ICI Skis: made for Eastern North America

Jasey-Jay Anderson. ©Guillaume Vincent

Stéphanie Hoolahan and Sébastien Turgeon, accomplished skiers, former racers and champions of the Canadian ski team, tested for us on the Tremblant slopes a range of “ICI” skis by Jasey-Jay Anderson.

Let’s make clear that the Olympic gold medallist, who was one of the world’s best in the world of alpine snowboarding, is also a top skier. He has been designing and making his own high-performance skis in his Lac-Supérieur workshop.

The business called ICI Ski produces one hundred or so of these high-end skis per year. They’re custom-made for anyone who requires exceptional skis.

“There’s a keen interest in our skis, because they’re local and people consider them beautiful, but those same people have a problem imagining that a former snowboarder in his workshop deep in the forest could compete with the industry’s major brands… until they try them,” says Jasey-Jay Anderson, playfully.

“My background experience is in development and the ability to tease apart the various factors. Our skis are made completely by hand locally and will last ten times as long as the industrially-made ones. We also provide technologies that the industry doesn’t have and, what’s most important, we develop our skis for Tremblant, which has a lot of ice. That’s where our skis make a difference, because they’re very versatile,” he explains. “It seems to me that in Europe, they’re not moving in that direction very much because they rarely have the opportunity to test on ice.”

ICI offers made-to-measure skis, but not only that. The would-be purchaser can choose from a large range of skis featuring three distinct construction characteristics. Briefly, the White Tips (WT), are very forgiving, the Red Tips (RT) will delight advanced intermediate skiers, and the Black Tips (BT) will be just right for more aggressive skiers.

Testing the skis

For this experiment, Jasey-Jay decided to equip Stéphanie and Sébastien with six pairs of skis from his high-performance range, for the same number(six) of runs. The two skiers ran the slopes of the North Side five times with identically made Black Tips skis with different dimensions. They wound up the test with an experimental ski for Stéphanie and a Red Tips for Sébastien. We questioned them as soon as they arrived back at the base of the slopes.

Who would have thought that a few millimetres would change the rankings so much?

Stéphanie’s reactions

Stéphanie Hoolahan. ©Michel Allaire

Ski BT – Length: 174 centimetres – Width: 87 millimetres

“I feel like I have something really solid on my feet. Fairly stiff. On ice, it holds. Really fun at high speeds. On the other hand, not a ski you just have to put on edge to make it turn.”

Ski BT – Length: 170 centimetres – Width: 87 millimetres

“This one’s a wow. I fell under the spell immediately. Super easy to turn; great for slalom; I really enjoyed carving. It turns the second you put it on edge. Solid, both for a slalom turn on ice and for a GS turn. I really adored them. They’re a match for me. I would go play in the woods, they’re so easy to turn. Truly versatile. The best of both worlds.”

Ski BT – Length: 162 centimetres – Width: 87 millimetres

“Super for slalom; it turns very easily; really nice to ski on; it holds on ice. So far, the three skis are completely different.”

Ski BT – Length: 162 centimetres – Width: 74 millimetres

“Very different from the other 162. I find that it’s a ski for hyperactivity. Very reactive, nervous; it’s stiff; it responds to a quarter turn. It’s a slalom ski, but in GS, you can lean on it. Again, very different from the first three. I feel more like I’m on a high-performance racing ski.”

Ski BT – Length: 170 centimetres – Width: 74 millimetres

“This is a real GS ski; I love it! They’re a lot like my Rossignol Hero Master 174 cm. That’s a ski that suits me and that I know. Stiff, super reactive. It’s a high-performance ski, really fun for making big GS turns at high speed.”

Experimental ski – Le Cyan

“Super soft with a lot of grip. It follows the terrain; you mustn’t be nervous… Really different. For a relaxed mood, but I liked them a lot. “

 

Sébastien’s reactions

Sébastien Turgeon. ©Michel Allaire

Ski BT – Length: 174 centimetres – Width: 74 millimetres

“A super ski, but it’s stiff. You can do good GS with it. I felt confident in the turns, but you have to stay alert.”

Ski BT – Length: 170 centimetres – Width: 74 millimetres

“Brilliant! It turns fast; it’s solid; very versatile. It’s rigid and you can do high speed if you stay on edge, but you mustn’t let yourself be surprised. If you want to make turns, and be aggressive, you take these skis. They’re fantastic.”

Ski BT – Length: 162 centimetres – Width: 74 millimetres

“These go really well. It’s a slalom ski. It turns on a dime while remaining stable and fast. I was surprised by just how stable they were.”

Ski BT – Length: 162 centimetres – Width: 87 millimetres

“I liked them a lot. The ski tells you when you have to turn. It’s stable; you put them on edge and you’re off. I was making really nice turns; really good.”

Ski BT – Length: 170 centimetres – Width: 87 millimetres

“I adored this one! It initiates the turn very well; it makes the radius I want; it goes at the speed I want; it’s stiff, which I Iike… For a wide ski, it’s really super. It’s a performance ski but you don’t have to fight it. That’s what I look for: being able to start into the turn with full confidence, without being burned out at the end of the day. It turns fast. For Tremblant, it’s perfect if you ever get onto a run with a lot of traffic. Super versatile. I would take it as much for the glades as for slalom or GS.”

Ski Red Tips (RT) – Length: 170 centimetres – Width: 87 millimetres

“It’s great. Perfect for the afternoon when your legs start to burn. I saw myself skiing on them every day. I could carve as much as I liked. I made really beautiful turns and was very confident. I like them a lot. I would take the Black Tips (170 cm – 87 mm) for the morning and the Red Tips for the afternoon. It’s a super performance ski and you don’t have to strain as much”

 

Don’t miss, in our next issue, our second test on the skiability of alpine touring skis from ICI Ski.

To purchase skis ICI Ski or get more information: maxskiservice.com & iciski.com

 

 

 

More from this author by clicking on his photo below.

Guillaume Vincent

 

Guillaume Vincent430 Posts

Rédacteur et journaliste de profession, Guillaume Vincent a fait ses armes au sein de l’agence QMI. Il s’est joint au Tremblant Express en 2014. Promu en 2017, il y assume depuis le rôle de rédacteur en chef et directeur de la publication. / A writer and photojournalist by profession, Guillaume Vincent won his stripes in the QMI agency. He joined Tremblant Express in 2014. Promoted in 2017, he has been editor-in-chief and co-publisher since then.

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