Praxis Concept 177 Mini Review: A comment on length for EC terrain

[Shu Shu]

This isn't a full review as I haven't had enough time on these yet, to be honest its probably not necessary there's enough great reviews of these skis.
But I wanted to get some initial thoughts up for anyone else on the fence about length of the 177s due to the stupid price of these in the overstock sale. For reference I am 5,10 160 with gear.

I'll admit when I pulled the trigger on the 177s I was nervous. 180 is such a psychological barrier for me, but I had some conversations with Keith and read the Exoticskis review and decided to give it a shot. Let me summarize.



East Coast tree skiers (around my size), you've found the ski you've been looking for all your life.



The things I was worried about in this ski in terms of length were tip dive, stability at speed and off drops. Here is my not so scientific method for testing.

Testing Ground: 900 ft vt mountain in Quebec. 25cm of fresh snow no crowds.

For Tip Dive
Test: Bomb as fast as I could through cut up and packed pow down a steep run and straight into a section of untracked 20 cm deep
Result: Never a hint of tip dive. Even more fun, hit the pow stay centered and pivot the ski horizontal across the fall line and keep sliding almost as fast. (I can now only begin to imagine how fun the powder boards would be in untracked)

For Stability/Drops
Test: I hit a nice 10 foot drop about 5 times in a row into about 20cm of untracked. I landed centered I landed forward and back.
Result: Never went over the handle bars, tails had nice support for back seat landings, and stomping and landing centered was super easy.

For Tight Trees
Test: I just pointed them into the woods. Not glades, not marked tree runs, not nicely maintained sidecountry runs (e.g. The Dip, Big Jay), the fucking bush.
Result: I skied lines that people would have problems walking through. Before this I thought the JJs turned fast.

Would I go longer if I was skiing Alpine terrain? Probably, but for trails, trees and bushwacking on the EC the 177 Concept is like a revelation. I felt like a freakin ninja.

[mfa81]

how did you feel about the camber profile, it's actually the only thing keeping me away from pulling the trigger! also considering the influence 115 but that's another story! I'm 5'5 / 150 so the size seems perfect for deep days in Idaho!

[Shu Shu]

Hard to say, there was a lot of snow And really even on a flat surface, the camber zones are very subtle. When I had it on packed down snow it skied very true to length, if not even a bit longer than it looked on my feet. What exactly about the camber profile are you worried about?

[mfa81]

I've read comments about difficult to find a good stance and a little bit of getting used to when conditions are less than desirable, like having to go fwd/back to get some stability and not so much a more centered position.

Reference reviews were from Blister and Earlyups, not really worried I'm more on the "what to expect" side of a non traditional rocker/camber/rocker profile.

Did you feel like adjusting your riding position?

[Shu Shu]

So keep in mind i've only had it in desirable conditions, I can imagine the little spot of reverse sidecut underfoot might be trickier to handle in hardpack, but in any type of pow/3d snow its incredibly intuitive. You kind of just stay centered and change directions. Its very easy to engage the front or back sidecut by shifting your weight forward or back, (as described in the reference reviews) but its not dramatic, in fact i felt it was less that I had to change my stance, and more how I was pressuring my foot. Stay completely centered and pivot, or pressure a little forward or back to start a more carved feeling turn. Again my caveat is that this was a really nice fresh snow day. I plan to take them out this weekend again which will give me more time on groomed/packed snow.

[Cocximus]

Where's the overstock?

[mfa81]

So keep in mind i've only had it in desirable conditions, I can imagine the little spot of reverse sidecut underfoot might be trickier to handle in hardpack, but in any type of pow/3d snow its incredibly intuitive. You kind of just stay centered and change directions. Its very easy to engage the front or back sidecut by shifting your weight forward or back, (as described in the reference reviews) but its not dramatic, in fact i felt it was less that I had to change my stance, and more how I was pressuring my foot. Stay completely centered and pivot, or pressure a little forward or back to start a more carved feeling turn. Again my caveat is that this was a really nice fresh snow day. I plan to take them out this weekend again which will give me more time on groomed/packed snow.

thanks Shu Shu!

Where's the overstock?

Protest, Concepts, Pow Boards and BPS

http://praxisskis.com/shop/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=3&Itemid=3&vmcchk=1&Itemid=3

[ExoticSkis]

Would I go longer if I was skiing Alpine terrain? Probably, but for trails, trees and bushwacking on the EC the 177 Concept is like a revelation. I felt like a freakin ninja.

Amen. Me too. Great brush-crusher...bomber construction.

[Jim S]

I've read comments about difficult to find a good stance and a little bit of getting used to when conditions are less than desirable, like having to go fwd/back to get some stability and not so much a more centered position.
Did you feel like adjusting your riding position?

I think it's awesome in user unfriendly snow. Stay centered if mounted on the dimple.

[Shu Shu]

A few updates, after some time on Eastern hardpack/ice.

This ski continues to impress the hell out of me. Most of the reviews at some point mention that due to the 'tricut bump' you can't just roll it over and engage a turn. This is totally true. However I found to get a true arced gs style turn is not hard, you just need to be going quite fast to do it and get the whole ski up on edge.

That being said, I can't believe how fast I'm skiing on these skis. Because minor coarse corrections can be made almost just by thinking about them, I find myself almost exclusively in the fall line finding fun paths over the gradations in the terrain, using little slarves, and engaging the front or back sidecuts to change direction. From time to time I'll throw in a large carved turn, and while the edge hold is insane (I'm talking serious EC boiler) it doesn't ever really feel like this is what the ski is meant for.

Here's the thing I'm addicted to right now on hardpack. Approach a rollover with lots of speed, instead of airing it, just throw em sideways at the crest, and do a long power slide/slarve down the backside staying centered on the ski. Point em back down the fall on and take off. I did this all night on an icy EC groomer till last chair...so fun.

[Shu Shu]

So the landing of this little huck was into 5 inches of cement like slop with a nice little rain crust over top. For the Concepts it might as well have been a foot of blower for all they cared. These skis will do anything you ask. They make me a better skier than I am.

[hopelesslyadolescent]

Thanks, ShuShu for your reports on the Concept. Your review and Keith's recommendation helped me decide on the 177, and I've not regretted it in any condition. Tremendous fun in all conditions, but especially anything soft. I feel completely confident on it at speed in set up snow that in the past has knocked me around, haven't once wished I was on something longer. Seems like I'm just scratching the surface of what one can do on these things. Really looking forward to a full season on them next year.

[Shu Shu]

Thanks, ShuShu for your reports on the Concept. Your review and Keith's recommendation helped me decide on the 177, and I've not regretted it in any condition. Tremendous fun in all conditions, but especially anything soft. I feel completely confident on it at speed in set up snow that in the past has knocked me around, haven't once wished I was on something longer. Seems like I'm just scratching the surface of what one can do on these things. Really looking forward to a full season on them next year.

I hear ya man. I've got about 10 days on them now across pretty much a full spectrum of conditions, and I still feel like I'm only just figuring out their full potential. Glad the reviews helped with the length decision.

[ExoticSkis]

Agreed....multi-purpose ski with a wide range of abilities...fearless in wacky conditions...my go-to ski when the conditions are variable depth and variable densities...always fun. Great work Keith....