Welcome to Louis (Lou) Dawson's backcountry skiing information opinion website and e magazine. Lou's passion for the past 45 years has been alpinism, climbing, mountaineering and skiing -- along with all manner of outdoor recreation. He has authored numerous books and articles about
backcountry skiing and is well known as the first person to ski down all 54 of Colorado's 14,000-foot peaks, otherwise known as the
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That is one long service… I think? Last time I saw those skis the ‘cleats’ looked more pronounced. Resembles (and works like) magne-traction on a snowboard? Wouldn’t mind taking a pair up to AK in April to test, just sayin’!
Well I joined the church of DPS. I have a few days on my wailer 99 pure’s over all I am very happy with them. They are nice and light don’t have a scale so dont know the actual number, but they are light enough that once or twice I had to check if my ski was still there, and for aggressive skiing I would want them any lighter. They are just about at that light twitchy weight but not quite, any less swing weight and I think they would feel unstable at speed.
I ski them with ST bindings (no brakes) and TLT5ps and its a great set up. The first day out I though that they were kind of hooky in the tips well trying to carve hard pack snow and they also felt slower then molasses on a cold Baffin Island day. After I de tuned the rockered sections they carve very well in the hard pack and groomers. Once I waxed them they are nice and quick as well. (like lots of other high end companies I think DPS send them out dry, relying on the shop selling them to wax them with the correct wax for local conditions before they leave the shop)
They really start to shine in the steeper technical descents. I don’t know what it is but the steeper it gets the better they ski. Jump turns and edge hold in the real steeps is the best i have had on a rockered ski, and since they just slide around under you so nice you don’t have to force turns making skiing easier less tiring and just making it very easy to stay in control. If you start to let them run on the steeper lines they stay nice and stable and you can dump speed with a flick of a switch. For me personally these are my new favourite steeps ski.
It looks like I might be heading to northern Baffin Island this spring to ski lots of amazing couliers and this is going to be the ski that I take with me.
Ive never really owned skies over 100m underfoot (and im under 30 weird hey), so i dont have any huge fatties to compare to but in nice fresh deep snow there great. Lots of float, easy to toss around, stable at speed, and easy to manoeuvre on some less then Ideal ski outs. For human powered powder skiing I give them a solid 2 thumbs up!!!
As for the up, there light there a good length the tail is flat so you stab in easy on kick turns. Over all you just kind of forget about them on the up.
My over all feeling is that the wailer 99 is an awesome ski for just about any terrain, they like to be driven, and skied centred, They are a fairly stiff ski both flex and torsionally (especially compared to most other rockered skis) I like stiffer skies, but for lighter less aggressive skiers this could be something to consider. For me this is the best human powered ski that I have owned in a long time. With the set up that I have they are plenty light for even the longest of days, and they make the down that little bit more fun.
If (that the big question) you can find a pair to try I would recommend it. Just make sure that the tips are detuned. They are supposed to come from DPS that way but it seems that some pairs got missed.
One major complaint that I have is more from the shop that I got them from, and less about DPS. If your going to sell $1300 pairs of skis, they shouldn’t leave the shop bone dry!!! GIve them a little of that wax love, and double check the over all tuning on them. My first day on these I was less then impressed, they were slow (no wax I could have done it but I picked them up and drove whistler right after) and the hooky tips really caused me some concern.
this Is more a comment about Backcountry hiking/climbing shops being crappy ski shops in general. When I look at what Im skiing and I go ok $1000 boots, $1300 skis and $600 bindings, and you cant even do proper boot fitting and adjustments! It blows my mind!!!!! My boots started to not fit me right this year, and I had to take them to another store to get punched, because the store I got them from didnt even know that you can manipulate the shells!!!! I really think that back county ski companies like Dynafit, DPS, Scarpa, plum Garmont etc should look to good reputable ski shops ones that have years of experiencing selling high end race gear, and have proper boot fitting and tuning equipment and very knowledgeable staff to sell there products for them. We are now buying some of the most expensive ski gear out there, from some of the worst ski shops!!!! Properly fitted and tuned gear skies so much better and make the manufactures look much better as well. rant over.
My info,
Height 5’11”
Weight 210#
Skiing background: grew up racing and instructing, moved to powder and big mountain backcountry skiing about 12 years ago haven’t looked back since.
Skiing style is racer influenced, strong, fast, aggressive and powerful.
Area testing has taken place: Whistler and the Whistler area, as well as around Iqaluit on Baffin Island.
boz, nice review. did you ski them in wind affected snow? i ski in the sierras, mostly steep couloirs, and most of the time the snow is crappy, with some ice showing thru.
I tried the 99 hybrid, ok, butnothing special.
