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Thread: On3P Steeple 98 review
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01-10-2017, 02:43 PM #1
On3P Steeple 98 review
Throwing this one out there because there aren't that many reviews of the Skinnier offerings
http://www.doglotion.com/on3p-steepl...er-gear-review
The summary
Performance
The Steeple has a fair bit of tip rocker and some tail rocker (see pictures above). This was a big benefit as Whistler’s ski season started out with about 1.5m of snow in a week making for character building trailbreaking.
Rocker makes for playfulness and performance in soft snow. This describes the Steeple in spades as it is a pow destroyer. Despite its 26mm turning radius it was pretty easy to slide the Steeple around and change directions on a dime. One other trait the Steeple had was fairly consistent stiffness along its entire length so it was easy to weight the ski and load it simply by moving around fore and aft. This made the Steeple ski very well in super deep snow giving it much more range than I thought given its dimensions.
Based on its shape I don’t think the Steeple will be a spring touring or hardpack ski. Having said that the Steeple’s underfoot camber is very useable and the stiffness of the middle section of the ski much appreciated.. Exiting iced up inbounds runs and backcountry cat-tracks wasn’t a big deal. One caveat is that the Steeples tails are also fairly stiff so demands a fair chunk of commitment to the fall-line. If your touring is more towards the mellow end of the spectrum or if you’re always in the backseat this probably won’t be a ski for you.
The industry is adopting the less is more philosophy for touring skis. Where 120+ underfoot was where touring skis were going, now 100 underfoot is what companys are pushing. And 100 underfoot works even for deep snow if you have proper shape. And my personal bias is that tip rocker and a pretty flattish tail is where its at. Then add decent camber underfoot with decent stiffness and you’re gold; this pretty much described the Steeple 98
To summarize, the Steeple 98 hits a lot of sweet spots. It has a lot of range but is biased towards soft snow. If you want a handmade in North America soft snow touring ski the Steeple 98 should be a consideration.
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03-06-2018, 07:56 PM #2
Nice review!
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04-09-2018, 08:32 AM #3
Anyone else had nonpow time on these?
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04-09-2018, 09:12 AM #4
Well "non-pow" is not what they were made to do, but, yes. The rise in the tip and tail shortens the effective edge of the ski so hardpack isn't ideal. Softer or slushy is still super fun, but the Steeple is not an ideal daily driver on stiffer days. Deeper and BC turns are, however, ideal; and I am consistently impressed at how a 102 waisted ski slays the pow, and creamy cheese.
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04-09-2018, 12:57 PM #5Registered User
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Lee - thanks for posting this - i have read the review previously, but still interesting to reread it Thanks for the effort - both then and now!
A question though - just how soft are the shovels/front ends on steeple 98s? Do they hold up to high speed soft snow "carving" in denser snow?
The reason i ask is that I sold a pair of Extrem Opinion Carbon 98s earlier this year due to too soft front ends. Their soft front ends just did not work well for high speed "carving" of in dense coastal fresh (even if they were amazing every where else) causing super sharp turns that was frankly unnerving, even if the softness up front made them float well. I am not keen to go down that route again. I am sure the real culprit was my lacking skills trying to get the skis to do something they were not designed to do, but at the end of the day i would rather find skis that behaves like i want them to than either noodle around or severely adjust my technique going down.
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04-09-2018, 02:28 PM #6Registered User
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No idea on the relative stiffness of Steeple 98s vs 108s (maybe Iggy can weigh in here) but the 108s have held up very well for me in these conditions. Part of this is likely due to the lack of hook from the RES in the tips of the 108s, so comparing relative stiffness between the two skis is probably only part of the story, but so far I've been able to push them as hard as I am able in dense pow and haven't experienced any folding or hooking from the tips.
The question I'm interested in knowing the answer to is the weight of next year's Wren 96 in a tour layup. If the 179s come in somewhere close to 1800 grams per ski I'll be pretty damn intrigued for a spring/longer day touring ski. If they're much heavier than that I can't see any reason to not simply ski the Steeple 108s, as they have been awesome in all backcountry conditions I've had them in thus far. Spring may identify some weakness on refrozen/firm conditions, but I don't think it'll be bad enough to be a deal breaker for me.
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04-09-2018, 03:08 PM #7Registered User
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thanks for your thoughts.
I am planning to swap tectons for pivots on my w88s, and get a 96-98-esque tourer that can charge to put the tectons on, as a part of two (three) ski touring quiver with my w108s in 179 (and my BGs in 179). I am not sure what my ideal ski will be, but right now i am contemplating a w98 with w108 layup, a pair of steeple98s being sold locally, or - i dunno. Time will tell, and i am in no rush. I think w88s might be a bit too narrow and stiff to be an all conditions killer, but i might be mistaken - i have really enjoyed them thus far, they are pretty damned awesome.
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04-09-2018, 05:21 PM #8
Steeple 98s aren't RES based on what's online to read, so the comp with the 102 and its RES tip might not be relevant. Not expecting these to ski Nuptse Face neve after unclipping from an ice screw, just volcano corn that's sometimes frozen at the top.
Yeah, there's far lighter out there (I'll handle that with a vector/MTN Explore 95/whatever wafer cookie thing), but RARELY if ever with a radius of 25m or more without being a weird-ass Down LD90 (not damp per reviews, not very available, a bit expensive, a little skinny and long but that's being nitpicky) for "I just want to fucking ski" days.
Basically, I want a 170 OG Legend Pro (97 underfoot, 26m radius) that weighs ~1600g. Not too light, not too heavy, nice long (for these days) radius. The Steeple 98 is obviously more soft-snow biased with the rocker, but it has the right width, radius and isn't wildly heavy - 1800g in a 174. The only other reasonably large radius, reasonably light skis I can think of are the Volkl Nanuq/BMT 94 (23ish radius, ~1450g).
I realize there's a "you guys get too hung up on radius numbers" POV out there, but I've been burned a couple times by that theory.
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04-09-2018, 06:38 PM #9Registered User
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^^^ yup, that’s pretty well what I’m looking for as well. Skis I’ve considered are 4FRNT Ravens, Blizzard ZG 108, Praxis Yeti and tour layup Wren 96s. Currently leaning towards ZG 108 for its mix of weight, stability and predictability. Don’t care about its lack of pow performance and playfulness.
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