UKC

White dot Preachers

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 kevin stephens 03 Dec 2012
I demoed a pair this afternoon, brilliant for lift served off piste. Has anyone tried then with touring bindigs for venturing further afield? I would imagine they may be too fat?
Jamie89 03 Dec 2012
In reply to kevin stephens: I've been on the preacher for the past few years and it's an incredible ski. Really depends where you tour if you want it as a touring ski. For short skins it would be great paired with a Salomon guardian or marker duke but if you are looking at longer/multi day tours get something light with dynafits. You could just wait until they release it as a Carbonlite model as this would be better as a touring ski.
 Swirly 03 Dec 2012
In reply to kevin stephens: Depends on your definition of further afield, with Barons or Dukes depending on how burly you ski then they'd be pretty good for anything sub-2 hours. I've a mate who uses a Kuro/Duke combo for that kind of thing so width isn't a problem. He is superfit though.
stuartmacdonald 03 Dec 2012
In reply to kevin stephens: I'm currently using White Dot Preachers as my all-mountain skis. I live in the Alps and ski around 100 days/season.

The Preachers are a fantastic ski - they are so easy to ski, in all snow, and are great fun in powder. They have a very low turn radius (19m for 188 skis), unlike a lot of fat skis which have a turning circle like the QE2 !

I have Marker FL12 touring bindings on them. I don't intend to ever tour with them, but occasionally I will do a short skin to access some better terrain, or to go uphill to help a client. They would be too heavy for touring with in my opinion.

To summarise, a great ski, but too heavy for real touring. Enjoy.....
Jamie89 04 Dec 2012
Shearwater 04 Dec 2012
In reply to stuartmacdonald:
> They have a very low turn radius (19m for 188 skis), unlike a lot of fat skis which have a turning circle like the QE2 !

And with good reason. Camber and sidecut are unnecessary in 3d snow, and can be an inconvenience. Have a little read of this: http://www.skinet.com/ski/gear/2009/10/the-wisdom-of-saucer-boy

My fat skis aren't intended for 50% powder, 50% slalom

(they're not much fun on hardpack though, which is where the Preachers will do substantially better)

In reply to kevin stephens:
> I demoed a pair this afternoon, brilliant for lift served off piste. Has anyone tried then with touring bindigs for venturing further afield? I would imagine they may be too fat?

112mm waist certainly isn't too fat... might get a bit wearing on a long, icy traverse, I guess, but that's avoidable. The tips are pretty broad though so you won't be fitting into many skin tracks. The folk behind you will be happy enough, but you might wanna take a minute or two longer to stretch out your hip flexors before setting off!
In reply to Shearwater: I'm very happy with my Scott Missions and Diamer Eagles for touring and general backcountry skiing but I nearly drowned in today's powder before I borrowed the Preachers again. Tempted to get them with Marker M10 bindings (I'm 67 Kg) not for full on touring but maybe an hours max skinning to get to a bowl
Shearwater 04 Dec 2012
In reply to kevin stephens:
The Preachers wouldn't be my first choice for a primarily powder-oriented ski. I'd be looking more for long radius, short sidecut, rocker and taper... Whitedot's Redeemer and Director fit that description, for example.

My opinion probably doesn't count for much, cos there's no shortage of folk who really like the Preachers (and doesn't Eva Walkner compete on them?) and if you've skied em and liked them, that's probably enough
Jamie89 04 Dec 2012
I would agree that reverse camber and reverse sidecut make skiing powder much easier, however...
I have skied the Director for over 200 days and the Preacher about 200 days also. The director is a really fun playfull ski that likes to drift turns but I'd pick the preacher any day, if your technique is good enough having camber and sidecut is great in powder as long as you can unweight the ski when you want to pivot. The huge tip just floats above everything and how much of the time are you actually skiing more than waist deep where something 130+ rockered reverse sidecut is going to help.
Shearwater 04 Dec 2012
In reply to jamie_adcock:
> how much of the time are you actually skiing more than waist deep where something 130+ rockered reverse sidecut is going to help.

I'll ask your question the other way around; given that the OP seems to be after a nice powder ski, what's the need for the massive camber and sidecut the preacher has? He's out there for the deep soft stuff, not windscoured ice... he's already got kit for that.

Powder-oriented skis don't need neck deep cold smoke to shine, just enough to make it '3d'. Rocker and taper isn't just about emulating a full R/R ski... a good ski geometry makes tricky snow easy, and that's why I prefer it. With 400+ days under your belt, your wants and needs are going to be very, very different from mine

Jamie89 04 Dec 2012
I guess it all comes down to personal preference more than anything. I've found anybody who comes from a racing background enjoys the preacher, Eva Walkner is a good example. Has anybody here skied the Ragnarok?
In reply to Jamie89: I've got 2 sets of skis with similar tip & tail dimensions (k2 hardsides and 4frnt ehps) but the K2s have 23m radius and the ehps 40m. I find the k2 "lock-in" to turns much more than the ehps when in fresh snoow. They're fine if you do bouncey-bouncey instuctor turns, but it's not the 80s anymore...

I much prefer the ehps because you can choose the turn radii - tight in tress, medium to wide in the open pow. The k2s are still a good ski, and much more fun on piste. I've come to the conclusion that, for me, the perfect touring ski (I tour for descents, not climbs) would be around 100mm underfoot, 30-35m turn radius, camber underfoot, flat tails, early rise tip. No one seems to make it though...

My flatmate has preachers and while a reasonable compromise for a 1-ski quiver I wouldn't like a pow ski with so much sidecut, or a an all mountain charger so wide.
 Pinch'a'salt 09 Jan 2013
In reply to Fultonius:
They're fine if you do bouncey-bouncey instuctor turns, but it's not the 80s anymore...

You've obviously been going to the wrong instructors!!
In reply to Fultonius:

I bought the Preachers with Marker F10s and tried them in Chamonix over christmas/new year. I can't tell how they comapare to the K2s or Ehps but I found them vary accommodating in powder (on PdC)carving long turns and unweighting to do short/swing turns. Also amazingly agile and fast on piste. I haven't got skins for them yet.
 Frank4short 09 Jan 2013
In reply to Fultonius:

> I've come to the conclusion that, for me, the perfect touring ski (I tour for descents, not climbs) would be around 100mm underfoot, 30-35m turn radius, camber underfoot, flat tails, early rise tip. No one seems to make it though...

Why not get a custom ski made for yourself then? Whilst it's not cheap custom skis aren't massively more than top of the range off the shelf models nowadays and if you get a ski that's perfect for you out of it surely it'll be worth having splashed out the extra cash.
In reply to Pinch'a'salt:
> (In reply to Fultonius)
> They're fine if you do bouncey-bouncey instuctor turns, but it's not the 80s anymore...
>
> You've obviously been going to the wrong instructors!!

I don't go to instructors, but you know what I mean!

I would love some customs skis, but there's no way I could afford top of the range or custom - I'm all about the second hand and bargain deals these days.
In reply to kevin stephens:
> (In reply to Fultonius)
>
> I bought the Preachers with Marker F10s and tried them in Chamonix over christmas/new year. I can't tell how they comapare to the K2s or Ehps but I found them vary accommodating in powder (on PdC)carving long turns and unweighting to do short/swing turns. Also amazingly agile and fast on piste. I haven't got skins for them yet.

Sounds good, maybe they're a better compromise than either of my pair. Although, pretty heavy for touring at 2.25kg per ski.

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