Cascade Powder Skis

Another vote for the Kailas- the most versatile sticks I've ever skied. I haven't found the 88 mm underfoot any problem, even in thigh deep dry fluff at Crystal. Bottomless UT insanity might be another issue, but for the Cascades I think it is plenty good!

Well DG I'll try and answer your question .I'm no expert skier  but this is what I have found.

Superfat skis that are just wide and have conventional camber and sidecut are designed for long radius turns on big faces and can be hard to turn in tight trees.

Superfat skis that have reverse camber or rocker have a short contact area with the snow and are designed to be pivoted or smeared rather than carved and hence are probably more responsive in tight trees ( we're taking about in new, but not necessarily really deep snow here).

When I ski my reverse camber, reverse sidecut skis (  Mine are Spatulas, but K2 Pontoons, HellBents or Praxis are the same animal) in tight trees I have found that I can pivot them easily from side to side and make nearly instantaneous turns , as much as my ability allows and better skiers than me ( and that is the majority)can ride them like a surf board and do quick turns like " cutbacks" that you see surfers doing on waves. My Spatulas are 125mm at the waist but because of the reverse camber they turn very tightly but the technique is different. This is what a lot of people who have never tried these new shapes don't get. Wide without rocker= long radius turns, wide with rocker= short radius, pivoted turns.

I'm not advocating for Superfat, reverse camber skis as some people don't like to ski by smearing their turns and I can understand that but the above is what I have discovered after skiing these new shapes for all of last season.

Spatulas etc are not suitable for the backcountry because they are so heavy but I enjoyed them so much I started researching for a ski with the same concept that I could do the same thing in the BC. That's how I came across the DPS line which has tried to create a light ski that incorporates some of the benifits of rocker and reverse sidecut but still retains enough characteristics of normal skis to allow them to be used in a wider range of conditions. They did this by going with zero camber rather than reverse camber  but rising the tips and tails early. This is now where a lot of manufactures are heading with skis such as the new BD Megawatt and Soloman Rocker, but the problem with these is they are made from conventional materials and still too heavy for extended BC use. The future IMHO for this segment is in lightweight, superfat, zero camber with early riser tips and tails and Goode, DPS , PM GEAR, BLuehouse and Praxis are at the forefront .

My advice, demo a pair of Pontoons on a snowy day at Crystal. It may take you a few runs to get them, but when you do , boy are they fun even in tight trees.

Thanks for the feedback. That makes sense – almost a complete different style of skiing. It’s probably psychological to some extent – I aspire towards the feeling of light, nimble skis underfoot that can slash their way down the mountain, so gravitate towards that style and ski. Taking a surfing approach on reverse camber skis does sound like a heck of a lot of fun, though, and I’ll have to try a pair on a fresh snow day.

Moved from Utah to up here back in 93 when my powder skis were Rossi Haute Route's and Rossi 4S's which i eveventually mounted with tele bindings and needless to say I loved those old straight skis, now my bc skis are Volkl explosives which are 120 in the tip and 95 underfoot and fairly stiff, they ski everything well and fast and turn on a dime mounted them with the new Barons for this season, my older bc lighter ski has been a pair of K2 AK Launchers which are 120 in the tip and 90 under foot and very soft with freerides which also ski all the powder fine but do get a little squirrely at higher speeds, because the Mt Baker is made from the old molds for the Launcher and built stiffer I got a pair of those and mounted them with my freerides which should ski about the same plus more responsive at higher speeds.
Haven't skied the newer fatter skis but what I like about the width of these skis in the powder is that you can still flex off of the tails in deep snow the way you could back with the old straight skis creating that porpoising style that was so much fun and distinctive, not sure if the new bigger wider boards allow for that. I noticed that in one of last years powders they did an article on Alaskan Heli Guides and all of those guys were skiing on skis that were 130 in the tips to 100 under foot. As for me I like the dimensions of the skis I've been skiing for the last few years and will most likely stay in this comfort zone for the long haul.

... He's entitled to his opinion even if it is the most closed minded crotchety old timer opinion out there. He obviously is bitter because he's A)not from here and so he doesn't appreciate our state, or never skied fat skis and so he's been bogged down with some old Tua M3's that are like 65 underfoot and has a hell of time when it snows two feet over night and everyone else is ripping the hell out of the slope hooting and hollaring because they cant see through the faceshots. If you think that fat skis are training wheels you must be from minnesota and are used to skiing on ice. And to that I say "Good day sir!" I don't need you. And to that I'm keeping my 102 underfoot and I'm going to keep collecting my turns all year on my training wheels and I'll ski higher and faster just to spite you.

Sheesh!  Such vituperativeness  : in relation to a little tongue in cheek/sarcasm.  I'm the quinessential crotchety old timer  :-[ (except for Vogtski  ).   But I've skied wider skis than Gary  , but not superfat  :-[.  My powder skis:  220 cm pre-90 karhu XCD GT; Madhsus Voss; BD Valmonte and Vertige (200cm !); Fisher outtabounds & rebounds; Tua Excalibur, Excalibur Plus, Excalibur Mitos [my only ski I don't claim as fun is the Tua Mito--dead feeling];  Volkl Prestos & Snowwolfs; Atomic R:EX; Dynafit 7 summits.   the only thing I'm bitter about is that my custom Drake-Boinays were never built (money was returned) and I think I'm too old and arthritic now to justify a couple of pairs of DPS especially because I can't decide whether to put 3 pins on them or dynafit comforts; maybe I'll be able to decide this winter    (especially if I get another temp job).  Powder is the least limiting snow and the most fun to ski with any kind of ski, each type of ski provides a markedly different, yet pleasurable experience.  It was really fun to watch  Vogtski rip it up on XCDs, Nils Larson et al. rip it up on those old brown ski (repackaged Kneissel Tourstars), and even to watch Steve Barnett ski some early Atomic mid-fat with 3 pins off of Silver-Star Peak in the North Cascades--marked my transition from SuperLoops and Hammerheads back to 3-pins. The only problem with all these skis is that PNW powder comes in many forms and inevitably turns into some kind of crap on its way to corn. That makes ski choice problematic, esp. becuz if you have a half a dozen pairs you have to (usually) choose just one pair to take into the bc and from the time the snowfalls till you get there and get back into the bowls the snow has changed! I remember leaving Paradise parking lots in light powder so deep we could hardly make any forward progress with our skins but by the time we got back in a couple of miles that superlight stuff already consolidated into high density stuff (then I would really have liked some of those big fat skis!).

To paraphase the late, great Alex Lowe.
" The best skier is not the one with the narrowest or widest skis, but the one having the most fun."