Praxis Protest..just how cool is it?

[N1CK.]

I ski a #4 and love it. Soft conditions and a little bit of room to run, man there is nothing like 'em.

[2FUNKY]

I ski a #4 and love it. Soft conditions and a little bit of room to run, man there is nothing like 'em.

Yeep, custom 4 flex here. They still ski tight spots fine, even at speed as they pivot on a dime. Now some room to run, hooboy!

[HotSchmoo]

I ski a #4 and love it. Soft conditions and a little bit of room to run, man there is nothing like 'em.

Like I have said previously and spoke to keith in great detail about a stiffer protest, these shapes lend themselves to a stiffer flex profile. The ski really doesn’t rely on tip flex for float as it gets it’s float from just in front of the binding/widest point. Same reason the Lotus 138 is so stiff. It makes the ski more knife like, enhances it’s acceleration through and out of a turn as well as helps it deal with chopped up conditions better than the stock 3 flex.

^^^all of this above is totally true IME^^^

Let me preface by saying i perceive 2funky as being way more athletic and badass than my decrepit old weaksauce.
Me: 6'4" 225# 46 years. Semidecrepit but technically solid. I dont have trouble bending really any ski. My knees are toast though. 192 flex4 ultralight core (touring ski) mounted 1.5 back.

Love the Protests. Tour on em quite a bit. Weight due to width and snow buildup gets to me sometimes though.
They want to run for sure. They pivot fine but are more fun with speed. I skiied them for a season inbounds with tech bindings. Issues with that boot and binding inbounds,? Yes.

Issues with the ski? Not really, except for the mount point.
Soft chop? No problemm.
Hard setup PNW glopchop? Time for this old ass to hit the bar regardless of which ski.
I do think flex 3 would be a tad easier in trees and tight spaces. Would probably hurt chop performance though.

Ive seriously been considering a flex3 in the longest length (196 i think?) to maximize float but get the extra stability with length. Not sure it's warranted with all the storm day tree skiing i do.

They like to run for sure

[jdadour]

4 flex it is. Thanks dudes. If I end up getting them, Ill return here to go down the mount point rabbit hole haha

[lrn2swim]

Just added a pair of shorty Protests to my gear sale if anyone's interested

[liv2ski]

Guys, getting ready to mount my Protests for the next month at Mammoth (please dump). I have read through pages and pages and didn't find the comments I thought I previously read about using a gummie stone to dull the front and rear edges. I dull from the tips to the contact points correct? Anything else? Thanks

[2FUNKY]

Guys, getting ready to mount my Protests for the next month at Mammoth (please dump). I have read through pages and pages and didn't find the comments I thought I previously read about using a gummie stone to dull the front and rear edges. I dull from the tips to the contact points correct? Anything else? Thanks

I used a diamond file then polished with a gummy. You want those areas dull!

[Muggydude]

Lite diamond from contact points out. Light gummy over the whole edge after


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[liv2ski]

Lite diamond from contact points out. Light gummy over the whole edge after Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

So if I understand what I am reading, use the gummie stone on the entire skis edge to dull it all? Makes sense for powder, but just confirming.

[Muggydude]

Yep. I do light diamond from about 2” inwards of contact points out towards tips, then a few passes over everything with the gummy.

Protests are just not really a carving ski, I just kinda skate/slide on the groomers back to the lift when I use them (not leaning over into the edge). Makes them just less grabby and better in harder moguls when you got to slip and slide through.

The gummy isn’t really rounding the edge much, just taking off the sharp point that can grab weird sometimes


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[NW_SKIER]

Protests are just not really a carving ski


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BLASPHEMY!!!!

[whyturn]

Guys, getting ready to mount my Protests for the next month at Mammoth (please dump). I have read through pages and pages and didn't find the comments I thought I previously read about using a gummie stone to dull the front and rear edges. I dull from the tips to the contact points correct? Anything else? Thanks

I did not full either pair and they work great on groomers and are loose in pow. Just a point of reference


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[2FUNKY]

If it’s soft the protest will absolutely carve like a champ. Get them bishes up to speed and ride that glorious long radius.

