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Individual Review ON3P Woodsman 102

David Chaus

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The FedEx person was nice enough to bring me something today. It’s a little early to do a ski review, but part of the excitement of getting new skis is getting new skis, right?

I was able to demo the Woodsman 108 while at Big Sky last year, which was an unexpected treat. East Slope Outdoors in the Big Sky Town Center is one of the few places who have demos of ON3P, or who retail them for that matter (Evo is another shop that carries them). Most of ON3P’s sales are direct to consumers. ON3P skis are made in Portland, OR (not just headquartered, they actually make them there). They are not cheap, and you won’t generally find them discounted, then again at $749 for a stock ski they’re not as much as many premium skis. For those of you who have a pair, you know the build quality is top-notch, the bases are durable and their edges thicker than industry standard. If you want, ON3P allows you to customize your topsheet graphics, base color, flex, layup for normal vs 50/50 vs tour weight, add a skin clip tail; etc, and you can do it all on their website.

The Woodsman series was introduced last year in 3 widths, 96, 108 and 116. The Wrenegade series is more a directional charger, and the Kartel/Jeffrey is more center-mounted freestyle oriented. The Woodsman is somewhere in between the two, so it’s more “all-mountain.” Charge, just not as much as the Wrenegade. Pivot and smear turns, just not as easily as the Jeffrey. I think the emphasis is more on normal-sized turning, you know, skiing.

The Woodsman 108 was a fun ski for me, especially in soft snow. They can hold an edge just fine for a 108 wide ski, but that’s not their forte. They come alive in soft snow, blast through crud, surf, pivot and slarve through soft snow with the long rocker, snake through bumps, and then feel comfortable arcing turns on the groomers to get back to lifts. With the long rocker, the effective edge is actually quiet short and they can make pretty short turns if you want. The effective edge on a 182cm length ski is 145cm. Not necessarily what you want for icy hardpack but totally fun and nimble in soft snow of any depth.

I already have a Billy Goat for a powder and funky snow ski, and my on-piste ski is a Renoun Z90, and I was looking for a middle quiver that is off-piste oriented and nimble in bumps, and didn’t need it be as wide as 108.

The 102 is a new width for ON3P, with a longer turning radius than the Woodsman 96. ON3P is Now positioning the 96 as an East Coast all mountain ski, and the 102 as a West Coast all-mountain ski. I wasn’t sure which I wanted, or in which length (177 vs 182), I had to flip a coin and probably could have been happy with either. Actually I emailed Scott Andrus, the owner, and he suggested the 102 in 182.

Woodsmans (Woodsmen?) come in 177, 182 and 187; the 108 and 116 widths also come in 192cm for those who need to turn it up to 11. You know who you are.

One thing ON3P changed with several of their models, including the Woodsman series was adding a new fiberglass/carbon composite to the bamboo core, to improve strength and durability while saving some weight. That’s what the ad copy says. :huh: We’ll see.

This is how it was shipped, very clever as the flattened box can bend to the shape of the ski.
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Me and my new skis. Out of the box, the bases and tune look perfect. When I get them on the slope I will put that to the test, but I’m not inclined to have a full tune done before taking them out. My experience last year with my Billy Goats gives me a lot of confidence in the factory finishing and waxing.
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Significant tip and tail rocker. They call this an “all mountain” ski. That’s how we roll in the PNW.
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This is a stock ski, so yes, this is the color of the base.
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Top sheets, a very durable matte finish. I’ll be mounting them with red Attack 13’s.
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Tails
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ON3P measures their skis after pressing, so a tape pull tip-to-tail is indeed 182cm. And yes, the carpet is old and we’ll replace it with some other flooring at some point.
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The actual review part will have to wait until there’s some snow, stay tuned.
 

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OnEdge

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Congratulations on the new skis!

Also a quick plug East Slope Outdoors in the Big Sky Town Center. I found they had a great demo fleet compared to other vendors in the area - including solid all/big mountain / powder options for kids (critical for ice coast kids who only have race skis) and ice skates for the rink behind the store! It took me a few days to stumble in there last year, and I wish it would have been my first stop.
 
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David Chaus

David Chaus

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Congratulations on the new skis!

Also a quick plug East Slope Outdoors in the Big Sky Town Center. I found they had a great demo fleet compared to other vendors in the area - including solid all/big mountain / powder options for kids (critical for ice coast kids who only have race skis) and ice skates for the rink behind the store! It took me a few days to stumble in there last year, and I wish it would have been my first stop.
I only found East Slope because I was on the Derringer lift at Moonlight Basin ( I was avoiding the long lift line at 6 Shooter and decided to take Derringer and grab a quite bite at the Madison base). Two other dudes on the chair had ON3P Jeffreys, turns out they both worked at East Slope and they had demos, so I paid East Slope a visit.
 

whitefeathers

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Yep I like ON3P . The Magnus models are popular here in the midwest for park.
 