I was concerned that the pure would get deflected in wind affected snow.
would you take them out on corn snow in the spring?
and how about if you missed the corn window and the snow is slushy, like the ski sinks in about 6 inches?
lots of questions, but I don’t have any way of trying the pure.
thank you
No idea about slush. But I was just using them today well kite skiing the sea Ice on Baffin Island and its about the most wind effected snow you ever will see and they were stellar!! If there not de tuned in the tips they kind of suck once that is done its a different ski all together. It wont be until June or even july till I have them out in any kind of slushy conditions……
As for the tip deflection, there fine, just stay aggressive if you get in the back seat they do some funny things, and are hard to control.
thanks, boz.
baffin? my wife and I are thinking of doing that, if wecan convince my inlaws to take care of our two kids for a month.
when I tried the 99 hybrid, I purposely skied it back one run. it seemed to go straight with the weight back, probably because of the straight tail. but it didn’t shoot me in the air like a race ski.
Yep I live in Iqaluit these days. If you can get the time and have the cash for the flights its a very neat place. Just cold!!!! If you need any more info on the area feel free to fire me an email chris at cjbconstruction . ca
In the backseat they dont buck you or do any thing extreme like that they just dont have much of an edge left in the snow so the tips kind of wander…
Holy cow! That’s amazing to actually live in Iqaluit and backcountry ski! You have first descent potential everywhere you look. So cool
Pretty sure the note is in reference to when trails and slopes would be clear.
I was praying with wailers in the white room today.
Lou- I don’t really get the LDS reference other than the sharing of two letters in the name. I missed the humor in that one… DPS is making some of the most progressive skis in the world in regards to shapes and materials. Seems like you don’t give them much attention because they aren’t giving you free skis, but I’d highly recommend spending some days on them!
Boz- I didn’t realize this was a W99 review, but good work. With all my DPS skis (W112, W99) I’ve had to do some aggressive detuning on the tips and tails. If you’re tails aren’t releasing, try detuning. And I know you were more or less just testing, but get out of the back seat! No ski, IMO, will handle well being driven from the back seat, unless you’re still skiing the Pocket Rockets!
I completely agree that these “mountain” shops need to either get their act together and hire some qualified professionals or manufacturers need to stop supplying them with gear. There guys sells tents and sleeping bags, snowshoes and bird watching books! How can they be qualified ski technicians? I’ve heard more complaints about boot fitting and binding mis-mounts from these shops than anywhere else!
Rod- I think the W99 is the perfect firm, spring/corn ski mountaineering ski. I can’t think of a better ski for the Sierras in spring (that’s where I’ll be skiing mine!). The rockered tip works great in any sort of chop, crud, slush. Theoretically the Hybrids are a bit more damp than the Pures. But the Pures have the new S.S. technology (2 titanal strips laminated vertically between the wood the length of the ski) and I feel like that adds a lot of dampening without the weight of a full metal sheet. If you weren’t that impressed with the way they ski, like Boz suggested, I’d try detuning the tips and tails…
Cheers
Hi Marc, just think about the predominant religion in the state where the OR show is held, and you’ll get the juxtaposition. DPS fan culture has been likened to religion, so we were simply riffing on that. Stephen just laughs as he reaps more and more organic media due to this sort of thing, and continues to develop his innovative skis.
I don’t appreciate the insinuation we’re somehow being manipulated in our reviews. Not so. We review what we want, based on numerous factors. More, we will never claim to be a magazine or gear website that catches every product out there. If you expect us to be that type of publication, then you are mistaken in your impression and expectations.
boz-
I hear your gripe with ski shops. But retail and service are two separate forums. If you go and purchase a ski, you buy the ski. No tech is going to touch your ski unless you direct them to do so. So de-tuning and waxing is up to you. If it is something you want done before the ski hits snow (as well as a nice structure, depending on the quality of the grind coming out of the factory) you got to get after that on your own. Ask the techs in the shop if they are willing to throw in a free waxing since you just dropped over a G on skis. Most will do this. But just expecting this to be done when it is usually a service that customers pay for is a little unreasonable.
You do pay a lot of money on retail, but shops pay a lot for that gear you are buying, and the space they are in, and the employees who try and help you. The GOOD shops are the ones that stand behind you when your binding explodes and gives you a new one while they handle warranty, they are the places that will work with you to fit a boot once, twice, three times or more, and then if it still doesn’t work, find a way to give you credit towards a new boot. If your shop isn’t doing what you want, take your business elsewhere. But don’t hate on all Backcountry shops, and don’t have unreasonable expectations just cause you are the shopper.
Rant over.
