A little background, 31 years old and I ski mostly in the Pacific Northwest. I would consider myself a level 3 or 3+ skier. Unfortunately real life has really limited the amount of days I get in a season to less than 10. Luckily my work schedule is extremely flexible so I can pretty much ditch any time I want. That means the few days a year I do get in are usually on powder days.
This season, I looked around at the skis everyone else was using compared to my old Rossi Bandits and decided it was time for an upgrade. I knew I wanted something fatter since I'm usually out on powder days and I found a deal on some 189 Surface One Lifes that I decided to jump on.
My question is on where to mount the bindings. Every ski I have ever gotten has already had binding mounted on them so I have never given that aspect of equipment any thought. Until I started researching the One Lifes, I didn't even know that people mounted their bindings in different locations. Surface recommends a center-mount on their website. However, I have read about people mounting them slightly further back. I am kind of lost on the issue at this point.
While my skiing is mostly limited to resorts, I am always ducking into the trees or heading off trails ducking rope lines trying to find fresh pow, steep lines and any sort of challenging terrain. The only time I find myself on the groomers is when I'm trying to scope some untracked snow or on my way to the lodge for a beer. I do like to also do the little jumps you'll find on the sides of groomers as well as drops, but usually nothing bigger than 10 feet.
In my youth I used to also get into the park, but I've pretty much gone with the Murtaugh philosophy on park riding ("I'm too old for that S#@%"). Maybe once a season I will get the idea to relive my youth and hit up the park, do a couple of laps, make a fool of myself, get laughed at by kids 1/2 my age and call it good on park riding for a season. Basically park riding (and riding switch, which I rarely do) don't really factor into my binding placement decision.
Based on what I read, I'm thinking a -2 would probably be right for me, but would love to get some input before I take them into the shop. Any advice is appreciated.