Fat Ski Skinning

I would appreciate opinions on whether I should mount Dukes on this ski for backcountry playing around. It's the H2O from Praxis.

praxisskis.com/index.php?page=shop.produ...virtuemart&Itemid=29

I'm new to backcountry. Did some sidecountry last year with my 23 year old daughter and got hooked (we both took the AIARE level 1 course). This year I wanted something with more float then my Salomon Guns but needed to be able to still ski with my 15 year old daughter on the groomers. I ran into this ski and felt it was made for exactly what I wanted. But I'm intrigued with the backcountry scene and am thinking of taking a 4 day course. So with that in mind and the fact that my wife won't let me have a quiver of skis, I thought that maybe I could mount some Dukes on these fat boys and try skinning them. I don't anticipate going on any long trips and probably only go on powder days. I'm also looking at replacing my alpine boots with some BD Factors. Again, not a pure backcountry setup but something that would let me do maybe a 50/30/20 inbound/side/back split.

Oh, I'm 6'5", 210 lbs, ski fairly well but need more time in pow.

www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboardi...ex.php?topic=14511.0
Cummings+Dukes: 3.61 kg/ski, Cheek height TMX + Fritschis: 2.79 kg/ski , Skin weights not included. Cheaper than Factors or Dukes. Not connected with the seller or pushing a lightweight agenda, only trying to provide interesting food for thought.

Skinning on fat skis seems to work just fine; better in some conditions, worse in others. I've not used them, but Dukes might work great for your purposes; durable too, by reputation. If you've not yet seen it, Lou Dawson has a review here .

I would appreciate opinions on whether I should mount Dukes on this ski for backcountry playing around.

Dukes are certainly appropriate for this ski, and there's no reason the combination won't work for backcountry "playing around."

Beware, though. Heavy rigs are often a gateway drug to multiple, expensive, and progressively lighter touring setups!

I have  Rossignol S7's mounted with Dukes.
I use them for Sidecountry touring.
They are heavy but I actually like the Dukes.  The kick down stand for heel raise works really well and although I have heard some people say its' not high enough, it seems to work great for me.
Having to take them off to change modes is a bit of a drag and sometimes you have to clean ice away to get the mechanism to engage.

I have fat skis mounted with Dynafits, Fritschi's and Dukes so I've had the opportunity to compare.

I know this is sacrilege to the dynadevotees, but the Dukes are my favourite for "Powder conditions" touring. It used to be the Fritschis but the Dukes are way more responsive. My Dynafits continue to be too finicky for me for deep snow touring but are the best for spring or less deep snow touring IMHO.
Another thing to think about is brakes.
If at a resort you either need brakes or straps for ski retention.The brakes on Dynafits are a problem when touring so many people use ankle straps. IMHO, I dont want anything( even a " break away" strap) attaching my skis to me during a bad fall or an avalanche.
Edit to add: I usually now get a least two replies offering to take my Dynafiddlies off my hands! No.. I love them.. just not in depp snow.

I skin on Dukes/Megawatt/Factors, but also have MUCH lighter rigs. Love this rig except:
-Duke climbing bar sucks (one is loose and always collapses. Both could use a little more height)
-In pow, snow/ice gets stuck in the Duke lock-down tracks. Yeah, I know, you can spray it with Pam or bring a brush or whatever, but I don't want to have to.

I've been very happy with the Dukes. They ski great and have been durable. That said, I'm very likely going to be putting Dynafits on the Megawatts for less weight as I'm only going to be using them on huge pow days at the lifts or touring.

I skin on Dukes/Megawatt/Factors, but also have MUCH lighter rigs. Love this rig except:

Andy, do you have any advice about setting the toe height on the dukes to accommodate the rocker in the sole of the factors? Or are you using the DIN block rather than the touring blocks? I've got the Methods and Barons on my heavy set of skis and cannot seem to get the toe height set tall enough to be able to fit a strip of paper between the AFD and the vibram. The bindings adjust to fit my megarides fine.