Spatula stability

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Originally Posted by funkendrenchman

70-80 days? It is IMPOSSIBLE to carve the Spatulas. You can edge them but not carve.

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70-80 days seems pretty extreme.... maybe a day or 2?

i wouldn't say the spats "carve", but i would say on hardpack it's possible to work the tails (from the heel of the boot to the back of the tail) so that you sort of get the end of a carve. works pretty well, but you can't pressure your tips at all on that stuff.

i would think that if most people heard it would take 70-80 days to get comfortable with a ski, they'd completely avoid it. that's 5-10 years for many people. most wouldn't wait 80 days for greatness..they'd just stick with what they are using and get decent results in the meantime.

i felt a little awkward on 'em the first day, with great moments sprinkled in...but they started to really shine after day 2 & beyond.

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Originally Posted by Z

PS. You DO know there is a huge twin on these right?:fm:

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Yeah marshal - what happened to that "all twin tip skis suck" stuff? ;)

Incidentally, I just grabbed the last pair of ANTs from backcountry.com. :yourock:

Enjoying this thread as I just grabbed my buddies Spats for the weekend.

Truth be told, they are for Britney to try out this weekend. I have 130 tip skis in my quiver, but she has never been on anything larger than Explosives. I am excited to see how they treat her.....hope day 1 isnt too weird.

Hey, Huckwheat...You've probably already seen this (it's from McConkey's 'Mental Floss'), but I thought I'd post it here just in case. Good info for your girl.

The first part (skiing on both feet) shouldn't be much of a stretch as most skiing on fat skis in pow these days is done with 50-50 weighting...hell, even WC racers are carving with the downhill inside edge/big toe & uphill outside edge (little toe). When the Spats came out, that was a bit more of a foreign concept.

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Ski on both feet!

Put your weight a bit more on two feet throughout the turn instead of mostly on your downhill ski. This will help you stay afloat and facilitate sliding when you need to. You will also be able to load up your downhill ski as you normally would in most soft snow situations but knowing how and when to use both feet will greatly increase your abilities with the Spatulas. Sun crust and wind affect are prime examples of when to use both feet. In these conditions the Spatulas will blow your mind. Normally these conditions would require you to slow way down and be very careful not to hook a tip. Not anymore. Ski on two feet and let ‘er rip!


Slide instead of carve!

Yes, believe it or not this is something that you should be trying to do in the powder. Sliding will be the most difficult of Spatula techniques to learn but you should be able to get the idea in time. Even if you never attempt to learn slides you will still be able to blow doors on everyone else without Spatulas. Who knows, you might just naturally start doing them anyway. The more dense and compacted the snow is the easier it will be to perform slides. Sliding will greatly improve your maneuverability and control. Begin your powder turn and then instead of hitting your edges hard to carve a turn, stand up on two feet and let your skis slide or skid diagonally across the fall line. It will be harder to perform a slide directly down the fall line. Start off doing them diagonally.
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1st time on them I thopught I'd warm up. After 2 turns I thought "I'll drop that 15 footer over there" the rest has been nothing but skigasm. These skis rock!!! and yes, if you can get enough of the edge into thesnow and flex the ski, they will carve.

Spatulas good:
Dropping speed
Dropping huge air (just stomp it don't worry about slapping / checking)
Fast arcing turns.

Spatulas bad:
Icy runs
Rock hard bumps
Why do you want to ski that?

Can't wait to try the Pontoons.
Oh yeah, I found their bases a little too soft to ski rocks.

this thread might benefit by including mounting location data. or has every spat user here, with favorable or unfavorable results at speed in open terrain, been using identical midsole mounting locations?

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Originally Posted by El Chupacabra

Yeah marshal - what happened to that "all twin tip skis suck" stuff? ;)

Incidentally, I just grabbed the last pair of ANTs from backcountry.com. :yourock:

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everyone kept telling me it was because the twins i hated were all too soft, and the ants are about as stiff as twins get... so i'll give them a try. if no love, then i'll sell them and get something else.

oh, and i guess i'll bump that thread again :D

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Originally Posted by Bucky Mullet

Oh yeah, I found their bases a little too soft to ski rocks.

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Weird, everyone I know who has Spatulas says the opposite. I've hit some really mean rocks with them and I have yet to get a core shot. Which is amazing considering how thin the base seems.

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Originally Posted by frorider

this thread might benefit by including mounting location data. or has every spat user here, with favorable or unfavorable results at speed in open terrain, been using identical midsole mounting locations?

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Mine are mounted at the midsole mark on the red plastic riser doohickey attached by Volant.

I have two powder days experience with Spats in a foot-and-a-half of Big Sky powder. They were fun, but no more fun than my Sugars, which I traded back and forth to compare.
Trying to ski those things on roads and hard packed runouts was such a downside to those suckers that I was relieved to finally have my NoKaOi's and Sugars back. Incredibly unstable at speed on groomers and packed/rutted traverses. I don't ever need to try them again.






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"Oozing with sincerity."

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Originally Posted by El Chupacabra

Mine are mounted at the midsole mark on the red plastic riser doohickey attached by Volant.

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I found that my red plastic thing isnt line up on the ski, so I wouldnt mount by just using that for a guide....

i dont remember exactly, but they were off laterally 1-2mm..

If you don't like the feel of spats in powder, there's something you're not doing right.