The Official Great Pacific Octopus Thread

I need to detune more. They come from the factory detuned at the taper areas. I brought that down halfway to the contact points... I think the sweet spot is a little past the contact points...

Anywayz - IMO this ski is the perfect resort chargy pow ski. They ski untracked great but they shine in those conditions you see at 230pm on a resort pow day; chop, powder bumps, crud, etc... they also ski groomers well and pivot great in the trees and technical steeps.

sent from the future using my mind powers

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Originally Posted by whyturn

I've got GPO and protest covered

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Nice. Want to hear Jim S do a concept-gpo head to head as well, then I'll be set.

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Originally Posted by Shu Shu

Nice. Want to hear Jim S do a concept-gpo head to head as well, then I'll be set.

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End of the week.

What are people's thoughts on Praxis's carbon vs non-carbon skis?

pro and cons - or if there is one please point me to the appropriate thread. (At work right now and can't search :( )

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Originally Posted by Bird Blaster

What are people's thoughts on Praxis's carbon vs non-carbon skis?

pro and cons - or if there is one please point me to the appropriate thread. (At work right now and can't search :( )

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Check out the 2013 Praxis thread....

sent from the future using my mind powers

thanks - i had looked before there but didn't recall reading that...must have skipped it. i will go back now

Praxis GPO Review.

192 cm, carbon layup. 140-116-128. Mounted on the dimple (somewhat rearward appearing mount) with ffg16. DIN 10.5. Me - 6'0", 30 years old, 165 lbs.

Yeah, I have an overlap problem. In the 110-120 waist range, I currently own 188 mtn jibs, 192 GPO, 187 Concepts, 195 Gambits and 190 bibbys are on the way from bird blaster. It's ridiculous, but I suspect there are other mags out there that would happily take my quiver in it's entirety.

First impressions: So for starters, that topsheet is irresistible. My favorite in the lineup. Long mellow rocker with what appears to be some ON3P-esqure RES in the tip, shorter, still mellow in the squared off tail, 9.8 lbs in the plastic. Edges are razor sharp. Gummy stone hits to contact points before I even mount them. Not quite as thick as my other praxis, but I've done too much dumb shit to my praxis quiver to have any doubts about durability. Good advice for any/all praxis - go ski the shit out of them.

Ride - similar to gambits. Stupidly versatile, but surfier and a little more nimble. It's a nice, nice ride. I need to detune a lot to just PAST the contact points, and I honestly want to do 2 or 3 swipes in the underfoot area to dull them just a little…they are still super grabby on hardpack.

Groomers: Soft or slushy, you can get them to lock in and feel stable. On hard snow, they grab.

Bumps: Super easy and forgiving for a 192 stiff, chargy ski. Soft and shallow, just point em and bounce around. If they are big and troughed, pivot from the balls of your feet and hit a line. They are as easy to ski bumps on as my 187 concepts and 188 mtn jibs. But they're stiffer and have a higher speed limit. Boom.

Trees: It's like slalom practice in soft snow in the trees. Point em, turn em, carve em, slarve em. Whateva. It all works. Planing like they have a 55 cm tip rocker. Surfing like they have some RES.

Airs: YES. that tail is stiff. Stable and forgiving. Stomp it. Park laps are fun, but riding switch is tougher on these than the gambits. Also, I'm pretty bad at riding switch.

Crud/tracked pow - just point em like it's untracked. You'll feel the changes in the snowpack under you (stiff ski), but they do exactly what you would want them to. They stay predictable and easy to shut down. Rage or play. I see why they make a good comp ski.

Cons/Changes:
Tuning - FKNA with the factory tunes. I can't ride them. They are hooky as shit on ice…that said, a little more time and a further detune with my gummy, and I think I'll likely stop complaining.

That's it. There's literally nothing else I would change. Rocker is mellow and long. Tip curve is never too sharp. They surf. They're nimble and stable. Not a great hardpack ride (likely related to the tune). I like both the gambits and my simple moustache concepts better on hardpack…this, the concept, and the gambit are all insanely fun, versatile skis. I give the Gambit the nod on a firm day and this the nod on a deeper day. Concepts are the easiest to ski. If I could only have one, I'd go GPO because I like the feel of surfing and I'd "put up" with the hardpack performance…

IMO, Drew and Keith have absolutely crushed it with this design.

