Renoun Endurance 104 (2016-2017)
127-104-127mm r=22m 184cm

“Smoothly disappears underfoot."
"Deceptively unassuming, high-quality ride with a huge terrain and snow surface range.”
“The faster you go, the smoother they get.”

Renoun Endurance 104

Manufacturer Info:

Cyrus Schenck
Renoun Skis
266 Main St., Burlington, Vermont, United States
(802) 778-9163
info@renoun.com
http://renoun.com/
https://www.instagram.com/renounskis
https://www.facebook.com/RenounSkis/
https://twitter.com/renounskis


Suggested Retail Price (MSRP):

$1195 usd (2017)  - Unusual Two Year Warranty – 100 Day Satisfaction Policy

Usage Class:

All Mountain 100+mm

Rating (with comments):
(1="get me off these things"->10="I have to own a pair")

8+ for packed powder groomers...all speeds
10 for mixed conditions
9 for powder conditions for its 104mm waist

Manufacturer's Description:

“A wider version of the Endurance 98.

The 104 is a supercharged evolution of our best-selling ski. Smooth and powerful, light and nimble, the 104 comes to life when you turn up the heat.

With our patented technology inside, RENOUN has won top awards for performance. Responding to subtle changes in surfaces, the HDT™ works deep in the core to keep vibration to a minimum and your stoke at a maximum.

Enjoy more float on the deep days, save your energy, and stay out longer. The elliptical sidecut tightens as you carve deeper. You’ll make effortless tracks and unforgettable days on the trail.

For all-mountain capability, the ENDURANCE 104 delivers. ”

- Website September 2017

Summary:

The Endurance 104, like most of the other skis in Renoun lineup, produces a very smooth, nearly silky feel under its entire length as you cruise at speed, or pound-out some short, choppier turns with enthusiasm.  The 104 has a very wide performance envelope, and supports a variety of skiing styles ranging from casual all-terrain cruising, to “let the patrolers try to catch me” behaviors..   The Endurance 104 impresses you after a couple runs since it disappears under you and you forget about it, focusing instead on where you want to go and what line you want to take and what kind of turns you want to execute. You forget theyre on your feet...simply doing pretty much anything you want them to do...without any glitches, hiccups, protest or failures.   Some might find the Endurance 104 to feel a little boring at first until they realize how fast they can ski it and how well it handles nearly anything you throw at it.  That's the deceptive part. Once you think about it, you realize..."wow". We found the 104s became one of the "go-to" skis to be stuffed into the car any time the snowfall was over 4 inches the night before, or if snow conditions were changeable or iffy. That should tell you something about the ski's personality and usability.

As we said about the other models from Renoun, we can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t like the Endurance 104, other than a heavyweight, hard-charger looking for a stout, highly damp, high-speed freight train with some substantial mass to it.  Having said that, the 104 will surprise the higher-speed crowd since it has an uncanny way of becoming smoother the faster you ski it.  You think a relatively soft, 104mm waisted ski will turn into a flappy, unstable noodle at higher speeds, but surprise, surprise, the Renoun Endurance 104 gets more settled and less nervous the faster it flexes and vibrates across surfaces, and that's pretty cool.

The 104s are infused with the HDT non-Newtonian polymer material in the core (8 inserts of HDT in this model), carbon fiber and triaxial fiberglass layers and actually gives the impression the ski is quieter and more composed as you go faster and the frequency of actions upon the ski by the terrain and the pilot’s input increase and become more intense.  This is a big deal, and one of the holy grails of the ski industry for many years.  Plenty of dampening mechanisms, materials and marketing voodoo hype have come and gone over decades of ski designs, all trying to improve quiet behavior when conditions get unsettled, but unfortunately, most have been discontinued because they really didn’t work or made the skis feel heavy and unresponsive.  Renoun’s technology of materials and construction have made a significant, and important change to ski behavior. For real.

