(Long) Review: Fat-ypus Alotta
Details, details;
My details: 5'6", 145lbs, "expert" skier, over 100 days so far this season
Ski details: 180cms, 172-140-158, with s912ti demo binder.
Conditions: 7" new after sun for 2+ weeks. wind affected. Dust on crust in
a few spots
Terrain: Mostly black and double black - mix of open bowls, trees, steep
groomers, snow covered bumps of varying shapes and sizes and a few groomers to get about (for those that know Breck - Imperial, 6, Contest and Horshoe bowls)
http://www.biglines.com/photos/norma...ines_54787.jpg
So, first of all, these are retardedly fat. The shovel is the size of my head, and then some. People can't help but look, gape, and then make comments about these things. There is definitely no 'under the radar' when you have these things on, or with, you.
http://www.biglines.com/photos/norma...ines_54788.jpg
L-R; Atua (96mm), Alotta (140mm), SnowRanger (79mm), Riu (80mm)
Anyway, once I finally clicked in, I had a 9ish min lift ride to get towards the goods. Nothing unusual in that, except that I noticed how light they are for a ski this size. Having not had to walk around with them much I'd not really noticed, but for the amount of ski they are, they don't weigh a ton, due to the lack of any metallic layers. A tick in the good column.
Sitting in the chair looking at them dwarf my Girlfriend's (standard issue) Phat Luv's, I realized the length though. At only 180, there is not a lot of nose length on these, although certainly huge surface area.
http://www.biglines.com/photos/norma...ines_54789.jpg
Heading from one lift to another means only a short (~1min) glide down a green access trail. Groomed, but narrowish, I have my first chance to try to edge them. They actually roll over on to an edge quite easily, although at first I'm not sure if I am on one or not, as I expect it to take longer to get to! However, another few turns, and I'm surprised how (relatively) easily these change edge. The trail narrows into an area of Gaper Slalom, and its time to see how the tails release. Again, they do as asked, allowing me to throw them sideways and dump speed with ease. Another couple of plus points for them so far. This also makes me feel at ease to take them to upper mtn stuff, and being able to vary the turn type and shape with not too may problems.
Getting off the next lift, I am confronted with my next variation to try them - HARDpack.
With all the high pressure and sun Summit has had for the last few weeks, them trail is firm, to say the least. Add in that a short (~80yd) steepish pitch has all the punters sideslip any and all snow off, makes this fun at the best of times. I point them down the fall-line and start to roll onto edge. Whilst, hardly the grip of a WC slalom, they don't break away to death slide. I also take my first miniscule air on them, popping off a pile of fresh pushed up by the gapers. I hardly notice the landing, and point them to make the next lift.
The first real test is about to come. Standing atop Horseshoe, the wind is -typically- blowing and has removed all the new, leaving just the wind scoured bumps that lead in. They are reasonably tight and creates a weird experience. The width forces the skis to not occupy the same line. Talk about two footed technique! However, these aren't meant for bumps, and a few strange turns/smears later it's bowl time.
The snow is probably 4-6" deep, with a few tracks in it. I start by smearing the tails around and they cross the fall-line easily. However, I'm not running at much speed, and it feels like work. I straighten them out some more, and get a better response. They want, and need, some more speed. Towards the bottom the snow is more tracked out, so I start to use the edges more. Keep the speed at medium and up, and these plow the chop like few others I've been on recently - the big tip just goes over anything, and the flex absorbs anything else without being blue noodley.
Back across a groomer to a different aspect, more trees and hopefully better snow. Along the way, I notice that I seem to feel more dominate on my uphill/inside edge. A quick glance down reveals the reason - my stance. In order to stop myself catching the skis on each other, I'm finding it hard to keep my outside/downhill ski from moving away from my C.O.G so far. Having only just got on them, I dont worry too much, I'm sure it will come once I get more familiar with them, and I start to shorten my uphill/inside leg some.
I wait at the lift for my Girl who's caught behind some Gaper's and hear a comment from a middle aged woman on some middle of the road Salomons. She can't help but be astounded by how 'enormous that guy's skis are'. Up to the top and more wind. The snow is scoured down to icy hardpack again, but the knee deep those under the lift are skiing, makes it hard to resist. Vis is low, so I head to the slightly mellower side of the bowl. As I traverse, the tips submarine under the snow. Hmmmm....
I drop in to the fall-line, and again the tips start to submarine. I rock back on to my heels,and bring the tips up. I straight line some, to plane the tips on to the top of the snow, and start to make turns. However, my weight has gone to a forward, more aggressive, position, and again the tips dive. This sucks. Big negatives here....
I ride the rest of the bowl out from my heels, and get down to some chop, windblown and less deep in the trees. Keeping the speed up, I bounce a few winddrifts, and blast some chop. Crossing a packed section, I feel the weird sensation of the uphill edge bearing more of the control. I drop back into the chop and tracked, and blast it back down to the lift. My girlfriend is feeling the cold, so we step into the warming hut. Leaving the skis resting by a few snowboards its obvious once again how retardedly fat they are.
http://www.biglines.com/photos/norma...ines_54790.jpg
A few more runs, and not much seems to change. I take a groomer down, and have some fun rolling onto the edges and letting them run wide, as fortunately the weather has removed a lot of people from the mtn. Just for a laugh, I take a lap through the baby park, and hit a few cheese wedges and the snow filled mini pipe. Going back to a more smearing action, they do surpisingly well on the wedges, but obviously suck in the pipe, mostly because of the difficulty in predicting the way the edges would bite
Overall: Disappointing. As fat as they were, they didn't do it in the Pow, despite the width. They great in the chop, but overall there are other skis that do better than these, especially in the pow. And for $800 and a ski that is marketed as 'the' ski for pow, it blows that they don't do it.
However, I think if the mount point was moved back ~2cms to help reduce the tip dive, and more time on them, they could work. However, after today, it reconfirms my personal thoughts that anything bigger than 110mm underfoot needs to have something different to make them work - swallowtail, inverse sidecut or camber, something. Traditional shapes that are fed steriods just dont provide anything you can't get from slightly skinnier models already out there a la Gotama, Squads, Daddies, etc. which also give you much more versatility.
