DPS Powder Skis: A Historical Retrospective
DPS’ roots are engrained in the pursuit of deep powder. From our designers’ pre-DPS progressive powder shapes that debuted in the early 2000s – the DB Tabla Rasa and Volant Spatula – we have led the way in the powder ski genre. When DPS was founded in 2005, the floodgates of innovation opened, including the introduction of the first powder pintail, transferring the word “rocker” from surfing to skiing, creating the first rockered ski with sidecut, and creating a convex three-dimensional shoveled ski with radical edge bevel.
Over the years, refined subsequent generations of skis changed the way deep snow is skied by providing freedom across the fall line while still accessing speed, stability, and power in bottomless conditions. When a ski takes on these characteristics, it opens up tremendous doors in terms of style and power. Skiing itself almost becomes a new sport.
The following historical products showcase the synergistic integration of carbon composites, shaping, and precision flex profiles. With their introduction came expanded exhilaration and new powder possibilities.
The Wailer 112 RP (Resort Powder) was new for the 2010/11 season. It received glowing media reviews and blitzed all sales forecasts. For many, it was a transformational ski – simply that good. Meant to be skied all day at the resort, the 112 RP bridged the gap with a shape that combined the loose and early planing feel of a fully rockered ski with aggressive 15m sidecut and slight camber underfoot. It was (and still is) a one-ski quiver for planing untracked snow in the morning, laying trenches down to the lift on the groomed, and slaying crud in the afternoon.
Dimensions: 140/112/127mm
When introduced in 2013/14 the RPC was a special 115mm-waisted riff on the award-winning Wailer 112 RP. Featuring a larger 20m radius, lower tip and tail profile, and enhanced damping, the RPC was built for high speed charging to suit skiers that preferred to ski down the fall line through crud and powder. The shape relinquished some of the 112 RP’s playfulness in exchange for enhanced straight-line hard snow, crud, and powder velocity.
Dimensions: 140/115/125mm
The original, and often imitated, 120mm powder pintail that started it all. If it was pre-2010 and you were looking for a directional charger, there was simply no substitute. The Lotus 120s shaping was optimized for deep snow. A tapered and rockered shovel gave it early planing ability and increased slarve-ability, while the flex pattern and geometry was refined over multiple seasons to provide skiers unrivaled balance and powder performance.
Dimensions: 140/122/126mm
Countless seasons of Alaskan R+D, multiple rocker evolutions, the first rockered ski with sidecut; a freak of nature. The highly rockered and tapered Lotus 138 incorporated minimal sidecut underfoot, which provided just enough edge grip to get through occasional harder snow sections, but didn’t detract from the smooth hydrodynamic properties of the tapered forebody and tail. Unlike conventionally shaped powder skis, the Lotus 138 actually became both more stable and quicker as speed increased. At a time when many companies were just starting to discover and implement rocker and progressive shaping into their lineups, the Lotus 138 had already been through four iterations directly based on seasons of Alaskan powder surfing. The unrivaled concoction hit the bullseye for those who live for the art of riding deep snow.
Dimensions: 143/138/140mm
The Spoon started as a dramatically new concept that required big assumptions. The launch of the iconic Spoon in 2013 ushered in a new paradigm in deep snow skiing. Designed exclusively for the best heli/cat/backcountry days, the Spoon featured a convex 3-D shovel combined with full rocker, and radical edge bevel that produced the ultimate in powder surfing sensation. The Spoon drew upon years of experience gained from refining the Lotus 138 and Lotus 120. Requiring very little up-and-down movement in deep powder, it provided incredibly fast slarving and angulated skiing with powerful reeling vertical sprays.
Dimensions: 158/148/151mm