The Endurance 104 is a super-composed, smooth and quiet  all-mountain ski with a bias toward softer snow. The Renoun Endurance skis are priced at the higher-end of the spectrum at $1,195 for several reasons. First is the unique, patent-pending material and construction recipe exclusive to Renoun that won the World’s ISPO Gold Award for technical innovation.  Second is the rather unusual and confidence-inspiring 2 year warranty against defects.  Cyrus stands behind the premium product with a premium warranty. Third is the 100-day satisfaction guarantee.  Try them for 100 days, return them for a full refund if you don’t love them.  That’s a premium offer...essentially a risk-free purchase direct from the builder.  Nice work Cyrus.  Definitely see what all the buzz is about and demo the Renouns if you can.  You might like what you feel.


Technical Ski Data:

Maple wood core
HDT Non-Newtonian Polymer inserts (8) in the core
UHMW Sidewalls
Carbon fiber and Triaxial fiberglass

Bindings,  Boots, Wax & Tune Used:

Tyrolia PowerRail PRD12 Demo Bindings
Salomon S-Max 120 boots.
Green Ice waxes, cold and warm

Pre-Skiing Impression:

Good fit and finish, business-like subdued graphics, but not inspirational or overly impressive. Damp, rounded hand flex, “medium” flex with slightly softer tips and tails and a medium midsection.   Slight tip rocker, but not prounounced.

Test Conditions:

Eastern corduroy, man-made dry packed surfaces,  knee-deep dry eastern powder, spring corn and refrozen man-made hardpack boilerplate. Some twigs, weeds and tree-filled terrain.

Hardpack and Boilerplate:

The Renoun Endurance 104 has pretty decent, almost impressive grip on the hardest Eastern boilerplate, but does not lead the class in icy terrain security due to its relatively compliant torsional rigidity which lends friendliness to its handling, but yields some grip on really hard surfaces.  We improved the grip by tuning it to 0.75 degree base and 2 degree side bevels without sacrificing easy turnability.

Vibration control is superb, and if you induce chatter on boilerplate with a defective turn initiation and finish technique, you can cancel it quickly with a stance correction without feeling the ski get out-of-sorts under you.  Control and comfort is the key trait of the Endurance 104, and it’s probably one of the best skis to use all-day from freshies in the morning to cut-up junk mid-day.  The level of effort to get the 104 to perform is impressively minimal and deceptive.  It requires little input from the pilot and never generates any surprises, always delivering an impressive quality of ride and satisfaction.  It’s the kind of ski you forget is under you after a couple runs, and we found you can ski more runs with fewer breaks, and that says something right there about the kind of ski this is....just like we found with Renoun's other models.

Mixed Conditions:

Renoun’s Endurance 104 should be one of the all-mountain reference standards for ease-of-use and stability over a wide variety of surface conditions in the 100mm+ category.  The impressive packed-powder carving behavior expands into impressive surfing or carving behavior when the snow conditions get variable and the terrain gets rougher.  The 104 feels more nimble than its waist might lead you to believe, and it’s as happy on-edge under pressure as it is running flat through fresh snow, cut-up crud, junky snow, skied-out packed surfaces or Spring condtions.  Cutting across chop and ragged-out surfaces is a nearly effortless, almost peaceful experience. The Endurance 104 works great for people who ski bell-to-bell through hell or high water and want something with a softer-snow bias rather than a purely directional or frontside-only ski.  This could be an ideal Western daily driver or an Eastern storm ski for a huge population of people. It may also be a favorite among patrollers who spend all day on snow in good  and lousy weather.

Bumps:

The Endurance 104s go through bumps smoothly and predictably, and a feel a bit more nimble than you expect a 104mm waisted ski to be.  They prefer softer, snow-filled bumps to head-banger hardpack bumps, but never really complain or rough-up the skier.  They can be slightly balky at slow speeds and in tighter bump fields since they they don't have a strong tip or tail rocker profile and a relatively longish effective edge, but you can turn up the speed through the undulating terrain a bit higher than many other skis this size and still have a quiet, civilized, well-mannered ride without feeling like your driving a truck too fast down a dirt road.  Control is the word that comes to mind with the 104s in bumpy terrain.  If you're looking for an explosive, high-octane feel in the bumps, the Renoun Endurance 104 is not your ski.  If you want to cruise through bumpy terrain with a smooth, easily controlled and deliberate tool, the 104s work well.

