I spent some good time today on a pair of 185 DPS Wailer 106 in Foundation construction. Today’s Squaw conditions were 8-10 inches of heavy wind buffed powder in the morning, which of course quickly turned into the chop and some clumpy snow in places.
First a bit about the ski: Its a new shape for DPS, and a fairly radical departure from what people traditionally think as the “DPS shape” (AKA the Wailer 112RP). The ski has a fairly conventional looking tip, which still has some barely visible early taper. There is a fairly amount of rocker upfront, and an upturned tail. The pre-production ski I tested had nearly flat camber (more about it later). The blue gradient graphics is pure DPS- simple, classy, and gorgeous. The topsheets are also very high quality- a far cry from my early 112RP top sheets that are prone to chipping and shed nasty fiberglass shards. The flex is also fairly conventional- the tail is medium-stiff, but the shovels and the forebode are quite soft. Overall the flex pattern is a departure from the current trend of making skis with balanced flex. The flex is the first giveaway that this ski is not a charger and also hints that its intended audience is different from the traditional hard-core skier DPS customer.
I started the day on my 112RPs, I knew that their powder specific shape would work better for the first few runs, after I was acclimated to the snow I switched to the W106s. There was no groomer in sight, so I didn’t get a chance to test the edge hold or true groomer performance, but I had plenty of chances to test it in powder snow, mixed snow, and all kinds of chopped and clumped-up snow. A few traits did stand out for me: the soft forebode of the ski makes it easy to go over things, but it also gives it a speed limit. The ski did great in the Red Dog Ridge runs where we hit mostly untracked patches and some cut-up powder. However a more challenging Oly Lady run right away exposed some of the ski’s limitations. Turns in a chute were fine, but I didn’t feel the solid platform that I became accustomed to with a burly ski like the Bonafide. As soon as I hit the clumped-up sloughrunout, the ski became nervous. The tail is a strong point in this ski, and it saved me quite a few times when I got off-balance. The rocketed tail on the 112RP has a tendency to wheelie out on bumpy traverses, not so with the W106F.
The tip shape effect on the ski feel is interesting, the taper works fantastically well for making he ski non-hooky and very tolerant to obstacles in its front. The price for me is sometimes vague and slow tip engagement in 3D snow. I suspect a more skilled driver would be able to coax the tip into a turn better, but that driver would probably want to ski faster and then hit the speed limit. I did notice a few times in tight spots that I wished that the ski pulled me into a turn faster. The tail is well suited for bumps and uneven snow, and it was forgiving enough for my mediocre bump skills. The flat camber on the other hand made for a fairly anemic feel, its definitely not a high energy ski. As it is, the W106 feels neutral to a fault, which sometime creates magic. The run I remember is the line to the right of Tom’s Tumble, mostly an uninterrupted expanse of wind buffed powder that run through a mini-chute. That line was fantastic, the ski just disappeared under me. I have to give it to the DPS for the Foundation construction, it feels way more damp and quiet than the Hybrid design that I have in my 112rPs.
So who is this ski for? My impression is that DPS for the first time made a ski that is targeted at a good intermediate or advanced skier, which could broaden their user base significantly. The flex pattern and the design is at ease at moderate speeds, it is very tolerant to users errors, almost unflappable, and the tip design snd flex allows for relaxed skiing in mixed snow. Someone who is not accustomed to skiing 3D snow on a regular basis would get on that ski and have a total blast. On the other hand, if someone likes to push the speed to the max, that person would be less satisfied. I think adding more camber to the ski would help it to feel more lively, and making the tip shape a bit more aggressive would be beneficial to the target audience. According to Phil the production version will have more camber. It would be a great thing.
Capsule review: Finally, a DPS ski for the masses.
P.S. The recommended price seems to be fairly high, and more in line with expert level skis, which could be an issue for the target audience.
Pictures:
graphics works fantastically well with snow on skis:
Camber and rocker pictures:
