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Want to Avoid Waxing Your Skis? Consider DPS Phantom 2.0 If Keeping Skis 3+ Years.

MissySki

Angel Diva
I picked up my skis today, so my Sheevas now have Phantom yay! I was curious though, should I be able to tell anything by looking at the bases? I’m kind of just like, well how would I know if it was actually done? Haha The one thing I did notice is some white residue on some parts of my sidewalls that comes off when I scrape it, so I assume this is from the application. I was also surprised to see some left over wax on the tips, I wouldn’t have assumed they would wax them on top of the Phantom. Is this the norm for anyone else who has had it applied?

My second pair that I picked up and just had tuned without Phantom doesn’t have the white sidewall residue.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
I picked up my skis today, so my Sheevas now have Phantom yay! I was curious though, should I be able to tell anything by looking at the bases? I’m kind of just like, well how would I know if it was actually done?
I put on Phantom at home. They don't particularly look like freshly waxed skis afterwards. In fact, can look more like skis that desperately need a waxing.

I could easily tell something was different during the first run (short green at Massanutten) using Phantom 1.0 on my AJs. They were sticky in an odd way. But after that, they were fine. Didn't have the issue for my old BPs, which I treated with Phantom 2.0.

From what I've read before, newly Phantom'd skis tend to be sticky or grabby for a run or two. Mine weren't. Mine were so slick, I almost fell in the lift line. Someone mentioned REI may have waxed them after the Phantom, specifically to overcome initial stickiness. @Ski Sine Fine -- I wonder if that might be the case with your BPs also.
@vickie noted a while back there was talk of wax being applied after Phantom. Perhaps that's useful to avoid customers complaining that their skis look unwaxed.
 

vickie

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I never noticed any stickiness or grabbiness with my skis either when the Phantom was brand new or after the topcoat of wax wore off. They went from really slick to a normal state and then stayed there.
 

Ski Sine Fine

Angel Diva
I had my BP88s phantom’d at a ski shop in Breckenridge. They put wax on top of the phantom. After a few runs the wax wore down a little so it wasn’t super slick anymore. The skis just kept on gliding on.
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
Are you like to ski before Thanksgiving?

Absolutely! I get my seasonal rental November 1st, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Sunday River will open by that weekend if not before. Long range forecast looks good for the several days leading up to that weekend right now for snowmaking, but still too far out to tell of course. They always target halloween, we’ll see if they make it this season. Of course I won’t be on my Sheevas until the snowpack is safe from early season conditions.
 

Soujan

Angel Diva
It was a sunny day yesterday and I was able to apply Phantom to 3 pairs of skis and cure them. Just have to wait for the snow to come.
 

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marzNC

Angel Diva
Well, THAT's gotta save the guys who maintain the fleet a ton of time.
Perhaps more importantly there will be more people on rental skis who get decent performance in warm conditions. By late season, even at destination resorts like Aspen/Snowmass I doubt the techs are waxing rental skis every 1-2 days they get rented.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Just learned yesterday the store where we bought boots is a Phantom location. Next closest to us are Pittsburgh and Minneapolis.
I have a feeling the midwest and mid-Atlantic will be the last regions where shops will invest in a Phantom Cure Station. Perhaps because the period for spring skiing is relatively short. That's when recreational skiers who don't home wax after every ski day can benefit the most from investing in Phantom for skis they intend to keep for a while.

People at Alta paid a lot more attention to me when I talked about my Phantom skis in April when the temperatures were in the 40s or 50s and they were quitting for the day by 2:30 instead of 3:30 or 4:00.

The number of Cure Stations in CA and CO has increased noticeably since last March (Post #53).

Screen Shot 2019-11-11 at 10.33.51 PM.png
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
One of the Aussies who treated DPS A112 skis for use last season skied them 35 days, mostly in Japanese powder. He had Phantom 2.0. He's quite happy and plans to treat another pair of skis as soon as there is a Cure Station at a ski shop in Japan.

My Absolut Joys were treated with Phantom 1.0 in January 2018. I did it DIY at home (central NC). Have used them for about 25 days, mostly in the Mid-Atlantic and northeast.

I treated my old Black Pearls (2011, 88mm) a year ago at home with Phantom 2.0. A lot easier only needing an hour of sun for each cure period. Was very happy with the performance at Alta in April on warm days. Going to do a stone grind on them since now it's worth keeping them as rock skis for driving trips when bringing 2-3 pairs of skis is a reasonable option.
 

