Sketchy steep ice Touring ski ( with a sprinkle of shit pow)

BungHole.

BungHole.

Member
First off heres some info about me

LOCATION: New Zealand (North Island)

HEIGHT/AGE/WEIGHT: 6ft 22yo 65kg

ABILITY LEVEL: ExPeRt

BUDGET: open at this stage

WHAT KIND OF SKI DO YOU WANT: Light touring ski to handle steep icey terrain mostly

Looking for a freeride toruing ski that will shred ice/refreeze/crud/slush and a sprinkle of wind affected pow.

I ski hard and fast but I dont have very strong legs (blown knees) so a lighter ski is preferred. Something that will handle shitty heavy pow and ice (One ski quiver type ski) must come in big sizes (185+). Decent rocker for that crud and refreeze but as much edge contact as possible for the ice and nice long turn radius so i dont trampoline too much on steep sketchy terrrain.

Ive looked at a few ski's. The J skis slacker sounds good but worried that 110 waist wont hold up on the constant ice we get
 
To add on my Current skis are on3p filthy riches in 186cm. Absolutely love these skis i like the stiffer flex with the aggressive rocker. I ski these all day in the park and they absolutely rip around mountain in hard snow conditions (just wish they had edges sometimes) have some j skis lightning but i havent ridden them much yet (really fun playful park ski but cant handle all mountain like my FR do) and have 4frnt crj for powder but we never get pow so only gotten used in the states really. Too fat and soft with no edge hold and not very light so no point touring with those
 
I got the Faction Agent 3.0 last winter, unfortunately only had the opportunity to take them out 3 times with the pandemic so I can't talk much, but so far I really like them.

Not the lightest ski out there but still pretty light yet stiff, they feel solid. The geometry of the Agent series is pretty much based on the Dictator series (with a light touring core instead) so they have in my opinion some of that classic alpine charger DNA. For me, 106 is also a perfect do-it-all waist, and they performed great on frozen crud and spring corn (only two kinds of snows I got to ride them on). There is also the Agent 2.0 coming in 96 underfoot if you prefer a narrower width.

I wish I had more to say, maybe [tag=229241]@patagonialuke[/tag] has more intel on them, I believe he got a pair to review with Blister.
 
14174550:powpatrol said:
Black Crows Solis? Made for steeps
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Sounds like a great ski but i should have mentioned it needs to be twintip too. I understand this will limit my selection a fair bit but i hate not having that option to ski switch and do 5s etc
 
^ if you love the Filthy Rich but want something a bit lighter, Jeffrey 96 with a tour core (or maybe even the 50/50 core) is probably your best bet. Woodsman 96 would make sense if you want something that you can drive a bit harder through the shovels.

None of the really light, dedicated touring skis are gonna be very fun for skiing hard on ice. While the Moment Wildcat Tour 108 fits the rest of your criteria, I think it'd be too light for what you want (gonna feel pretty harsh on ice / refreeze). The regular Wildcat 101 could actually be a pretty good option though, since it's far from some super heavy ski and has a fairly similar design to the Filthy Rich (strong, lots of rocker, pretty much a freestyle design). Or even the Wildcat 108 if you want slightly more stability, flotation, and are ok with sliding rather than carving when its smooth, full-on ice.

J Skis Slacker is a decent option. It's not great for actually carving ice, but it's very predictable on ice, and honestly, that's what you're gonna get from most skis with similarly deep rocker lines and long-ish radii like the Filthy Rich. Main upside vs. a Jeffrey 96 Tour and Wildcat 101 would likely be that the Slacker wins by a small margin in terms of smoothing / damping out rough snow, and flotation, though the Slacker is the least surfy / loose of the three. And to be clear, what I've said about the Jeffrey 96 and Wildcat 101 is based on skiing the Jeffrey 108 and Wildcat 108 / PB&J.
 
14174585:patagonialuke said:
^ if you love the Filthy Rich but want something a bit lighter, Jeffrey 96 with a tour core (or maybe even the 50/50 core) is probably your best bet. Woodsman 96 would make sense if you want something that you can drive a bit harder through the shovels.

None of the really light, dedicated touring skis are gonna be very fun for skiing hard on ice. While the Moment Wildcat Tour 108 fits the rest of your criteria, I think it'd be too light for what you want (gonna feel pretty harsh on ice / refreeze). The regular Wildcat 101 could actually be a pretty good option though, since it's far from some super heavy ski and has a fairly similar design to the Filthy Rich (strong, lots of rocker, pretty much a freestyle design). Or even the Wildcat 108 if you want slightly more stability, flotation, and are ok with sliding rather than carving when its smooth, full-on ice.

J Skis Slacker is a decent option. It's not great for actually carving ice, but it's very predictable on ice, and honestly, that's what you're gonna get from most skis with similarly deep rocker lines and long-ish radii like the Filthy Rich. Main upside vs. a Jeffrey 96 Tour and Wildcat 101 would likely be that the Slacker wins by a small margin in terms of smoothing / damping out rough snow, and flotation, though the Slacker is the least surfy / loose of the three. And to be clear, what I've said about the Jeffrey 96 and Wildcat 101 is based on skiing the Jeffrey 108 and Wildcat 108 / PB&J.
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Totally forgot about that wildcat 101. Sounds like a really fun ski
 
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