This years Candide 1.0 has had a complete redesign to make it an out-and-out, balls-to-the-wall park ski.
Leaving the Prodigy series as the option for more playfulness and with more all-mountain rocker in similar widths.
The 1.0s are stupidly stiff in hand, they take some serious force to get them bending at all.
But this means they rebound like crazy!
This years 2.0 and CT ladies skis also have these new features.
The ski did not disappoint.
I found the ski responsive, fast edge to edge and an absolute joy to carve on.
These skis go FAST.
I was not expecting much playfulness from such a stiff ski, but they do offer some.
The skis will rail and hold an edge due to the camber and sidecut.
They lend themselves to being cranked over more than smeared and chucked sideways.
At least for my tastes.
As with any centre mounted non-symmetrical ski on-piste performance is sacrificed when you centre mount.
The Candides performed well spinning, having a light swingweight and a snappy feel.
I found spins on and off rails came around with relative ease.
Even the set of Marksmans I borrowed for a couple of laps felt less work.
Can you tell I came up way too short on this flip?
Id release from my bindings long before Id ever fold the skis beyond the point of recovery.
This is where I feel these skis excel due to the stability.
For those who like to ride fast and go big, these sticks are unlikely to let you down.
I did manage to butter on these with some perseverance and a few big stacks.
It took me some time to tame that beast.
It was fun when I got the rewarding snap out of butters but they definitely took some work.
Im not the biggest guy by any means and that must also factor into it.
They can be hard work at times, but they also reward that hard work.
In this time the edges held up well.
I filled this with some Araldite to prevent it worsening, and carried on with little further issues.
Conclusion
Overall, I had an absolute blast on these skis.
I was expecting them to feel like just another park basher because of their shape and flex.
I was surprised to find they were great when taken on pistes, bumps and sidehits.
Much better than the hand flex would have suggested.
These skis are at their happiest charging and chewing up jumps and rails.
I loved them for it.
