Chalky, Shallow Powder (Dust on Crust)
We’ve had a series of rain events this season that have reached up pretty high into some of the areas I frequent. Subsequently, I’ve spent some time skiing the Exit World in some shallow pow overlying a firm base. I tend to favor a more traditionally-shaped ski on firm snow, and thought that the relatively minor amount of tip taper of the Exit World would yield a fun, predictable ride. As long as I kept them at low edge angles and steered mostly from my feet with predominantly skidded turns, the Exit World was, indeed, predictable and easy to redirect.
When I’d tip them over a bit further and pushed a little more into the front of the ski, things got a little weird for me. I’m not sure if it’s the relatively soft flex or the “triple camber” base, but anytime I ski on a firmer surface, I have a hard time setting an edge and riding it.
Similarly, trying to bend the front of the ski into the top of a turn (as I often like to do) yields some unpredictable behavior in which the skis feel like they’re trying to skate away from me, and they are very easily deflected. It’s hard to explain, and not something that I’ve experienced before. I’ve tried detuning them a bit, but that hasn’t helped. Of note, my two friends on the 15/16 186 cm Exit World described the exact same thing to me, and cited this as one of the reasons that they recommended that I go with the 194 cm version.
Chop
I’ve had a lot of opportunity to ski through chop this season, both in the relatively tracked-up return routes to the parking lot from ski touring, and from a few days riding lifts.
The unnerving, less predictable nature that I found while skiing firmer conditions in the backcountry continued to be an issue for me while skiing in shallow, tracked-up snow. To be clear, the deeper and softer the chop, the less I felt like the tips were darting around. But in deep, heavy, and tracked-up maritime snow, the soft tips of the Exit World tended to fold up quite a bit which creates kind of a halting feeling while plowing through these conditions.
Again, Moment designed the Exit World to be a dedicated, deep pow touring ski. So how pertinent its performance is in tracked up conditions may or may not matter to you, depending on where you’ll be skiing these. So if you’ll only be skiing good snow, don’t worry about it. But if you’re looking for a ski to excel in deep pow and tracked-out, chopped-up conditions, then my experience may matter more to you.
Crud
During the days that I rode a few lift served laps on the Exit World, I encountered my share of relatively firm and bumpy crud. These are clearly not the conditions intended for the Exit World, and it showed while skiing them.
Even with a high-performance boot like the Salomon MTN Lab, the Exit World got kicked around all over the place. I found myself skiing markedly slower in these conditions than I would have otherwise, and I generally felt a lot less confidence in these conditions.
My suspicion is that this is primarily a result of them being a light, fat, rockered, soft ski but I also wonder if the triple camber contributes to this in some degree. It would be interesting to try the same shape and construction with a more traditional rocker profile.
There was really never a time in these conditions that I felt Iike could lay them over in a confident, carved turn, which is often how I like to ski through crud. Compared to similarly wide skis I’ve been on lately like the Chilkat or the Shiro the much lighter Exit World is much less competent in firm and bumpy snow.
But even compared to other skis of similar weight, such as the Volkl BMT 122 and DPS Spoon 120, the Exit World can be a handful when skied aggressively in crud. My general impression of the Exit World is that in any kind of firm snow, they are best skied with low edge angles, and that they do best with skidded turns and a more centered stance. Higher edge angles and pressuring the shovels is not rewarded or advised.
Groomers
I know that this is irrelevant for a ski like this, but I only bring it up because the few runs I made on the Exit World on firm groomers seemed to exacerbate the effect of the “Triple Camber.” On soft groomers, I could lay them over enough to engage the full sidecut, beyond the forwardmost bump of the Triple Camber. But in hard, smooth snow, it was difficult to engage the full length of the ski consistently, even when I made a lot of effort to bend them into the top of the turn.
While I definitely felt forward enough on the ski to fully pressure the shovels, I do wonder if part of this sensation is related to having mounted back at -1.5. But my suspicion is that it wouldn’t make a big difference, and friends who’ve mounted on the recommended line report similar sensations.
As I mentioned above, I’d love to try the Exit World with a more traditional, continuous, low rise rocker profile. While absolutely not an entirely fair comparison based on (1) ski weight and (2) ski bindings (Marker Jester vs G3 Ion), I was able to carve trenches in the same conditions on a pair of 119mm-waisted Volkl Shiros.
Breakable Crust
While we’ve been getting pounded around Girdwood, AK, with 500 inches of snow (and counting) at mid and upper elevations, the lower elevations are a quite a bit thinner this winter, and have been exposed to all kinds of rain and temperature events. This has resulted in frequent bouts of breakable crust skiing to get back to the car each day while out touring.
While the Exit World’s light weight and soft flex doesn’t allow for smashing through crusts as easily as some skis, the shape and rocker profile allow them to do as well as any other ski in this width at getting through this stuff. But when the crust stiffens up enough to support my full weight, I’ve again started to experience the unpredictable nature of the ski on firm conditions that I’ve described above.
A Word on Boot Choice
Based on the particular objective for a given day of skiing, I alternated between the Salomon MTN Lab and the Dynafit TLT6 Performance while testing the Exit World. In the past, I’ve skied a few big powder skis that were fun with a big, stiff boot but were then much less fun in the lighter and softer TLT5/6. (The most notable example of this that comes to mind is the 196 cm Praxis Protest.)
The Exit World seemed to be a fine match with both the MTN Lab and the TLT6 Performance, and was easily driven in all conditions I encountered with the TLT6.
Who’s It For? (Plus a Few Further Thoughts)
The Exit World is impressively light for its size, and is super fun and maneuverable in soft snow. The relatively soft flex and preference for a neutral stance will appeal to many skiers—probably more so to those who weigh a bit less than I do (190+lbs without ski clothes), or those who often find themselves steering from the tails while powder skiing.
Based on years of ski touring on all kinds of big powder skis, I still think that if I’m committed to hauling big powder skis up the mountain, I’m probably going to go with something that really is uncompromising, like the older generation Lotus 138’s (the new Spoon versions are great, but are also quite a bit heavier) or even my Spoons. For my taste, if I’m looking for a more versatile shape in the 115-120mm range that will float and drift in pow but still ride a clean edge in firmer conditions, I might lean toward some of the other skis I mentioned above, or…
I am extremely interested in the 16/17 Moment Bibby Tour, which is a Bibby Pro in a lighter construction. I love the shape and performance of the Bibby Pro, and the early version of the first Exit World that I skied three years ago. So if Moment can preserve most of the traits of the Bibby in the “Low Fat Layup” that they used in the 15/16 Exit World, it could prove to be an excellent touring ski for pow that can still handle all kinds of snow conditions.
And If the Bibby Tour is as good as I hope it will be, it would be interesting to see if Moment decides to make the Exit World even more powder specific by bumping it up to at least the 123-126mm waist of the Ghost Train that inspired it.
Bottom Line
In Moment’s own description of the ski they write “Why compromise, when what we want is an AT ski that absolutely slays powder?” The Exit World certainly offers a great ride in powder, and it is light enough for long tours (my longest was about 8000 feet of climbing over about 12 miles of touring, and the Exit World never felt cumbersome).
The soft flex pattern & rocker profile of the Exit World provides a bit more float than similarly-wide skis, and a 118 mm ski will always be easier to skin on than superfat skis (less topsheet snow accumulation and easier to edge in firmer conditions). So I think the Exit World is a respectable choice for powder-oriented ski tourers, especially those who prefer a softer ski that favors a more neutral stance, and who are less concerned about performance in more difficult snow conditions.