Praxis Protest 196 initial review

[Tube Sag]

I haven't seen any dedicated thread about these yet, just bits and pieces floating in different places. I figured we could use one to keep actual on snow feedback consolidated.

2009 196cm Praxis Protest mounted 104.5cm for a 326mm BSL with Dukes.

Me: Aggressive skier, ex-racer. . . the most extreme skier in my office. No, actually I mostly ski Colorado, with occasional Utah and Jackson trips. 6'4" 180lbs, I like big GS turns and smooth airs with speed. Some park, mild flippy spinny, some patrolling, and really baggy pants.

Other similar skis I've skied: 185 Kuros, 195 Praxis Pows, 18?S7, DPS Lotus 120,

I had the Pows last year and they delamed. Keith, being the stand up guy he is, warranty'd them with these. I really liked the pows, but like everyone else they would just eat up all your energy surviving back to the lift or on anything hard. I just got tired of having to power skid home. When I saw Keith was doing these finally in a 196 I was stoked. I was hoping the Protest would do what the Pows did without the negative stuff.

They do.

Basically, these skis do everything I have ever liked about a rocker as well as totally eliminated the survival feel of full reverse/reverse.

In Pow- Maybe slightly less smeary then the Pows, better slarve than Kuro/120/s7, still super lively. No hook at all. You can preload and boost off of smooth snow if you have some depth to work with. Plenty of float, although I haven't had them in waist deep yet.

In wind buff- the thicker cream and wind board is maybe where I notice the pow difference the most. Just slightly less pivoty, but still way good. The trade-off here seems minimal compared to the gain on the firm.

In chop- S7 seemed flappier at speed in the mank, DPS just felt too light and unsubstantial. Kuro felt awesome, these are slightly less 2x6ie feeling, and pretty much same flex as the pows, go figure. My speed limit seemed to be only limited by my balls and vision.

Hucking- It took me a bit to find the sweet spot landing wise, but like any big curved tuna boats, they will go big and land fast.

On traverses/hardpack- this is where these made me smile the most. After last season, I was used to charging hard on pow days and being super worked skidding my way home. It was manageable but just a lot of work. These would arc with the best of 130mm waisted skis. Not ripping groomers, but autopilot carving is no problem. Duke's leverage even made them feel decently smooth edge to edge, no overly flat clunk in the middle of your turn. You can roll them up on edge nice and high in the turn and they won't go the wrong way. Certainly not a gs ski, but it will get you home without spending all your mental capital on not shattering your lower legs on choppy hardpack.

All in all, this is my favorite pow ski of all that I have tried, and I have a feeling I will be using them for more than I expect. My general 2 cents, feel free to add or adjust as per your experience.

[SiSt]

How did the length compare to the 195 pows (specifically), and the others you mention?

Nice review BTW.

[Sphinx15]

^^^ Also interested in a direct comparison

[Roo]

Reverse/reverse makes the boring pistes a bit more interesting.

[Tube Sag]

As far as length goes, they feel great. Not really any noticable difference between the Pows. Mentally they look just a substantial out in front of you, I had my Pow mounted at 104 and these feel like I am in the right spot. I skied a bit switch on some catwalks and it seems fine enough. Kuros were last years shorter ones, so were the S7s, both 180 something. Both of those were surprisingly stable for how small they felt and looked, but still had a sort of "kid ski" sort of lightness that I didn't totally dig. Definitely fine for shorter folk. DPS I just didn't like, short tails, really light feeling, but the length was longer (not sure what length or where they were mounted). The 196 protest is right in the sweetspot for my size. They look enormo learning against the wall, but once they are on your feet, I didn't once feel like they were toolong and clunky. I would and will ski these in really tight trees no problem.

[TheDon]

Great review

[IrieRon]

Am I the only person who doesn't find reverse/reverse skis difficult on the groomers? It's weird to keep reading these sorts of reviews, because I don't feel worked on the hardpack by my Praxis Powders.

But then again, I am a Passive skier.

[njfreeskier]

Nice review. One of my friends picked up a pair during the pre-sale. From what you're saying, it sounds like he's gonna dig them too. Keith is the man, just another instance of why, letting you swap out skis on warranty.


Am I the only person who doesn't find reverse/reverse skis difficult on the groomers? It's weird to keep reading these sorts of reviews, because I don't feel worked on the hardpack by my Praxis Powders.

But then again, I am a Passive skier.

No you're not the only one. I think the same thing every time I hear someone say how hard they are to ski on groomers. Granted you can't rip gs turns on them, but they are beyond manageable on the groomers. I actually don't mind the sliding through motion at the end of your turns. My only gripe is they are a pain to sidestep with.

[Bertier]

Nice review. One of my friends picked up a pair during the pre-sale. From what you're saying, it sounds like he's gonna dig them too. Keith is the man, just another instance of why, letting you swap out skis on warranty.

No you're not the only one. I think the same thing every time I hear someone say how hard they are to ski on groomers. Granted you can't rip gs turns on them, but they are beyond manageable on the groomers. I actually don't mind the sliding through motion at the end of your turns. My only gripe is they are a pain to sidestep with.

I'm with you guys too... It's a different motion, but very easy and intuitive. Although, for me... I don't have the ex-racer mentality/style. Different strokes, different folks. Sidestepping is a major bitch - glad i don't ski Alta much...

