I'll chime in on all the protest chat.
Such an amazing ski. Ive had both a 177 and a 187 in the map core. Stock skis build, no veneer no carbon. Ive had other praxis with combos of enduro veneer carbon, ul/c, ul/c veneer, 2, 3, and 4 flex, heavy hitter core, map/c.
For reference i find the 182 length is my best length for an on the hill pow ski no matter what ski. Low tide or twin on the hill id take shorter 175-180. Touring pow would be 180 and low 170's for mountaineering.
With the protest 177 w 3 flex was awesome. Could rage high speed and then immediately transition to short turns in tight. Legendary in funky conditions like wind pressed, zipper surface crust, half rain half snow. That surface area and design is magic. Pretty much the same with the 187 w 3 flex. Both were extremely capable. I often thought a 4 flex wouldnt have any bad traits. With the 3 when i'd smash into heavy chop piles i thought the 4 would blast through better. The 3 can fold a bit and snap back. Not crazy at all but enough that i thought about a 4(i think i was 180lbs at the time). A tweener size of 182 would be best for me @ 5"7' but i think i preferred the 177 over the 187. Both had minor drawbacks. I felt slightly out over the tips on the 177, especially at speed(im more of a directional, long turn shape skier). The 187 felt like i had a touch more tip and tail in tight spots when a quick reaction was necessary. Both minor complainys that rarely arose on the 177 and 187, but if i was designing a unicorn. I'd recommend not being to overly concerned on the length for yourself. Go with your normal pow ski length and maybe alter that slightly for where you'll be skiing it. We have a lot of tree skiing so i give a slight nod to the 177 over the 187. For flex i seem to be in the 4 flex zone for most of my skis but i found the protest handled better at speed in a 3 than my other 3 flex skis. Maybe a 3+ or 4- would be my unicorn.
For builds, it seems everybody has there preference. Im not a carbon guy. No slalom turns, slow twitch muscle sit in the pocket of a gs turn and try and make smooth transitions. My favorite builds thus far is the heavy hitter and veneer for on the hill. Mega damp crud and funk buster
50/50 i'd pick an enduro core with veneer. I might even build that as a dedicated touring ski. Enduro core and veneer is still reasonably light and still quite damp.
Dedicated touring, especially narrower skis i've really liked the ul/c with veneer. My exp in particular was incredible stable. I skied it quite a few times on the hill with dynafit ssl's and tlt 6's. It was awesome everrywhere. Super fun carving up groomers. Blown away. Bit overwhelmed when it was super deep but mine were 173 and the waist is only 88. That'd be a super fun ski in a heavy hitter with veneer with alpine clamps for an easy going trench layer.
Got carried away there^^
Back to protest, if you're over 190 you probably want to consider 4 flex. My dream protest would be a 182, 4-, heavy hitter, veneer. I just cant see any other ski doing everything that ski is capable of
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