2017-2018 Whitedot Redeemer CarbonLite

Shallow, Firm Chop & Tracked-Out Groomers

While I was impressed with the dampness of the Redeemer given the weight of the skis, I can’t say that I enjoyed the Carbonlite Redeemers in choppy terrain—even compared to many other skis I’ve used of similarly fat dimensions—and I suspect it’s related to the Redeemer’s very early tip taper.

The widest point of the Redeemer’s tip is only about 35cm in front of the toe-pin line on my Dynafit Beast 14s, mounted for my 304mm BSL Vulcans. When skiing on hard and bumpy runouts on some of the sidecountry terrain in Japan, the Redeemers felt short and grabby. I never found the right balance point on them, and finally settled on having to stay light on my feet to try to keep them on the softest snow possible, while I often prefer to get on the edges and arc hard turns through these types of snow. Even the DPS Spoon which deflects off of anything firm felt a bit more predictable when skiing through this type of snow.

Similarly, my partner on this trip was on the DPS Lotus 138 Spoon, and we found that his skis were also much smoother and more predictable in this type of terrain. Compared to more traditionally shaped skis like the Kingswood SMB, Lotus 120 Spoon, Volkl Shiro, and Volkl Two, the Carbonlite Redeemer was notably less fun in these conditions.

The Blizzard Spur is another powder ski of a similar width that, in my limited time on them so far, is also built with early taper and seems to do well in choppy terrain. Out of curiousity, I measured the distance from the front of my boot and found that the early taper (widest point of the front of the ski) is around 30cm farther forward from the boot than on the Redeemer.

To be fair, the Spur is also more than a pound heavier per ski and quite a bit stiffer, but I still think the challenges of the Redeemer in hard snow are largely shape related, though we’ll see what Jonathan has to say about the heavier, non-Carbonlite version of the Redeemer, since he will be A/B-ing it against the Blizzard Spur, too.

For the record, I detuned the edges of the Redeemer along the early taper of the shovels without significant improvement. So I’ve been thinking a lot about why I keep having this experience with the Carbonlite Redeemer, and I think it’s largely because I prefer to use higher edge angles in cut up snow, relying on a long carving ski to smooth things over. When doing this with the Redeemer on firm snow, there is very little edge contact in front of the ski creating a shorter and less stable effective edge. Then, when hitting any areas of softer snow, the long tip will intermittently hook up and release.

This is speculation, but the shape of the Redeemer is in contrast to skis like the Volkl Shiro that has a long, clean sidecut with no early taper.

Similarly, all of the skis I can think of that I enjoy for skiing fast in deep chop and crud (4FRNT Devastator, Blizzard Cochise & Bodacious, Rossignol RC 112) have stiff, damp constructions and much less tip taper than the Redeemer.

Caveat: on the other end of the spectrum is the DPS Lotus 138, which essentially has a long clean taper from the tip toward the boots, with a more subtle area of minimal sidecut near the middle. The result is a ski that won’t win any carving contests, but its design is predictable and completely lacking in hookiness when skidding or sliding in variable snow.

Based on my time on many different powder shapes, I do not think the small gains in powder surfing and quickness that are due to the early taper is worth the sacrifice that I perceive in more variable conditions.

So I personally would love to see either (1) a version of the Redeemer with the similar construction, rocker, and width but a more traditional tip shape, or (2) a truly dedicated powder shape with a more Spatula inspired, reverse sidecut design like the Lotus 138.

(And again, I’m curious to see how Jonathan fares on the heavier version of the Redeemer.)

Playfulness

While I tend to prefer skis that are quite damp and directional, one of the things I love about reviewing skis is the influence that different skis can have on my skiing.

In the case of the CarbonLite Redeemer I kept wanting to find big and small features to try to hop, shifty, or ollie. I have never used a pair of fat skis that felt so light and balanced except for the Line Magnum Opus (which felt poppier and less directional). It’s a cool sensation, and I’m looking forward to learning more from these types of skis.

Bottom Line

The CarbonLite Whitedot Redeemer is a fun, lightweight powder ski that was a great choice for a trip to Japan. The deep, early taper does seem to have adverse affects on its performance in more variable snow, but the construction of the ski gives it a dampness that I have not experienced in any other lightweight fat skis.

The Redeemer sits favorably in a small but growing class of ~8 lb-per-pair powder skis that should be on the radar of anyone who ski tours for untracked snow, or who just prefers lighter weight powder skis.

And now, check out Jonathan Ellsworth’s review of the non-CarbonLite 3 version of the 190cm Whitedot Redeemer.

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