Darkside vs Shoots vs atlas vs MW vs ?

[lunchmob]

Blue megawatt is a noodle- really fun in pow but tails are soft and if you weigh more than 190 - 200 you will flex that crap out of it. Look at the Super 7s with the extra layer of metal - green topsheets. Little heavier but they ski incredibly well. Big dump also initiates a turn a little easier than the atlas. Haven't skied the BH shoots.

[whyturn]

^^^^Dude, i skied the Super 7 and currently have the blue megawatts. On it for 4 days in June crud and it was bomber. I weigh 190-200 with gear and like to charge. I am not a comp skier, but went really fast on them. The super 7 is fun, but only a hair stiffer than megawatt. I am sure atlas is a charger as well. So, everybody is different but if you discount megawtt I think you are foolish. I currently ski renegades so I can recognize a stiff ski. Its not an LP, or what not, but its not like the original blue noodle (salomon PR)..............

[lunchmob]

Each to there own - but as someone who worked for BD, did some of the inital testing on the megawatt, have skied an ass load of days on the watt and a fair share on the S7, I'm going to have to beg to differ.

[funkendrenchman]

edit to add: This was on the current season black/red Darkside with more rocker. I'd recommend that version 100% over last year's rocker based on testing different rocker amounts on skis like the Sidestash/Coomback.

I have the older orange Darkside and can't figure out why everyone hates it so much. Maybe I need to try the new one to compare.

[funkendrenchman]

Darkside flat tail is not good in chutes, when backing up IMO.

But is great when you have to stick your skis in the snow in a sketchy area.

[otis]

first of all, i really like the fact that i asked a question about darksides and MWs and got responses from dudes from k2 and BD

second of all, i also wonder why everyone seems to hate the orange darksides. there seems to be almost no info on them and what little there is is negative. they seem quite wonderful on paper. i have the sidestash and they have 5/15 rocker so the 10/20 rocker on last year's darkside seems just right. seems like a bigger sidestash. lots of ski to drive, but rocker in the tip when you want it.

3pin, how come you think this year is so much better? all that rocker makes it seem more pivoty and less "drive-y" and hence more like a MW.

third of all, i agree that the MW tends to get deflected and bounced around when the snow is not perfect. it only likes to go fast but doesn't give you the feedback and control to manage that speed when the snow is not perfect. too pivoty. not enough drive-y. this of course assumes that the blue one is very similar to the white one.

[weasel1]

x2 on the Praxis Big Mountain 120s. There may be a pair around here to gobble up...not mine though!

[Beder]

first of all, i really like the fact that i asked a question about darksides and MWs and got responses from dudes from k2 and BD

second of all, i also wonder why everyone seems to hate the orange darksides. there seems to be almost no info on them and what little there is is negative. they seem quite wonderful on paper. i have the sidestash and they have 5/15 rocker so the 10/20 rocker on last year's darkside seems just right. seems like a bigger sidestash. lots of ski to drive, but rocker in the tip when you want it.

I have 3 days on last year's Darkside. I don't hate it at all, in fact I like it a lot. It skis like a traditional ski, except with great float. It's softer than the Sidestash, no metal. Yeah, I'm a K2 whore--I have the Hardside too.

[XavierD]

I personally found the Mega Watt (White top sheet first gen) to be absolutely worthless in anything other then slow speed low angle pow, but that is just me.

[whyturn]

If your ever in mammoth demo the blue megawatt at mammoth mountaineering in town for $20 a day. Then get back to me. Last years darkside got great reviews but unfortunately I have no personal experience.

[3pin]

first of all, i really like the fact that i asked a question about darksides and MWs and got responses from dudes from k2 and BD

second of all, i also wonder why everyone seems to hate the orange darksides. there seems to be almost no info on them and what little there is is negative. they seem quite wonderful on paper. i have the sidestash and they have 5/15 rocker so the 10/20 rocker on last year's darkside seems just right. seems like a bigger sidestash. lots of ski to drive, but rocker in the tip when you want it.

