2021-2022 Whitedot Ragnarok ASYM

Intro

Some of you may recall our reviews of Whitedot’s standard Ragnarok and lightweight Ragnarok Carbonlite. Both were strong, stable big-mountain skis that excelled when going fast in most conditions.

Recently, Whitedot added a new ski under the Ragnarok name — the Ragnarok ASYM. And this looks like a very different beast compared to the other skis that share its name. Just looking at the Ragnarok ASYM, you can instantly tell that this isn’t your typical ski, so let’s dive into the details of this asymmetrical, wide, big-mountain ski.

What Whitedot says about the Ragnarok ASYM

“Skiing off-piste you are rarely carving a perfect turn, instead, you use drifting, speed checking, carving and combinations of these to control your line.

The ASYM’s signature design is off-set taper, making a left and right foot specific ski. While the sidecut radius remains a constant 30m on both edges, the tip and tail of the outside edge taper earlier than the inside creating an inside ski with a shorter effective edge that is easier to control.

This balances the different forces working on each ski as you go through the turn, making for an intuitive and two-footed ride.”

First, we have Shane McConkey to thank for that first line — thanks, Shane!

And Shane and Whitedot are correct — in powder, you’re often slarving and drifting more often than carving, and the Ragnarok ASYM’s design is meant to take advantage of the former technique.

We’ve seen asymmetrical skis before that promise a similar experience; the shorter effective edge on the outside of each ski is supposed to give you more control and make it easier to predictably break free the ski in soft snow. The Ragnarok ASYM’s shape is the most obvious standout characteristic, so let’s first discuss that:

Shape / Rocker Profile

Asymmetry aside, the Ragnarok ASYM has a lot of tip taper and a substantially less-tapered tail. For a ~121mm-wide ski, the Ragnarok ASYM’s level of taper isn’t totally extreme — the depth / length of its taper lines don’t look radically different vs. skis like the Dynastar Menace Proto, Rossignol Super 7 RD, and DPS Alchemist Lotus 124. FWIW, Whitedot lists the effective edge of the 190 cm Ragnarok ASYM as 158 cm.

But the asymmetry of the Ragnarok ASYM’s shape definitely looks radical. If you’ve been on top of the pow-ski market over the past few years, the ski that probably jumps to mind when you look at the Ragnarok ASYM is the current Blizzard Spur. The Spur is also asymmetrical, and its shape looks very similar to the Ragnarok ASYM’s. The Ragnarok ASYM’s tail is slightly less tapered and the asymmetry at its tails is slightly toned-down vs. the Spur’s tails. But overall, the two skis look extremely similar.

The Ragnarok ASYM’s rocker profile also looks very similar to the Spur’s. Both skis have very deep tip and tail rocker lines, with more tip splay than tail splay. The Ragnarok ASYM has a bit of camber underfoot, but almost half of this ski is rockered, rather than cambered.

The Ragnarok ASYM is designed for soft snow, and its shape and rocker profile seem to reflect that.

Flex Pattern

Here’s how we’d characterize the flex pattern of the Ragnarok ASYM:

Tips: 6
Shovels: 6-7
In Front of Toe Piece: 7.5-9
Underfoot: 10
Behind the Heel Piece: 10-8.5
Tails: 8.5-7.5

The Ragnarok ASYM has a pretty moderate flex pattern. Its tips and shovels are fairly soft and easy to bend, and then it slowly and smoothly ramps up in stiffness as you move to the middle. The area around the bindings is quite strong, and then there’s a slow and smooth softening as you move to the tails. The Ragnarok ASYM’s tails are noticeably stiffer than its tips, though its tails aren’t crazy stiff.

Compared to the Blizzard Spur, the Ragnarok ASYM’s flex pattern is pretty similar overall, but the Ragnarok ASYM is a bit stronger around the middle and in the tail.

Sidecut Radius

One thing that sets the Ragnarok ASYM apart from the Spur is its sidecut radius. While Blizzard uses different radii for the inside and outside edges of the Spur, Whitedot stuck with a 30-meter sidecut radius on both sides of the Ragnarok ASYM. That’s a very long radius, though we typically see very long radii on very wide, powder-oriented skis like the Ragnarok ASYM.

Mount Point

At around -7.4 cm from true center, the Ragnarok ASYM’s mount point is a bit more forward than normal, though it’s very similar to the mount point on the regular Ragnarok and Ragnarok Carbonlite. The Ragnarok ASYM’s mount point is not as far forward as most freestyle skis, but it’s not as far back as some skis in its class like the ON3P Billy Goat, Dynastar Menace Proto, or Head Kore 117.

Weight

This is a bit of a surprise. Our pair of the 190 cm (the only available length) Ragnarok ASYM came in at an average weight of 2071 grams per ski. Given the length and girth of this ski, that’s quite light. And as soon as I saw that weight, I thought to myself “dang, this could be a super fun powder touring ski.”

