Gotamas are out. What to do for an AT setup now???

[altagirl]

So I bought some 183 Gotamas. Like new, but they'd been drilled for Marker demo bindings.

And I took them to BD today to get them mounted with Fritschis, but no luck. The existing holes mean it would be either +7 (and I don't like center mounted bindings in the first place) or -25. Because as soon as you get away from one hole it hits another one, or the holes for the heel would be in a bad spot.

Dammit, dammit, dammit.

I have a set of P12s that can go on there, and I can just use them as an alpine setup. I'd like to have some short Bros for a touring setup, but that could be next season for all we know at this point.

So apparently I don't own enough skis... (I know... )

I have:

160 SX-9's - ice and groomers only.
167 Phat Luvs - resort days for a mix of groomers, trees, etc.
183 Gotamas - resort pow days
180 Big Stix 106 - Honestly I could sell these but they have a compressed edge (meaning they wouldn't be worth much anyway) and I think I'm just going to put demo bindings on them and let people borrow them on pow days.
178 Hippy Stinx - tele. And I'm just not good enough at telemarking to tour in other than perfect snow.

And nothing is jumping out at me to turn into an AT setup.

So walking out of Black Diamond the 172 Teledaddies that are on sale were looking pretty nice. I should probably demo some stuff and see. But now I have new touring bindings sitting in my car that I'm dying to mount on something... And I would much rather go touring than pay for lift tickets to Brighton. Maybe I should just flail around on the tele gear some more until I get the hang of it.

[bagtagley]

Pistols or SVs? Teledaddies seem like a good option. What about some T-Rocks? Pocket Rockets are nice and light, don't you have some of those lying around?

[marshalolson]

180 Big Stix 106 - Honestly I could sell these but they have a compressed edge (meaning they wouldn't be worth much anyway) and I think I'm just going to put demo bindings on them and let people borrow them on pow days.

put fritschis on here?

[LaramieSkiBum]

what about using Naxos instead of freerides? What would that do for your screw holes?

If you want to sell your freerides and they are medium let me know.

[runethechamp]

Without knowing your skiing preferences, wouldn't the Phat Luv's or Hippies work as a touring ski (if you wanted to use one of your existing ones)? In any case it seemed kind of odd to use the biggest (and maybe heaviest, don't know about the weight of the Goats) ski as the touring ski. Just my opnion (I don't even have a touring setup myself )

[yesIsaidyes]

I think you can pick up Karhu Jils right now pretty cheap - esp. in 180 which if you were going to tour on the Gots is an ok length, little lighter, lot softer...

[altagirl]

what about using Naxos instead of freerides? What would that do for your screw holes?

If you want to sell your freerides and they are medium let me know.

They are a medium, but they're Explores, not Freerides. I figured I don't need the higher DIN so the lighter weight sounded nice. And they're cheaper and come with return springs.

Anyway - I guess I could take them back to BD and see if they could line up some Naxos on there and see how those would fit.

[altagirl]

Pistols or SVs? Teledaddies seem like a good option. What about some T-Rocks? Pocket Rockets are nice and light, don't you have some of those lying around?

Those PR's are Craig's. And they're pretty thrashed.

I'll have to search around and see if I can find any screaming deals on any of the above.

[marshalolson]

Those PR's are Craig's. And they're pretty thrashed.

I'll have to search around and see if I can find any screaming deals on any of the above.

again, those slightly worked 106's would be perfect b/c skis... compressed edge don't matter in th b/c. they are fairly light and soft yet still nice and fat.

[altagirl]

Without knowing your skiing preferences, wouldn't the Phat Luv's or Hippies work as a touring ski (if you wanted to use one of your existing ones)? In any case it seemed kind of odd to use the biggest (and maybe heaviest, don't know about the weight of the Goats) ski as the touring ski. Just my opnion (I don't even have a touring setup myself )

I guess I figure that if I'm touring, it's generally going to be for good snow or why bother. And Gotamas are pretty light.

I am tempted to put the touring bindings on my Phat Luvs. But then I'm wondering how much I'd miss those as a resort ski. (I guess I could always just buy another pair though.)

And I don't want to give up the Hippy Stinx - I still want to tele, I'm just not good enough at it yet to be particularly fun OB. It's absolutely a blast in fluffy, light pow, or on groomers. But I just land on my face trying to turn in breakable crust and crap.

[nate s]

put fritschis on here?

seconded

[altagirl]

again, those slightly worked 106's would be perfect b/c skis... compressed edge don't matter in th b/c. they are fairly light and soft yet still nice and fat.

