The Dupraz D2s, winner of the 2012 ISPO award for best overall ski.
The biggest pat on the back for any ski designer has to be winning the grand-daddy of them all, the 2012 ISPO Award. The ISPO AWARD label stands as a seal of approval for sustainable innovations in the sporting goods market and the benchmark for which all others are judged by. The Dupraz D2 not only won their class in FREESKI, but they also won the award in the category OVERALL SKI. Lofty accolades indeed for Serge Dupraz, the brain behind these ‘machines’ as he calls them. The look pretty funky and we are in the queue to try them out, but for now we’ll have to settle with telling you about them through the words of Mountain Life contributor Michel Beaudry. He has tried them, and here’s what he thought:
Very large area to the ski area Compared length. Asymmetrical shape: the switching skis Improves performance on track in gold powder. A skirt and smoother nose profile, Bringing great acceleration. A new capacity for a wide carving ski.
From: Michel Beaudry
Whistler, Canada
Topic: first day on the D2
Snow conditions:
A) Track: snow cold, hard surface rather well groomed (not concrete) – so almost perfect conditions for big turns at high speed.
B) Skiing: old snow, partly windy, partly crusted. A little powder here and there – but it has not snowed for a week. Covered yet thin enough in the forest. It must be to be careful – a lot of obstacles. Therefore generally quite difficult to master for a conventional skier. Not recommended for amateurs …
Description of the tester: 190cm – 90 kg – 57 years – former professional skier, former Canadian team coach, former judge-in-chief of the World Freeride Tour. Sports journalist specializing in sliding sports since 1984.
First Impressions
Whoa! What beautiful curves. What a nice ski. The D2 I was immediately reminded that I have a painting that represents the warriors of the West Coast by way of giant oars (the image I’ve already sent). These oars / warriors: the same profile as D2! The mountain and the sea water and snow. I immediately understood. Snowsports gear par excellence!
Before I jump on the D2 had already seduced me with their silhouette. I imagined myself already in wide curves; in free flight; off-piste. I wanted the powder to the navel. I was thousands of feet in altitude. The mountain wilderness demanding and dangerous. I was intrigued and excited. I wanted to enjoy this new experience!
And comments from people around me well reflected this spirit of adventure. Everyone wanted information! Young, old, beginners, pros, Rastas as well as mountaineers. “What’s that?”; “Did you see, Dad, skis?”; ‘Whence come here? “;” You can try them? ”
So here’s what I discovered:
What I liked: Terrain, darken the D2-like warriors of-the-slides which I expected! Of mountain wave. It’s true. There is nothing to test them. Easy to engage in the curve, the D2 mastered the field as if nothing was there. crusted snow, windy, drawn, crap – no problem – they float on top of layers of snow like a jet fighter fleet above the clouds. What I liked most of the D2 is an aggressive skier can really make nice curves … in ALL conditions. You can really put pressure on the spatula (racer style) without fear of tip backward. Result? You can really attack the terrain (ski on tiptoe), knowing you can count on ANY length of the ski to keep us in a curve. I really love his integrity in torsion?. Indeed, an elegant turn of the D2 off-road high speed runs very nicely with this torsional integrity. How to tell? Flexibility aggressive? Elastic force? Soft but hard?
Side “experiment”, the D2 deliver a feeling of gliding quite unique .. This is not ‘that’ skiing now – it’s skiing surfing. Super fun. Super sensual. Indeed, the D2 transform the wild mountain in exceptional playground. The backcountry is becoming much more affordable while the already-route (perhaps the most difficult mountains in all conditions) becomes much more attractive. The equivalent of the backside in snow (a turn slipped / skidded impossible on conventional skis) is something all of a very ordinary on the D2. And in the forest or the crowded corridor, it is an asset appreciated.
A session in the throat of a frozen stream (natural halfpipe) really made me see the potential ‘player’ of D2. They seemed made for this kind of terrain. Yet easy to trigger, but also content. And with a fluency that surprised me jump. I had fun as a kid!
In track, the D2 still impressed me. They are much better on groomed trails that I had presumed. But beware: the real hard (concrete) and very high speed, the D2 is limited. Even a little ugly. Beyond 100kph, they lose their integrity. We feel, at this speed, the skis can no longer hold the curve. But I do not think they are drawn to this kind of skiing.
That said, the fresh groomed (not too hard yet), and at lower speeds, the D2 demonstrate their playfulness again. And what joueu r! It is the pleasure of these skis. True of ‘carving’ same. Big sensations (g’s) during cornering. With D2, one might almost want to stay in the resort (at least for a few runs …). It is this rare combination of ease at the entrance of the turn, and integrity of the curve in (and out of) the curve that creates the sensation of flying snow. For me, I was still surprised to experience the versatility of D2. Could we talk about a skiing ‘honestly’ versatile?
A quick note: I discovered while playing with my curves, I was more effective when I had my feet wide apart. We do not ski the D2 with feet together! This is not the technique of ENSA, I know, but it must see to understand. We must evolve!
Serge Dupraz and his snow 'machines'.