[skis_the_trees]

I had mine out for recycled powder touring laps yesterday. Fantastic in the soft. A bit of death in the shaded icy groomer (but what isn't in randonerd boots), then surprisingly good on the single cat width of corduroy they had groomed by the time I toured back to the resort. 196cm standard layup and flex, Dynafit SSL 2.0, Sportiva Spitfire 2.1 boots.

[liv2ski]

I did not full either pair and they work great on groomers and are loose in pow. Just a point of reference


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Thanks guys. I will start here and keep a gummy with me in case it is needed.

[VON]

Finally got out on my 4-Flex 192 Protests today at the Bird in 13" fresh. Mounted them 1cm behind recommended.

Obviously preferred mount points are subjective, but my preferred mount point on most skis is -8 to -10, so I'm surprised that mounting the Praxis 1cm behind the line (equivalent to -9) worked so poorly for me, especially given how so many people here seem to swear by mounting behind the line.

To elaborate, I felt the ski had more "pivotability" in it than I was getting out of it, because I was just a little too far back on the ski. Multiple times today, especially in chop and tighter places, I had the strong desire to skooch forward on the ski, similar to surfing when you wriggle your feet a little bit forward and all of a sudden you have full control over the rails and fins.

Meanwhile, the tips were unsinkable, so I don't feel any risk moving the bindings forward.
I can only say that for me, in Utah powder, behind the line was no bueno and I'll be re-mounting the bindings forward.

[skis_the_trees]

I think your boot size, forward lean and binding ramp angle really play into the mount point and we often neglect those data points. I really like my Protests at -1.8 cm (I think) but with a 31.5mondo boot, my toe is in the same spot as someone with a much smaller boot on the dimple or forward of it.

[whyturn]

Finally got out on my 4-Flex 192 Protests today at the Bird in 13" fresh. Mounted them 1cm behind recommended.

Obviously preferred mount points are subjective, but my preferred mount point on most skis is -8 to -10, so I'm surprised that mounting the Praxis 1cm behind the line (equivalent to -9) worked so poorly for me, especially given how so many people here seem to swear by mounting behind the line.

To elaborate, I felt the ski had more "pivotability" in it than I was getting out of it, because I was just a little too far back on the ski. Multiple times today, especially in chop and tighter places, I had the strong desire to skooch forward on the ski, similar to surfing when you wriggle your feet a little bit forward and all of a sudden you have full control over the rails and fins.

Meanwhile, the tips were unsinkable, so I don't feel any risk moving the bindings forward.
I can only say that for me, in Utah powder, behind the line was no bueno and I'll be re-mounting the bindings forward.

Consider that 4 flex my be issue? I have 26.5 and 192 at -1.5 but enduro three flex. Snow was funky in spots yesterday.


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[eskido]

FWIW I haven’t skied mine behind the line but I fucking dig em right on it. I’m on a 187 4 flex, MAP/Carbon, and get along with pretty much all of Keith’s mount points, except maybe the GPO, haven’t skied that on the line but it feels like it would be a hair to far forward for me 🤷🏻

[utagonian]

I’ve had Protests in my cart a few times but never pulled the trigger.

I picked up some older 188s cheap so I could at least try some. Guy said they were prototypes..?? No graphics, just black tops.

I’m mounted 85cm straight pull from the tail. There isn’t a dimple.

They were really great yesterday at Alta. If there was soft snow they just worked. Steep, low angle, trees, chop, fast, slow, etc. Very intuitive.

Whatever I was doing on the groomers, I wouldn’t call it skiing but that wasn’t the point. I never felt that I should be mounted forward or back. I usually ski traditional mount type skis btw.

What is better about new ones? Just firm snow turnability and really cool top sheets?

[VON]

Not sure, just thought I'd give my two cents.
I'm 6'4" 185lbs with a 28.5 boot, and I just felt I had a bit too much ski in front of me relative to how much was behind me.