And whatever to my quiver overlap problem. If there are skis that I like this much being built, I'll horde.

Same offer stands to non-gapers in the 310mm BSL club who want to take em for a spin and can offer me something cool to try in return. Not sure if we'll get any more good snow at Stevens, but here's hoping for a temp drop.

Jim? Anything you would add? Others?

I know I promised some helmet cam porn. Turns out editing is a huge PITA. I'm working on it. I'll also get some side by side photos with the gambits.

Nice review, looking forward to the photos, and maybe a firm snow update after some additional detune.

^^^^ that review just made waking up noteworthy today. Thanks for that

Nice review, you impressive gear whore! Now, if only you could gain at least 40 lbs.

Can you compare the GPO's to the Bibby's a bit? I think the GPO's are a bit lighter (but not certain). Do they deflect more? How's the relative dampness of the ski with the carbon layup? Thanks, in advance.

Thanks for the review, Suprechicken. Are your GPOs the stock med-stiff flex? I can't remember if the Feb sale had customized flex as an option.

GS - The bibbys are listed as 10.2 lbs for the pair. The ones I have on the way (I haven't skied them yet) are the old generation eel topsheet 190s and they're mounted with Dukes. The GPOs are slightly lighter, but with the bindings (ffg16 vs Dukes), they are definitely going to ski lighter than the bibbys.

JB - My GPOs are med-stiff. That's all that was avialable. They definitely hand flex stiffer than my med-stiff concepts. Not sure if that's the carbon or newness or just that Keith is making med-stiff slightly stiffer than he used to.

Took the GPO's out for the first time today. I've got the carbon 192's in a medium stiff flex. It wasn't the ideal conditions to test them out because of the high temps but they feel more stable than my Concepts and I suspect that they will be better in crud also... too early to tell though. They definitely flex stiffer than my carbon Concepts.

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Originally Posted by Jim S

I further detuned the tips a little bit past the contact points and now they are great. 

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Doesn't mean you're not retarded....

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Originally Posted by irul&ublo

Doesn't mean you're not retarded....

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Trust me. I'm go full retard more often than not.

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Effing Sexy.

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Still debating on -1. I ski really forward and lean into em. Sometimes stuff a tip on squads which are also -7 mount from center. Final thoughts?

Looking forward to the GoPro ski porn footage. Popcorn and tissues at the ready...I think I'm going to enjoy this.

WT...you can always come try mine before you mount if you can wait that long. But I can't get the tips to dive even mounted at the dimple. I'm a tip driver (heh) and I'm almost wishing I were +1...

Thanks bro. Would like to make these resort daily driver up to a foot of fresh. Replace Lhasa and squad 7

Those pics were sweet. Can't wait to order!

Brilliant Idea. More playful than both and just as high a speed limit.

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Originally Posted by whyturn

Still debating on -1. I ski really forward and lean into em. Sometimes stuff a tip on squads which are also -7 mount from center. Final thoughts?

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I'd feel fine on -1 or -2 even though mine are on the dimple. I might move them back..what the heck. Keith skis centered per my conversation with this week; that was my take. I think I like to drive the ski with 'old school' technique.

...Because I'm older and getting darn close to the wrong side of 50 next month.

I'm skiing the 184cm hybrid DPS 112RP. It's a great ski, but I might consider something a bit more stout for resort crud purposes. The catch is that it still needs to surf like a mofo in deep snow and be maneuverable enough for tight trees and powder bumps. Can anyone compare the 187cm GPO to the 184cm 112RP?

keep in mind that there will be a 182 length in the GPO
(tree maneuverability)

this is of course secondary to the traits of the ski itself, but still might be good info for you on the 184 w112

Shredding sauce. Figured I'd bump because I'm still stoked on this ski

Anybody know of a way to scope out and/or try this ski in a 187 in or around Seattle? It intrigues me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW68w...ature=youtu.be

Not me doing a backflip, but I'm glad Matty showed my bases to the sky. 1:18, they are destroying the crud. That shit was heavy and they were maching right through. The rest is slalom practice with trees. Stupid fun. I wish there had been some higher angle terrain, but there wasn't enough new snow. So it goes.

