Thread: A reverse / reverse virgin's take on DP Lotus 138's

Soooo about the middle of February my girlfriend got me a birthday gift. She signed up on TGR, sent a few pm's to people and figure out the Lotus 138's were the way to go.

To that I say:


Skis: DP Lotus 138 Flex 2, Rocker 2
Bindings: Dukes
Mounted: -1
Me: 5'11" 175.
Ability: Decent. I have my days both good and bad. I've gone over the handlebars and in junky crudy snow I fear doing it again, hesitate and sometimes end up in the backseat. Its a mental thing I'm working on.
Skis I like: 180 Explosiv, 188 Bro, 193 Big daddies. Dislike: Ak Launchers

I'm sure if you're reading this review, you've read the other reviews. Tyrone's is probably the one that had me so pumped on this ski that I lusted (yet could never afford) for two years.

Everyone knows that this ski rocks. I'm going to share my thoughts as a reverse / reverse jong.

Powda Turnin: As the speed increases and the snow gets deeper, the lotus felt at home. Any turn shape you wanted to make was there. I was amazed by the ability to carve powder. Like tyrone said, you can lay gs trenches in the pow by rolling your ankles and adding forward pressure. Once you engage the rocker in the tip they slice through the snow like a knife and turn quicker than I could believe. No hesitation through tight spots. No jump turns in tight chutes just carve 'em. Personally I thought these skis would be more smeary, but I'm used to pressuring the front of my skis. I think that a more centered stance would allow more pivot.

Crud: As I noted above, junky heavy / setup crud makes me hesitate and I start to get tossed into the back seat. The tip rocker is very confidence inspiring. As you're flying through crud they tip rides up and over and that fear of burying it vanished. I also noticed that it softens the blows of going through troughs. very nice.

Groomers / cat tracks / traverses / moguls: Survivable for sure. My first day, the lower mountain was pretty hard and icy. If you edge them and add tip pressure they do carve away from you. Centered or a little heel pressure and they were just fine. Yesterday with about 3" on the groomers I decided to try to carve them again... under the lift maching on a low angle groomer. Whelp as I got more daring I got to a point where my right ski decided to go right while everything else went left. My abs / back / neck and head still hurt from the faceplant. My advice: They work well, but try not to push their limits.
They skate well on cat tracks. Glide is moderate. Bridger has many rollercoaster traverses and they were fine in both crusty and pow conditions. Hard Moguls were survivable (yet a little painful in the ankles), soft moguls are fun because the tips and tails do not get hung up.

In the beginning I was nervous... was this ski going to be completely different, was I going to have to learn how to ski them, would the pearly gates of heaven open as I reached skiing bliss?!?!?

Honestly, In powder they are very intuitive. I didn't have to think about anything, I just had to look at where I wanted to go and act.My technique wasn't different, just now my skis didn't fight me. I was also afraid that I wouldn't get faceshots. While 6" is only deep enough for faceshots if you tele, I have no doubt that I'll be able to enter the white room when conditions are right. I was uncertain if they would handle the traverses: don't give it another thought.

So are they worth it? Yes. when there was only a couple inches on the ground they were marginally better than a traditional ski. One run in 6+"s and my mind was blown. They come alive in deeper snow and carving that fast down a narrow chute and around trees had me hooting and hollering.

On Rocker 2 and the -1 mount: I wondered if they would plane too high with the increased rocker in the tip... like a boat with the bow bouncing in water. They didn't. You can sink the tips and I found they come alive when you try to sink the tips. -1 seems fine, but I've never skied anything else like this. I wonder if the line would be more smeary because you are closer to the middle of the flat section. I wouldn't chance anything about my setup.

On the Dukes: The first day was sun affected heavy snow and all i could picture were the bindings ripping out of such a wide ski. I didn't notice the dukes torquing at all and I'm grateful to have a torsionally rigid binding on them. Only 2 days so far and no touring yet. The 130mm brake arms bent just barely enough to slightly scrap the sidewall on the way by. Those arms suck. I think I might need a vice and torch to do them proper, but I barely made them work by hand.

Nice write up!

Are these the white 2005/6 model or the black 2007/8 model?

rocker 1 is the white
rocker 2 is the black.

These are the 07/08 black rocker 2's

Glad to hear they're makin' ya happy, brah.

Tell dockeroo I said what's up.

Flex 2 or flex 3?

I'm pretty sure 2. I'm one of the ones consulted for the buy...

Just curious of the differences between a flex 2 & 3 - hope the DPS guy at Powder Mountain has either a 120 or 138 in a flex 3 - I'd like to see how stiff a "3" is. Anxious to try them and to FINALLY make the purchase!

Judging by :

Skis: DP Lotus 138 Flex 2, Rocker 2
Bindings: Dukes
Mounted: -1
Me: 5'11" 175.
Ability: Decent. I have my days both good and bad. I've gone over the handlebars and in junky crudy snow I fear doing it again, hesitate and sometimes end up in the backseat. Its a mental thing I'm working on.
Skis I like: 180 Explosiv, 188 Bro, 193 Big daddies. Dislike: Ak Launchers

I'd say they are a flex 2
I also think that Marshal's chart is pretty close, saying that they are a 5 out of 10 on par with mantras. If anything they lean more toward the 6 than the 4. Lobstahmeatwad flexed them a while back and was surprised by how stiff they were and I think its a pretty good flex.
You can notice these skis coming alive w/ speed and snow depth; I think that flex 3 would just delay that. For me, there'd be no point but its not like Bridger has steep open areas where you can pin it.

Originally Posted by XtrPickels

Judging by :
I'd say they are a flex 2
I also think that Marshal's chart is pretty close, saying that they are a 5 out of 10 on par with mantras. If anything they lean more toward the 6 than the 4. Lobstahmeatwad flexed them a while back and was surprised by how stiff they were and I think its a pretty good flex.
You can notice these skis coming alive w/ speed and snow depth; I think that flex 3 would just delay that. For me, there'd be no point but its not like Bridger has steep open areas where you can pin it.

Great input - I appreciate it!