SEEKER

"Little Gnarnia"

Big Mountain Park
Powder
Twin Tip
Camber Underfoot
Full Tip Rocker
Full Tail Rocker
B.F.T.T. - Big Fat Tip Technology)

Valerie Black

“Valerie Black is a backcountry snowboarding robot sent from the future - do NOT attempt to capture or tame.” –a best friend

Stoked, grateful, and always excited for winter, Valerie Black can be tough to locate. She is usually chasing summer summits and climbing days or sled laps and splitboard missions somewhere between Revelstoke, BC, and Jackson, Wyoming. Her first love was adventure photography, but a climbing accident in 2016 resulted in a broken ankle and a new form of visual expression in painting.

She is Calgary-born, and learned to ski on the slopes of Lake Louise, Fortress, and Fernie not long after learning to walk. The search for unobstructed views, big peaks, tall trees, and piles of snow has had the biggest influence on her life, and her artwork.

Valerie creates storm days and bluebird mountain scenes in a style all her own.

You can see more of her work at skintracksandrockstacks.com

What People are Saying...

Ryan Ricard here, out of Spokane, WA. I run a rain gutter business and am therefore lucky enough to take the four winter months off of work to ski a lot.

Last year i got the opportunity to spend a day on the Seeker, from Instinct Killer Ski Company. The day was mostly about a really rad, short tour to a secret spot outside the boundaries of Red Mtn Resort. A little less than an hour touring on plate bindings, followed by 2400’ or so of fast turns through untouched knee deep, to Al’s awesome buddy’s parked truck waiting with beers and a ride back to the resort. As you can imagine, the day was really good.

I was dreading skinning on the plate bindings in my resort boots, but the skis felt lighter than expected for a 188cm, 115 underfoot ski. The big plus while touring was that the tip liked to easily find the surface of the deep snow with each stride without effort on my part, and the tour ended up being fun and much more comfortable than expected.

Admittedly i would've had a blast on any ski in the conditions we had that day, but i was very impressed by the Seekers. The snow was deep, a bit heavy, and wind affected. The Seekers had great floatation, and turn initiation was easy and natural. I noticed early that the tips weren’t “hooky” like some powder skis do in heavier snow with dense top layers. They were easy to drive, initiate, and complete turns without extra input. The skis had a really progressive flex throughout, making it fun to change turn shapes, and allowing for big fast arcing pow turns and surfy slashing turns alike.

I did also get a couple fast runs on groomers on the Seekers, which carved trenches. 18m turning radius on the 188’s made easy work laying out big fast arcs. The skis were very stable, and gave confident edge to edge transitions. I know their intended purpose is a lightweight touring oriented ski, but they are powerful, energetic, and damp; more-so than a lot of the all mountain skis i tested.

I didn’t get to put them through paces in any crap, crud or chunder, but they felt very solid with good dampness in the conditions we had. Id love to get some more days on em, and will be trying hard to get a pair from Al before the season starts.

The Seeker is Instincts flagship ski, a masterpiece formed from decades of Kootenay Powder Skiing combined with the expert craftsmanship of a fine woodworker. Instinct certainly isn’t afraid to delve into new school materials though. The Seeker is jam packed with technology, which makes this guys head hurt - but does all the right things when you strap the ski on!

A light nimble ski combined with a superb sidecut/rocker combination makes direction changes effortless- an essential tool in the Kootenay trees. The Seeker inspires you to ski fast into tight spaces, enjoying the deep pow within.

The ski is torsionally stiff - thanks to the tech stuff - yet flexes naturally and easily when you drive your feet down into a turn.

If you’re after a ski that can wiz through trees like a fighter jet in battle, on the ski hill or out in the wilderness with a set of super light touring bindings, the Seeker is the solution!