Dynafit Huscaran Ski First Look = Width
Please check out our take on Huascaran ski in our ULTIMATE QUIVER SKI REVIEW, I’ve seen this spelled Huscaran, but the other spelling is correct…
My how things change. A few years ago, many of you were looking for and finding few wider skis that were built to be hauled uphill by human legs rather than carbon belching machinery. Now that type of plank is the buzz for backcountry skiing.
To that end, Dynafit of course came up with their Stoke model a few seasons ago (105 waist, average). Yet for some styles of skiing and some types of snow, more width is still better, so for 2012/13 they announce their Huascaran ski at 134/112/123, 1780 grams (for 177 cm, catalog weight, pretty good…).
Huascaran ski by Dynafit, light and wide for human powered skiing.
Huscaran ski construction: Wood core, fiberglass with a dose of carbon and some metal. Slow rise tip and tails they now call “scoop rocker” so they can get the all important word “rocker” into their marketing language, nonetheless a nice slow-rise tip and tail that do provide a rocker effect, albeit something different than rocker that extends down into the mid-body of the ski.
Huascaran ski for backcountry powder skiing, click to enlarge.
About the graphics: That’s of course some kind of Peruvian/Mayan/Aztec/Toltec deal that might get some of you excited. Story is a fish marrying a snow leopard, or at least that’s what was coming out of the translation. Looks a bit busy for my taste though I did get a chuckle out of the spiel. The name “Huascaran” is of course the highest peak in Peru. I’m not sure if the target market for this ski will know what or where Huascaran is, but whatever, always nice to honor the famous alpines of the world.
Demos of the Dynafit Huascaran backcountry ski are floating around the globe as we speak. True evaluation will of course commence later in the season when we can get some on our feet for a few days of soft snow in the backcountry. Nice job Dynafit, keeping the lightweight width category going.
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25 Responses to “Dynafit Huscaran Ski First Look = Width”
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Lou,
I have been rocking these skis for over twenty days and really enjoying them. I am finding myself skiing lines faster and more fluid than I ever have, being able to go as fast as I want knowing that I will be able to dump speed and keep things under control. Just yesterday we skied a 2000 foot chute, powder filled and gorgeous. I let it go for the first 500 feet and carved some fast turns down the 45 degree chute, flowing around the terrain and knowing I was way ahead of my slough. SInce my sister was with us, I pulled out in a safe spot and waited for her. then continued to rip the rest of the line.
Today we have two steep and snowy south faces waiting. And these beasts will be driven by the VULCANS. Watch out Rogers Pass….
Do they have camber underfoort, or is it continous rocker from tip to tail?
Will they come with the binding screws inserts that all the current Dyna skis have?
Can you compare the flex to some other, current skis?
MSRP?
They’ve got quite a bit of camber, due to the goal of making a fat ski that’ll still do something on hardpack.
NO DYNAFIT SKIS WILL HAVE INSERTS IN 2012/13, though some previously warehoused pairs will still be in the wild and have inserts…, and their new catalog does show the Stoke having inserts….
Party line is it was too hard to provide inserts that worked for full boot size range, but my radar tells me they were probably a customer service nightmare due to people using them at home, stripping them and so on.
Rumor is Dynafit may introduce a new insert system in 2013/14 but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Graphics are awful as the most of Dyna skis. Their gear inspires minimalism and hi technology. Why graphics don’t?!? It’s like wearing a Ferrari by wood…
Dyna users aren’t kids who want to jump from cliffs or havin a double backflip in a big air jump.. so maybe, there’s no need to paint skis in a so tribal way.
I’d just prefer they stay more close to their own heritage, that’s definitely European.
Fat skis or skinny skis??? In Europe, it’s lost fight to quarrel about that… Most of us solve their problem buyin two pair of skis!
After seeing gregs last week, been waiting for some information on these. Looks like an amazing ski for these parts…
I like the graphics, and those skis look awesome.
Lou,
Can you tell me what material (foam or wood) is directly under the binding mount pattern? IE – screws go into wood, or foam?
Also, why the camber? why the sidecut? Both inhibit skiing in powder…and isn’t this a backcountry powder ski? It’s a quiver ski, not the only ski I’m going to have in my garage.
compared to many, many other brands, I prefer the Dynafit graphics; I think their nice on my Manaslus and my 7 summits; in pictures the Stoke looks really busy but not so bad in the snow, the Hua with its bold letters quiets the rest and it looks good in the snow. BUT–did they add a binding plate to compensate for the loss of the inserts that I understood were to allow some reduced weight while maintaining attachment strength.
Lou, do you mean they are getting rid of the inserts for 2012-13? It’s already well into the 2011-12 season and I’ve seen no sign of inserts going away!
