Rethinking the Quiver, need Travel Ski recs

[DoWork]

Worth Magics. Fuckin' amazing ski. If I had to pick one pair for every single day everywhere forever, there would be no hesitation. They slay everything from groomers to bumps to deep fresh pow to chopped up bullshit mank. Never been on something that just does everything so well with so little compromise. Super snappy, agile and light but also damp, powerful and smooth. Literally playful charger to a T and never feels like too much ski.


Also made my Keith @ Praxis so you know the quality is top notch. Choose your core, layup, topsheet and tweak your flex for the same price as shops want for Chinese made mass produced skis!

http://worthskis.com/skis/the-magic/

[dark_star]

IMO either something in the Kastle MX series (either 88 or 98) or the Rossignol Sickle. It really is as awesome as the Blister Gear Review makes it out to be and it can be had really cheaply through EBay. Skied it yesterday on a mixed condition new england day and I was shocked at how well it handled icy hardback (with a good tune and sharp edges, of course…) Very different skis, one is full camber with metal and one is zero camber with rocker, but they both rip.

[CaliBrit]

Honestly buy some Billy Goats. I will be traveling with 1 ski from now on. Then any of the one million 98-102 waisted skis or even narrower.

[hoarhey]

I'd consider the praxis freeride, still pretty traditional, but with some taper and rocker quite good in the powder. Kind of halfway between your mantras and S3s as far as skiing style, but better in the pow than either of them.

I think he wants something a little looser in the tail than a praxis freeride.

I'd second the vote for the GPO, probably in a 187 stock med/stiff for you.
I'm skiing the 182 GPO in the medium+ flex and finding it to be pretty versatile in leaner snow conditions as well as deeper snow.

[RockChalk]

Sounds like the 185 cochise is your answer

[The SnowShow]

Duff..just messaged you

[TahoeJ]

If I could only have one ski to travel with it would definitely be around 100mm. I have 108 and 110mm skis that I love but when conditions get shitty they just aren't as good as something a little bit narrower. And it's still plenty wide for powder, especially in Utah.

[Duffman]

Thanks for all the various ideas here, good food for thought. So of course I go to utah this past week without the praxis and lo and behold it dumped. Woe is me . Sick few days from thirsday to Monday. A buddy had a hookup for demoing some Rossi stuff so I jumped on them. Tried the Soul 7 at the bird on Friday before the big storm came in and thought it was decent in the soft but not deep snow but way to turny and chattery when moving in chopped snow. Got on the Super 7 and liked it much better. Despite the 116 vs 108 waist I thought it did everything better than the soul. At first I got tip dive but after moving the demo binders back 1cm they felt great. Granted everything was soft including bumps and groomers so that probably helped. Kept the supers for myself for a great pow day sat at solitude where they were awesome for messing around in the deep uncut snow in the trees. These floated fantastic even in the heavy high water content pow and can turn on a dime. The only problem with these is the lightweight and relatively med soft flex got kicked around in more cut up chop and at higher speeds in cut snow. Loved the shape of these though. I really wanted to try the Squad but they were only available in a 180 at the time.

Not sure how applicable this really is to the one travel ski discussion since every trip doesn't involve 30 to 40 inches of snow over the course of 5 days. Obviously in these conditions a very soft snow biased ski rules. But I can say w confidence I prefer a looser slarvier ski like the praxis, even if smaller underfoot. Something lightweight and tossable while still being primarily a directional ski like the new super 7 (as an aside I hated the old S7 with the ultra soft shovel and the severe pintail) would be excellent if it were a bit stiffer and more stable without losing the playfulness. For a true one ski quiver though it might make sense to drop the width down to the mid to high 100s

[Shu Shu]

If you liked the Super 7 I have a feeling a GPO or Billy Goat would kill it for you. I skied the Super 7 before pulling the trigger on GPOs, I found the Super 7's enjoyable and easy to ski but a little 'meh' and the tails really washy on hardpack. The GPO (and from everything I've read of the BG) is everything the super is but with a ton more character on harder packed snow, and can charge hard in Chop (flex and layup choice is up to you).

If you want a smaller waisted version there is a skinny version of the BG (102 waist) in the ON3P demo sale over in Gear Swap right now. Sounds like they have your name on it.

[Duffman]

So you have skied the 2014 super and the gpo? I was looking at specs and thought the GPO looked similar shape wise but I thought that being a comp style ski it might not float nearly as well in deep snow or be as quick in trees. Obviously it will be more stable and better in chop. What did you notice between the two.

[Shu Shu]

Nope it was the 2013, so maybe the comparison is not as useful, not sure if anything other than the hollow tips changed for this year though. Its hard for me to do a real compare and contrast though as I had only had about a little time on the Supers and no real consistent pow to speak of just stashes hear and there, so it's more of an impression. I enjoyed the Supers I just never made a turn with them that made me super excited. Not sure if thats helpful.

I have had about 15 days on the GPOs now from EC boiler and icy bumps (the kind with glare ice and rocks in the troughs) to 15 inches of crazy light blower. They can turn really fast if you need them to, I've taken them on many bushwacking missions e.g. tight east coast hard woods littered with little saplings going for your nuts on every other turn.

They are not going to be the powder machines your OG protests are. I did get some tip dive when the snow was knee deep and insanely low moisture, but I made adjustments. Once I got them up to speed it was not an issue it was just low angle, lower speed stuff that was a little weird.

What's really fun is I'm still learning new tricks on them, this weekend I was practicing hi speed hard pack slarves down the back sides of rollers. I find that these really require a neutral stance for their versatility to come out. Any time I notice that they're not responding how I expect, I just back off a little, get centered and then its like they do anything.

[Duffman]

Nope it was the 2013, so maybe the comparison is not as useful, not sure if anything other than the hollow tips changed for this year though. Its hard for me to do a real compare and contrast though as I had only had about a little time on the Supers and no real consistent pow to speak of just stashes hear and there, so it's more of an impression. I enjoyed the Supers I just never made a turn with them that made me super excited. Not sure if thats helpful.

I have had about 15 days on the GPOs now from EC boiler and icy bumps (the kind with glare ice and rocks in the troughs) to 15 inches of crazy light blower. They can turn really fast if you need them to, I've taken them on many bushwacking missions e.g. tight east coast hard woods littered with little saplings going for your nuts on every other turn.

They are not going to be the powder machines your OG protests are. I did get some tip dive when the snow was knee deep and insanely low moisture, but I made adjustments. Once I got them up to speed it was not an issue it was just low angle, lower speed stuff that was a little weird.

What's really fun is I'm still learning new tricks on them, this weekend I was practicing hi speed hard pack slarves down the back sides of rollers. I find that these really require a neutral stance for their versatility to come out. Any time I notice that they're not responding how I expect, I just back off a little, get centered and then its like they do anything.

The 2014 Super is very different than the 2013, they got rid of the stupid (IMHO) pintail, but its also quite a bit softer. Anyway, the GPO sounds really intriguing, if not a little wide for a one ski travel quiver. Shame I missed the promo Keith was rnning a week ago.