By: randosteve|Posted on: January 11, 2012|Posted in: Gear, Gear Reviews | 18 comments


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Remember when Dynafit was known for making ultra-skinny and short skis for rando’ers that liked to spoon tight wiggle turns and put in low angle skin tracks? Well, they still make skis for that, but for next fall, Dynafit will add a new stick its collection called the Huascaran (a 6,768m peak in Peru) that will one-up the Stoke as their flagship powder slaying ski and is sure to be a hit with the fat and baggy crowd.


Nice, progressive tip rise on the Dynafit Huascaran.

The Huascaran (AKA, the Landfish…for it’s swimming through powder characteristics) will be the widest ski in the Dynafit line next winter, having a profile of 136/115/125mm and will be available in 167/177/186/196cm lengths.   While the Huascaran is relatively fat, it is constructed out of bamboo, beach, paulownia and ISO-core (a mix of foam and fiberglass), which keeps it light.  The Huascaran weighs in at only 8.4lbs (186cm), which puts it right in the same weight/size category as a Black Diamond Carbon Justice, and other Voile or DPS ski options.

With a long progressive rise in the tip, not only will the Huascaran keep you on top of the lightest and deepest powder when you are shredding downhill, but it will also rise to the surface when you are breaking trail and skinning through really deep snow.  On the other side of the equation, and to add some bite to the edging power of the Huascaran, Dynafit used a hybrid cap/sidewall construction which adds torsional rigidity through a cap on top of the ski, as well as durability and better power transmission to the edges by having a traditional, albeit small,  sidewall.


Mini-sidewalls add durability and edge grip.

The Huascaran has what Dynafit is labeling “triple-turing-radius”, meaning the front of the ski has a different turning radius than the middle of the ski, and both have a different turning radius than the tail of the ski.  At 20m under the foot, this side-cut is good for firmer snow conditions, while a larger side-cut at the tip keeps them from being too hooky in softer snow.  This  side-cut shape, along with the Huascaran’s pin-tail, allows for easy initiation , as well as slashy finishes to your powder turns.

I definitely enjoyed skiing the Huascaran over the past few weeks and it was pretty hard to bury the tip in deep powder, even though the mount for my BSL was quite forward. Turns were a breeze and I mostly skied them with my BD Quadrant boots since the skis I had were the 186cm length. At 176cm, I would probably use them with my TLT5 boots. Look for the Huascaran next season, I think you will like it!