In-Depth Review: Simply Recreation[2025 UPDATE]

With that in mind, it held up remarkably well.

Among others, they have worked with Rossignol and Movement skis.

Simply is their first in-house brand, and the 100mm underfoot Recreation is their very first ski.

On paper, these are relatively simple skis.

I believe it might have been Oak.

Whatever it was, it felt bomber when I mounted the skis.

The wood is also locally sourced, as are many elements used in the production at First Track.

https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1064122/SimplyVId-mov

The shape of these skis is unique.

With, most fishtail skis the sidecut continues to the point of the tail.

In other words, the fishtail does its job but doesnt affect the ski in other ways.

Theres also a pretty large amount of camber underfoot, at least 6+mm.

The nose is softer but the Recreation isnt particularly stiff anywhere in the ski.

When the snow is good, they are absolutely riotous fun.

The 15m turn radius doesnt do this ski justice in the slightest.

Im not sure I have ever got the switch skiing angles that I did on these skis.

But this is very much a ski with a centered stance kind of ski on groomers.

I would also point out that these skis are very sensitive to tuning.

I finally discovered the point of a fishtail, they arent 100% design.

There arent many days in the alps that would be too deep for these.

Pro skiers can make anything look good, so I was suspicious.

But in truth, the skis are so light you barely notice the setback mount.

I dont know what kind of wizardry is at work, but they are actually very capable park skis.

If you ignore the fishtail, they feel pretty much like a park ski in the park.

With the soft flex, they are incredibly fun for buttering off anything.

The tail feels fairly stable landing forwards thanks to the fairly moderate rocker back there.

And with the extra length up front, the soft nose feels good enough when landing switch too.

I had no issues on medium-sized jumps.

Of these, Id say the Simply Recreation does the best job of being a proper fun shape.

The waist isnt a world apart and they are fun shape fishtails with small turn radius.

Thats where the similarities end though.

The Sakana is significantly stiffer in the tail and feels much more directional.

Theres also metal in there so they are much stiffer torsionally.

The Recreation is a much more fun, fun shape, and much better in the park.

But the Sakana is better in marginal to bad conditions and for charging.

I prefer the Recreation for deep snow but if its heavy, the Sakana has more power behind it.

Season Kin:

The Season Kin is actually the most similar ski Ive tried to the Recreation.

Short turn radius, softish flex throughout, buttery, turny skis.

The Kin skis a bit more aggressively, whereas the Recreation has a bit more surf feel to it.

And that translates to preferred terrain.

But in practice, its still got metal in there and you could feel it.

It also lacks camber, and therefore energy.

Both are short radius all-mountain freestyle skis.

Both are incredible skis so it depends what you want.

Conclusion [Updated]:

Two years on, the Recreation is still a totally unique ski.

Its the only freestyle-friendly fishtail fun-shape ski out there.

So if that sounds like your cup of tea, pick one up quickly.

In practice, they ski like a something of cross between a Line Sakana and a Chronic 101.

For lighter skiers, they have to be close to the perfect one-ski quiver.

And like anything, once you ski rails, they lose that edge hold.

I could, and do, relatively happily ski the Recreation most days.

This is a very hard review to conclude because the Recreation is so unique.

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