Pow Boards-Are they worth it?

5280

5280

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I've wanted a pair of fattys for really long time but lately I've heard that with limited gnarly pow days, higher prices, and ridiculous weight make powder skis not worth the extreme floatyness when it does dump. I really can't afford a pair of park/all mountain skis AND pow skis so what would you recommend. Most of my skiing is big mountain and/or backountry but i do spend quite a few days in the park.
 
yes gear talk for sure. check out the line blend, which is all mtn park and does decent in the park. its fairly soft and playful
 
and to answer your question, ive been in the same boat as you, and its definately worth it to have a pow setup and a park set up. just get a job and save up and you will be more happy in the long run. i started the opposite direction as you. i bought pow sticks but then i couldnt take them through the park with out destroying them
 
Get skis that are ~115mm underfoot, they'll slay pow and shred on-piste. My daily drivers are 117, I use them in almost all conditions.
 
My praxis MVPs are my park skis and they can go anywhere. Some people might find 110 a bit wide in the park though. Then again I'm fine with skiing pipe on em even, so I'm sire you could make it work.
 
i think pow sticks are great for all mountain. The extra weight is not that bad and just makes them charge harder. Getta pair of pow sticks and shitty park skis if your mostly skiing all mountain. Get something bigger than 110 under.
 
If you really ski "mostly big mountain and backcountry," then your skis should be fat, no doubt about it.

Fat powder skis will change your life. There, I said it.
 
Same boat...been looking into some fatty's for this season. Mostly east coast skier though with a trip usually out west. My question to everyone is is it really worth it? Im skiing on 95 mm right now and they feel fine but they are barely rockered. Been looking at something around 110 with some moderate rocker nothing crazy. What people experience with this on the east coast ?

Also....anyone know of what the cheapest pow skis are? I don't particularly care about quality, lasting, etc...just using them for the 5-6 days a year that are raelly worth it. Already have an all mountain ski, park skis, and a pair of carving. Looking for the 4th to fill the quiver.
 
Skis a bit wide for park is way better than skis too skinny for pow. Pow days are precious. Don't waste them skiing skinny skis. It's not near as fun and will hold you back.
 
13099442:KravtZ said:
Same boat...been looking into some fatty's for this season. Mostly east coast skier though with a trip usually out west. My question to everyone is is it really worth it? Im skiing on 95 mm right now and they feel fine but they are barely rockered. Been looking at something around 110 with some moderate rocker nothing crazy. What people experience with this on the east coast ?
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I ski Faction 3.Zeros (112) on the East Coast and fucking love them. Those things do anything, and do it fast.
 
13099286:ESB said:
Fat powder skis will change your life. There, I said it.
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How did it take this long for this response?!

Powder specific skis in appropriate conditions make skiing more fun than you can imagine until you've tried it.

That's not to say you need something 130mm+ at the waist, but something at least 110-115mm with some tip and tail rocker. Flex pattern and shape are dependent on how much directional charging or switch skiing and landing you'll be doing. Tons of skis out there these days.

My everyday skis are 110mm underfoot.
 
13099442:KravtZ said:
Same boat...been looking into some fatty's for this season. Mostly east coast skier though with a trip usually out west. My question to everyone is is it really worth it? Im skiing on 95 mm right now and they feel fine but they are barely rockered. Been looking at something around 110 with some moderate rocker nothing crazy. What people experience with this on the east coast ?

Also....anyone know of what the cheapest pow skis are? I don't particularly care about quality, lasting, etc...just using them for the 5-6 days a year that are raelly worth it. Already have an all mountain ski, park skis, and a pair of carving. Looking for the 4th to fill the quiver.
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If it's just 4-5 days just rent. That way you get new skis every year. You can change them while your there, look at it as an extended demo an you can drop them off for treating free. If you were living out west it's certainly worth getting a pow, park and all mnt set up. Some may say you can combine park and all mnt but I really think if anything all mnt and pow are the two you can combine but any time you try to make a ski do more then one thing it will be less then ideal at the two things you are trying to do. but for you just rent.
 
I don't ski anything less than 95 underfoot. My everyday skis are 110 underfoot, and they work well for pow, but my pow skis are 122 underfoot and that's a wonderful width.

