Rethinking the Quiver, need Travel Ski recs

[Duffman]

Living on the EC and spending most of my time in Vt or in the Cottonwood Canyons (thank Jeebus for direct Delta flights and living 10 min from the airport) I mastered the fine art of air travel with a quiver, including stuffing way too much gear into one ski bag, greasing the curbside guy, all the usual tricks. However, life happens and being the recent father to a 6 month old, who will be traveling with us on some trips, has blown up any future plans for traveling light and still bringing a bunch of gear, since its takes a wagon caravan to travel anywhere woth the little guy.

Essentially I now need some way to simplify my quiver, and ideally travel with one ski (blasphemy, I know) when going with the little dude, going back to 2 when going solo. Currently I'm using 3 skis most of the time, An old,beat up red Mantra 94mm for ice and hardpack days, then using a Rossi S3s with Dukes for the majority of days west and east, and Praxis Protests 187 (original version) for the good days. The Praxis is soo much damn fun in fresh snow that I hate to leave it behind, but considering its not always used I guess I will have to survive without some time. The issue then becomes what to do with the S3. While they float well for a 98mm ski, they aren't ideal for dumps for my fat 6'1 210lbs ass and the tips also fold up in heavy tracked out snow or chop. Ive stayed away from the 105-115 tweener category before since the Protest covered that pretty well, but these seem to be the sweet spot for the do it all travel ski, including very short touring. So looking at this as a goal, any thoughts on the following for true use in all conditions out west and on better days in VT

Rossi Soul 7, new Super 7, Praxis MVP, or any others with these characteristics. Skilled skier who skis anywhere but no race background, definitely throttle it back in tough conditions, not when in doubt point it out, no big air or flippy spinny stuff.

[grinch]

love my protests. freaky how they never deflect. can't beat indy construction. I'd vote fibreglass mvp(surprise surprise) for trips or home. on sale right now

[whyturn]

Love the protest also. GPO has been a great ski for any trip since it rips groomers and is stable but still float well up to 12-18". Great 1-2 punch for me. Flew with my protest which is a little risky since can be a bit much in between pow days. GPO has great rocker and seems to ski a little fatter than its size due to that two stage rocker. Can't go wrong with praxis

[auvgeek]

You still haven't mentioned much about your style. Given that you're not into flippy/spinny stuff, I'm guessing you want a directional ski 110-120 underfoot with tip rocker and minimal tail rocker and a 25+ turn radius (based on your love of the Protest). To me, that is the 192 GPO or 191 Billy Goat (my personal preference). I think you'll find the 191 length provides more than adequate float in all conditions, and you have almost 50# on me so driving them shouldn't be too much of an issue. The Renegade presents you with a goldilocks situation where the 186 will likely ski too short (reverse camber=tricky balance) and the 196 will be too long. 193 Cochise or 191 Katana might be great, too, depending on your style.

[Duffman]

Style wise definitely more playful than charger. Generally more medium speed than ripping big faces and lots of trees. The 186 s3 is definitely too soft in the shovel for me mainly because of my size but I still find the skis fun for poking around between storms. The overly rockered rear is a bit overkill though.

I have the 1st gen Protests which had more tail rocker and almost zero sidecut as compared to the current version so are less of a directional charger and more of a pure soft snow ski. The dilemma is that I love having some tail rocker because slarving through trees and being able to shut it down on a dime like the protests in deep snow is awesome, but this obviously gives up versatility. Also the ski needs to be able to handle more bumps and set up snow for those trips where the weather doesn't cooperate.

Honestly this is why the elusive search for a one ski quiver usually sucks, going with a 100ish versatile daily driver w the OG Protests for storm days is a perfect combo but such is life

[Shu Shu]

FWIW, I bought my 187 GPO for the exact reason you describe e.g. E-West travel quiver of one. It performs incredibly well on 2d snow, like not just adequate, but really fun. In pow the shape is really loose, to the point where it's doesn't make sense that a ski that can be so much fun on hardpack, is this slarvy in pow. It floats pretty well, but I found the tips a touch dive 'y' in 12" + if your not paying attention at slower speeds. They're immediately intuitive, but I also find I learn to ski them better and get more out of them every time I'm out. Also Carbon is a sweet lay up.

The Concept does it all too, but isn't quite as loose in pow. After skiing boiler plate groomers and hard bumps in trees on both skis, I wouldn't hesitate to travel with either, but they are definitely biased toward better conditions. My one-ski philosophy is that I'd rather struggle a bit in shit conditions, than wish I had something more in great conditions.

[tpacent]

Check out the blister review of the supernatural 108. Sound like it might be the combination of playful, charging and versatility. I am 6' 4 200 and love my Rossi sickles 186 for everything out west. They r discontinued but u can sometimes find them on the boards. The supernatural sounds like my sickles so that is why I think u might want to check em out.

[STLHD]

What about putting inserts in your existing quiver?

That's been my strategy the last two years. Take the bindings off for travel and you can easily fit three pairs in a std ski bag. Makes the most sense if they're all mounted for the same clamps.

[sb]

inserts/plates are your friends

[icelanticskier]

Both utah and vermont have nice powder snow, usually. Any ski works well in nice powder snow so get a ski that is good in non powder snow like a line prophet 90 or a mantra. Both those skis have metal which makes them ski way nicer than a non metal ski and if you want to ski pow as it should be skied, 90-100 underfoot is more than plenty.

My daily everything driver is 129-92-115 with metal and does all very well.

Rog

[Dee Hubbs]

If you're always going to Cottonwood Canyons, find a place to leave your big out west pow skis there. Only fly with your daily driver, and if it dumps you have your big skis available.

