Gotta give credit where it's due, kid. No sense in hiding the heritage of the ski with another graphic.
The counter in the kitchen is the only table I have so it's my tuning bench, binding mounting station and general catch all. I need more space.
Gotta give credit where it's due, kid. No sense in hiding the heritage of the ski with another graphic.
The counter in the kitchen is the only table I have so it's my tuning bench, binding mounting station and general catch all. I need more space.
seems like good conditions for ski testing....Quote:
Originally Posted by kidwoo
Quick review while I'm on the road: 187 medium flex. Skied silverton two days one on the line 130 the other on the wootest. While the 130's were awesome in the deep stuff the woo's killed it everywhere else. Deep snow was still amazing and I could change ski direction on a dime just like the Protests. Boot packing was sick cause of their low weight.
No issues with float whatsoever mounted where woo suggested mounting. Although in my short time on the sticks I think somewhere between where woo suggested and the dimple would be best for me.
Today I rode Brighton and also had some dps 112rp for a run during their demo day. The 112 kicked ass in the groomers with all the sidecut but didn't feel quite as slarvy in the crud. The wootest is a tought ski in the grooms, but that's not what it's made for.
Got two more days in Utah with 20"+ predicted. Will give a more in depth review when I get home.
but the skis looked awesome on the sled and I'm sure they would have skied great in the conditions...Quote:
Originally Posted by kidwoo
There's your review guys!
Now get off my back because I don't want to make shit up about the conditions I've skied them in :D
So I've have been creeping on this thread, like a 40 yr old man with a greasy mustache and slicked back hair at local playground since it first started. I must give out some mad props to kidwoo and keith for making this vision become a reality. Needless to say I bought into the hype and purchased these to compliment my 185 original pows. Mounted them up with some ft12s as per woo's suggestion. One ski is 1984g and the other is 1974g with out binding and with the umhw top sheet. So these are a fuckin light setup, feels like theres nothing on my feet. Took them out today at kicking horse 9cm overnight and no fresh in 2 or so weeks, been on the gs boards for the last 10 days. They felt good in the untracked and worked pretty good on the hardpack and the cut up groomers. Was getting used to them after a few laps but wanted to take it easy one the bindings. Finished the day off with a 4000ft untracked pow shot which felt like there was a old breakable wind crust in some spots. The skis felt nice and stable with no hookyness at all. Overall I'm stoked on them, and can't wait till it becomes softer out here.
So the question is does this ski meet the original goals?
remind me what we were after?... to make a pow ski that floated but didn't necessarily have that huge of a waist. We wanted a ski that was the protest but without the weight and without the size (take stress off the knees). Right? I think that is what we designed...
Does it fit the bill? I know it won't bug my knees at 113 underfoot. But how is it in the pow? Does the shape give you the floaty slarvy-ness you want?
Partly this, partly we wanted a 5-point design that didn't have the hookyness associated with the fun-shaped skis (JJ, 112RP, S7). woo's thought (in my mind) was that you could have the same amount of float without the massively wide shovel.Quote:
Originally Posted by TheDon
Haven't taken them out yet, but I'll be sure to be thinking about it when I do.
^^^^thisQuote:
Originally Posted by auvgeek
This is what I want. I have not been able to mount mine yet, but this is my hope.
This is the fattest ski I've ever been on, so i can't speak to how it floats compared to those others mentioned. It floats way better than my original Gotamas! In SW Montana today I skied 6 inches of new low density powder, on top of soft powder, on top of a 3-6 foot base, it was awesome! No hookiness in a short breakable crust section, like night and day compared to the Gotamas! One thing i can say is that mounting dynafits 1.5cm behind the mounting dimple (187cm med flex, ultralight topsheet) is as far back as i would go, i wish I had gone just 1cm back. The reason is this: when doing kick turns while skinning the weight of the tip with snow on it holds it down too much, sometimes leaving your tip in the snow as you swing around the ski. It's a tipping point at 1.5, glad i didn't go 2cm back! Fritchis or dukes wont have this problem because the pivot point is further forward? These skis make it so easy to ski and tour the bottomless faceted snowpack, turn quickly, slarve, go fast, go slow, whatever. Can i say slarve with <20 posts on tgr? Weight was 4lbs 4 oz/ski without bindings.
Welp, I don't have a ton of time on them yet but in a phrase I can say "it works".
I'll be ordering the 187 too.
JJ, I saw you ordered the 196 stiffs, I ordered the same. how's the flex on those, are you happy with it? do you wish it was medium flex?Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffreyJim
What's your BSL?Quote:
Originally Posted by afraid
My pair arrived on Friday, it has to be said that praxis has ski making completely dialed. The build quality and finishing of these skis is extremely tight and tidy, the concave skin clip on the tail is very well executed. I got the concept graphic with the matte top sheet, I think the washed out look of the matte looks great and is functional as well. I picked up a pair of protests in December and really like the snow shedding and durability of the matte top sheet. Will try and post a pic sooner than later.
I mounted dynafits @ 101 from the tip and got out out on them today, boot top to knee deep of fresh. Broke trail all day and really liked how they walk, light, well balanced, track straight and are quite buoyant, very satisfying experience really.
I have been skiing the current protest for the last month and the wootest skis very similar, remarkably so in fact. Floation is not the comprimise, these thing float VERY well, its the ability to pivot and smear turns compared to the protest that is slightly reduced. I will no longer tour on my protests, regardless of how deep it gets. The wootest feels like 90% of the protest on the down and 50% of it on the up. It's that significant, these are magic snow slippers. Fucking stoked.