Soujan

Angel Diva
I've applied Phantom to 4 pairs of skis. I've taken each of them to the local skis shop or REI to get a base grind to remove the wax. Each time I also said not to wax them and that I would be applying Phantom and each time the person at the shop had no idea what I was talking about.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
I've applied Phantom to 4 pairs of skis. I've taken each of them to the local skis shop or REI to get a base grind to remove the wax. Each time I also said not to wax them and that I would be applying Phantom and each time the person at the shop had no idea what I was talking about.
That's pretty common in the east. I found the same around Boston last winter. Those people also have usually not heard of DPS skis, which are well known out west. One guy in a ski shop was a snowboarder, so had even less reason to know about DPS as a company.

As the number of Cure Stations increase in a region, word starts getting around about the performance on snow. But there are still plenty of skeptics who think Phantom can't possibility last for the life of a ski even though there are reports from people who have used treated skis for 100+ days over the last couple seasons.
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
I've applied Phantom to 4 pairs of skis. I've taken each of them to the local skis shop or REI to get a base grind to remove the wax. Each time I also said not to wax them and that I would be applying Phantom and each time the person at the shop had no idea what I was talking about.

Hopefully this will be changing. Just this fall the REI closest to me in MA put in a curing station, and then we have Proctor in southern NH as well. When I was at Ski Monster in Boston recently they knew about Phantom, but also carry DPS skis. Seemed like there is some potential for them acquiring a curing station in the future. Well, they may be interested anyway. The owner said that they had been asked by DPS if they wanted to be a treatment site prior to the availability of the curing stations, and had to decline because they had nowhere to cure skis in the sun being in the middle of the city as they are. He didn’t know that REI and Proctor already had stations so close by, maybe that will spur some discussion with DPS for them.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Perhaps only tangentially related to the discussion about Phantom . . . co-founder Stephen Drake has left DPS. The COO has taken over as CEO. Drake has been the DPS person talking about Phantom with Blister Gear since it's introduction.

Nov. 12, 2019 with update on Nov. 13, Blister
DPS Skis founder, Stephan Drake, no longer with DPS
"Stephan Drake, who founded DPS in 2005, is no longer with the company.

Our understanding is that differences arose between Stephan and one of DPS’ investors, and those disagreements led to Stephan’s departure.
. . .


Update: 11.13.19 — Statement from Stephan Drake

I spoke with Stephan earlier today, and in addition to our conversation, he also provided this statement:

“To clarify, the change in control at DPS this late summer was the result of a hostile takeover by a single investor who yielded a large economic hammer. Based on positive growth, an innovative pipeline, and future vision, I had the support of the other investors, the board of directors, advisory board as well as new investors from both inside and outside the industry. Our collective efforts were ultimately blocked.

That is the extent of what I will say regarding the past at this point in time.

After a few months of what felt like mourning a stolen child–– something that I poured my entire soul, creativity and existence into for fifteen years, I am now exploring new ventures. The best brands possess an intense and inherent top-to-bottom respect and loyalty to mission and culture. I am energized to pursue fresh innovation with a tight group of talented people with the right principles and values. Announcements pending in the upcoming months.”

We will be extremely interested to see what the future holds both for Stephan and for DPS."
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
The Australian instructor I mentioned in Posts 137-138 finally got around to writing up his assessment from using alpine skis treated with Phantom. He was on his tele skis for the latter part of the Aussie ski season.

https://www.ski.com.au/xf/threads/d...someone-who-works-on-snow.85105/#post-4099225
"All up I ended up with 25 days on my alpine skis and the recommendation I made above has only firmed up. Looking at the pricing if you don't tune your own skis and are paying for a iron wax and average three days between waxes you break even after about 15 days on snow. Assuming Phantom lasts the lifetime of the skis you're ahead, I can certainly say your ahead if you only ski 25 days on a pair of skis.

With that in mind Phantom is for you if:

  • You don't wax your own skis and will ski at least 15 more days on that pair
  • You wax your own skis with a universal hydrocarbon wax or worse
  • If you're travelling and don't want to use up baggage allowance on all of your tuning stuff.
Phantom isn't for you if:
[*]You love tuning your own skis and use a LF Wax or better
[*]You only ski less than 15 days on a pair of skis before selling them for the latest and greatest
[*]You do any racing
[*]You're a cross country skier"
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
The DPS distributor for Australia wrote up a succinct description of the current treatment process done by a shop with a Cure Station and experienced staff. As mentioned earlier in this thread, shops started using a single application formula.

"5 minutes prep, 5 minutes application, 20 minutes in the Cure Station and 5 minutes with the rotor brush."

Still going to take a while for the Aspen ski shops to treat all of their 2300 rental skis, plus this season's demo skis. But not having to wax rental skis all season certainly will save staff time in the long run. Should mean less hours spent after closing time getting ready for the next morning.
 

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