Lib Tech NAS Pow series - anyone skied em?

**el hefe** · 01-07-2008, 05:57 PM

I have had some really deep days on the pows. Opening day at revy and I was the first one down first run, super deep. I love these ski's. They are surprising me with their versatility the more that I ski them. Once at speed they will carve like crazy on hardpack, it's almost funny. 24.5m radius on a 117mm waist.

The only drawback that I can think of is that they tend to tip dive a little in really deep snow. I wish that the tips were similar to the freerides, big tip plus rockered a bit.

**deeppo** · 01-10-2008, 06:32 PM

Ok im about to pull the trigger on some NAS POWS(does anyone have a line on any discounts). I hate paying retail but I cant find them for even 10 percent off. All the stores that ive talked too talk about them being stiff. How stiff. Do they ski long or short for a 185? Is a ski this fat going to be able to hold an edge on frozen spring corn in the backcountry.
Thanks for anymore info
Deeppo

**dookeyXXX** · 01-24-2008, 09:52 AM

didn't somebody earlier in this post "suggest" holding off on the Pows until next season (i.e. waiting for Gen 2 of the skis)?

of course this is coming from someone who bought Gen 1 of the Dukes...

getting my Parillos this week (Marshal is doing the mount whilst I am visiting Denver on business). He and the other guy at the shop had a good laugh at the skis. We're all kinda eager to know how they ride. The general concensus between the three of us was "They're either gonna totally suck or be the funnest thing ever". Or something like that.

will have a report, hopefully, in the coming weeks, as I'm headed to JH, Targhee, and Ootah, then Tahoe.

**deeppo** · 01-24-2008, 10:30 AM

Well I have 5 days on my Pows. I will have a more detailed review after another few days of skiing. Its been dry and cold in Telluride, so on mountain conditions have been firm. two of those days have been on tours where the conditions ranged from powder too breakable wind slab. So far so good.
Hard Packed is no problem-Dont get me wrong this is a 117mm ski under foot. Quick turns take some effort but the edge hold is amazing. The stiff tip does not get bounced around. They rip groomers and have not speed chatter. Overall the ski, in harder conditions have tons of life and pop(decent amount of camber underfoot).
So with the forard mount how do they ski pow. Again I do not have a ton of turns with them in pow but they seem nice. This is not a pure powder ski. My rear mounted katanas seemed to handle untracked easier but i disliked them in every other condition including chop. The big dimentions of the pows hopefully will allow enough float. I can not wait to take these skis down a big corn filled face. Oh and they look good too!
deeppo

**dookeyXXX** · 01-24-2008, 11:16 AM

Deeppo!

I'm the dude that stopped and talked to you last Friday over by the Coonskin Chair.

T'Ride was frickin' cold!

We did find some small stashes of leftover pow off La Rosa in BIB.

Looking forward to a more detailed review.

**deeppo** · 01-29-2008, 10:23 AM

So we had our first big pow day in Telluride(since Ive had the skis) and the jury is still out. Again I love these skis in crud and hard packed but they dont like to float in pow. Again they ski pow alright but the forward mount of the ski does not lend itself to powder. Im thinking about mounting them back 3cm but I guess that will mess up the magnetraction. Im just not sure about having a ski with 117mm waist thats does not eat powder up for breakfast lunch and dinner
Deeppo

**oftpiste** · 01-29-2008, 12:57 PM

Who'd I see in the line at Xtal Monday in Libs?

**t.odd** · 02-01-2008, 02:30 PM

roomie brought the new catalogue home the other day, recurve looks rad! so close to pulling the trigger on some lib's.....he raves about his skate banana on a regular basis, as well as all his cohorts who are running them.....

**deeppo** · 02-01-2008, 06:23 PM

I must say after being scepticl about the skis in powder with the foward mount im starting to really like the skis in pow. Hopefully next year they will put a slight rocker on the tip to aid in float. Maybe make the tip 10 percent softer too. If they do that im going to get a pair of next year pows too.
Deeppo

**t.odd** · 02-20-2008, 01:31 PM

so the 188 freerides are actually 99mm underfoot, not 93 as the website states? I demo'd the 185 pow's last weekend and was pretty blown away by them, a bit unsure if I need something that beefy though. General concensous on the freerides is a bit more verstilaty and a bit better in the powder whilst still retaining the ice and crud busting ability? I'm about the pull the trigger here and starting to second guess going with the biggin's! any additional insight would be greatly appreciated....

