IN THE DEEP

Today Craig tested out the KBG Monoski, designed by Kevin Bramble, whose name you might recognize from the XGames and Paralympics. After years of being disappointed by the upkeep and (lack of) durability of various monoskis on the market, Bramble designed and began manufacturing his own beefed-up model of monoski.

As you can see, the frame sits Craig up a little higher and straighter. He found it easier to load onto the chairlifts, and thought the shock was the smoothest part of the ride. Craig's complete review of the Bramble has been placed on our sister blog: http://accessanythingreviews.blogspot.com.

There were definitely some pros and cons of the rig over his Revolution (see end of blog); but its beefy model can't be beat. There are over a dozen models now on the market, so this test driving process will stretch to next season at least.

Despite not fitting into someone else bucket quite right (like using someone else's ski boot) and not having his powder ski, Craig bombed the slopes like normal.

We took a Thunderhad lap down Vagabond to get the feel of the this new machine; then met up with Bruce and Pam Reommich for some upper mountain fun. This Bramble lives at the Reommich's house during the offyear between visits of its owner Kevin Simpson from Scotland. A HUGE shout out to Kev for letting Craig test it out!

Once up top we took a look at 3 and 1 Oclocks; both had a slight amount of powder on them, enough to grab your boards a bit and still feel like fresh. The sides were softer, but the groomers with several inches of fresh were the nicest; a little heavy in the trees. The report was 5" at 5am, which was about right.

Next we tested out 1230 trees and where there was more snow, conditions were actually a little worse- the skiers struggled through a thick top layer while my board just sailed on through if I leaned back enough. The short little straight ski that was on the Bramble didn't do Craig any good through there at all, he needed quite a bit of pushing from his friends to get into those trees.

We look like we've got some more snow on the horizon though our days are dwindling... sad to say we'll be counting down the very last week of the season starting tomorrow... so it's now or never!






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Note the different frame of the ProComp Revolution. Craig's has about 2million vertical feet logged into it, so he's shopping for a new one.