Enjoy.

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Also, sort of rethinking putting the word "Porn" in my first youtube video. Whoops.

^^^^^^^^^Nice vid supre. Great to see some tight quick tree action. They look fun, stable and quick. Still waiting see some 8-12" to see if there is any hint of tip dive at the dimple. Thanks for the stoke

So I didn't get any vid of the gpo at Stevens this week, but skiing them back to back with the spoons in 12-15" of light sidecountry pow left me really impressed. They aren't as lively in the deep as the spoons (unfair comparison, I know) but that tip surfs right up. Ski stays predictable. Neutral/weight fwd without any tip dive. If you want a comp ski, you want the gpo.

For float/surf, a decent spectrum from the skis I have gotten to ride this year:

Spoon > billy goat > gpo > gambit > concept. The bg is as close to the feel of the spoon as it gets, I think. The gpo is close, but they don't quite have the pivoting/surfing ease that the bg does in deep snow. It's close, though.

Hope that helps.

nice video stoke!!!

I'm sold, now it's just a matter of deciding in the size.

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Originally Posted by SupreChicken

Spoon > billy goat > gpo > gambit > concept. The bg is as close to the feel of the spoon as it gets, I think. The gpo is close, but they don't quite have the pivoting/surfing ease that the bg does in deep snow. It's close, though.

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Been on a Renegade?

I think he had a pair of 186's before.

SupreChicken, Jim S, any chance you could a quick side by side with the concepts. from what I gather so far, the GPOs float better and are a bit stiffer for bigger lines, and Concepts get the nod on hardpack.

I have some shorter (177) Concepts that are now my only ski. I'm so psyched on them. Endless turn shape possibilites, unreal edge hold on really hard snow, and more than enough float. Just had a 18inch day on them and they were great.

I'm EC based but looking to pick up one more pair of skis as a West Coast/Bigger terrain travel ski, and I think it will either be some 187 Concepts or some GPOs. I love the idea of a playful charging oriented ski like the GPO. I've seen Tabke ski the GPOs in huge alpine lines, just wondering if you guys could comment on how well the Concept holds up in that type of terrain, especially compared to the GPO, and what would be your choice between the two as a travel ski where u gotta go with whatever Ullr gives you.-Thanks

I have been on a 186 ren. i like them, but they aren't quite my jam. Tiny sweet spot. If I ever submerged an edge in soft snow, there was no saving it. Yard sale guaranteed. Not as stable a landing platform. I tip my cap to the dudes that ride those as a quiver of one. It does get easier with more days on them. My favorite pair was auvgeek's ravens that had developed camber. I like his owls ok. My own set of ravens were the most rockered, softest ones I tried and I didn't really enjoy them even on a deep day. Call me a huge pussy if you must, there isn't much forgiveness in that ski. And I have some shitty habits when it comes to skiing form.

As far as a float comparison, I think they are worse than the gambits, on par the concepts. I found that if I rail the front of the ren, the tip will sink. The others can tolerate a fwd stance without the dive. Not a naysayer of that ski, but in my experience (as a fwd style skier with bad habits), it wasn't what I wanted, so I sold my pair.

Shu shu -

Now that I've done more detuning...I think the gpo and concept are comparable on hardpack. I'm no longer having the issues I had initially. Night skiing at Stevens just now with my dad in town kept me on more firm snow than I wanted, but they destroyed the groomers and soft cut up chop. If I were cloned and racing myself, The 192 gpo chicken would beat the 187 concept chicken. It'd be close, though.

Cool thanks so nearly equivalent on hardpack and more float for the gpo. Im sensing your leaning in that direction as an alpine focused travel ski?

Gun to my head, I can only keep one of the two---I'm very sad, but I part with the concepts.