1 ski BC quiver

[hardboiled]

I'm trying to sort out my first touring rig and I'm looking for some feedback from the maggot collective. my BC agenda is like so: I want to ski the classics in Tahoe and some bigger lines in the Eastern Sierras, in both winter and spring conditions. I imagine at least a few 3000-5000' vert climbs based on what's at the top of my list. probably a bit of resort accessed sidecountry and some small "hucks" (~15-20'), anything bigger than that would probably happen in-bounds.

so I have a few options floating in my head for ski and binding choices. already in my gear closet is a pair of gotamas with alpine binders, dynafits, and dukes are on the way.

Option A: Dukes on Gotamas -- a true one ski quiver for resort and BC use. maybe get a stiff AT boot like the Endorphin for the walk mode, vibram sole and to lighten things up for bigger days.

Option B: Dynafits on Goats -- seems like a decent match given the flex of Goats and modified Megarides (my plan for Dyna-compatible boots). I'm a little hesitant about using the goats for spring ski mountaineering, although they did a fine job this past spring. Option B also involves a new resort rig.

Option C: pick up a 94-100mm wide ski to put Dynafits on and keep the Goats for resort. something 180ish with medium-stiff flex like BROs, mantra, king salmon, sick bird etc. basically trading away some pow performance for spring/firm condition performance. but not sure about a stiffer ski with megarides?

I'm leaning towards Option B but looking for other opinions. what say you?

[yesIsaidyes]

K2 Mt. Bakers with Dynafits - you should be fine in all but the most uber deep mank...and they will take you through all seasons. But they will not be ideal for inbounds, resort.

[sar13]

BD Verdicts with Dynafits for a do anything touring rig.
Dukes on Goats for resort and slack country.
One pair alpine boots
One pair modded mega rides

[dookeyXXX]

Hey, I'm in the process of putting together my first BC/AT rig.

I picked up a pair of 188 Lib Tech NAS (99mm) for relatively cheap ($275) and am planning to mount 'em up with Dukes.

You can still find these skis around on the Net for about $259 or so if you do some digging.

Admittedly, I have never skied them, but the flex seemed in tune with the rest of my quiver (AK King Salmon, Blizzard Titan 9) and the shop I bought them from, the owner has similar taste in skis that I do and he said he rode them in excess of 50 days last season and loved 'em. When I suggested setting them up as a BC/AT rig he was like "That sounds like a brilliant idea!". The ski is incredibly light. And while I'm not sure if the whole Magnetraction is for real or not, it seems like it would be good for those early morning icy chute conditions.

We shall see come this season, though!

[Atlas Q. Powmonger]

I like your option A. I'm planning a goat/duke everyday ski and an nx21/lotus 120 deep day ski this year. I'm hoping the goat/duke combo will be pretty versatile. I've never used a touring setup consistently inbounds, but at 175lbs hopefully that won't be a problem with dukes.

[jrosendahl]

Stiff 179bros with modified megarides and dynafits are my primary BC rig. I have no issues driving them. Not great on the superfirm but not too bad either.

I have found that the lighter my gear is the more actual skiing I do - plus I would rather have fresh legs and slightly flimsy gear at the top of a serious line than spent legs and heavy "alpine gear"

My advice in order of importance would be to-
!) get a dynafit compatible boot
2) put dukes on the gots - that way you can use them if you want in the BC
3) get a BC rig use dynafits make sure the skis are stiff and less than 10ish pounds.

[hardboiled]

thanks for all the quick replies. I'm not trying to have an ultralight set up (altho your point is well taken jrosen), I just want it to be sensible and fit my intended use. For that reason I am pretty sure Dynafits will go on the touring rig and Dukes will sit in the closet until I pick up a true pow ski. I'll undoubtedly ski more days at the resort than in the BC, so I think a dedicated alpine set up is a good idea too.

As far as weight goes, I feel like with Megarides and Dynafits it's going to be a fairly light set up regardless of the ski chosen, and I'm not considering any super heavy skis.

I'm a little surprised that nobody else digs or is skiing the dynafit/ megaride/ gotama combo. Is it an issue of weight, width or stiffness (or all of the above)?

[cj001f]

20ft hucks with any regularity will eventually kill all current touring bindings (duke is unknown)

[laseranimal]

I'd go with something light and fat with the dynafits, like tele-daddies, soft bros, verdicts. Then put the dukes on the gotamas.

[Conundrum]

Alpine bindings that are on Gots onto pow specific ski.

Dukes on Gots-good sidecountry and bc "project" ski/binding package. Dukes should be able to handle hucks...maybe.

Dynafits on something like: soft bros, verdicts, kilowatts, some of the G3 skis...think lightweight for those super long approaches or 8k days.

Keep your bc skis versatile. That's the thing about bc, conditions may rule at the car and turn to shit 5 miles from the road.

[addict]

20ft hucks with any regularity will eventually kill all current touring bindings (duke is unknown)

This is true, and "small hucks"? 20ft is still a 2 storey building of a cliff, still eno0ugh to kill bindings.

[Eds]

What about the bluehouse districts? those are about the same as the goats and much cheaper.

[pauljames]

Hijacking the thread slightly but I currently have:
190 Gots mounted with freeride pluses.
184 Mantras no bindings
I am probably going to buy a pair of dukes with the intention of moving the freerides onto the mantras and mounting the dukes on the gots. Is that majorly going to mess them up?
I know it is a pretty tight quiver but I actually found the gots a little too wide so just want to keep them for DEEP resort days and short powder tours.
Mantras to be used touring and average resort days.
Am I mental?

[dookeyXXX]

Cirquerider over on Epic has his Mantras mounted with Freerides and totally digs 'em.

Doesn't seem too mental to me.

I was contemplating mounting my Mantras with AT binders, too, but then came to the conclusion that 177's were too short. So they're up on the block.

Got the aforementioned NAS to mount AT.

My question is this: if one is basically going to be doing "slack country" and only hitting the hike to terrain less than a dozen times a season, do they really need Dynafit bindings and AT boots or can they get away with alpine boots and something like the Duke, Naxo or Freeride (I know that Skier666 rocks alpine boots, Mantras, and Naxos, for example, as he likes to sweat it out).

:O

[Conundrum]

Cirquerider over on Epic has his Mantras mounted with Freerides and totally digs 'em.

Doesn't seem too mental to me.

I was contemplating mounting my Mantras with AT binders, too, but then came to the conclusion that 177's were too short. So they're up on the block.

Got the aforementioned NAS to mount AT.

My question is this: if one is basically going to be doing "slack country" and only hitting the hike to terrain less than a dozen times a season, do they really need Dynafit bindings and AT boots or can they get away with alpine boots and something like the Duke, Naxo or Freeride (I know that Skier666 rocks alpine boots, Mantras, and Naxos, for example, as he likes to sweat it out).

:O

Depends on the effort you want to put out for the climb. I have Dynafits but a lot of times will just throw Trekkers in my backpack for side country.

[jrosendahl]

If by slack country you are talking about less than 1 hour or so of hiking 6 times a year, and your alpine boots would be comfy the whole time, there is no reason to get Dynafits. I would recomend against the freerides and the naxos. Trekkers or Dukes would probably be better for you.

That said, if you buy AT boots make sure they are dynafit compatible. There is a high probibility that you will want dynafits some day.