Best BC Ski for Randonee

I'm looking to upgrade my 170cm Tua Hydrogen's with something wider and shorter, yet lightweight and versatile in the backcountry.

alpine rose, i've upgraded from 170 tuas to 166 karhu kodiaks last season. and my skiing improved a lot the extra 10mm in the waist and the shorter length help a lot. i'm still holding onto the tuas as a spring ski, the karhus are overkill. i telemark though.

I put in some more time on the Trab FreeRandos. This time it was wind-affected, slabby powder at Crystal. The skis performed reasonably well, certainly better than my narrower skis would have.

My strongest impression of these skis is their lightness. For me this is a good thing, but for others it might not be. Many backcountry skiers today want power, almost like lift skiing gear. I don't need that (backcountry skiing is not the same as lift skiing, for me) and I don't want to pay a weight penalty to get it.

So my conclusion about the Trabs is: "What's not to like?" They're light. They're reasonably wide for their weight. They turn easily. They seem predictable, for a light ski. You're tastes may vary.

To AlpineRose: My impression of the FreeRando is that it feels shorter than expected. Maybe it's just psychological due to appearances--the added width and funny tip makes the ski look shorter on your feet. In any case, I find the ski to be easy-turning enough that if I was weighing two different sizes, I'd go with the longer one.

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Edited to add: I'm not a telemarker, so I don't know if these comments apply for a free-heel skier.

Update-  After reading all the great replies and advice, I finally gave in and purchased Dynafit bindings, the new Scarpa Spirit 3 boots, and Atomic Tacora skis.   

Boots-  regardless of your AT set up, the Scarpa Spirit 3's are excellent.  I've skied them with the Dynafit bindings and Fritschi bindings.   They are similar in stiffness and ski-ability to my Lowa Structura Pro's but have a far better walking mode.  And they're lighter too.  Great boots, but this was the gating issue for me given my investment in Fritsche bindings, and their non-sale price (but I caved eventually).

Bindings-  Bought the TLT's and they did take a bit of getting used to.  Fritsche's are just as easy as alpine bindings to step into and out of, but these guys take a little forethought.  But after 30-50 mounts and dismounts, I've gotten the hang of it.  They release predictably and I've never had an issue to date, but then again, I never fall .

Skis-  I really like my R:EX's and thought about mounting the Dynafit to them.  But Sierra TP had a to-good-to-pass-up deal on 172CM's, so I bought a pair.  They're  80MM under waist and turn very quickly.  They may not be the lightest, and they're not fat by today's standards, but they're close enough for my skiing style.  And when combined with the weight savings of the boots and bindings, they're a great combo.  I've skied them in light and heavy powder, crud, hard pack, and ice and they handle well in all conditions.  Like most Atomic skis, they're fast and stable, but these have the added benefit of being quick to turn.  They are actually fun to ski on!

Conclusion-   there are tons of great skis out there, but a good combo of boots, bindings, and skis make all the difference.  Now I need to buy the Kongurs (the R:EX replacement), another TLT pair, and then I can sell all my other skis.

My favorite winter time backcountry ski set up is a pair of K2 phat luvs with dynafit bindings.  nice wide platform with light binders.  i use to ski some phat luvs with fritchis and i will say that the touring as well as the actual skiing performance of the dynafits are well worth buying a new pair of boots for it.  So much better contact and torsion stability.  OK back to the skis....yeah the phat luvs are where it's at and for spring i have the shukshans...narrower waist (yes i will admit i am a fat ski junkie and proud of it.  the way i see it, if i am going to go through all of the trouble to go far to ski a cool line, i am going to have the most fun tool to do it with).

i have skied on many types of "rando" skis.  as far as super skinny skis are concerned i liked the chogori the best.  i was excited to try the trabs as they are very popular with the rando racers.  i was not that impressed with their performance and wouldn't like to be skiing a sketchy coulair with those skis on.  i have not had good luck with the carbon skis either especially the Goodes.  the dynafit carbon skis skied average but i feel like the carbon skis never work together and their initiation is stodgy.   the voile carbon surf was an enjoyable ski but most likely too wide for what you all are looking for.   the carbon skis i did ski on could have had the disadvantage of being sample skis because i am told that the curing process is quite long and more suseptible to error i.e. bases not coming out flat etc. 

i will agree that the G3 reverend was a super fun ski as well.  i know that if you are big and heavy as well as aggressive the sweet spot will probably be to soft for you.  i also had a good experience with the Team Jak ski.   

everyone skis with a different style and has a different background as well as body build so what is good for me i understand is not good for all.  i do think that the fun factor is much higher especially here in the NW, if one skis a wider ski  ;D

Finally got out on the Trab Duo FreeRando.
Setup details: length = 164cm, bindings = Dynafit Comfort, boots = Scarpa Matrix w/ Flexon tongues, me = 148 lbs.
Comparison ski = my old 162cm BD Mira.
Both days were on the same terrain - long flat approach (both there, and back again) for multiple laps (7 first day, 8 second day) on about 600 vert, around 25 degrees at the top, then flattening out.
Both days were untracked powder, though on the first day we were sometimes crossing over semi-covered tracks.
Overall, the skis performed flawlessly, though of course the conditions were quite nice. But the impressively low weight for the dimensions was a great plus on the long flat approach, the float seemed to be exactly what I needed for the conditions, and sidecut seemed just right. Thinking back to my Mira, I’ve sometimes felt that the Mira’s tail hooked up in a weird way - had no such problems w/ the FreeRando, although then again I’m not sure if these were the conditions I would have felt that.
The skin attachment system worked very well: super quick to get on-off, very secure, and offers the option of peeling back the skin from either the tip or the tail.
Pictures here:
picasaweb.google.com/jshefftz/DuoFreeRandoDay1
picasaweb.google.com/jshefftz/DuoFreeRandoDay2

Four outings so far on the Duo Sint Aero.  Details follow.  I’ll post more once I get to use them in a real mountaineering environment. (Spring seems to arriving early here in New England, and Mt Washington has had a string of "Low" avy danger days, so maybe soon?!?)