[XavierD]

Personally I'd get something like the Line Sickday 110, Blizzard Cochise, or Nordica El Capo. New 186cm ON3P Wrenegade could be a good one to toss into the mix, or find a pair of Viciks. I have been using the Vicik in this slot for the last few years.

Edit to add: Nordica Patron is an A+ ski. As long as you don't need to go Mach loony, it is great across a wide range of conditions. The blister review on it is pretty much 100% horseshit.

On the next years side of things the new Kartel 106 looks promising too.

[powder fiend]

I'd consider the praxis freeride, still pretty traditional, but with some taper and rocker quite good in the powder. Kind of halfway between your mantras and S3s as far as skiing style, but better in the pow than either of them.

[old goat]

I've been happy with a 108, early rise tip, cambered ski as an everyday Tahoe driver and travel ski. In my case first generation Sidestash. Holds an edge on firm, floats in pow, turns easily enough in bumps and tight spots, goes as fast as this old man needs to go. Which ski in the general category is a matter of personal preference though. One man's playful ski is another man's charger. Of course skiing K2 gets you banned from this forum.

[Banh Mi]

Nordica Patron is an A+ ski.

Ehhh, i'd have to disagree here.

[DoWork]

Worth Magics. Fuckin' amazing ski. If I had to pick one pair for every single day everywhere forever, there would be no hesitation. They slay everything from groomers to bumps to deep fresh pow to chopped up bullshit mank. Never been on something that just does everything so well with so little compromise. Super snappy, agile and light but also damp, powerful and smooth. Literally playful charger to a T and never feels like too much ski.


Also made my Keith @ Praxis so you know the quality is top notch. Choose your core, layup, topsheet and tweak your flex for the same price as shops want for Chinese made mass produced skis!


http://worthskis.com/skis/the-magic/

[dark_star]

IMO either something in the Kastle MX series (either 88 or 98) or the Rossignol Sickle. It really is as awesome as the Blister Gear Review makes it out to be and it can be had really cheaply through EBay. Skied it yesterday on a mixed condition new england day and I was shocked at how well it handled icy hardback (with a good tune and sharp edges, of course…) Very different skis, one is full camber with metal and one is zero camber with rocker, but they both rip.

[CaliBrit]

Honestly buy some Billy Goats. I will be traveling with 1 ski from now on. Then any of the one million 98-102 waisted skis or even narrower.

[hoarhey]

I'd consider the praxis freeride, still pretty traditional, but with some taper and rocker quite good in the powder. Kind of halfway between your mantras and S3s as far as skiing style, but better in the pow than either of them.

I think he wants something a little looser in the tail than a praxis freeride.

I'd second the vote for the GPO, probably in a 187 stock med/stiff for you.
I'm skiing the 182 GPO in the medium+ flex and finding it to be pretty versatile in leaner snow conditions as well as deeper snow.

[RockChalk]

Sounds like the 185 cochise is your answer

[The SnowShow]

Duff..just messaged you

[TahoeJ]

If I could only have one ski to travel with it would definitely be around 100mm. I have 108 and 110mm skis that I love but when conditions get shitty they just aren't as good as something a little bit narrower. And it's still plenty wide for powder, especially in Utah.

[Duffman]

Thanks for all the various ideas here, good food for thought. So of course I go to utah this past week without the praxis and lo and behold it dumped. Woe is me . Sick few days from thirsday to Monday. A buddy had a hookup for demoing some Rossi stuff so I jumped on them. Tried the Soul 7 at the bird on Friday before the big storm came in and thought it was decent in the soft but not deep snow but way to turny and chattery when moving in chopped snow. Got on the Super 7 and liked it much better. Despite the 116 vs 108 waist I thought it did everything better than the soul. At first I got tip dive but after moving the demo binders back 1cm they felt great. Granted everything was soft including bumps and groomers so that probably helped. Kept the supers for myself for a great pow day sat at solitude where they were awesome for messing around in the deep uncut snow in the trees. These floated fantastic even in the heavy high water content pow and can turn on a dime. The only problem with these is the lightweight and relatively med soft flex got kicked around in more cut up chop and at higher speeds in cut snow. Loved the shape of these though. I really wanted to try the Squad but they were only available in a 180 at the time.

Not sure how applicable this really is to the one travel ski discussion since every trip doesn't involve 30 to 40 inches of snow over the course of 5 days. Obviously in these conditions a very soft snow biased ski rules. But I can say w confidence I prefer a looser slarvier ski like the praxis, even if smaller underfoot. Something lightweight and tossable while still being primarily a directional ski like the new super 7 (as an aside I hated the old S7 with the ultra soft shovel and the severe pintail) would be excellent if it were a bit stiffer and more stable without losing the playfulness. For a true one ski quiver though it might make sense to drop the width down to the mid to high 100s

[Shu Shu]

If you liked the Super 7 I have a feeling a GPO or Billy Goat would kill it for you. I skied the Super 7 before pulling the trigger on GPOs, I found the Super 7's enjoyable and easy to ski but a little 'meh' and the tails really washy on hardpack. The GPO (and from everything I've read of the BG) is everything the super is but with a ton more character on harder packed snow, and can charge hard in Chop (flex and layup choice is up to you).

If you want a smaller waisted version there is a skinny version of the BG (102 waist) in the ON3P demo sale over in Gear Swap right now. Sounds like they have your name on it.

[Duffman]

So you have skied the 2014 super and the gpo? I was looking at specs and thought the GPO looked similar shape wise but I thought that being a comp style ski it might not float nearly as well in deep snow or be as quick in trees. Obviously it will be more stable and better in chop. What did you notice between the two.