The Ragnarok ASYM isn’t as light as some dedicated touring skis like the Black Diamond Helio 116 or DPS Tour1 Lotus 124, but the Ragnarok ASYM is significantly lighter than some similarly wide skis like the Spur, DPS Alchemist Lotus 124, Liberty Origin Pro, and even the Rossignol Super 7 RD.

For reference, here are a number of our measured weights (per ski in grams) for some notable skis. Keep in mind the length differences to try to keep things apples-to-apples.

1622 (avg. weight) DPS Tour1 Lotus 124, 185 cm (17/18–19/20)
1654 & 1682 Black Diamond Helio 116, 186 cm (17/18–19/20)
1710 & 1744 Atomic Bent Chetler 120, 184 cm (18/19–19/20)
1808 & 1809 Line Pescado, 180 cm (17/18–19/20)
1854 & 1903 Whitedot Ragnarok Carbonlite, 190 cm (17/18–19/20)
1910 & 1941 Scott Scrapper 115, 189 cm (17/18–18/19)
1931 & 1959 Volkl BMT 122, 186 cm (17/18–18/19)
2013 & 2099 Moment Wildcat / Blister Pro, 184 cm (18/19–19/20)
2019 & 2051 K2 Mindbender 116C, 186 cm (19/20)
2024 & 2031 Line Outline, 186 cm (19/20)
2034 & 2052 Blizzard Rustler 11, 188 cm (17/18–19/20)
2043 & 2046 4FRNT Inthayne, 188 cm (18/19-19/20)
2062 & 2080 Whitedot Ragnarok ASYM, 190 cm (18/19–19/20)
2102 & 2137 Line Sick Day 114, 190 cm (17/18–19/20)
2105 & 2185 Head Kore 117 (19/20)
2126 & 2173 Rossignol Super 7 RD, 190 cm (17/18–19/20)
2173 & 2204 4FRNT Renegade, 191 cm (19/20)
2174 & 2187 Moment Wildcat / Blister Pro, 190 cm (18/19–19/20)
2130 & 2213 Faction Candide 4.0, 188 cm (19/20)
2183 & 2190 Black Crows Anima, 188.4 cm (17/18–19/20)
2196 & 2199 Icelantic Nomad 115, 191 cm (17/18–18/19)
2199 & 2219 Moment Governor, 186 cm (14/15–17/18)
2220 & 2252 Faction Prodigy 4.0, 186 cm (17/18–19/20)
2212 & 2215 Armada ARV 116 JJ, 185 cm (17/18–19/20)
2222 & 2278 Prior CBC, 184 cm (17/18–19/20)
2228 & 2231 Blizzard Spur, 192 cm (17/18–19/20)
2230 & 2250 Black Diamond Boundary Pro 115, 185 cm (17/18–19/20)
2237 & 2315 Salomon QST 118, 192 cm (19/20)
2240 & 2250 Volkl Revolt 121, 184 cm (19/20)
2246 & 2265 Fischer Ranger 115 FR, 188 cm (17/18–18/19)
2267 & 2270 Whitedot Ragnarok, 190 cm (16/17–18/19)
2290 & 2293 Moment Commander 118, 188 cm (19/20)
2296 & 2309 Liberty Origin Pro, 192 cm (17/18–19/20)
2297 & 2317 K2 Catamaran, 184 cm (17/18–19/20)
2341 & 2357 Dynastar PR-OTO Factory, 189 cm (18/19–19/20)
2343 & 2360 J Skis Friend, 189 cm (18/19)
2346 & 2351 Nordica Enforcer Free 115, 191 cm (17/18–19/20)
2370 & 2382 Volkl Confession, 193 cm (17/18–19/20)
2382 & 2395 ON3P Billy Goat, 184 cm (17/18–18/19)
2408 & 2421 ON3P Jeffrey 116, 186 cm (17/18–19/20)
2438 & 2480 DPS Foundation Koala 119, 189 cm (19/20)
2438 & 2492 Rossignol Black Ops 118, 186 cm (16/17–19/20)
2490 & 2529 K2 Catamaran, 191 cm (17/18–19/20)
2700 & 2703 Armada ARG II, 187 cm (19/20)

Some Questions / Things We’re Curious About

(1) We’ve been surprised by the versatility of some other asymmetrical skis in the past, so will the Ragnarok ASYM also surprise us in this way, or is this a deep-snow-specific tool?

(2) Given its low weight and significantly tapered shape, how predictable and stable will the Ragnarok ASYM be when encountering variable conditions?

(3) The Ragnarok ASYM is light enough that many of us would be happy putting a touring binding on it, so is this ski best for untouched pow in the backcountry or could it also handle the short-lived pow, and rest-of-the-day chop in the resort?