Prior Original Review

Now that I've got about 10 days on them , I thought I'd provide a review

Me= 6ft, 170 lbs, aggressive expert
Ski= 188 Prior Original 127-98-115 mounted on the recommended line (-9 from center) with P18's
Previously skied and liked= 188 G4, 190 Explosiv

I bought this ski as my Whistler quiver of one this season and it has not let me down. In powder the ski is a dream. It has a nice medium flex, with a slightly softer tip than tail so it floats beautifully. It's a prettly light ski as well, so it's easy to throw around in the trees. It busts crud well (not as well as an Exploder) but well enough that I have no complaints. Yesterday was my fist hard pack groomer day and man was I surprised. The ski has superb edge hold and allowed me to ski faster than my buddy (same skill level) on his G4's. I was worried about the width for this type of snow, but the ski was perfect and allowed me to lay super G trenches all the way down the hill. On steeps the ski performed flawlessly, due to the great edge grip and shallow sidecut.
So far durability is good. The bases are tough and the edges are oversized and beefy. The topsheet chips a little easier than other skis I've been on (mostly Volkl's), but seems to be consistant with other K2's that I've seen.
Overall the ski has been everything a quiver of one should be. It's only the second year the Prior's have been out, so I'll update the thread if I come across any issues.

mm thanks for the review, glad to hear you like them. id love to get on a pair at some point. any other skis you could compare em to of the same type? vicious?

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Originally Posted by vinnay

mm thanks for the review, glad to hear you like them. id love to get on a pair at some point. any other skis you could compare em to of the same type? vicious?

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Never skied the Vicious, but from hand flexing the Prior is noticeably stiffer. Felt Gotama-ish stiff (maybe a hair stiffer). The Prior also feels a lot more lively and less damp than an Exploder...

damn sounds sick. I love the gotama flex.

Nice review... defo considering a pair of Prior's at some stage

I demoed a pair of these yesterday and really liked them. I usually ski on Legend Pros, but couldn't be bothered to bring them all the way to Whistler for a few days skiing. I am regretting this because I'm on a pair of rental B4s which aren't awful but are very unexciting.

The Originals are definitely softer and lighter than the LPs, however they had a nice lively feel to them. Spent most of the time in tracked powder and they performed very nicely. They aren't tanks like the LPs and the tip flapped a bit more, but they felt very stable. When I found the odd shot of untracked, they were a joy. And on the groomers getting back to the lifts, they carved very well and just had a much better feel than the B4s.

I think for my next pair of skis I want some which are a little less work than the LPs and the Originals might just have taken pole position

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Originally Posted by Arno

I demoed a pair of these yesterday and really liked them. I usually ski on Legend Pros, but couldn't be bothered to bring them all the way to Whistler for a few days skiing. I am regretting this because I'm on a pair of rental B4s which aren't awful but are very unexciting.

The Originals are definitely softer and lighter than the LPs, however they had a nice lively feel to them. Spent most of the time in tracked powder and they performed very nicely. They aren't tanks like the LPs and the tip flapped a bit more, but they felt very stable. When I found the odd shot of untracked, they were a joy. And on the groomers getting back to the lifts, they carved very well and just had a much better feel than the B4s.

I think for my next pair of skis I want some which are a little less work than the LPs and the Originals might just have taken pole position

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Glad you liked them Arno. My Originals are still running strong. Love 'em.

tried the 188 originals today, and I loved them. I am kind of coming from the opposite direction from arno on what I am looking for in a ski. now that I have the touring binding on my 183 gotamas, I was thinking about getting something a bit longer, a bit stiffer, and a bit narrower to put alpine bindings on. seems like this ski is purpose built for skiing whistler (oh yeah, it is). Lively yet stable, seemed very slightly stiffer than the gotama to me, most noticeable difference was in the more powerful, and longer tail. seriously considering this ski for next year. as an added bonus, I can probably go up there and watch them build my skis which for a nerd like myself would be pretty sweet.

if i ever make that move out to bozeman, i'll have to check these out. maybe a little shorter, cuz i'm the same height/weight, but still a gaper extraordinare. sound like a good alternative to someone who wants and easier skiing, but still aggressive allmtn compaired with the LP's. or am i horribly wrong about that?

I have been looking at the Original as a touring ski for next year. My wants in a touring ski were:
light
wood core
approx 90 waist
180 ish lenght

I demo'd a pair of the 181's last Sunday morning in nice light untracked pow. My regular ski is a SuperStiff 188 Bro. The originals rocked. Loved the soft flex in powder, I didn't have to mach big GS turns and could ski a smaller radius turn than the Superstiffs. But they were stable at speed when I opened them up. I really enjoyed them. If I can get demo's or blems or some discount then these will be mounted with Dynafits as my touring ski next season.

In the same afternoon I tried a pair of 175 DoughBoys. WOW these were fun skis. That huge tip just floats in anything. It allows you to really drive the ski and get your weight out front with out diving the tip. The conditions were getting cut up but we still found pow in the trees. These were pure joy in the trees. The short length, big tip and lots of side cut made them turn very very easy in the trees. I could see a pair of these or something very similar in my quiver next year.