Ski: 2015-2016 Moment Exit World 194 cm
Available Lengths: 178cm, 186cm, 194 cm
Actual Tip-to-Tail Length (straight tape pull): 191 cm
Stated Dimensions (mm): 130-118-30
Blister’s Measured Weight per Ski: 2014 & 1974 grams
Stated Sidecut Radius (194 cm): 31 meters
Core Construction: Paulownia / Ash
Mount Location: -1.5 cm from “Standard” Line
Boots:
- Salomon MTN Lab with Intuition Powerwrap liner
- Dynafit TLT6 Performance with Intuition Powerwrap Liner
Bindings: G3 Ion
Days Tested: 15
Test Locations: Chugach Mountains, Alyeska Resort, & Arctic Valley Ski Area, Alaska
Introduction
Moment says about the Exit World:
“With a new touring ski joining the lineup, we turned back to the Exit World and asked ourselves, “Why compromise, when what we want is an AT ski that absolutely slays powder?” The new Exit World is the result of that revelation. Radically different from the Bibby-based first generation, the new Exit World is a backcountry powder hound par excellence, featuring Triple Camber, Flat Rocker, and our Low-Fat Layup—in essence, it’s a narrower and lighter Ghost Train that’s easier to haul back up for more face shots.”
When preparing to head to Japan in December, I knew I was going to take my DPS Spoons that I always bring, but I wanted a narrower powder ski in case I spent a day riding lifts or otherwise encountered shallower or more tracked up snow. On my short list was the new Moment Exit World.
At around 2000 g per ski in the 194 cm length, plus a long, smooth rocker profile and a width of 118 mm, it seemed like it would make a nice all-around powder touring ski. But due to a relatively poor winter in Japan in late December and excellent skiing around southcentral Alaska, I decided to keep it at home this year, and I’ve spent most of the last month ski touring and sled skiing on the Exit World, primarily around Turnagain Pass and the surrounding area.
Triple Camber
The Exit World features what Moment cales their “Triple Camber Tech.” In their words it’s “twin micro-cambers within the center camber of the ski, restoring pop to the tip and tail and stiffening the overall profile of the ski while maintaining the loose feel of a rocker / camber design. In powder, the low center and rockered ends allow you to float and slash. On hardpack, the micro-cambers bite with focused pressure into the snow, making the shorter effective edge more effective in the turn. In variable conditions, Triple Camber adds confidence without making the ski sluggish or hard to initiate.”
I’ll take a closer look at how Triple Camber actually affects the ride of the ski further down.
Flex
The Exit World is soft to medium-soft in the shovels, and is a little stiffer underfoot before becoming medium-soft again in the tails.
Sizing
I don’t usually have much struggle deciding on ski length, but with a 194 cm and 186 cm option, and my initial intention of skiing tight trees in Japan, I wasn’t quite sure which length would make the most sense to review.
But a couple friends in Alaska had already skied a few months on the 15/16 Exit World, and unanimously recommended that I get the longest version possible based on how short the ski felt in all conditions. So we went with the 194 cm version, and after a month of skiing them, I can’t imagine having gone shorter.
In powder, I’ve never wished for a shorter ski, and even while making quick turns in more technical terrain, the Exit World feels quite light and quick. And on any kind of firm snow, I’m not sure if it’s the deep rocker profile, the medium-soft flex, or its “Triple Camber,” but I found the Exit World to be difficult to carve into a clean turn, and often feel quite twitchy (which I’ll explore more below), so I wouldn’t want to give up any effective edge by going shorter.
Mount Position
When I placed my boot at the recommended boot center mark on the new Exit World, it seemed like I was too far forward. I chatted with a few friends who’d been skiing the 186 cm version, and and both felt like they were better a 1-2 cm behind the recommended mark. Our local Moment rep reported that he usually goes at recommended, but that many people are going -2cm.
After some deliberation with the guys at Powderhound Ski Shop, I settled on -1.5 cm from recommended. I haven’t second guessed that decision once, and I feel like it’s the right spot for me. At -1.5 cm, the Exit World doesn’t feel quite as pivoty and playful as the Whitedot Redeemer Carbonlite (which is, admittedly, 10 mm wider underfoot) and the EW would probably feel a little more playful with a slightly forward mount, but overall, the ski feels well balanced with just enough tip up front.
In general, I think the soft flex and rocker profile give the 194 cm Exit World a pretty big sweet spot, and that they’d be equally fun on the line. Occasionally while skinning, it does feel like I still have a lot of tail for the steepest kick turns, but this balance point allows for the tips to easily come up and around.
Skinning
My days on the Exit World are pretty evenly split between sled skiing (gaining all of the vertical skied by riding the snowmachine to the top) vs. days of ski touring. I used them with my (current) favorite BD Mohair pure STS skins, and found that the BD tail hooks work great with the tail cutouts on the Exit World. As mentioned above, the mount point allows for a nicely balanced ski, even on tight, steep switchbacks, despite the 194 cm length.
Powder
Moment built the Exit World to be a touring ski that “absolutely slay powder,” and the ski doesn’t disappoint.
One of my first days on them was a deep day of low density snow, where we skied sled laps on Turnagain Pass. The first drop in was about 10-15 feet off of a wind feature, and I landed a bit farther forward than I wanted to. The relatively soft flex and rocker profile kept me from going over the tips, and I spent the rest of the day cranking out lap after lap of the deepest snow I’ve skied in Alaska this season.
There were a few times that day when I wished I had been on a fatter, surfier pow ski like the DPS Spoon, Lotus 138, or even the Whitedot Redeemer, but overall, the Exit World was super fun. More than once I slashed into some nice features, and direction changes were easy when skiing in and around the rocks and chutes in some of the zones.
Over the next few weeks I skied all kinds of pow on these, from ankle-deep creamy pow, to boot-top blower, to wind-affected snow that was almost knee deep.
In boot-top pow, the Exit World would still allow for longer, drifted turns, and in shallower conditions, they felt quite loose.
In deeper snow they definitely don’t have the same ability to change direction rapidly and surf across the fall line like the DPS Lotus 138 (138mm underfoot) or Spoon (148mm underfoot), but the Exit World is much narrower underfoot.
Compared to skis I’ve been on recently that are of similar width (the Volkl Shiro and the Fairweather Skis Chilkat), the Exit World provides more float and are a little looser than the other two in untracked powder. On the downside, at higher speeds, the Exit World tends to fold up a bit in the tips compared to the Shiro or the Chilkat, which is a little unnerving when pushing them hard—especially in the runouts of some bigger, more sluffed-out terrain.
In more featured terrain with ribs and ridges and airs, the Exit World is quite nimble and easy to toss around. I had one of my best sled skiing runs of the year on them when I got first tracks on a thin ridge feature down the middle of an 800 ft face that kept rolling steeper and steeper in smooth, boot-top pow. It would have been great on any ski, but the light swing weight and easy maneuverability of the Exit World made for a great ride. Rocketing out the bottom was a little less inspiring, however, as I again felt the skis start to fold up a little during small compressions at the bottom. But overall, they have been a blast in powder.
I should also note that in powder, the Exit World is very forgiving of skier positioning. While they seem happiest being skied from a neutral, centered position, they also ski just fine when leaning back a little and steering from the backseat.
NEXT: Chalky, Shallow Powder (Dust on Crust), Chop, Etc.