My bsl is 313, Scarpa Skookum where the tech fittings are mounted a few mm further back than other boots. I see why you ask, I hadn't thought of that. So if you have longer bsl than 313mm, you could get away with mounting further back than 1.5cm behind dimple and still achieve the proper balance point for getting the tip out of the snow when kick turning. But don't bother, the ski won't ski right if mounted too far back! I don't regret my mounting point, just warning people not to mount too far back, especially if you have shorter bsl's than 313 as Pisteoff has pointed out...
telemarkers will be screwed trying to get a good balancing mounting point on these skis, sucks for them! I once toured with a guy telemarking on S7's and it was pathetic, he couldn't get his tip off the snow at all. Stupid sport
fondled Rockband's medium 187 wootests at silverton last week - instantly impressed by how light and cleanly made they were. Didn't ski them myself, but watching him shred the 43" of new and the ensuing tracks out made me wish I had a pair.
Happy what I'm hearing... just sayin'.
Thanks, that's good info.Quote:
Originally Posted by afraid
I'm guessing that Keith considered this when deciding (or revising) the mounting point.
Huh? :confused: What do you think happens when skiing when mounted beyond 101?Quote:
Originally Posted by afraid
Flotation is a part of that I think, although not all of it. Like marshal said early on in this thread, the bigger ski sitting more on top just helps the pivot. But the splay on the tail is ever so slightly shorter than the older protest (like millimeters), and really close to the current one (although I don't have a current one here to compare). The tip is all old protest, more rockered/longer splay than the new one. Couple reasons for this: Skinning on really rockered tail skis can suck big time on anything steep. We wanted to eek out just a little more flat tail for some increased skin contact. The other benefit is a little less wheeling out on flattish drops or when landing a little backseat. But the flipside of that would also be a little less pivoty. You've got the current protests so what do you think it is?Quote:
Originally Posted by Winkler
One thing I have noticed is that I feel like I can ski over the tips a little harder on these compared to the old protests. I still haven't had them in anything over a few inches of snow but that's the impression I have so far. And I agree......pretty much 90% of the protest. One added trait that I've been a little pleasantly surprised with is just how much more the narrower ski digs in when shutting it down. Obviously I knew this would happen but it's a little better than I thought it would be. Might just be the fact that I've never tuned my OG protests and these have new edges but I don't think that's the whole story.
I've been keeping my mouth shut because I never really had any doubt about any of this. I wanted to start hearing other people say it on their own ;) Although it is true, I still haven't had them out in anything I'd consider a normal season's worth of skiing here. Everyone getting all excited about finding 'chalk' and a few inches of blown in sugar sitting on crust in tahoe are strange people. I'm not one of those.
So woo, now that you've skied your ski a little bit and the first reviews are in ...
What would your 3-ski quiver be? I'm curious about how you would complement your WooTests on both sides of the snow equation.
Here's what I own and am pretty happy with.Quote:
Originally Posted by SchralphMacchio
Resort/sled skis:
Orange surfboard Dynastar Legend Pro (You'll get them outta my cold dead hands :D),
OG Praxis protests
praxis mountain jibs in the elusive 188.
Hiking skis with dynafits:
187 wootests (for everything winter)
184 Karhu storm (Sierra KORN season)
The only ski I'm even thinking about changing is the Karhu (switch out with praxis freerides). Not that I don't like the karhus, they're actually the same shape as the LPs, and have some lovely metal in them..I dig them. I'm just thinking something with a slightly rockered tip might be good for all the weird variability down south. You know the stuff.
When (if?) my protests shit the bed, I might try to get a pair of wootests for the resort. Those skis just keep going and going though.
But I'll always dig straight damp skis for railing on harder snow. That's the one area where I don't think the wootest is the best (works fine, just not the best).
Kidwoo, I'm just saying don't mount it beyond 101.5cm back from tip straight pull, it's probably gonna start to wheelie when skiing, and really suck for skinning unless you have huge feet. The magic elf slipper comment is right on, i have never jonesed so hard to get a particular pair of skis back out in the snow! You did a great job making this happen, there isn't anything else out there that comes close to the perfect touring ski. Screw ice and hardpack, I was born to ski powder, if there's corn there's whitewater.
I get the swing point when skinning (especially with dynafits) but skis have dragged tips/been front heavy forever. Think about where traditional ski mount points are and just how much wider tips are than waists and tails on them. I used to hike on explosivs and they definitely weren't balanced. And we're talking boot mount point of 102-ish from the tip of a 187cm ski. It's not anywhere near what most, more 'traditional' skis are in terms of tip/tail ratios. It's never something I ever even thought about........ If the tip of a ski falls, I just scoot it foreward and the tip comes up for a kick turn.Quote:
Originally Posted by afraid
As far as skiing goes I've actually been thinking that going further back would be better because you could drive the tips more. But I'm writing that off to having skied on pretty shallow snow so far. When you say wheelie, you mean when jumping off stuff or just plain making turns? That just doesn't jive with what I've been feeling on them. But you also may be skiing in them deeper snow than I've been able to. You feel like the tails are sinking on you? Now you've got me thinking that this may be what winkler is talking about as far as pivoting as easily. I don't mean to be pestering you, I'm genuinely curious.
As far as skiing goes, you are probably right, i don't have enough experience on these modern rockered, tapered profiles. The deep snow i skied has a bottomless deep facet layer that collapses a little under me, but I didn't wheelie, just hypothesizing that one might if mounted any further back. The tails don't feel skinny. Skinning though, if you can deal with the heavy tip, go for it! My limited "database" includes lots of old school, pre-1994 type skis with Fritchis, and more recently Rossi XX, Atomic Sugar Daddy's, Big Daddy's, original Gotamas, Atomic Pimp, Rossi B3's, B4's all with Dynafits; all these were balanced correctly so that if you are in walk mode and lift your foot, the tip rises first and higher than the tail.