That being said - after skiing XXL's on groomer days for the first 6-7 days of the year, and moving to praxis for the pow days... I kinda missed being able to lay an edge. It would be interesting to try the protests.

By the way nj - this is Gary and you should man up and move back to UT asap.

[skew]

Am I the only person who doesn't find reverse/reverse skis difficult on the groomers? It's weird to keep reading these sorts of reviews, because I don't feel worked on the hardpack by my Praxis Powders.

But then again, I am a Passive skier.I don't have any problem on hard stuff either. There was a little bit of a learning curve, but no where near as bad as I was expecting (after reading all the same reviews warning of crazy groomer wierdness). I'm not super gnar either, so that may have something to do with it.

[Moralkaka]

Someone able to compare the Protest 196 to the EHP 193, length wise?

[Ripzalot]

nice review, just what i was hoping/expecting. i won't have mine mounted up until after the new year, so another review coming then.

planning to go 105cm with dukes, 345bsl and about your size (plus 30lbs). 6'4" and a buck eighty? eat some cheesburgers! ;)

[TheDon]

Am I the only person who doesn't find reverse/reverse skis difficult on the groomers? It's weird to keep reading these sorts of reviews, because I don't feel worked on the hardpack by my Praxis Powders.

But then again, I am a Passive skier.

This should be posted everytime someone complains about how hard r/r skis are...
http://rlv.zcache.com/dont_be_such_a_pussy_tshirt-p235228389528751494trlf_400.jpg

[Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer]

Great review. I also picked up a pair of 196, mounted at 105 w/ Dukes (I am 6'3", 190). Only have one day on them and it was in thigh-deep pow. They clearly were awesome. Nice and slarvey, quick to pivot if you wanted, stable at speed, etc...

However, I need to get more days in a variety of conditions until I can add a better review. When I do, I will add it in this thread.

[Ripzalot]

any updates/comments on the 196 protest mount points? specifically those who went with 105.


ready to mount, just want to confirm.

[FLskibum]

I just got my 188's mounted at 100.5 which is the same ratio as mounting the 196's at 105... Haven't skied them yet but I will be trying them out tomorrow on this awesome hardpack we have in summit co. I'll get back with a short review on them.

[Mathematics]

sweet review. I see myself sellin my powders to raise some funds for these in the near future.

[thin cover]

that is what I did, awaiting them now. Thanks for the review, this is exactly what I wanted to hear, all of the pow utility without the suckage on the groomers.

[DeathVan]

great review, thanks especially for the comparison between these and a variety of popular powder skis

I've only had the Protest out a few days in the fresh and they are a whole new means of vertical snow travel, now I understand that surfy feeling boarders rave about (slash turns on walls feel like I'm "Gleaming the Cube")

the freedom to choose a turn radius and vary it as you flow down the slope is liberating, blasting through pow and chop at 30 degrees off the fall line and getting sideways faceshots is rad

I was worried about missing out on pow in the face on a ski so wide underfoot, but that is simply not the case

groomers are just a means to get back to the goods for me so far on these, but with more experience feeling out the ski more fun will be had

plus it's exciting having to focus on arcing a turn on hardpack, that's different then just setting the controls on auto pilot and tilting a big gun up on it's side (195 Mothership)

It is cool to relearn how to ski after skiing my whole life

btw me:6ft 200lbs mounted at 105, 330 bsl

[Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer]

^^^ Agree. They are the tits. I have only had mine out 3 days. We have a huge line of storms heading to Tahoe. Once I get to 10 days, I will post a full review.

[Ripzalot]

i had my first day out on my 196 Protests yesterday in 50+cms of fresh pow. mounted with Dukes and johndrums Dynadukes plate at 105.

=$$$

super fun ski, fast pow lines, big slarvy turns, impossible to tip dive. no problems on the piste except that they want to go scary fast. a little big for me to swing around in the trees but that's not what i bought them for.

before skiing them, i was concerned about weight and the extra stack height of the dynadukes + dukes but neither bothered me at all. in fact, i think i kinda like the extra stack height for the extra leverage. turning them is like butter.

[dingjong]

Ripz comment on how they ski powder and cut up compared to the Thugs, pleze.

[Ripzalot]

with the thugs i have problems to keep the tips up in big light pow, probably because i don't like the traditional powder skiing style - squiggly S lines up/down hopping around. i ride my skis more like a snowboard. i just want to plane on top, go fast, and throw big arcing carves. it could also be related to my size: 6'4" and probably 230lbs with gear on. the protests give me much more float. i'll still use my thugs for tree-pow skiing. they turn on a dime compared to the protests.

[dingjong]

interesting cuz i thought the protests should be great in the trees thanks to pivotability

[Ripzalot]

interesting cuz i thought the protests should be great in the trees thanks to pivotability
"in the trees" is a relative term. for me and what i encounter (which includes a lot of brush), i can't snap them around like the thugs in tight spots. or it could be that i'm not the greatest skier, which i'm not. :redface:

YMMV

[dingjong]

Anyways these are 196 cm long, quite big ski by any measures. Thanks for the review.

[Duffman]

interesting cuz i thought the protests should be great in the trees thanks to pivotability

Its probably just due to the size. The 188s are the best soft snow tree ski I've ever been on.