Tnarg

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I know this has been a strange ski season, but have you managed to get these on the snow yet? There's really nothing out there as far as reviews go for the Woodsman 102, and I'm hesitant to click the "Buy" button on these (demo'ing is out of the question for me right now).
 
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David Chaus

David Chaus

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I've had a few days on them so far. A couple on a groomer day, one or two with mostly off-piste conditions.

First impressions:
Just floating through 3-4 " of untracked snow they feel very surfy, I almost don't need a powder ski for my weight. They are really excellent off-piste, I skied my Billy Goats for the few couple hours of a powder day, then switched out with the Woodsman for the cut up crud (which I already know my Billy Goats handle well). The Woodsman handled that really well, and they pretty much blow through anything, without feeling burly. That said the tail in the Billy Goat releases so much more easily and is more fun as a powder ski. The Woodsman feels more "planted," powerful, directional.

I was actually impressed about the grip on packed/groomed snow, though with the large early rise it's not a "clean" edge engagement, but once you have it you can rail the turn. However it's better on "softer" groomed rather than the hard kind, doing it all day gets tiring putting a 102 width on edge. I dunno, maybe I'm getting to used to working on technique with a 90 wide daily driver.

Is it everything I wanted? The jury is still out. I was almost wishing I'd gotten the 96 rather than the 102, simply because I was hoping for a more playful ski. The Woodsman has a big turn radius, and maybe a little more work than I was hoping for in the bumps, where I think the 96 would have an advantage. That said, a lot of this is me getting used to skiing them in challenging conditions (heavy crud on steep slopes). On most terrain I haven't really needed to think about, they handle pretty intuitively.
 

Tnarg

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I've had a few days on them so far. A couple on a groomer day, one or two with mostly off-piste conditions.

First impressions:
Just floating through 3-4 " of untracked snow they feel very surfy, I almost don't need a powder ski for my weight. They are really excellent off-piste, I skied my Billy Goats for the few couple hours of a powder day, then switched out with the Woodsman for the cut up crud (which I already know my Billy Goats handle well). The Woodsman handled that really well, and they pretty much blow through anything, without feeling burly. That said the tail in the Billy Goat releases so much more easily and is more fun as a powder ski. The Woodsman feels more "planted," powerful, directional.

I was actually impressed about the grip on packed/groomed snow, though with the large early rise it's not a "clean" edge engagement, but once you have it you can rail the turn. However it's better on "softer" groomed rather than the hard kind, doing it all day gets tiring putting a 102 width on edge. I dunno, maybe I'm getting to used to working on technique with a 90 wide daily driver.

Is it everything I wanted? The jury is still out. I was almost wishing I'd gotten the 96 rather than the 102, simply because I was hoping for a more playful ski. The Woodsman has a big turn radius, and maybe a little more work than I was hoping for in the bumps, where I think the 96 would have an advantage. That said, a lot of this is me getting used to skiing them in challenging conditions (heavy crud on steep slopes). On most terrain I haven't really needed to think about, they handle pretty intuitively.

Thanks for the info! I really like to break my tails loose and smear turns, so from what you're saying these might not be playful enough sticks for me! I've been hearing that it's a more playful and nimble ski than the Wrens, but I guess playful is a relative thing when you're talking about a company known for its chargers.
 
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Ecimmortal

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Thanks for the info! I really like to break my tails loose and smear turns, so from what you're saying these might not be playful enough sticks for me! I've been hearing that it's a more playful and nimble ski than the Wrens, but I guess playful is a relative thing when you're talking about a company known for its chargers.
The idea was to find a middle ground between the Wren, and the Kartel/Jeffery. I went back and forth between Jeffery and Woodsman when I was deciding what to build my quiver around. I knew the Billygoat would be in there. I have regretted every time i went a different direction when it came to that kind of ski. Ultimately I went with what I knew, and I Grabbed a Jeffery. I m going to try and get on the Woodsman in multiple widths this season. I inquired about a demo of the Wren 102 Ti. But I'm not sure they mounted up such a low sales volume ski, and with pretty much all demo's canceled this year it's kind of like throwing away money for a company this size.
 

pcjer

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I have the Woodsman 108 and it's a bit wide underfoot for my liking. At least as a DD. Fun ski in fresh, don't love it in the bumps. I'm thinking about trying the 102 in 187cm. I'm 6' 200lbs and ski in Utah generally so I think the 102 would be a better fit and 96 may be a bit narrow for here. If not I was going to look at the J Hotshot (but it's so heavy). I have Praxis Protest for my pow ski so I'm not worried about deep days. Over 6-8 and those come out regardless. I also have Liberty v82 for the groomers. They've been getting a workout this year to say the least.

