The 2011 Icelantic Keeper Skis is a brand new ski from Icelantic and at 119mm in the waist it is their widest waisted ski in the line up. The Icelantic Keeper was a more versatile ski than I thought it was going to be. It is geared more towards powder days but thanks to a tight turn radius they will ski very well on groomed slopes as well. They want to stay charging down the fall line and are great for skiing the side of the trail hard. Like all Icelantic skis the Keeper has no problem keeping an edge on firm snow and at high speeds. If you want a versatile powder ski the Icelantic Keeper would be a great choice for you. They do ski short so do not size down in this ski you will want all the length that you feel comfortable with.
Home of the Untracked Gnar…
Any idea about pricing?
Icelantic Keeper will be very reasonably proced at $699
Wow! Thats great! Do you know when they ship out?
Probably will start seeing them in mid to late Sept.
How much did they weigh? I know Shaman is 9 lbs, keeper?
Not sure of weight yet, but will know once they are in. They are going to be probably right around that 9 or 10lb mark is what I am thinking. The ski was light for how wide it is.
Picked up a pair of Keepers in Feb 2011. I am 6′ and 195 advanced to expert depending on terrain. I bought the Keepers at 189 length. I made the right decision here as I prefer the extra length and edges. Decided to go with the least side cut as most snow is cut up and turned to mashed potatoes or Cascade concrete after the first hour. Keepers were on my short list and I picked up a pair from Skiershop in Vermont with Look PX 12 bindings. Skied them on groomed, hard pack, moderate moguls with 2-4 inches of new snow, 4″ of new snow and 14 inches of new snow. I normally ski Atomic MK2Tron for all mountain or an old pair of K2 Kahunas for crud and mashed potatoes. The Keeper skis are perfect when there is loose snow under foot. Reason being they need a platform to compact and turn on and enought snow to sink the ski for full edge control. They are skitterish on hardpack or ice as the tail will want to loose its grip. When skiing in all other conditions, these skis excelled. They crushed thru mashed potatoes and busted thru 14 inches of snow with very little effort. I was impressed. I would also agree with Icelandics assessment of the skis as wanting to go straight down the fall line, however, I like to turn and these skis responded with little effort. After 3 hours of skiing, I took my Atomic all mountain skis and skied the same terrain and realized how little effort it took to ski the Keepers (I reversed the sking order the next day and came to the same opinion), not to mention that I was sking more agressively with the Keepers than normal with the wide platform under foot. My all mountains Atomics are more fun to ski when new snow is scarce as they are shorter and quicker to turn in a variety of conditions, but I will be using the Keepers when the snow flakes have been flying. These should be on anybodies short list if they want to shred thru a new snow dump.