Setup details: length = 164cm, bindings = Dynafit Comfort, boots = Dynafit TLT Evo (3 buckles, basically an updated TLT 4S/Pro), me = 148 lbs.

Comparison ski = closest skis in the quiver would be 160cm Atomic TM:11 (mainly just for racing now) and 170cm Atomic R:9 (w/ Diamirs, mainly a lift-served setup now).

First outing:
Very brief - dawn (literally) patrol at Pico on Saturday, and I had time for only 1470' vert since I had to drive to NH to teach a ski patrol mtn travel/rescue class. (Plus I didn't want to totally exhaust myself the day before the L-L MRG/S'Bush rando race.)
Initial impressions:
- Absurdly light for its dimensions.
- Skin system is very secure, and skin can be peeled off from either from the tip or the tail.
- Turn initiation is super quick and easy, more so than I would expect from the sidecut radius.
- Skis very well in a few inches of fresh powder on top of groomed and skis very well on freshly groomed (what is up with all that Pico grooming right after a storm?), but then again probably anything would, so sorry I don't have more details to report so far.

Second outing:
More pre-operational skinning, but unfortunately halfway through my second run I was politely told to leave (which I politely did), so only another 1160' vert to report: a couple inches of fresh on top of groomed, so once again not the most challenging conditions to test a ski, but thus far their skiing performance is great and the lightness on the way up is impressive.

Third outing:
- Skinned up for two laps on a 600' slope that has pretty solid pitch all the way (for the east), measured at 25 degrees. 
- Conditions were freshly groomed and skis were perfect.  Turn initiation was very quick.  Almost felt like my slalom race skis!  Stable at higher speeds when I backed off the edge angle.
- Skin attachment system is great: goes on/off easily, super secure, and can be peeled back from either the tip or the tail.
- My presentations for the avy course weren’t until the afternoon, so the lead instructor let me and another assistant instructor go out for some lift-served runs. 
- The slope I had skinned up before was now quite slick.  Skis felt great.  So great that I almost went over to the junior race coach to ask the coach if I could try a run in the slalom practice course!  (Figured that would just be too weird though even to ask with the funny-looking skis, odd little bindings, and big ski patrol jacket...)
- Also skied several runs in a tight icy mogul field.  Skis performed quite well here (not that I plan to make a habit of taking this setup for lift-served skiing in moguls...)

Fourth outing:
- Skinned up a long route of snowshoe trails (first tight & rolling, then steep, then open & rolling), then skied a backcountry gladed, then skied some lift-served glades and open slopes.
- Glades were deep wind-packed powder; open slopes were perfectly groomed powder.  Pitch was upper-intermediate at most.
- Skis did quite well given their 73mm and the conditions.  (That is, my brother-in-law on tele gear a bit more narrow than my setup had gone on at length warning me how the deep snow was so dangerous and it was ideal conditions for tearing a knee, etc, and my snowboarder brother-in-law had told me how he got stuck in the powder, etc.) 
- Obviously a wider ski would have been ideal, but they were still fun to ski on in the conditions, although I had to be careful with my technique.
- The skinning on such a super-light setup was obviously a joy!  Basically it’s like having a rando race setup on the ascent but a much more versatile setup for the descent.

I had a chance to ski the Trab Duo Sint Aero in a 171 last weekend. I was reminded of my days in the wine business, when we tried to find wines that "drank above the appellation" (if they were French, at least) - this ski skis "above" its weight class.

Overall, my impression was one of precision (it goes where you point it) and stability (no wavering in largish GS type turns), especially for a 1050 gram ski. As with Jonathan, my point of reference is the TM:11, which is about the same weight. They rode up over piles of corn slush easily and while I didn't ski anything frozen, my gut feeling is that they would have excellent edgehold on hardpack.

Still not a "quiver of one" ski, but for the spring & summer volcano skier with discretionary income I think it's a winner.

Has anyone skied the Atomic Kailas or have experience with how it compares to the Kongur? Dimensions are wider under foot, and some reviews say its stiffer than the Kongur. Seems like it might be a nice option.

I have spent about eight days on 174 Kailas and mounted alpine (5'7", 145). They are a ton of fun. So much fun that I'm putting Dynafits on them and retiring my Havocs to rock ski status. Turn easily, good stability, lively, etc.

Greg

Your question about the TRAB Sint Aero on Ice? I took it up to Hyak on Tuesday. Bottom was 2 fingers, half way 1 finger and the top was sharp ski poles to cut through the ice layer. Over the frozen mess- very inregular- it handled the conditions like an Alpine ski. I attacked it, using the light weight boots and skis it was sort of fun.

I had also skied Adams last summer- blue snow on top and mush at the bottom. They are stiff enough and with the torsional rigidity they hold an edge on the nasty stuff. A fun touring ski and light enough to take out raceing- maybe next year get a real race ski @ 765 g, 160 g bindings- a ski with bindings for well under 1000 g- I got to have one!