DB Skis Tabla Rasa

[joshbu]

Mine show up at 3 today, so says FedEx.

Next stop, World Cup Skier Service for the Solly 916 treatment.

On snow reviews and pics very, very soon.

[bad_roo]

Lucky man.

[VTskibum]

hehe What time can i stop by to check those out tonight??

[BradyCU]

congrats man for sure!

Funny how we both order skis forever ago
Funny how we both go through shit forever
Funny how both are skis show up a day apart
Funny how we both have badass skis.

Good things come to those who wait.

[joshbu]

They are fat. Mind blowingly fat. So fat you could land f-16s on them. But I guess you already knew that. They are also super light. I think they weight about as much as a ski half their width, or conversely, they weight about half of what a ski would weight built of wood or foam and metal.

They have the double width edges.

The shape is very interesting. There's hardly any camber at all. The tip is rather tall compared to most of today's "pro-tips" and it starts further back on the ski (the tip is longer, if that makes any sense...) There's barely any sidecut. The shovel is substantally wider than the rest of the ski, but the tail is not. Obviously, it's a swallowtail. The actual swallowtail is perhaps 6 or 7 cm long and shaped roughly like a beaker.

The flex is "moderate" as I ordered it, and the flex is biased towards the tip and the tail.

The construction looks killer except the small plastic insert that is installed in the swallow tail. There's little bubbles in the plastic. That's the only detraction from what otherwise looks like perfectly built skis.

pics and bindings next.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Originally posted by joshbu

The tip is rather tall compared to most of today's "pro-tips" and it starts further back on the ski (the tip is longer, if that makes any sense...)

yeah sounds like it's got a ton of rocker. I was checking out some new Zags the other day and noticed the same thing....should help with flotation.

they sould killer josh...can't wait to see 'em mounted up!

[Odin]

Can't wait to ride em

You are going to have quinner meet us up on Wortmans so I can test them out...... right?

[Hayduke]

I doubt you've had a chance to find out yet but does the topsheet scratch easily?

[phUnk]

They share a bunch of design features with the Volkl Shanouk. Rode with one of the Omen Production skiers and he really liked the Shanouks.

[BurmaShave]

I had a chance to demo both the Surreal and the Tabla Rasa prototypes last summer in Las Lenas. Unfortunately, the Marte chair was closed and no powder was to be found. Neverthless, I found both skis to be extremely lightweight, damp and versatile.

I recently purchased a pair of Volkl Sanouks. I will post a review when I have had the binders mounted on the Sanouks. The swallowtail on the Sanouk is more pronounced than that of the Tabla Rasa, but not nearly the length of that found on the Salomon AK Rocket Swallowtails.

[ulty_guy]

bump for DB and Sanouk reviews?

[joshbu]

Nope. They haven't touched snow yet, nor have I gotten my photos from my old APS camera developed yet.

I pretty much can't in good conscious bring out a ski with a 118 waist in hardpack/slush conditions.

[Dr. Crash]

Originally posted by joshbu
I pretty much can't in good conscious bring out a ski with a 118 waist in hardpack/slush conditions.

Come on, I'll bring the Deep Powders myself We may get a few inches overnight, but I'm not sure when the BC will open.

drC

[joshbu]

Pics of the TRs. The tip didn't come out, so I'll take it again when I have the chance.

[joshbu]

They destroy. The best pow ski I've ever been on by a lot. Point, shoot, and know that you won't sink and you won't ever run out of ski. They are stiff, but don't ever feel like they dive or hook. They are super stable at speed, but can still make that short turn happen. Basically, you point your knees, and the TR will take you there.

Maybe one of the top 5 pow skis ever built. Only the Spatula, Iggies, and some pro models could be better.

[snorkeldeep]

saw these on demo at alta and watched bill ride them... and compare to his FFFs. they looked pretty sweet - lot of ski there.. they had one of their stiffest flexes out in the slightly narrower ski - been a while since ive seen anything like that - pretty neat.

[Glisseur]

I've skied the Tablas for more than 60 days so far this season, most of those days have been spent in La Grave, France which means big runs, huge vertical, steep couloirs, variable snow conditions and nasty, bumby traverses and the Tablas rule it all.

These skis absolutely beg for speed and as you might guess from the width of the ski, they float like an oil tank. The cool thing is that you're able to make huge turns in powder without having to lean back, you just balance yourself like you would do on hardpack and drive the ski from the ball of your foot. This makes the ski really quick at the same time it's super stable, quite a different feeling. The pintail sidecut is super sweet and makes it a lot easier to adjust the radius of your turns the way you want it and depending on the situation. Crust skiing is almost a breeze, no more diving head first from unforeseen, sudden changes in the snowpack. Just lean and turn.