I prefer ugly graphics that nobody else will buy so I can buy last year’s model at a deep discount. Hello, 2011 BD Verdicts! We have an appointment summer 2012.
My buddy had a pair of these on his feet a couple of weeks ago on a 2″ per hour day. He loved them skinning up and thought that they ripped on the down. I would have loved to have tried them myself. The graphis aren’t too bad on a storm day:)
Oooh, these look awesome. I have been rocking the combo of a Mustagh AT SL for spring/corn (ps – I LOVE that ski) and the Stoke for powder. Stoke is fun, but something with a tad more width and early rise tip is always nice for a pure powder ski.
Not rushing to pick these up, but will be fun to read the reviews.
I am indifferent on the inserts v. no-inserts – I have yet to have issues with my inserts. Then again, I guess it offers more mounting point flexibility, which is always a nice thing.
I am interested in a convertible ski that is 77mm waisted for Euro skin tracks and kick turns, then converts to Huascaran dimd for the down.
Can you get Fritz to work on that?
Phil, yeah, sorry about that. I edited. Lou
I hope that they also have 115-117 mm crampons that are compatible with FT’s (old and new). Crampon width available for Dynafit bindings has been a problem as things get wider underfoot. And every now and then in the spring I still need em for south slopes/ windslab.
And, this may seem strange, but I’d like to see plastic click-in inserts for the skin attachment on the ski tip of all the Dynafit skis which they fit with their skins – had a very not cool experience willow pruning this year, with a resultant quick stop and spill – go figure the odds of clipping s sizeable willow twig on a whole slope of powder.
We’ve taken Stoke skins and cut em down this year ’cause we like the glide, no really like the glide, and used them no problem with BD tip wires and G3 tail clips (double end skis – won’t mention the branD). They’ve worked great.
But I’d encourage Dynafit to produce AND DISTRIBUTE all the other goodies needed for the whole meal deal package. It’s hard to get the bits and pieces a lot of times . . . up in the Great White North here.
Another vote in favor of Dynafit graphics.
The name of that ski is so synonymous with “light” that the author had to drop the “a” that comes after “Hu” 2 times out of 6, first one being in the title…
Ed – http://www.bndskigear.com/dynafitcrampons.html
@Rob – Thanks guy – also about wide skins – I’ve been using Skins Direct skins on the DPS Wailer 112′s and find they glide just about as well as the Dynafit, at least in our cold dry snow in the Rockies here – they use a rubber tail attachment that works great on double end skis:
https://www.climbingskinsdirect.com/
They also stick well (and really stick to each other if folded back to back!).
Coltex doesn’t seem to make wider skins, if you want full wide front and back on fat boards (lots of debate about this). But these are available in wide.
Somebody also mentioned about cutting down weight in skins – to me this goes for the tips and tail attachments too, not just the material/ glue layer. I’d like to see BD reduce the weight of the tip attachments and G3 reduce the weight of the tip and the double round tail attachments. These are the moving parts we have to chug along with – titanium anyone (maybe SnowPeak has to get into this?)?
Once you get into the price points we seem to be heading into with all this gear, some more bucks for fancy materials for skins doesn’t seem too far of a stretch anymore . . . esp. if it saves weight.
Massimo: I am one of those dynafit ‘kids’ who likes cliffs and flips (the flips are mostly by accident). not all dynafit users need a tenna pad brother!
Just a question: won’t be a problem for the Dyna bindings a so wide ski ?!? I suppose it’s goin to increase a lot the lateral stress on the tip… any ideas??
@ Dimi: Good point bro!
The namesake mountain of this ski (huascaran) has twice spawned huge avalanches which have travelled over 10 miles and destroyed entire villages, killing over 20,000 people. Google huascaran for more details.
Any new bindings from Dynafit? I would really like an update to the Radical that would not prerelease me. Ended up with Marker Tour on my wide skis…but I would have gone for dyanfit if it worked as well for me as on narrower skis.
Christian, main new gear with Dynafit this year is the boots and the Huscaran ski, they’re working on their clothing line as well, which we’ve checked out and like in concept, but we need to evaluate durability and fit before we go to the effort of blogging about it.
You can still get the Dynafit FT and ST bindings, they work. The only significant difference in Radical is the Power Towers, and the jury is out if they have any effect on preventing accidental release. They do help with entering the binding, for newbies.
@Ed: I also cut down Stoke skins for a pair of my Manaslus, and the white plastic fittings are really hard to sew on, even with a powerful industrial machine (they aren’t flat). All the other bits and pieces are pretty much available through Telemark-Pyrenees.com in France, and their shipping to NA is very fast.