Talk sidecut radius

[swissiphic]

you are correct. im trying to pick from a category of skis that i am pretty ignorant about and it shows.

i like most skis. i find something in every ski that i like. ive owned and enjoyed small and big radius skis, reverse camber and cambered skis, tons of rocker and little. ill find a ski that ticks the boxes i want, like the sick day, fondly remember a ski with a different characteristic, like the rossi sickle, and start over. im aware of my ignorance here so when i read about how more experienced tourers feel it sways me.

Hey Margotron; what snowpack do you ski in? what's yer height/weight? I'm a northwest b.c. mostly coastal snowpack skier and have had my mind changed on what construes an great all round backcountry ski with in bounds capabilities. I was kinda stuck on a track of using skis with waist widths up to about 115mm as a good all round backcountry ski but toured with buddies that were using ultra fatties and they always seemed to be having both and easier and better time in a wider spectrum of snow conditions...so I acquiesced and went fat fat.

My custom modified original version K2 Darkside 174s (156/128/144) have proven to be incredibly versatile, forgiving, consistent and reliable all rounders for most back country specific conditions and do surprisingly well in softer inbound conditions as well. They're easy to lay on edge, carve, pivot, slarve, ski centered or really lean on and drive the tips. The bigger snowshoes result in easier trailbreaking in deep pow compared to skinnier skis and the shorter length make them super quick and intuitive in the trees yet, surprisingly stable in long, smooth linked turns in the alpine on big steep faces and for easy cruisers alike. They do flex a lot and those who like to stand on a downhill ski and bust through crap won't play well with them but for a finesse skier looking to massage the mountain and feel flex, feedback and flow while skiing with subtle feel through soft paws will match well to them.

Dunno what's out there that's similar for specs and feel and ability to customize but just thought I'd add my two cents.

I used to only bust em out if the snow was any sort of soft, but now after further customization, i.e., pulled back the rocker/splay contact point and spooned the tips a bit more; it's made em more tip to tail balanced and intuitive on truly harder backcountry snow like refreeze corn and crusts... On true blue or white ice, they suck but thankfully those conditions really don't manifest on our local snowpacks all that often.

i'm 5' 10", 195 lbs with pack and ski em in dynafit vulcans.

[FlimFlamvanHam]

you are correct. im trying to pick from a category of skis that i am pretty ignorant about and it shows.

i like most skis. i find something in every ski that i like. ive owned and enjoyed small and big radius skis, reverse camber and cambered skis, tons of rocker and little. ill find a ski that ticks the boxes i want, like the sick day, fondly remember a ski with a different characteristic, like the rossi sickle, and start over. im aware of my ignorance here so when i read about how more experienced tourers feel it sways me.

Think/analyze/scrutinize/second guess less. Ski more. Problem solved.

there will always be lighter but lighter is not always better. Substitute 'lighter' in previous sentence with 'fatter', then 'heavier', then 'softer' and any other ski attribute that comes to mind.

[Banh Mi]

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