 Poster: A snowHead
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Well I am taking my good old piste skis with me, but the forecast is crying snow,snow,snow. Not just any old snow but light fluffy powdery stuff. Should I stick with what I know or should I hire something wider and longer to get the most out of what should be fresh snow even on the piste.
Never been on fats. What are the pitfalls.
Thanks in advance.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Definitely worth giving a try. Biggest difference is when trying to do short radius turns or skiing very quickly. My Karmas (89mm under foot) do neither very well. But they do make the soft stuff a bit easier.
Have a great trip 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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pitfalls, slower to get onto an edge, so be patient....but smile, let 'em rip and enjoy
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Don't hold an edge quite as well, slower through the gates.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Frosty the Snowman, Very little really unless Ice and Racing - Going too fat (especially if straight edges - eg Fatboys) - is a huge jump.
Soft ones make powder and bumps much easier.
Try hiring some - very little in life one can change so easily as skis.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I agree with stoatsbrother: very little difference. The same mantras were trotted out during the transition from "traditional" skinny skis to so-called carvers. I reckon the fatter the better.
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I hired a pair of Volkl Karmas for a day in Wengen (specifically for an off piste lesson) and had an absolute hoot on them hooning around on piste in the morning. OK they weren't as turny as my Rossi Slaloms but they're not supposed to be, but I still had an absolute blast on them, fast, span well, landed well too 
Hire some and see how you get on. I'm waiting til after the EOSB skitest before I commit fully but I reckon a pair of piste skis of my own and hire in a pair of fatboys here and there when conditions allow will be my way forward.
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Frosty the Snowman, sooner or later, off-piste so sooner or later fat skis but not longer, just fatter.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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FenlandSkier, I'm gonna go the opposite way... get myself some mid fats and just hire piste skis if I need them... they have loads of those. Demo'd some 186cm 90mm underfoot twin tips and loved em. reckon the length helps with fast speed stability.
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If you're going all out and renting specifically for off piste, then you may as well try something that's 100+ at the waist. Worst thing is you'll hate them and can go back for something thinner.
I know I'd quite like some properly fat skis for the conditions coming up. 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Frosty the Snowman, I was out on my Big Fats yesterday and Ollski who was skiing on his B2s was able to ski everything that I could but given your size you could need a pair of mono skis!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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No easier or harder when falling onto 2/3m of fresh powder from a great hight.
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saw a bonkers pair of Atomics today - they really were like two mono skis - didn't ge the name  but they were just huge... and that's on a day when every man and his dog over here in davos is on StormRiders and the like. could have Big Daddy's??... looked freaky...
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You know it makes sense.
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red 27, 'THUG'?
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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K2 Pontoons are completely nuts... litterally like a pair of snow boards strapped to your feet. Great in deep powder but hillarious on a piste, you have to lean right over and get them on the edges to get any where. I tend to ski on "fat skis" for everyday use and find them easy to get allong with and great for titting about in snow parks too.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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SMALLZOOKEEPER, in garbure we trust, twin tips sure do look cool, but my only '360's' are involuntary... 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Duret Monstre Fat 186's are the true beasts.
193-177-203..
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Frosty the Snowman, I am pretty useless in the powder, but today, with fairly modest (and very soft) Line Celebrity skis, 90cms wide I think, I did find it easy enough to do some turns in the powder, or to push through the great heaps and gulleys left when everybody else had got there first. You don't have to be any kind of a hero skier or a skinny youth to use fat skis. The only time I find them a bit of a struggle on piste is when the snow is very hardpacked, and that ain't gonna happen any time soon. Go for it, they don't feel that different, you ski them the same sort of way (at least, I do) but they just float better. They are also, at 165cms, rather longer than my everyday skis. I have powder traces but never normally use them, because I feel such a pseud with them - hardly ever being more than 20 metres off the piste. However, today, I realised it could be very difficult to find the skis if they came off; luckily they didn't as it's a real mission getting the skis back on, even if you can find them. Give it a go. I've been practising keeping my feet together and weight equally on both skis, in the hope of some new snow, and it did make a difference. It was when I forgot that I started wallowing around. I enjoyed watching, from the chair lifts, the rather small number of people who looked as if they could ski powder really well. Some of them looked more like I felt, and more than a few were just swimming round in big holes, getting nowhere!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Frosty the Snowman, How much jumping are you intending to do?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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rob@rar, beat me to it! 
I tried a pair of mid-fats last season. Much nicer off piste (although at the time my own skis were only about the width of a Mars bar underfoot...). I never really figured them out on-piste though. Having read a little more on them, and improved my skiing, since the last time out, I reckon I should give another pair a shot, and see if I can get the beasts carving, or at least skidding, nicely.
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At the EoSB 2006 I tried a pair of skis that were 130mm under foot. They were an awful lot of fun in the slush.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Tried the 82mm Movement Spark the week before the MSB, Tried the k2 Seth vicious (98mm) during the MSB... both around the 185 mark
Don't find it 'hard' to ski on... I can skid, I can carve, they are just very slow (Sparks) to SuperSluggish(Seths) in edge change on piste.
Also the Seths put a LOT of sideways pressure (the ski keeps fighting being put on edge) on my knees the moment they are put on something not soft .... which I find very very uncomfortable.
The Sparks only do so a little.
I find the Movements more pleasant and much more agile both in 2 feet powder and on piste... the shovel in the front is almost as big as the Seths... the biggest difference is the waist/sidecut.
Also might just be the Movement is actually slightly softer in the shovel, which should help it out in powder...
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Not hard to jump on them, just don't expect to ski then in the same way and get the same result.
The new Mantras are bigger than their predeccessors and ski very differently, IMV... an absolute hoot and easy as peasy in deep snow... but when the skis gets on a path you have to ride then rather than drive them, IMO
They are never going to be the quickest so don't expect it...that might be the 'problem' more than skis characteristics itself
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Really, really easy if todays exploits are anything to go on.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| I think you mean 90mm |
rob@rar, you're right; never too good with decimal places, me.
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pam w, 
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