Powder Touring Ski Options?

[bovine]

Looking to fill a hole in my touring quiver and looking for something around 115mm under foot, sub 7lbs in the 182cm size range.

What's worth looking at these days?
Things I already know about:
Voile Hyper V8s
Atomic Backland 117s
BD Helio 115s

I don't need a ski that I can go 60 mph on. I'm looking for a "versatile" fat ski that'll excel in weird snow conditions and pow, but also be pretty versatile- relatively speaking for a wide ski.

Not looking to throw down retail for the latest ski- something that can be found used for not too much coin.

What else
Gracias

[John_B]

DPS in Tour1 or PagodaTour or whatever is it is now would be in the neighborhood of your weight specs and can be found used for not stupid prices, unlike at retail.

[Benneke10]

The Helio 115/116 are the easiest to find used for cheap (lots on KSL classifieds)

[Marshal Olson]

Outdoor Gear Exchange has Black Diamond Helio 116 186cm for $450 new right now. They are quite light and surfy. If you find used pairs, this fact might be helpful in your negotiation.

[Robik]

Pescado if you're weirdo. Need to get used to wide swallow tails on the skinner

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[sruffian]

moment bibby tour in a 184, older moment exit worlds

volkl bmt's or katanas

do bentchet's make the weight cut off? probably the easiest to source of any of my rec's...

[bovine]

Not likely to find used, but has anyone put some time on the Armada Locator 112s? They look pretty sweet.

[GoSlowGoFar]

Bent Chetler 120 for something a little softer and easier to ski. Wildcat Tour if you want something playful but has a little more of a backbone. Armada JJ UL 116 could be another option. Line Vision 118.

Some sales in BC 120 so that looks like the ticket.

[swimmonzzz]

The 120 bent chetler is a very fun ski and extremely light. Hard to beat the weight/fun/capability ratio.

[rfconroy]

moment bibby tour in a 184, older moment exit worlds

volkl bmt's or katanas

do bentchet's make the weight cut off? probably the easiest to source of any of my rec's...

I also throught the bibby tour was great, but the rise on the tail made stabbing kick turns a total PITA, which I thought wrote that ski off in my opinion.

Ive been touring quite a bit on the Vision 118 thus far, and its been; a solid, progressive mounted, fun, touring ski. Super light, and descent in mixed snow conditions.

Not sure why this hasnt been mentioned yet, but... if youre into fully rockered skis you should be looking at the Renegade with the 4-lock system - that tail attachment system is really, really good...

[skis_the_trees]

I really like my 181 Voile Chargers but they are around 1870g/ski and not 1600g/ski like you are looking for. They Hyper series seems like it would be sweet for the weigh savings. I like traditional mount points and never go very fast while touring; these things are SUPER fun.

[GoSlowGoFar]

Not sure why this hasnt been mentioned yet, but... if youre into fully rockered skis you should be looking at the Renegade with the 4-lock system - that tail attachment system is really, really good...

Guessing because of the weight, not that they’re heavy for a pow ski but the OP said 7ish lbs which limits choices a bit.

[Beder]

The 120 bent chetler is a very fun ski and extremely light. Hard to beat the weight/fun/capability ratio.

mine arrived weighing 1930 and 1970 gms. I sent them back

[WWCD]

Not sure why this hasnt been mentioned yet, but... if youre into fully rockered skis you should be looking at the Renegade with the 4-lock system - that tail attachment system is really, really good...

How do these flat/reverse camber skis do on less than ideal skin tracks?

I really like the look of these (or maybe Hojis) but I’m not small, have a garbage kick turn, and am generally a junk show on “technical” skin tracks.

But I like the downhill, so I’ve got that going for me.

[Lord Thomas]

How do these flat/reverse camber skis do on less than ideal skin tracks?

I really like the look of these (or maybe Hojis) but I’m not small, have a garbage kick turn, and am generally a junk show on “technical” skin tracks.

But I like the downhill, so I’ve got that going for me.

I've been using BMT 109's with Colltex mix skins as a touring DD for a few years now and haven't had any special difficulties on a variety of skin tracks. However, I try to skin "well". Work on your technique, both skinning and kick turns, and you'll be fine. Technique is free. You could just pick up an extra pair of nylon skins for those "technical" tracks. Maybe it's just me but I think people spend way too much time speculating about rev. camber skis on the skin track rather than just trying them and finding out everything is ok. Less talk, more turns I say.

[oetk2]

GPO in a UL build would work but weight might be a bit more than you're looking for. The 182s I had were around 1800g each

[Robik]

How do these flat/reverse camber skis do on less than ideal skin tracks?

