
Originally Posted by
zion zig zag
I figure since I subjected you all to my mental illness hand wringing I could at least provide a review as a follow up.
Me: 49 years old, 5'10ish, 170 lbs.
Boots: Tecnica ZGTP
Bindings: Moment Voyager 13
Skis: Moment DWT 112 - 184
So I have a few days on these now and can give some initial thoughts. First day I just skied a few runs at the resort, conditions off trail were soft, cruddy bumps and groomers were smooth and fast. They pivoted easily in the soft chunder and made easy turns and I didn't really have to think about making any adjustments to my skiing other than dialing in the speed due to the light skis and boots and being on a tech binding. I typically would have been on a QST Blank and Mach 1 130's which is obviously going to be faster and smoother, but the DWT gave me no problems and were fun. On the groomers I feel like I did have to make some adjustments to my style. I got a little bit of chatter from the tips at the completion of the turns and I suspect it was the way I was weighting them, either too much shin pressure or not enough. I didn't really spend much time figuring it out though as I really don't care how they ski groomers and it was fine anyway. I also did have at least one sensation of the outside ski carving away from me and down the fall line when tried to really get up on edge angle. Again, didn't explore this much.
On to the bc on the weekend, I was able to ski 6000 feet Saturday and 4000 feet Sunday. Conditions were mostly settled pow, with some wind crusts, light avy debris, wet snow and some refrozen breakable crust. First time I ripped skins I was on top of an 1800 foot face that ranges from 35-40 degrees, with the dense settled snow. The snow had just enough wind texture to it that you weren't quite sure if you'd run into a crust but overall it was smooth, boot top, wind cream pow. I'd say that compared to my previous bc ski, 184 V Werks Katana, the DWT was 15% less chargey. I just didn't have the full confidence to step on the gas and drive the tips like I would have on that ski. But....when I came to tight spots between clifs, or having to ski through light avy debris and didn't want to charge...way easier, just intuitive. Super easy to get through tight spots and stay balanced, where as with the Katana if I didn't drive in those spots I would get rocked back seat and feel less controlled.
The next spot I noticed a difference from the Katana was on a low elevation exit couloir. The snow for the top half of the couloir was dense, hot pow. Again the DWT was surfy and easy and I could make any turn shape I wanted and switch it up instantly with what felt like little input. The bottom half of the couloir was soft, wet avy debris from the snow that had shed off the walls above. I skied the entire shot in one go and went well out the apron out the bottom and didn't think much of it. My partners, who I would consider to be very strong skiers, and fitter than me, both had to pull up on the wall of the couloir and take a breather half way through. The only thing I can attribute this to is just how easy the DWT is to ski in tough conditions.
Next day, went again and skied more settled pow and felt even more comfortable, went a little faster and the ski felt fine, no weird manners and I don't think I skied any differently than I would have on the Katana. The skis are light and easy to climb, and I was surprised that I didn't get hung up on all that tail when doing kick turns.
Overall, super happy so far. I'm happy to lose that 15% top end of the Katana for what the ski brings everywhere else. Can't wait to get some more time, hopefully some deep blower pow to see how they handle that as I'm pretty confident I'll like them everywhere else.
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