Last March, Amplid shipped a pair of Ego Trip Evolutions to Jean and the testers at the "Community Touring Club", a bunch of likeminded touring fanatics based in France's Savoire region. You can read a translation of their ski review below or you can read the review in French here.
"The brand of the German snowboard legend, Peter Bauer, is best known as a twin tip brand specialising in freestyle, freeride and backcountry skis. The Ego Trip Evolution is the only model created specifically for Freerando, although other models in the range such as the classic Rockwell or the Hill Bill could possibly be mounted with touring bindings too.
The Ego Trip Evolution is a brand new ski dedicated to Freerando, developed around the recipe that has made the Rockwell successful, namely a very tight sidecut, beautiful rockered tips and a classic camber underfoot. Stunning in its Black & White attire, this beautiful ski’s manufacturing exudes strength and efficiency, qualities that it pays for a little on the scales. It doesn’t matter that it is slightly overweight in this anorexic category, because the Ego Trip Evolution responds to skiing with pleasurable character of a trouble maker brimming with energy and vitality. The advantage of the Amplids is its excellent stability which forces you to forget tight turns and enjoy the thrill of big carves regardless of the terrain. The mounting of the test skis was a little too forward and hampered the more oldschool testers, especially in terms of tip lift in deep snow. Imperial in hard snow and carving on track with its slalom ski radius, the Ego Trip Evolution speaks to the powerful riders who want to do everything. It would be nice to try the 185 cm, mounted 2 cm back."
Who its for: Strong ski-tourers who are prepared to haul a little more gear weight on the climb for a fun downhill.
Good for: Manufacturing quality, stability, liveliness, on-piste.
Not so good for: A bit heavy, floatation could be improved by moving the recommended mounting position back, price.
Weight (marks out of 5): 3
Forgiveness: 3
Behaviour on piste: 5
Floatation: 3
Versatility: 4