I dont feel that I have unreasonable expectations. I my self own and operate my own business i understand how it all goes down on the business end. I get that most shops make the same or higher margins selling cheaper items. I understand that shop space is limited and that rent is expensive. My answer to that is then don’t pretend to cater to the high end consumer if your not willing to go all the way. As in all business Know your market, know were and how you make your money and structure accordingly. When I walk into a shop and the cheapest ski they sell is $700 that tells me as a consumer that these guys cater to the high end consumer and skier. When I walk into sports mart and magically find of pair of high end anything stashed in the corner, i know that im not going to get much on the service end. But some times i dont need the service and the price is all that matters, and in those cases its more a matter of luck then anything.
Most good ski techs wont just start messing with your gear and I would most likely be more un happy if they did, but thats not really my issue. When I was younger i worked at a ski shop. When some one bought skies, from us there was a list of questions you asked them. First and foremost was you asked if they knew how they wanted things set up. If they did great, maybe make a few suggestions but for the most part if they were telling you they like 87 degree edges and a cross linear structure they most likely knew what they talking about and how they wanted there gear to ski. Truthfully once you get some one talking its easy to tell if they know what there talking about. If they didnt know how they wanted there skies tuned we talked to them about there skiing and were they planned to use the gear, what was important to them, ect. Then we showed them what we recommended based on there skiing abilities, style of skiing and area they were planning to use the gear, Finally they were asked if they wanted us to do this (this was all included with the purchase) or leave them as they came from the manufacture. This happened on every pair of skies we sold! Didnt matter if is was a $200 starter ski or the best thing we had in store. And for boots, we did the same thing. We would talk to them about what they were looking for in a boot, we talked allot about there skiing long before we get them to try anything on. Once we found a boot that fit there foot, style and budget, we then offered 1 year of free boot fitting. Again it didn’t matter if it was the cheapest thing on the shelf or 10th pair of plug boots they got the same treatment.
And i have to say the number of people who bought a starter package there first year who them came back to upgrade was crazy, and we were not the cheapest of places!!! but most of our customers realized the few extra bucks was worth it!! Maybe they finally had comfortable boots, maybe skiing finally felt a little easier for them, or maybe they just had more fun when they went out because they were on the right gear for them and the conditions they were skiing. What ever there reasons they came back year after year.
Now my issue with allot of the Backcountry gear shops is that they are now selling some of the most high end and expensive gear out there, and they cant even make a recommendation on what bass structor works best for local conditions never mind do said bass structure. And its the same with boots. Once the liners are cooked, if things aren’t right there next best boot fitting they can offer is to wait for it ……. re cooking the liners.. I realize that Im painting allot of shops with the same brush here, and im sure that there are some that are very good, but to be honest i have still never seen a backcountry store own a tuning machine, or have any sort of boot fitting shop. If such shop exists please let me know!!!!
As for choosing were I get my gear, I dont have that much choice. In fact for my DPS skis there is only one shop (with 2 locations) that I know of that carries them. And in Whistler there are only 2 shops that deal with Dynafit again not much choice and neither offer any better service then the other.
I realize that the shop I worked at was a very good shop and whent the extra 10 miles with every customer and I realize that isn’t the norm. To be honest I learned allot from them and have structured my business based on allot of things that I learned there. I also think that as Touring and backcountry gear becomes more performance driven we as consumers need to be asking the shops carrying this gear to offer more as well. Just look at some of the gear coming out of this years OR show!!!! The new Vulcan boots that Dyanfit is offering look to have more performance in them then any DH boot out there. But we as consumers are going to let some one with limited to no experience fit us in them and make sure that they work with our feet? and pay top dollar for it…. I for one am willing to pay a premium for proper service!!!!!!! In canada every gear shop moans about how they cant compete with MEC’s prices. I say dont compete with them strictly at a price level! I will pay more if you can fit my boots, are willing to deal with me when I say I want my skies mounted at .5 forward with my heal piece all the way forward so that I can run both my TLt5p and my mastalies that are are a full boot size larger (i use them in cold weather) on the same mount, and pull that off perfectly! Thats worth something to me! Hell its worth about 2grand!!! cause if I cant use both boots on one ski, I more or less have to spend another 2k on a second pair!!!
Since I have been touring the level of gear offered is night and day different, we have gone from telling are selves that are Nordica t10s skied well, to having boots that not only go uphill as well as a nordic boot but can ski the downs as well as most DH boots. Are skis have gone from being thin XC skis with metal edges that barley worked on the way down to carbon boards that weight next to nothing!!! and ski amazingly well!!!! We have pushed the people who make and create are gear to produce some marvels of engineering and I for one raise my glass to them, because they make my ski days more fun!!!! But it really bothers me that so much of that amazing technology can be lost by selling poorly fit and tuned equipment….
End Rant
PS I never tire to ski in the back seat but even the best in the world end up there from time to time and its nice to know what to expect when it happens!!!
I am looking forward to seeing more Wailer 99 Pure reviews from average skiers who laid out $1200 for them, versus people who have some sort of sales rep / fiduciary relationship with DPS.
