DPS Skis

Wailer T112 RP Ski

DPS' M.O. is to pick a killer shape and camber profile, then build several skis with different cores and laminates so you can choose the one with the characteristics that best suit you. The Wailer T112 RP Ski, for example, is a quiver-of-one pow ski with a solid amount of tip rocker, moderate underfoot camber, and a generously raised tail, finished off with a manageable sidecut that lets you move from variable to soft snow and alter your turn shapes without skipping a beat.

Essentially, it sports all the above characteristics, but it's built with DPS' Tour1 construction, which is designed specifically for lightweight backcountry-oriented skis. DPS has a reputation for lightness across the board, but its legendary Alchemist construction was always designed to be skied inbounds, while Tour1 is explicitly meant for those who primarily earn their own turns. Accordingly, the T112 RP is built on a superlight balsa wood core sandwiched between pre-preg carbon fiber and fiberglass laminates and topped off with a lightweight cap, which gives the ski a category-crushing combination of weight savings and torsional stiffness and avoids the squirrely, skittish feeling of many other lightweight touring boards.

DPS has monkeyed with the shape of T112 RP, too, giving it a larger sweet spot that serves up a stable feel whether you're riding cautiously or hitting near-irresponsible speeds. Its RP sidecut tapers at the rocker contact points for smooth, hook-free turns, and the rockered tip and tail make sure the ski's killer soft-snow performance is unchanged. There's also enough camber underfoot to cut through hardpack, chunder, and wind-hammered snow like it's no big deal. DPS finished the T112 RP off with its standard tough and lightning-fast World Cup bases and narrow-gauge Rockwell 48 steel edges for extra weight savings, and capped the whole package with snow-shedding textured topsheets so you don't have to lug extra ounces up with you.