You’ll have no excuse for a lack of floatation with the La Sportiva Capo. Dimensions: 139mm, 117mm, 128mm in the 178cm length.
La Sportiva hit the drawing board to reimagine its lightweight deep snow offering in the 117 mm underfoot Capo. We’re giving it a spin in Alaska this season.
I am a skier. I am also a spearfisherman.
When the snow melts and the freezer empties, I spend much of my time holding my breath with a speargun in Prince William Sound, hunting for fish. When I first saw a spearo pictured on the top sheet of the La Sportiva Capo, I had to give them a try.
Sportiva describes these monster 117mm underfoot skis as “deep sea floatation” offering “the ultimate snorkel for the powdery depths of winter bliss.” Just my ticket after a very beat up pair of pow skis blew to smithereens on an early winter ski tour involving low tide alders, skiing down a creek, an unmedicated sidewall crack, and Cody Townsend. I seem to remember the topic of spearfishing came up in conversation that day, so clearly trying out the Capo was fated…
While I’ve been skiing the Capo as an all around pow ski, mostly for general touring/hippy turns, my first day on the Capo was a line I’ve been eyeing for years in the Girdwood Valley. Southcentral AK has had an abysmal season down low, and a bit of snow and stability finally lines up unfortunately the word was that snow quality didn’t join the party, but who cares. So, standing at the top of a 2200 ft booter in the Chugach, about to make a don’t-fall-here jump turn into our line, Eric asked, “is this your first run on those skis?”
“Yup!”
On your back, the Capo (178cm) won’t exactly weigh you down with its 1440g/ski heft.
Although not necessarily a steep ski, the Capo, with its large surface area, makes for a solid stance in steep soft snow terrain.
The snow was pretty terrible (until the fan below our line, which skis money). What I learned right out of the gate was that at a mere 1440 grams (in a 178 cm), jump turns on a 117 mm are a piece of cake! Did this featherweight ski bust through the crud? No. Was it easy to edge? No. Is it an objective ski? No. Did I break trail the whole day, because I barely noticed what was on my feet, and have a total hoot hopping down chunder then surfing good snow once we found it below the meat of the line? Yes!
For years, La Sportiva has hired designers who specialize in magical thinking–I mean this as a compliment. The Capo is lighter than my 94 mm underfoot daily driver. The lightest ski in its size, it is a magic trick. Of course with so little weight, you give up some performance – this is not a ‘quiver-of-one’ ski. It is a master of long days, winter water ski, that excels at what it is designed for — floatation. It is a deep snow ski.
While that first day out of the gate was a fun, albeit silly, introduction to the Capo, I know the lane it’s best suited for. We’ve had just enough Turnagain Pass pow to get out and see how these things ride. A PVC foam, paulownia wood core with aluminium stringers, strengthened by a carbon layup and fiberglass reinforced mounting plate, gives an impressive power to weight ratio. They ski short and squirrely in variable or hard snow, no surprise. Who cares? In light snow, they are responsive and fun. In heavy wet snow, they are surfy and fun. The Capo: agile, light, easy to turn when the water is right.
In its deep snow element: the La Sportiva Capo.
2.5 mm of camber (rocker-camber-rocker profile), a 139-117-128 profile, 20 m turning radius, UHMW sidewall, and (60%) recycled steel edge complete the Capo’s offering. Should you only own a 117 mm? Probably not. But, if you have room for a dedicated pow ski in the quiver and like long tours, big vert, or just have weak quads, these are the ticket. To me, they feel quite a bit like a lighter DPS Wailer – surfs up. I am surprised at how far light skis have come in the past decade. Cap-construction, chatter-boxes, that fell apart after three outings and didn’t really turn, used to be the option if you wanted to save weight on wide boards—no longer so. The Capo is a well-built featherweight ski, with a good powder profile, snappy turn, and fun ride.
My biggest gripe is that the spear fisherman in the ski graphics is diving on a tank—the Capo has freedive vibes through and through if you ask me.
Wide skis (117mm) means pow surfing deep snow and maybe channeling your inner spearfisher.
It’s not only powder days for our Alaska-based writer. Sometimes it’s time to seek a meal.