Any more feedback on the Woodsman 102 after spending some time with it? The elusive middle quiver spot... ;)
 

DB Cooper

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Does anyone know how the woodsman 108 stacks up against the black crows atris?
 

pcjer

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Does anyone know how the woodsman 108 stacks up against the black crows atris?

Understandably not what you asked, but Blister did a deep dive comparison against the Corvus in case it helps at all.
 

DB Cooper

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Understandably not what you asked, but Blister did a deep dive comparison against the Corvus in case it helps at all.
Would also require blister sub, etc...

still trying to find my upper (wider) quiver ski! It finally started snowing in Utah so I might have a chance in the next 10 days!

the atris seems to share a very similar shape to the soul 7, a ski I never got on because I’m on the bigger end of the spectrum, so if the atris can hold up better in chop it could be a good choice for me. The woodsman seems like it would handle that with aplomb.
 

pcjer

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Would also require blister sub, etc...

still trying to find my upper (wider) quiver ski! It finally started snowing in Utah so I might have a chance in the next 10 days!

the atris seems to share a very similar shape to the soul 7, a ski I never got on because I’m on the bigger end of the spectrum, so if the atris can hold up better in chop it could be a good choice for me. The woodsman seems like it would handle that with aplomb.

Haven't been on the Atris or Corvus (or any Black Crows for that matter) personally, but I can say the Woodman 108 was spectacular in chop. It was like it wasn't even there. For our busy Utah resorts that's a pretty important characteristic for me in a ski and I'm willing to give up a little playfulness for it. I ordered the Woodsman 102 yesterday but it'll be a week or so until I get them on snow probably. I'm also going to mount them -1 this time and see what happens.
 

GregK

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Does anyone know how the woodsman 108 stacks up against the black crows atris?

The Woodman 108 would easily outperform the Atris in powder float, crud, stability and ease of pivoting. Atris is lighter so maybe better for a 50/50 ski but that’s about it.

Atris one of my least favourite skis near it’s width with the QST 106, MFree 108, Woodsman 108, Mindbender 108Ti, Wildcat 108 and Enforcer 104/110 all outperforming them in most categories.
 

GregK

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Haven't been on the Atris or Corvus (or any Black Crows for that matter) personally, but I can say the Woodman 108 was spectacular in chop. It was like it wasn't even there. For our busy Utah resorts that's a pretty important characteristic for me in a ski and I'm willing to give up a little playfulness for it. I ordered the Woodsman 102 yesterday but it'll be a week or so until I get them on snow probably. I'm also going to mount them -1 this time and see what happens.

Was going to say the Woodsman 102 will be a little lighter and little less handful in the bumps than the 108 especially if you got the 108 last year before ON3P switched to carbon infused fibreglass which saved a touch of weight on all 2021 models. Same length on the 102s?

What bindings did you have on the 108s and are you doing the same ones for the 102s? Just hoping they aren’t demos which might be part of the issue not allowing tails to flex and then not as forgiving.
Also, putting bindings back -1 will make the ski “ski longer” so more stable on groomers but not quite as easy to pivot and require a more forward stance. Unless you’re going to a shorter length, I’d probably stay at recommended.
 

DB Cooper

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Why oh why can’t I demo an on3p! The woodsman sounds exactly like that I am looking for but to not try before you buy...

how much float do we think the 102 gives up to the 108? I’m balancing with an enforcer 88 so the narrower woodsman in intriguing because it’s more versatile but giving up some on deeper days, which as we all know, are only truly “deep” for a run or two. The natural answer is the enforcer 104, but a little analysis paralysis never hurt anyone.
 

pcjer

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Was going to say the Woodsman 102 will be a little lighter and little less handful in the bumps than the 108 especially if you got the 108 last year before ON3P switched to carbon infused fibreglass which saved a touch of weight on all 2021 models. Same length on the 102s?

What bindings did you have on the 108s and are you doing the same ones for the 102s? Just hoping they aren’t demos which might be part of the issue not allowing tails to flex and then not as forgiving.
Also, putting bindings back -1 will make the ski “ski longer” so more stable on groomers but not quite as easy to pivot and require a more forward stance. Unless you’re going to a shorter length, I’d probably stay at recommended.

Sounds like I'll love em. Yeah going with 187s, same as I had in the 108s. Using Attack16s on them. Keeping them on the line is probably good advice, I just like to tinker ;). If they're a little lighter though the line may work well for me, and I suppose it's recommended for a reason.
 

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