3pin, how come you think this year is so much better? all that rocker makes it seem more pivoty and less "drive-y" and hence more like a MW.

third of all, i agree that the MW tends to get deflected and bounced around when the snow is not perfect. it only likes to go fast but doesn't give you the feedback and control to manage that speed when the snow is not perfect. too pivoty. not enough drive-y. this of course assumes that the blue one is very similar to the white one.

Otis,
I haven't skied the two seasons of Darksides head-to-head, but comparing the new amount of rocker to my Sidestashes and testing various amounts of rocker on protos, I don't think the new one gives up much if any "traditional" feel, but gains a ton of versatility. I find it pivoty, but only when I want it - I don't find it biased toward that. With a full tail and cambered midsection, there's plenty of ski to drive and charge on. I imagine both versions have similar characteristics in being able to pressure the tail, accelerate, etc. But that amount of rocker gives you more options in driving the tip or pressuring it to dump speed and pivot. Hard to describe, but hopefully that makes sense.

I've skied both the white and the blue Megawatt, and really liked how they ski. In my experience, it's been the pintail that makes it really pivoty, and creates the feel that you're describing with slower speeds or less perfect snow. I've felt that about the Pontoon as well, with its shape, and the more traditional sidecut on the DarkSide really changes that, in my opinion. Unless it's perfect all day, I've always felt like there was some point in the day on my Pontoons that I wanted to change out to something else as it got cut up, more funky, etc. On the DarkSide I felt like I have a big ski in the pow and an all-mountain ski in the crud.

[otis]

3pin, it is like you are reading my friggin mind. Not having to switch out is exactly what I am looking for. Holy crap am i excited about the darksides. might have to buy a pair really friggin soon.

Can you talk a little bit more about the kind of conditions you skied them in? And safe to assume you skied them tele?

[Driver]

I have the blue MWs right now as part of my quiver and have skied them for 2 years. They are designed as more of a pure pow ski than a super stiff charger, but even so I have no problem skiing very fast and hucking on them. If you don't think you can send it on these, check out Callum Pettit in any recent movie you can find. If you're in stuff that's less than moderately soft which I very rarerly am in CA, then you use a different ski- that's what the quiver is for. However, they are much better than many other pure powder skis i've been on in firmer conditions. But again, realize the purpose of the skis you own, and own different skis for different purposes. The tails are actually fairly stiff, relative to the soft flexing rocker part of the ski. This was a change from white to blue I believe - they changed the core characteristics as well to this torsional cross hatch pattern.

Can't compare to the darkside as I've never skied em, but from the dims and design they are certainly a different ski.

[3pin]

3pin, it is like you are reading my friggin mind. Not having to switch out is exactly what I am looking for. Holy crap am i excited about the darksides. might have to buy a pair really friggin soon.

Can you talk a little bit more about the kind of conditions you skied them in? And safe to assume you skied them tele?

Otis, took them with me on vacation trip to Japan - mix of light pow, wind buff, sunwarmed wet snow, wind-affect, cut-up crud, and occasional groomers/bumps for runouts over a week and a half. Nothing really nasty at all on that trip, but not all blower pow either. I skied them alpine, but I can see really liking them tele as well. I think the traditional feel/versatility would be a lot easier to ski them tele when things get skied up. Will be my go-to ski for PNW with any new snow, anyway.

[phatty]

I can't speak for the Darkside, but I just got back from my first day on a pair of 188 white Megawatt. This was my first experience with a ski over 105mm and first with rocker. We had 12" of new snow up at Alpental, so I figured it was time to give them a good run. I'm 6'1" and 190lb and like to ski fast and aggressive (though far from the skill level of most mags here).

The Megawatts made me feel like a superstar. The float was great and they definitely lived up to the hype. They pivot and slash just like what I was hoping for. I did not feel like they were noodles by any stretch. Yeah the tips bounced a bit on the groomers, but that was not a big deal. The stiffer tail really helped to keep them railing. On the lower mountain I had to deal with groomers and junky bumps, but they just ate it all up and ripped. My buddies (who are both instructors and better skiers than I am) were commenting on how much I must like them based on how I was skiing. That was the best compliment I have received in a long time. Don't think you can go wrong with either of the options you are looking at here.