**deeppo** · 02-20-2008, 11:29 PM

I have 25 days on my pows and love them . Its a big stiff ski that eats up all conditions. Holds a great edge on hard pack and skis pow very well. Its not a floater like some fat skis but once you get you balance point with them(took me 4 or 5 day in pow) they ski very well. Its very versatile for such a big ski. Im sure the freerides are nice but I bet you loose some of the high speed stability with them. These skis love to go fast on groomers(such a stiff tip that there is no chatter even approaching the speed limit.) They are not light and will throw you around if you are not on your game(again stiff ski). It my everyday ski but I stay away from bumps as much as possible. I have mine mounted on the dimple which seems right(seemed too far forward at first). Graphics are very nice. I bet they put a slight rocker on next years skis which would be cool. Over all im happy with the pows but i never considered the freerides because I was looking for a 110+ ski.
Deeppo

**t.odd** · 02-20-2008, 11:54 PM

Originally Posted by deeppo

I have 25 days on my pows and love them . Its a big stiff ski that eats up all conditions. Holds a great edge on hard pack and skis pow very well. Its not a floater like some fat skis but once you get you balance point with them(took me 4 or 5 day in pow) they ski very well. Its very versatile for such a big ski. Im sure the freerides are nice but I bet you loose some of the high speed stability with them. These skis love to go fast on groomers(such a stiff tip that there is no chatter even approaching the speed limit.) They are not light and will throw you around if you are not on your game(again stiff ski). It my everyday ski but I stay away from bumps as much as possible. I have mine mounted on the dimple which seems right(seemed too far forward at first). Graphics are very nice. I bet they put a slight rocker on next years skis which would be cool. Over all im happy with the pows but i never considered the freerides because I was looking for a 110+ ski.
Deeppo

thanks for the info....seeing as my priors are pretty beat, I decided to go for the 188 freerides. next season there's a 188 'recurve' which is POW sized but with rockered tip and tail. figured I'd go for freerides since they are a bit bigger than I'm riding now and will be a bit better for touring. seriously considering the recurves to add to the fleet next year though.....

**Dokken** · 02-21-2008, 02:02 AM

the ones that i mounted for you at Peak Sports @ copper looked pretty decent. the tip profile seemed a little flat on the older protos but the newer one looked money

Originally Posted by kiedaisch

Kind of an odd request, but as it happens I have mine right here..

Tails are about 4-4.5 cm high
Camber's around 6-7mm with Jesters mounted on them, when sitting flat.

I haven't actually skied them, so I can say how smearable they are, but they're pretty freakin stiff, so that might hinder. As far as the Magnetraction, the only negative I've heard is it makes switch a bit tricky. But then again, can't say w/o tryin'.

**dookeyXXX** · 03-04-2008, 04:39 PM

got about 7+ days on my Parillo's with mixed results.

Some days they are money.

Other days I'm thrown into the backseat something fierce.

I'm reconsidering the mount point (a few folks have commented about them being a bit forward).

Gonna do the measurement thing again and compare/contrast where I have them currently mounted and where Gunder was suggesting.

Any thoughts, comments from the currently NAS inclined?

**hose-man** · 03-07-2008, 06:10 AM

Loving them mounted tele. They're replacing my 191 P4s which are a super versitile ski. Neither of them are light. Both are damp & stable. Libs are a little turnier though.

**yodaottis** · 03-07-2008, 08:29 AM

I still love them.

Could be me, but I found them to be pretty difficult to control in tight EC trees once things got bumped out/icy. They still ride well, but it takes a great deal of energy, attention and careful line selection to keep them from throwing me back in those conditions so far. It can be difficult to predict how hard the magnetraction will grab when the surface is uneven and conditions change from soft to ice to powder in a matter of 5ft. I may just need to sack up and ski them more aggressively in those conditions, they still did fine but it seemed I was burning my legs out way too fast and I didn't feel anything approaching smooth in terms of form trying to keep it all together.

So, I guess that's about what I expected, they excel in most conditions but bumps/cut up tree runs they're a handful. The 176's might be more suited to those conditions, but I love the feel of the 188's, you just have to really throw them around when it's tight.

Edit: Another thing to consider, I get the impression so far that these things are going to be 15% jb weld by next year, the bases are very durable, but the topsheet does not handle battle damage well at all.

**deeppo** · 03-07-2008, 09:09 AM

Originally Posted by yodaottis

Edit: Another thing to consider, I get the impression so far that these things are going to be 15% jb weld by next year, the bases are very durable, but the topsheet does not handle battle damage well at all.

The basses are the strongest basses ive encountered in a while(my iggys where bomber too) The top sheet sucks. They like to chip as bad as my Seths but who care(maybe a little)
Deeppo