I am someone that likes a longer ski and the 182 size is perfect for me. At a height of 5' 10" it is just above my head. The ski feels shorter than it is because of it's early rise and the fact that I have my bindings center mounted. For my liking I think that the size down would have been too small. Characteristics Although this is a fairly stiff ski because of the early rise doing butters is no problem. At a weight of 150 I was concerned that this ski would hold me back from doing butters but do not worry. On jumps the flex is very stable and landing is extremely easy. When i purchased these skis I thought that because of the early rise landing on jumps would be more challenging but very much to my liking it was not. Durability Within one month of riding my suspects last year the edges had already begun to fall out. With my brand switch this year I was worried that they would not be durable and would suffer the same fate as my suspects. This has not been the case so far this season with this ski. After about 40 days of riding purely park (about 60% jumps and 40% rails} these skis are still holding up well. They are still poppy and so far I have no edge cracks or pullout.
Overall Overall this is an awesome fun, snappy, solid park shredding ski. Skis very stable both switch and regular and stomps landings. Swing weight is extremely low due to the AR50 construction and it gives you what you need. The sidewall underfoot makes for a nice durable platform where you are hitting rails and the capped construction up top makes the ski really easy to swing around. Best ski that I have ever ridden, do not hesitate to buy it! Performance This ski has outperformed any ski that I have owned previously. It skis the entire park extremely well. I find that the very low swing weight allows me to really bring the ski around at times that I need to be able to. This ski even held up for me outside the park on some high speed carving. I have the ski mounted in the center and I find that it rides switch very nicely compared to the Alpha 2 that I rode on last year. I have found it very stable on landings, takeoffs and all mountain riding. The AR50 sidewall that is new to this ski this year really makes the ski nice and snappy while drastically reducing the weight. Design The dimensions are great for park riding. I like a ski a little wider for all mountain riding but it is perfect for what it is designed to do and that is slay the park. I like a less flashy graphic and so when I first saw these I was very stoked on the graphic. Good looking ski for sure! Value Worth every penny. Thats all I have to say. Fit I am 5' 11" and am riding the 181. The size is great for me because I love having that bigger landing platform to really stomp with. It is a very lightweight ski with a very light swing weight and I do not feel like the size is making it hard or challenging to spin on jumps, off of rails and do switch ups. I feel as if the smaller size would be a bit too soft for me because I am a fairly aggressive skier but for someone who is hitting predominately rails and is around my size the 176 would be a good fit. Characteristics The flex pattern of the ski makes for a very fun ski but still one that will hold up on bigger features. The softness of the ski in the tip and tail make it very easy to butter and press which is something that I like a lot. Underfoot the ski is fairly stiff making it solid on bigger landings. Overall I love the flex pattern because it allows me to have a fun pressy ski while still having something that can kill it on the big features. Durability So far this season I have ridden 21 days and the only durability issue that I have is a few edge cracks. I have ridden these skis very hard and have been extremely pleased with the durability so far.
