If you’re a wheelie hero like us your skis likely spend most of their time in the air. Regardless you still need them. Here at Sledheadzzz we choose to use Slydog Skis. Below we go into depth on the 8″ Powder Hound and what we like and don’t like about them.
The widest ski on Slydog’s line-up, the 8″ Powder Hound was built for floatation in the mountain powder. The floatation needed to keep heavy sleds, like four strokes, on top of the powder. This floatation comes from it’s deep channel and eight inch platform. Another key feature of this ski is the precise spindle mount location for improved handling and side-hilling. This skis reverse angle keel is designed to keep packed snow between the keel and channel to prevent darting therefore improving handling. This process all starts at the front of the ski with their unique snow induction process. An angled tail allows sledders to keep there skis on top of the snow when using reverse. These skis will cost you $385 without a mounting kit and carbides and before shipping and handling. Now lets see the specs!
Specs
Width: 8 inches
Length: 42.5 inches
Keel Height: 1.25 inches
Weight: 6.6 lbs
Our Thoughts
First of all we put the 8″ Powder Hound on our 2016 Polaris Pro RMK. Now you are probably wondering why we put such a wide ski, meant for heavy sleds, on the lightest sled on the market. The only reason we did this was because Slydog had not yet came out with their “Attack” ski which dominates all other mountain skis.
When it comes to customization Slydog is above all others. With 19 colors to choose from and 3 different patterns (solid, urban camo, swirl) your options are nearly limitless. This is one feature we really enjoyed. We went with the swirl pattern in black and white. They look amazing!
On The Mountain
On the mountain we had no issues with this ski. From the trail to deep powder the ski preformed better than we expected. Initially we thought this ski wouldn’t handle the best on the trail, because of how wide it is. It surprised us with its cornering and lack of darting. This ski is still not the ideal candidate for the trails if that’s what you are riding the majority of the time. We suggest checking out their trail ski if this is true for you. In the powder the 8″ Powder Hound was fantastic, it provided plenty of floatation and did great side-hilling from what we experienced.
Our list of dislikes is far from exhausting. The only downfall to these skis is frankly that they are big. They are a tad heavy compared to other skis and can be a little clunky- BUT that is why they are the 8″ Powder Hounds…
In conclusion we would recommend this ski. If you take mountain riding very intensely we hear the Attack Ski is the best choice as it prides itself as the “king of the mountain.” We have not yet tried the Attack Ski, but we plan on running those next!
