East Coast Freestyle Vibes
The Newschoolers East Coast park ski test returned to Bromont for round two this past spring. And this time, Mother Nature came at us with a suckerpunch, but ultimately we still had a blast. The previous week had been sunny and warm, and most of us were half expecting the same clement weather for a nice day of testing park sticks. But, the East Coast obliged as she generally does, and delivered her signature trick: unpredictability.
The day started out super cloudy and cold with a good amount of wind and snow in the mix. But as the day progressed, the clouds cleared. As a result, while we started out skiing pow, we ended up trying our luck on a thin layer of ice over chop. The weird mixed snow meant the park was challenging, but very good for testing skis to their limits. Luckily the crew NS brought to Bromont was stacked with experienced shredders and this minor inconvenience didn’t hold them back too much. A big thank you to Oberson for bringing the skis together and giving us the opportunity to try next year's fresh whips.
Bromont's park was prime for trying the many options offered up by Faction, Armada, Line, Volkl and K2. A line of three medium-sized jumps was followed by a sweet rail garden and left plenty of options for everyone to have fun.
It was also nice to have a perfect groomer with a variety of side hits leading up to the park in order to test the skis' performance through a variety of terrain. Watching Nic and Eric Chenard, as well as Phil Clairoux and others throw down trick after trick with ease was a treat. Alex Gauthier's style is unbeatable and watching him ride is a thing of beauty. Not often will you see such a dope cork 7 mute. We also witnessed what a switch master Alec Bernier is. All in all, having so many people skiing together and cheering each other on for every stomped trick was super entertaining. Everyone had a blast despite the challenging snow conditions.
Testers filled out a survey for each ski they tested, four skis per person throughout the day. After all of the data was collected and reviewed, seven skis came out victorious. Here are our picks of the bunch for the East.
