What's your choice for untracked maritime snow?

This one is not even close to a debate. Fat & reverse camber or very meaningfully hybridized sidecut and rockered. Examples, depending on style preferences:

Praxis Powder Boards

Praxis Protests

DPS Lotus 138

DPS Lotus 120

ON3P Pillow Fights

ON3P C&D

K2 Pon2oon/Pontoon

VolklKuro

Salomon Rocker 2

Atomic Bent Chetler

and so on... there are now many...including assorted Armadas, 4FRNTs, etc as well... 

Also look at DPS 112 RPs, Rossi S7s, Praxis Concepts, Armada JJs, etc., etc., etc. which a bit more of a compromise, but will generally play very nicely.

Obviously this represents a spectrum rather than an absolute single "answer". Having some well thought out sidecut & perhaps a flat or micro-cambered mid-section definitely eases transitional snow & groomer returns. However, just throwing some rocker on a really conventional ski or skipping tail rocker is pretty meaningless in the context of optimizing for the kind of snow I think you are asking about - as in it sucks, relatively speaking.

This is sort of related to the rain soaked snow thread - except that cream cheese maritime snow can be beyond awesome fun vs too much work. Likewise fluffier maritime snow can be incredibly awesome. Some believe said snow is far superior to the CO fluff that mostly just hides rocks...  And in the really seriously deep heavy stuff, it can make for OK skiing vs misery...

What you're really looking for is an 80mm traditionaly cambered ski..or a Cochise.

I imagine that untracked maritime snow is very much like the very wet snow we get out at Whistler on warmer days. In Whistler, we often measure our snow in cementimetres! My default off-piste ski is a Peak 82, though I'm sure there are easier choices (I just don't own anything easier.)

I really like my lotus 120', but I prefer my ON3P billy goats when the snow is heavier. 

The BG's tip is stiffer, less rocker and the mount is more forward. The ski feels more neutral and on plane, naturally. If that makes any sense. Also like the extra mass and camber when it's chopped up. 

The lotus really excels in light snow, since it really wants to rise, and you have to keep lots of pressure forward to keep the ski happy.

 Oregon vs. Colorado. Makes sense. 

Heavy pow??  I like my 196 PM Gear Lhasa Pows.

Late 80's or early 90's 205ish GS race boards

Ski em fast and let em ride!

Quote:

Originally Posted by apeyros 

What kind of ski would you pick for skiing in untracked conditions in maritime snow. Would you prefer a traditionally shaped and rockered ski or R/R? Would love to hear your thoughts, thanks!

How much do you weigh, how fast do you ski, and what kind of terrain? 

Quote:

Originally Posted by apeyros 

Spindrift, Would you personally prefer the lotus 138 shape or the lotus 120 shape in these conditions?

For the kind of snow under discussion, I'm a fan of reverse/reverse or designs very clearly descended from that. As I said, on good days on that kind of snow I'm usually on Praxis Powder Boards or Praxis Protests. Once in a while on Pontoons and now and again on old 138s... You get the idea... So I guess that'd put me in the 138-ish shape camp. I do not think height or weight has much to do with basic shape choice. More a part of the sizing equation, along with terrain choice. Just my .02

BTW - IMO the 138 is the kind of ski that wants a commanding driver to be at its best. There are days I feel I can deliver that and days I do not. I can look pretty funny on the latter 

Quote:

Originally Posted by tekkamaki 

Late 80's or early 90's 205ish GS race boards

 

Ski em fast and let em ride!

It's 2012 though.

...Groundhog day it is.

Stuck in 1991?

Hope this doesn't count as dragging an old thread out from the dead, but to add my two cents - the Lotus 138 is NOT a demanding ski - who told you that?

I just demoed it for a day - picked them up at the DPS store in Salt Lake City and took them out for the last day of cat skiing with Park City Powder Cats.  I also took my PM Gear Lhasa Pow 191's out as well in case I didn't like the Lotus.  The Lhasa is a tradionally cambered ski with big front rocker and a bit of a pin tail.

Within one run it was decided - the Lhasas stayed on the cat and I had one of the best ski days of my life on the Lotus.

Demanding?  It's a f*cking autopilot surfboard rocket ship that makes you look like a hero.  Point and squirt.  Carve, slarve, make big GS turns, make short turns, turn on a dime in the trees.

This ski made skiing so stupid easy it was ridiculous.  Conditions were cream cheese/heavy because of warming sun baking a three day old storm.  Nevertheless these skis made the snow into my canvas - I was effortlessly painting lines and they just would not hook.

I'm 34, 6'0 175 lbs and I get about 50 days a year in.  I have an old pair of 138's on their way in the mail right now.  If I don't like them as much I'll just pony up for new ones.

Yeah, it's that good.

No, it's not going to be my daily driver - I'll pull it out for cat days and the occasional resort powder day for the first few runs before things get tracked.  This ski is SO fun.

Seriously, I can't imagine someone describing the Lotus 138 as demanding.  Maybe they couldn't ski???

apeyros - I have powder boards also but haven't mounted bindings.  if i get a chance to ride those i'll let you know how they compare to the lotus.