Hi, great review of the ski. What was your height and weight when you were skiing this ski.
Thanks
The Hagan Chimera series of skis is known for its solid yet lightweight construction. The latest member with the most unique name, the Chimera Y-Flow, is a worthy contender for a true one-ski quiver for backcountry skiing and mountaineering. Incredibly light for its size, the Y-Flow is designed for skiers who want to ski a lot of vertical in varying conditions. With a mid-fat 87mm waist and a wide 300mm rockered shovel, the ski can handle aggressive powder lines. But with a relatively narrow 100mm flat tail, the "Y" will also give you confidence in tight quarters and suboptimal conditions. In either case, its light weight and skiability will entice you to lather, rinse, and most importantly, repeat.
- Named to the 2014 Select list by Backcountry magazine in their annual gear guide.
- Unique Y shape has a fat, fish-shaped tip for float combined with a narrower tail for smooth downhill performance on harder snow.
- Diamond Edge Cap construction cuts corners in a good way, adding angular strength and power transmission to the edges while trimming swing weight.
- 300mm of rocker in the elliptical shovel helps you stay on top of powder and crud.
- Multi-radius design smoothly transitions from a shorter radius in front to a longer radius in the tail for easy turns of variable length.
- Wont-believe-it-till-you-lift it weight of 1215 grams (2lb 10.9oz) [173cm] puts those longer tours within reach.
- Curved tip notches and flat tail notches make it easy to attach and detach Hagan or similar skins.
- Optional precut climbing skins available.
* Note the 181 length is the 2013/14 model with different graphics.
| Specifications | |
| Lengths (cm) | 165, 173, 181, 190 |
|
Weight |
1165g [165] 1215g [173] 1315g [181] 1390g [190] |
| Weight (pair) | 2330g [165] 2430g [173] 2630g [181] 2780g [190] |
|
|
130-87-100 |
|
Turn |
15-19m [165] 17-21m [173] 19-22m [181] 21-25m [190] |
|
Skin |
Tip notch, flat tail notch |
| Specs Verified | All except 190 |
| Design | |
|
|
300mm tip rocker, flat tail |
|
|
Multi-radius Y shape |
|
|
Diamond Edge Cap |
|
|
Paulownia wood |
| Skimo Co Says | |
| Usage | Long tours, powder laps, serial chuting, you name it |
| Notes | Unique shape designed to handle all conditions |
| Bottom Line | Could be the best one ski quiver |
| Compare to other Mid-fat Skis | |
Questions & Reviews
2/17/2016
2/18/2016
5'8" & 145 lb -- although note that if you click on my name, you'll see my complete profile including other background info (relevant or otherwise)
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Overall: A caveated Five Stars for a very lightweight ski that floats far above its 87mm waist. The two caveats are that I haven’t skied it in very firm conditions (since I used it almost exclusively for backcountry powder), and that some skiers might not like the narrow tail (although it is being stiffened up somewhat for the 2014-15 season).
Background on product familiarity: I used the 2013-14 version in a 173cm for almost 44,000 feet of earned vertical, plus a couple long runs back through the resort at end of some days. Mounted with Hagan ZR bindings, driven by Dynafit EVO boots. My previous backcountry powder setup was the Dynafit Manaslu (92mm waist in my 169cm length), mounted with Dynafit Vertical ST and then Plum Guide bindings, driven by the Dynafit DyNA and TLT5 Performance boots.
First, the first impressions out of the box: When I first saw the specs, something about that shovel convinced me that it could float above and/or plow through much more than would be expected from its 87mm waist, and that the relatively narrow tail would be immune to hooking up.
Up close, although graphics can be deceiving, the physical reality further reinforced the spec impressions. (And hence the name, with the “Y” indicating a pronounced pintail shape, and the bracketed “wai” to encourage Euros to pronounce the letter the same way that we do. For the 2014-15 season, the Y-Flow is joined by three other Y models, one skinner, two fatter, with the same pronounced pintail, although not to the same extent as the Y-Flow.)
Mounting position is a little further back than what I usually prefer, but makes sense given the significant tip rocker combined with a flat tail. (Note that some very early preproduction samples had the position incorrectly marked because of a graphics layup mistake.)
Mounting is a little on the soft side. I got away without helicoils during the season, although will probably have to resort to them for next season to be on the safe side. (Given that Hagan inserts such a bomber metal mounting plate into its race skis, I don’t understand what it isn’t inserted into all of their models.)
The tip is nicely notched for setting up climbing skins as with race skis.
Second impressions, in use: I love this setup! I felt like I was touring around this season with only a set of highly maneuverable wide rockered shovels driven by a pair of carbon fiber upper cuffs on my ski boots. Everything else was just along for the ride at a nearly negligible weight penalty.
Conditions included lots of untrack powder, plus some cut-up powder, skier-packed powder, mank, crust, groomers, and moguls. The broad rockered shovel either floated over or plowed through everything. I never took them out in firm conditions, not out of any lack of confidence, but only because I had other skis for that. However, returning through the resort a couple times on some low-angle groomers, the ski went into a true carve very nicely in response to only moderate angulation.