There's nothing better. if you are skiing mostly all mountain, you should be skiing at least 100 underfoot, and I would suggest wider personally.
 
If you ski primarily pow/backcountry, absolutely get some pow skis.

If it's about 50/50 between pow and park and you can only have 1 ski, you good get some all-mountaim skis ~100 underfoot. But be warned that while they will work fine for both pow and park, they will be great at neither.

But to answer your question, pow skis will make a big difference and you'll love them. But note that "pow" skis don't have to be 130+ underfoot (someone said this above). In fact, depending on your skiing style and size they could be less fun than a pair that's closer to ~115-120 underfoot. Plus those could work fine for groomers and the occasional park lap, depending on the ski.

As to what skis to get if you're looking into pow skis, thats an entirely different question that would require some more info about you.
 
Sorry for the dub post, but I forgot to add that wider skis won't just be great for those "gnarly pow days".

They can make 4" of fresh snow seem bottomless and just make skiing way more fun overall
 
13099743:tomPietrowski said:
If it's just 4-5 days just rent. That way you get new skis every year. You can change them while your there, look at it as an extended demo an you can drop them off for treating free. If you were living out west it's certainly worth getting a pow, park and all mnt set up. Some may say you can combine park and all mnt but I really think if anything all mnt and pow are the two you can combine but any time you try to make a ski do more then one thing it will be less then ideal at the two things you are trying to do. but for you just rent.
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4-5 days of rentals is enough to pretty much buy a pair of skis that will last years and you can use whenever you want. Not to mention pow skis are so good these days for most people there's no new skis that are going to revolutionize their pow skis experience...

I think you have two options. A: Buy something ~110 underfoot that will do everything well- something like the Praxis (great compnay) MVP or Line Sir Francis bacons. Both would do well for some park laps- but kill it everywhere else on the mountain.

Or you could get something 90-100mm underfoot for park and low snow days, and then get something fat 120-130mm underfoot for pow days. 6in of snow is a lot more fun on a big fatty than a normal ski- so they aren't just for when it really dumps. If budget is tight, look for some used skis on the forums and ebay. I picked up a pair of older K2 pontoons for under $300 with some jesters, and they were in fantastic shape (a lot of big fattys don't get a lot of use because of their inherit intended use, so you can get lightly used ones for a big discount simply because they are a few seasons old). Sure my pontoons are a 7 year old model- but they are a freaking powder ski. Tons of surface area, a lot of rocker, insane float- what more do you need? Soooo much fun on the pow days we had this past season, one of the best ski purchases I have ever made.
 
13103850:Muggydude said:
4-5 days of rentals is enough to pretty much buy a pair of skis that will last years and you can use whenever you want. Not to mention pow skis are so good these days for most people there's no new skis that are going to revolutionize their pow skis experience...

I think you have two options. A: Buy something ~110 underfoot that will do everything well- something like the Praxis (great compnay) MVP or Line Sir Francis bacons. Both would do well for some park laps- but kill it everywhere else on the mountain.

Or you could get something 90-100mm underfoot for park and low snow days, and then get something fat 120-130mm underfoot for pow days. 6in of snow is a lot more fun on a big fatty than a normal ski- so they aren't just for when it really dumps. If budget is tight, look for some used skis on the forums and ebay. I picked up a pair of older K2 pontoons for under $300 with some jesters, and they were in fantastic shape (a lot of big fattys don't get a lot of use because of their inherit intended use, so you can get lightly used ones for a big discount simply because they are a few seasons old). Sure my pontoons are a 7 year old model- but they are a freaking powder ski. Tons of surface area, a lot of rocker, insane float- what more do you need? Soooo much fun on the pow days we had this past season, one of the best ski purchases I have ever made.
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You have some goo points an I woul agree get an all mnt ski at about 100mm underfoot. That will be a great ski 90% of the time. Then on the trips west if they have deep snow rent big skis. It's like I said above you can get the newest skis every year and have te best fot the current conditions. You would not want to ski ice crust pow on the same ski as bottomless so to be on th right ski all the time renting is the best bet.
 
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