I guess only the Spatulas, Iggies FFF and the Sanouks (without having skied all of them) can compare to the Tablas in powder. The thing though is that neither one of those skis (maybe the Iggies???) can stand up to the Tablas' performance on hardpack, which you will encounter sooner or later if you ski really big mountains. For being such a huge ski they work amazingly good on harder snow thanks to the relatively stiff flex and torsional rigidity. I'm not saying I would take these skis to the groomers and go carving but they take you down the mountain with at least some style.

It's a huge ski for sure but the lightweight, bombproof carbon fibre construction makes the ski incredibly easy to maneuver in tight spots such as trees and bumps. A traditional wood core ski with the same sidecut would have been a great ride in pow but I doubt they could ski the whole mountain with the same ease as the Tablas because of the weight issue.

I've mounted them with Salomon 916s which I recon to be the perfect combination, I've also mounted them 1 cm back to increase flotation even more. I guess Marker binders with the wide Sanouk brake would also work fine, as well as Atomic Ride 1018 with the BD brake thanks to the different ride settings but then you have to deal with the massive weight of those. Cyrille showed me a demo pair mounted with Naxos and it would probably be a sweet spring touring setup: super wide and super light.

Thanks to DB for making skis with the freeskier in mind, the last thing we needed was another fatted up version of a carving ski.

[ulty_guy]

naughty rumor of a possible 200cm + tabla next year.

[bad_roo]

Their website hints at a few changes in the pipeline...

[hop]

I skied Glisseur´s Tablas today and I agree with everything positive said about them. They absolutely bar-none are the best powder ski I have ever skied. Absolutely. No comparison. I will go out on a limb and say that, without skiing any of them, the Sanouk, any Iggy, and the Spatula won´t be as quality due to lack of torsional stiffness (Sanouk), lack of hardpack performance (Spatula), and excessive weight (Iggy). These things feel as light as snowblades on your feet, yet plow through-or over-everything with no problems.

Further reports to come through the weekend...

[bad_roo]

Loving these "Our Man On The Spot In La Grave" reports, hop.

[CaddyDaddy77]

Ag4reeed mas,mnad

[fez]

Ok, looks like the surreal needs to be added as a possible ski for next season.

especially if they make one 5 - 10 cm longer.

[hop]

Everything was open today, so it was the perfect time to let these things run and see how they fared. I was in the second cluster of cabins up to P3 so I got to see the first cluster-fucks head down the Vallons, which was perfect cream cheese windbuff. Game on!!!
One mini huck and about three turns (which took me to just above the spot where the telepheriques stop for the last time before you unload at P3...these were big turns) down the Vallons I somehow caught an edge at warp speed and had my most violent wreck since my Kirkwood huck-to-flat (also at warp speed) in January. Somehow, after splatting once, bouncing and travelling about 7 or 10 meters downhill in airborne-starfish mode, then splatting again, my cat-like agility put the Tablas beneath me and I straightlined to the bottom with my helmet, goggles, jacket, and backpack stuffed full of snow. It wouldn´t have mattered if my goggles had been clear since all I could see at that point were stars. Hmm.. maybe I should take it down a notch. It didn´t help matters that I did this future school extravaganza right underneath a suspended audience and my tracks were blatanly obvious since I was somewhere around the 3rd or 4th person down that face. Luckily, my ego was the only thing permanently injured.

The rest of the day was spent mostly upright making excessively large turns down excessively large faces covered in excessively awesome windbuff. Everything I said about these things I will still stand by. One thing that I found to be very important somewhere between my third and fourth turn of the day was that I should not get lazy on these things since they allowed me to go faster than I might normally. However, they were also super easy to Warren Miller at slower, more "I know I am mortal so I should ski like I know that" speeds.
Also, keep them waxed! It doesn´t matter much when the snow is cold and nice, but in the afternoon, when the snow turned to glop, the surface area was akin to randomly throwing out an anchor.

I believe that Glisseur´s TR´s are of the medium/stiff persuasion, and if/when I get a pair I will probably go for the same flex with an ever-so-slightly softer shovel.

[hop]

Yep, these are the best skis ever. Even spreading creamed corn was butter-rific!

Ok people, prepare for a "hop liquidates all unnecessary gear to afford some Tablas" thread in GearSwap soon.