The narrow tail released very predictably in heavier conditions, without hooking up at all. However, it can jet out from underneath if your fore-aft balance isn’t good. I first experienced this when skiing defensively in the back seat on a very steep slope with about a foot of fresh over a base of just a couple inches of older firmer snow that was barely covering various active land mines. As the pitch moderated, and as my confidence improved on subsequent laps (whether wisely or otherwise!) the effect went away.
The other time was when I was returning back through the resort after over 9,000’ of skinning and for some reason (which I still don’t understand) I sought out a steep tight mogul field. Whenever the moguls threw me into the back seat more than my fried thighs could resist, the jetting effect was noticeable – almost kind of fun in a way, since I never fell, but if you’re not well balanced, this might happen too often. (A certain blogger who quietly panned this ski is always shown passively noodling in the backset, so his dislike makes sense.)
For 2014-15 this effect might be mitigated by a stiffer tail, though the narrow dimensions will stay the same. And I expect that even with a stiffer tail, the ski will still be incredibly quick in tight confines. I had originally been a little wary of moving up 4cm in length from my previous setup for this kind of skiing. But my wariness was misplaced: in additional to being highly maneuverable in unconsolidated snow, I was able to pop off quick turns on consolidated snow in an aptly named “Chute” lead-in to a backcountry ski trail where previously I had often engaged in various forms of survival skiing.
Third impressions, for long-term durability: No problems so far, although haven’t been subject to any abuse yet.
Background on product familiarity: I used the 2013-14 version in a 173cm for almost 44,000 feet of earned vertical, plus a couple long runs back through the resort at end of some days. Mounted with Hagan ZR bindings, driven by Dynafit EVO boots. My previous backcountry powder setup was the Dynafit Manaslu (92mm waist in my 169cm length), mounted with Dynafit Vertical ST and then Plum Guide bindings, driven by the Dynafit DyNA and TLT5 Performance boots.
First, the first impressions out of the box: When I first saw the specs, something about that shovel convinced me that it could float above and/or plow through much more than would be expected from its 87mm waist, and that the relatively narrow tail would be immune to hooking up.
Up close, although graphics can be deceiving, the physical reality further reinforced the spec impressions. (And hence the name, with the “Y” indicating a pronounced pintail shape, and the bracketed “wai” to encourage Euros to pronounce the letter the same way that we do. For the 2014-15 season, the Y-Flow is joined by three other Y models, one skinner, two fatter, with the same pronounced pintail, although not to the same extent as the Y-Flow.)
Mounting position is a little further back than what I usually prefer, but makes sense given the significant tip rocker combined with a flat tail. (Note that some very early preproduction samples had the position incorrectly marked because of a graphics layup mistake.)
Mounting is a little on the soft side. I got away without helicoils during the season, although will probably have to resort to them for next season to be on the safe side. (Given that Hagan inserts such a bomber metal mounting plate into its race skis, I don’t understand what it isn’t inserted into all of their models.)
The tip is nicely notched for setting up climbing skins as with race skis.
Second impressions, in use: I love this setup! I felt like I was touring around this season with only a set of highly maneuverable wide rockered shovels driven by a pair of carbon fiber upper cuffs on my ski boots. Everything else was just along for the ride at a nearly negligible weight penalty.
Conditions included lots of untrack powder, plus some cut-up powder, skier-packed powder, mank, crust, groomers, and moguls. The broad rockered shovel either floated over or plowed through everything. I never took them out in firm conditions, not out of any lack of confidence, but only because I had other skis for that. However, returning through the resort a couple times on some low-angle groomers, the ski went into a true carve very nicely in response to only moderate angulation.
The narrow tail released very predictably in heavier conditions, without hooking up at all. However, it can jet out from underneath if your fore-aft balance isn’t good. I first experienced this when skiing defensively in the back seat on a very steep slope with about a foot of fresh over a base of just a couple inches of older firmer snow that was barely covering various active land mines. As the pitch moderated, and as my confidence improved on subsequent laps (whether wisely or otherwise!) the effect went away.
The other time was when I was returning back through the resort after over 9,000’ of skinning and for some reason (which I still don’t understand) I sought out a steep tight mogul field. Whenever the moguls threw me into the back seat more than my fried thighs could resist, the jetting effect was noticeable – almost kind of fun in a way, since I never fell, but if you’re not well balanced, this might happen too often. (A certain blogger who quietly panned this ski is always shown passively noodling in the backset, so his dislike makes sense.)
For 2014-15 this effect might be mitigated by a stiffer tail, though the narrow dimensions will stay the same. And I expect that even with a stiffer tail, the ski will still be incredibly quick in tight confines. I had originally been a little wary of moving up 4cm in length from my previous setup for this kind of skiing. But my wariness was misplaced: in additional to being highly maneuverable in unconsolidated snow, I was able to pop off quick turns on consolidated snow in an aptly named “Chute” lead-in to a backcountry ski trail where previously I had often engaged in various forms of survival skiing.
Third impressions, for long-term durability: No problems so far, although haven’t been subject to any abuse yet.
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