I felt like I could easily be 2cm forward of where I was and still have A LOT of ski volume in front of me without putting too much tail behind me. Given the Protest's design with so much volume up front, I think that being further forward on the ski would actually improve stability and would definitely really help with the ski's ability to pivot faster too. This would make the biggest difference in chop and tight places, but I even felt myself wanting to be further forward in untracked snow too. I will of course report back as soon as I get the chance to test this!

Having read through this whole thread in the past, I gathered that a lot of people were mounting behind the line to avoid tip dive. But for me, any troublesome tip dive is really hard to imagine. This could be because I'm relatively* light weight for the 192 length, or because Utah powder is lighter. I'm definitely not a very "center-balanced" skier and tend to drive the tips.

Here's a shot of the skis mounted:


Regardless of these potential mount point issues, I can feel that there's some magic in this ski and I'm looking forward to extracting more of it!

Also, it's worth emphasizing that this is all subjective, and please take it all with a grain of salt because I suspect I'm a fairly average skier relative to this forum's standards. The only reason I thought my experience was worth sharing is because historically I have only ever been sensitive to being too far forward on a ski. I sold my 190 Bibby/Wildcats because despite how great they were, I could never get 100% comfortable standing at -6. This experience on the Protest is the first and only time in my personal ski history that I've felt for certain that I'm too far back on the ski.

Here's a quick vid of my first-ever pow run on this ski. Suffice to say, it's definitely a diff sensation in pow and obviously brought a smile to my face!

[m2711c]

nice.

[jmills]

Finally got out on my 4-Flex 192 Protests today at the Bird in 13" fresh. Mounted them 1cm behind recommended.

Obviously preferred mount points are subjective, but my preferred mount point on most skis is -8 to -10, so I'm surprised that mounting the Praxis 1cm behind the line (equivalent to -9) worked so poorly for me, especially given how so many people here seem to swear by mounting behind the line.

To elaborate, I felt the ski had more "pivotability" in it than I was getting out of it, because I was just a little too far back on the ski. Multiple times today, especially in chop and tighter places, I had the strong desire to skooch forward on the ski, similar to surfing when you wriggle your feet a little bit forward and all of a sudden you have full control over the rails and fins.

Meanwhile, the tips were unsinkable, so I don't feel any risk moving the bindings forward.
I can only say that for me, in Utah powder, behind the line was no bueno and I'll be re-mounting the bindings forward.

I was also at the Bird yesterday on my 192 4-flex Protest mounted -1.5. I’m 6’2 205lbs with a 306 BSL.
While yesterday was the first time being on the Protest this season, I’ve had plenty of days on them the past two seasons and don’t see how they could be any better than they have skied at -1.5 for me.
My GPO though…..
Tuesday this week started with a bit more snow than yesterday, I was on my standard 4-flex 187 GPO mounted -1, and felt better on them than I have since getting them last December. I was already thinking I was going forward and Tuesday didn’t change that for me. Why was I not on the Protest is a good question but still had fun.
I think we had talked about the Enforcer 115s prior to you grabbing the Protest didn’t we? I dumped the E115s and with my questionable technical ability, am happy the Protest works for me and the GPO is fun with the -1 mount as well.

Edit: Friday was such a good day wasn’t it.

[VON]

Friday was killer! Had a blast on Tuesday as well, but was at Alta rather than Snowbird.

Yeah I still ski my Enforcer 115's most days and that will probably continue to be the case even after having mounted up the Protests. But that's mostly a function of skiing Utah resorts... with pow days turning into chop days within 3 runs.
My E115's feel a bit more balanced, and are def heavier than my Protests, both of which contribute to meaningfully better chop performance. I do wish the E115's were a little lighter though.

Still, any time we get over a foot of new snow, I'm excited to grab my Protests and keep getting to know them.
Will update if anything changes, but my early impression is that with so much volume in the upper-midbody of the ski, I could def benefit from standing a little further forward on it.

[2FUNKY]

Von, that pic is whack! Those look waaaaaay to far back, even though I see the dimple. Something is amiss..
5’10” 220 with gear on and ski the 192 #4 @.1.75. So quick and intuitive. Also have 188’s stock #3 and @102.5 from the tip and they are just as quick to pivot.
Did you detune everything but the side cut underfoot?


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