I really like the look of these (or maybe Hojis) but I’m not small, have a garbage kick turn, and am generally a junk show on “technical” skin tracks.

But I like the downhill, so I’ve got that going for me.

I might be wrong, but you shouldn't be looking at fat powder touring boards if you're concerned with the skin track performance. There are many good skis in 105-110 that are both light and perform well enough in up to a foot of fresh snow. powder touring is more of a quiver ski.

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[burrito]

The comment about kick-turning in the Wildcat/Bibby also applies to the Bent Chetler 120, though I imagine it would be mitigated quite a bit if you mount a couple cm back from the recommended line, which is only -2.5cm from true center. I have a pair of BC120s mounted on the line with Shifts, and I'm strongly considering remounting them with a true tech binding a couple cm back.

[skiSilent_skiDeep]

How do these flat/reverse camber skis do on less than ideal skin tracks?

I really like the look of these (or maybe Hojis) but I’m not small, have a garbage kick turn, and am generally a junk show on “technical” skin tracks.

But I like the downhill, so I’ve got that going for me.

buy the hojis, then join up with a group of splitboarders, that way you wont be singled out as "that guy-" jackin up the skinner.

imo, wildcat tours are fantastic choice for a versatile pow ski, but yeah, the kick turns on these rigs (mounted on the line) are something else, at least here in the Wasangeles

[I've seen black diamonds!]

I've got 182 UL GPOs, 186 BMT 109's, and 187 UL Praxis Protests. The GPOs are rock skis at this point. The BMT's are a fantastic winter touring ski for CO. They do everything better than the GPOs (which I like enough to have used for over 100 days) except steep, firm snow, which isn't really the point. The BMTs plane quickly, pivot easily in funky snow, and are solid and predictable on edge. They definitely ski pow like a wider ski. I grab the Protests are great when snow is very deep or likely to be upside down. The width helps them maintain more speed when meadow skipping. But they're big and weigh 2000g. I often take them when I'm skiing with someone slower than me.

I've skied the BD Helios and some older Voile Chargers and Drifters. I thought they were good powder skis but nothing special when the snow got funky. I prefer the GPOs to all of them and strongly prefer the BMT's, which I highly recommend, at least if you get along with a traditional mount.

Oh, and they all skin fine if you're not a beater.

[Falcon3]

I don’t know how it’s gotten this far without mentioning the Deathwish Tour in 184. It’s exactly what you say you want.

112 waist plenty of float
Easily the most versatile touring ski 110+
Strong flex, great for “weird” conditions and icy runouts
Triple camber- see above-really sets this ski apart from everything else in the category with its edge grip
~1750g- not ultralight but not beef, skis well above its weight

[bovine]

Yeah- I love my 181 Chargers. Here in the San Juans we get a lot of funky snow- up-side-down, shallow, faceted crap w/wind slab on top... My Chargers are my go-tos for early season, but they are on the heavy side-with Dynafit Verticals on them- hence the search for a mid-winter replacement.

I just threw down on some Salomon MTNs that I picked up w/an REI 40% off card. Now, just kind of casually looking for the skis I want to pair them with. At 53 years old, one thing I've learned about myself with gear- I'm not happy to compromise. I really like the looks of the Armada Locator 112s....

I really like my 181 Voile Chargers but they are around 1870g/ski and not 1600g/ski like you are looking for. They Hyper series seems like it would be sweet for the weigh savings. I like traditional mount points and never go very fast while touring; these things are SUPER fun.

[nickinbc]

I've been using BMT 109's

I also use BMT 109s and before that Hojis. The BMTs have significantly less reverse camber than the Hojis. That said I didn't really have any problems skinning with either of them (though the more forward mount on the Hojis mean the tails tend to drop when you lift the foot in tour mode which can make side stepping a bit of a pain). In any conditions where the reverse camber might really become a problem I think I would want ski crampons on anyway.

[Hughwindlip]

Had both BMT and hojis....pretty similar on the uptrack.

Now have a quiv of hojis x 2, raven, ren....their pretty easy to manage on any ski track. Even icy tracks, my thought is more ski base contact engages grip???

Coast, rockies, interior... no issues.

Skins used are pomoca pinks and ski trab mohair.

Sorta reverse camber biased tho.

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[Climber Joe]

Other powder touring options:

Line Pescado - 125mm underfoot, 1850 grams a ski or so.

WOVN - harrier 108 and kingfisher 120: both incredibly light for the size, but ski better than their weight class.