Monday afternoon, my new Dynafit Stoke (a 2011 season early release offering from Dynafit) arrived at my doorstep and despite the empty feeling of the box: there were in fact skis inside. At 1645 grams/pair the Stoke is a relative lightweight. For reference, many skis with similar dimensions weigh in at over 4000 grams!

So how does a ski with only half the mass of similar boards actually perform? After quickly mounting the Stokes on my living-room floor (thanks to the inserts) with a fresh pair of Dynafit ST’s, I took ‘em out to experience some of Crested Butte’s finest lines. Stability has been good, so our terrain choices for the day also happened to be some of the steepest and tightest couloirs in the area.

Well, it was slightly unnerving or at least entertaining to step into new skis for the first time on a 45+ degree slope with a pitch of WI3 Ice awaiting my careening carcass below, but after getting over the initial excitement I was very pleasantly surprised. Not only did the Stokes afford easy hop turns due to their low weight, but also held their edges admirably. Torsional stiffness isn’t always a characteristic of lightweight skis, but the Stoke seems to be an altogether different beast.
After some fifth-class down climbing mid slope, the bottom of the couloir and the apron below tested the Stoke in about as heinous of breakable suncrust/windboard mank as one might expect with a transitioning spring snowpack. Again, the Stokes skied beautifully and handled the challenging snowpack without much effort.
With positive results after the initial test run, Chris and I decided that it would be prudent to explore another striking feature in the area and zipped over to a line known as “the pencil”. While not typically a spring objective, we were feeling “sendy” and gave it a go. What we found was a start zone comprised of similar heinous breaker conditions, followed by a couloir of east-coast hard s’nice and several chokes that were narrower than Chris’ 170’s and certainly more svelte than my 182’s. Anyways, a beautiful line despite challenging conditions and impressive performance on the firm stuffs well as the soft-ish avalanche debris below…
I can’t say that this testing method will become my norm for breaking in new skis, but I’m feeling confident that the Dynafit Stoke will become the ski to which all backcountry fat-ish boards will be measured and the perfect addition to my quiver…

I’ve always had a kind of bipolar perspective on lightweight backcountry ski gear, but lately I’ve been slightly more even-keeled with regards to ski selection. The Crested Butte backcountry is an area that hosts many longish 100% human powered ski tours (Crested Butte Mountain Resort is very much a closed boundary ski area) often with long flat sections on either end of the terrain.

The Mustagh Ata SL in the Elk Mountains

In recent years my preference in backcountry skis has varied between featherweight SkiTrab models all the way up to the >10cm underfoot rockered modern-day behemoths. Both have their distinct advantages, but really CB is “quiver of one” terrain. Enter the Dynafit Mustagh Ata Superlight.

With similar dimensions and heft as a former lightweight tool of mine, the K2 Mt. Baker Superlight, the Mustagh Ata SL has achieved what many feel to be impossible in the lightweight category: a smooth ride without that lightweight twitchy carbon feeling. The specs below are directly from the Dynafit website, I find it helpful to read about how Dynafit perceives their own product:
“The Mustagh Ata Superlight represents the next phase of development for the successful Mustagh Ata model. It is the lightest ski in its class. It is equipped with patented Dynafit Insert technology and sports a modern waist curve. Its 88 mm width at mid-ski and its balanced core structure provide maximum skiing pleasure under all snow conditions. The ski adds very little weight when climbing, making it great for long high mountain tours and expeditions”
Summary
I like to think of this ski as the little brother of the extremely popular Dynafit Manaslu only better suited to more vertical and lending themselves to shorter radius turns. Remember that this is a lightweight ski and will certainly have it’s limitations when compared to large wood core skis that seem to be dominating the market these days. In most conditions, I find the ski to be perfectly suited for consistency like many of the lighter weight skis out there. I appreciate that this ski is on the stiffer side, especially in the tail, and find it to be quite lively and maneuverable. When skiing breakable crust, this ski responds well to aggressive edge release: which is easily accomplished with the low swing weight and responsive feel.

Other skis in this category include  K2’s Wayback (basically the Baker SL) or Black Diamond’s upcoming Aspect, which all have distinctly larger shovels.
Testing Notes
In the 25 days that I have skied the Mustagh Ata Superlights I’ve encountered backcountry snow that has ranged from glorious easy skiing powder to variable crust, crud and mank. Ascents with and without ski crampons. Conditions that I have yet to test: boilerplate ice and spring corn.
The Verdict
Pros: Leightweight, appropriate stiffer flex in tail, ski beautifully in soft snow. As with any light ski, will chatter some.

Cons: weaker skiers may find the skis get pushed around easily/don’t handle variable snow. Could be an effect of a somewhat narrow shovel.

The Mustagh Ata Superlight seems to be a perfect option for those looking for a do-all spring ski mountaineering ski. I’d recommend this ski for anyone looking for a lightweight setup for longer tours and/or spring conditions. Just remember, this lightweight mid-fat platform excelles at shorter radius turns and won’t provide the crud busting prowess of a ski with more mass. Remember to pair such a nicely engineered ski with the best touring binding on the market: the Dynafit ST.