Powder:

Our powder experience with the Renound Endurance 104s as limited to knee-deep eastern dry snow and damper, heavier shin-deep snow in Vermont, both open-terrain and Eastern woodsy conditions. The 104s are "only" 104mm underfoot, so they don't really qualify as a pure-powder ski, but more of an all-mountain 100+mm ski.  That being said, they are pretty much effortless in powder, with a definite bias toward directional behavior more than pure smeary handling since they are cambered and are designed with a moderate tip and tail rocker..  The somewhat soft flex makes surfing to the planing speed quick and easy, and they stay where you put them until you want a directional or depth change.  Riding the 104s in powder is pretty darn easy and they disappear underfoot so you can concentrate on picking lines instead of handling the skis and getting them to do what you want.  The 22mm sidecut design makes them pretty versatile, so we could ramble through the Eastern trees quick and easy, yet let them run in open terrain pretty well...always with a smooth ride and lots of control.  It takes a bit more effort to throw them sideways in the tight terrain since they are not uber-surfy and have a cambered midbody, but they can change direction on a dime with a quick foot stomp to avoid a stump or rock when moving through the trees.  For a 104mm-waisted ski, they are super freindly in powder and would be fun for everything but the most epic dumpings when a fatter, more specialized powder tool would be ideal.

Turn Initiation Transition & Finish:

The Endurance 104s can initiate turns with minimal effort, simply rolling the ski over a bit and applying pressure will engage the forebody and it will bring itself into mid-turn with a nice, progressive feed without any abrupt pull or washout along the way.  It likes to have the pressure maintained consistently since it doesn't "auto-pilot" itself into an arc like some carving skis when they engage. You can abort the turn by simply rolling the ski a degree or two towards flat-running and it will settle into a new trajectory quietly.  The ski likes having max pressure applied at mid-point along the turn to get a full-length engagement, then you can choose to pressure the forebody, midbody or tail to finish your arc.  The 104s seem happy finishing the turn with a variety of pressure stances, and that's pretty handy when the terrain gets variable.  The Renoun 104s don't really eject you into the next turn like some rowdier skis, but you get a deliberate, well-applied acceleration along the tails with a reliable, controlled woosh rather than a "throw you in the back seat if your not careful" energy.  The smooth feel can lead to some deceptively increasing speeds with a few turn sequences, so people looking for a ski to kick them in the pants might feel the ski is unexciting until they realize how fast they are going and how quiet it feels.

Analogies: ("This ski is like...")

Silky smooth Audi A8 with fresh tires, quiet, comfortable, powerful and so easy to drive all day at high levels of performance you don’t realize it’s time to go home. (just like we said with other Renoun ski reviews...we need more variety in our comments, but it's how the ski feels...)

Vermont Beverage Most Like This Ski:

Hired Hand Nitro Espresso Milk Stout. Smooth, smooth smooth and friendly with a rock-solid impression and a delicious aftertaste.

http://www.hiredhandbrewing.com/hired-hand-beers/

Things We Would Change About This Ski:
 
Nothing, other than maybe a Titanal metal “pro” version for hotrods who want a more substantial, stiffer flex and more dampening power.

Short Answer When Someone Asks "What Do You Think About This Ski?":

Superbly smooth all-mountain ski with a soft snow bias with a very wide performance envelope for skiers of all types.  Everyone who tries it seems to say the same thing….”Wow...super quiet and impressive...” Significantly important ski from Renoun.  Other ski companies should watch their backs.

Advice To People Considering This Ski:

Get yourself to a demo day and see if the smooth personality suits your style.  These are a “sleeper” type of ski that doesn’t impress you immediately until you realize you’ve been skiing it all day at increasingly sporty levels.

Who and What Are These Good For?

All-mountain skiers who get every fresh dumping first thing in the morning, but want to keep a ski through the cut-up late morning surfaces and the progressively ragged snow into the afternoon with one ski.  Corn harvesting enthusiasts will love this ski in the Spring.   Rope-duckers, Patrollers, 100-days+ skiers and other people who want one ski to run all day without burning themselves out will love this ski.

Pics:

Tail rocker