I want a stiffer Manaslu with better edges, so I am flirting with the 99 myself. And if the LDS starts making awesome lightweight spring mountaineering skis, I would convert to them as well!
Haven’t tried them yet, thanks for the info.
Note that the DPS corp offices & store are in Sugarhouse SLC UT.
Bet they have a pair for Lou to try.
“And if the LDS starts making awesome lightweight spring mountaineering skis, I would convert to them as well!”
Voile Vector.
jake, this mentality is why a lot of people buy online. To say that is unreasonable to expect a shop to provide a tune instead of charging for it is nonsense. And to say that if a boot doesn’t fit you will find some way to give a credit… backcountry.com gives a refund no questions asked. Wake up or the online shops will put you out of business.
Voile Vector is too short for me but that neighborhood is where my head is at.
Boz, when I lived in Vancouver I looked all over the city and Whistler trying to find a bootfitter who could actually mold a Lange plug boot to fit my weird feet. I found exactly one, at Fanaticski up in Whistler. So competence is indeed rare as the dodo bird, and when you encounter it it’s worth the price.
And thus concludes today’s sermon about the prodigal ski bum, good day and God bless!
Lou, I got the fact that OR is held in Utah, a predominantly LDS state. I didn’t get the reference that DPS’ fan base has religious like following. That’s clever. I assumed you were taking a jab at the religion, and though I’m not LDS, I took offense to that.
I appreciate your reviews immensely, which is why I visit your site regularly. Even though I don’t understand your criteria for which gear gets reviewed, I do think your reviews are honest and fair. I was simply suggesting you test some more of DPS’ products, as I feel they are really making waves in ski design and construction. Keep up the good work and sorry if I offended you.
Cheers, Marc
Marc, as a religious person myself I’m sensitive to the issue of dissing folk’s religion. I hate that, and strive to never do so. I took a risk with my post, that folks would think somehow I was dissing LDS, while what I was doing was simply using them as a reference point, as they are the dominate religion in Utah. If DPS had been at a trade show in Tehran, I probably would have titled it something like “move over Imams, Drake is in the building.” Or perhaps the convention hall might have been next to a mega-church in Dallas. In that case I would have written “move over pastors…” Or something like that anyway. I considered writing “move over Mormons.” but I wanted to refer to the church institution, not the people, so I used “LDS,” which is convenient because as in acronym it’s once removed from the church’s actual name, e.g., if this had been Islam I would have rather used something that meant that, rather then the actual name, just to keep it one level down, e.g., if it was Catholic, I would have probably written “move over Diocese.” I knew I was risking offending some folks, but figured if they paid attention, even as Mormons, they’d see the joke, just as a mature Christian can enjoy secular humor when done with taste, even when it makes a joke at their expense.
Main thing is DPS has a following that can be joked about as “religious,” so fun to riff on that.
Marc, our criteria with reviews is simple, we review (as opposed to quick looks or first looks) what we’re interested in, and usually what we like, and of course we have to use the review product to some extent more than a few hours. If something is lame, we usually don’t review it, but don’t automatically take our lack of review as being condemnation of a product. If a product is bad, you can get a pretty good sense of that by just doing some web surfing…
With the exception of some of our “overview” projects, such as Jonathan’s beacon reviews, wherein we attempt to cover all products in that category.
In terms of first-looks and quick-looks, such as the boot looks I’ve been publishing lately, again those are based on our interest, with a stab at covering the gamut.
We are not a gear website and never will be, though we may appear that way at times. If you look back through the 2,000 or so blog posts we have here, you’ll see that quite a few of them are lifestyle or opinion, rather than gear. It’s a flow, depending on a lot of factors.
Even gear websites tend to not cover everything in existence, and if you look at them carefully, you’ll probably wonder why they review some things and not others. Who knows what their process is, but the above is ours.
The main thing is to enjoy and utilize the reviews we do end up doing, but don’t obsess on what we don’t review. Just google it.
Dang, people are too sensitive in general. Getting worked up because someone may or may have not dissed a religion you don’t belong to in a manner you don’t understand is PC hypersensitivity.
Go read the God delusion, get pissed, burn it, and move on.
Gee, thought I was on TGR there for a second and then I looked at the masthead…phew was on the right site!
Hit me. Slap me.
Well, I think they are hitting and slapping me!
da**, religion and politics lead to super-wordy posts. Lou, I live in Alta, and love the LDS reference, it also makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside knowing the LDS are the wealthiest religion, and any pair of DPS skis can cost about 3 years worth of plasma donations. What do we hold sacred? $ of course. The spirit is telling me I probably won’t be able to afford new boards any time soon.
Tim, thinking back I probably should have avoided any religious joking other than at my own expense… but it was too hard to resist, LDS vs DPS… glad you got it, no harm intended… Lou