Phat ore tiny ski?

[Vemund]

I am in desperate need of new skies, and i have seen in the latest movies, that they use fat and wide skies. what is the purpose of this outside the slopes and powder? i now have salomon teneighty foil, and are pretty pleased with those. but they dont work that great in the deep snd steep which i mostly ride... so, if anyone can explain and recomend some a new pair of skis i would be greatful!

vemund /

 

[TexMurphy]

Well the fatter the ski the more float you get in deep snow and the more float you have the better you can manouver in low speeds. With a more narrow ski you need more speed to start floating. If its deep and very soft then it can be hard to gain enough speed to start floating on a narrower ski as the drag you create while sinking is so high.

If you look at a movie like Beleive then you see them skiing alot of tight deep pow tree lines. If you ski lines like that on very narrow skis then you will be sinking all the time. Also in lines like that you want a soft tip section of the ski so that you can initiate your turns quicker and easier. A soft tail section makes it easier to "sink" the tail and hence lift the tip out of the snow, which makes it more manouverable and increases the float.

Ofcourse there are downsides. A soft tip can make the ski unstable at high speeds and a soft tail can hurt the stability of the turn on harder snow and hence reduce grip.

Basicly you could divide the fat skis in two cathegories one for deep powder slower speed tighter treesking and the second cathegory open area bit harder but still deep snow big turns and straight lines.

The first cathegory is very usefull in British Colombia and the second one is very usefull in Chamonix. Typical skis out of each cathegory would be Völkl Gotama, Goodha 114 and 4FRNT VCT on the first one and Dynastar XXL, 4FRNT EHP 193, Movement Goliath on the second one.

Ofcourse there are skis that are "in between" these two cathegories but I find it a good way to generalize the skis because it helps you understand what you want and need.

If your gonna go to BC and ski bowls then for god sake dont bring a a Dyna XXL and same if you wana go to Cham and straightline big mountains dont go for a Gotama.

Tex