Yeah, that's not a bad idea. I'm not doing anything else with them. Plus if I trash them in the shitty snowpack we have now I don't really care. So that's probably a good call.

[Sphinx]

You call the 106 LIGHT?

[altagirl]

You call the 106 LIGHT?

No, they're not light. But they'd work for the time being.

[Sphinx]

Sell the Goats and get some of these:

[runethechamp]

And I don't want to give up the Hippy Stinx - I still want to tele, I'm just not good enough at it yet to be particularly fun OB. It's absolutely a blast in fluffy, light pow, or on groomers. But I just land on my face trying to turn in breakable crust and crap.

I tried to hold on to my tele heritage for 4 or five years and just gave up and got rid of the boots and one of my remaining crappy pairs of skis. First step was about 2 years ago when I took the tele bindings off my 190 Lawnchairs and put alpine bindings on. But I think you have at least 2 candidates for a touring ski in your existing quiver (106s, Phat luvs).

[corn dog]

I've only fondled a pair of phat luvs, but they seemed like they'd be sweet bc ski. I'd rather skin a pair of them than a pair of 106s.
Meant to add that I would tend to choose something at the short end of the range of skis you like for an AT setup. Lighter, easier to manipulate doing kick turns while skinning, and chances are you'll tend to ski slower in the bc.

[addict]

You call the 106 LIGHT?

For a 106 under foot ski they aren't really that heavy. I 3rd or 4th or whatever that notion. It's obvious, fritschi them up and you're good to go. As an aside, I hate the way fischer's edges compress as soon as you look at them. It's despicable manufacturing really, mine have 12 compressions (after 30days) and a blown edge. Rossi and Atomic are well known for their hopeless edges, but I think Fischer are making a pretty good challenge for it.

[verbier61]

in my experience (and 'cuz I'm old and lazy), regular skis like gotamas and Bros are OK for skinning uphill for a max of 1-1.5 hours. Then, I am totally KO. So a really lighter ski (and now the choice is wide, from Trab to Dynafit etc) might be an interesting and durable entry in your quiver.

[nate s]

in my experience (and 'cuz I'm old and lazy), regular skis like gotamas and Bros are OK for skinning uphill for a max of 1-1.5 hours. Then, I am totally KO. So a really lighter ski (and now the choice is wide, from Trab to Dynafit etc) might be an interesting and durable entry in your quiver.

I kinda disagree. Depending on your locale and the snow depth, they can actually equal out when you would be wallowing in snow all day on skinnier skis. Plenty of people do 6-7k ft/day on fatties. A lot less effort on the way down, too.

[ulty_guy]

the phat luvs seem like they'd work terriffic and you can still use them at the resort for storms days even w/ touring bindings. when i tour, i prefer to make small turns on the way back down anyways, and the shorter sticks will be better for spring chuting.

[verbier61]

I kinda disagree. Depending on your locale and the snow depth, they can actually equal out when you would be wallowing in snow all day on skinnier skis. Plenty of people do 6-7k ft/day on fatties. A lot less effort on the way down, too.

well, I have not seen so far anyone with fatties (say larger than 95) on the haute route... but never say never

[nate s]

well, I have not seen so far anyone with fatties (say larger than 95) on the haute route... but never say never

Yeah, if I was going to do the haute route I wouldn't take a 100+ waisted ski either. Living in Utah I would imagine you would want a pow slaying setup not a great ski mountaineering setup.

[altagirl]

I will say that of the 2 guys I know who have 106s as their touring setup, I heard about how both of them skinned up something relatively small last year (on separate occasions) decided that touring sucked, skied back down and that pretty much sums up their AT career.

So that's not exactly inspiring. But I did bootpack up to the top of Wildcat with the 106s and boots on my pack. It's gotta be easier than that, anyway.


And I totally concur with how much fischer's edges suck. These are my warranty pair. The first one lasted about 3 days before exploding. These lasted about 90 minutes - and I didn't hit a damn thing with them other than some ice. And I decided it wasn't worth all the freaking money to keep remounting and shipping them back and forth to Fischer. They're fun to ski in pow, but damn. I've never owned skis this fragile before. (Of course now that they have the compressed edge and a massive core shot, I treat them as rock skis, and they're bulletproof. Amazing how that works...)

I think we need to get a drill bit so we can mount freerides in the garage. Then I would for sure mount them on the 106's and put them on whatever else I buy specifically for touring later. Unless I find a screaming deal on a 2nd set of phat luvs anytime soon.

[Spats]

I think we need to get a drill bit so we can mount freerides in the garage.

I did mine with a regular 5/32", just like the article on wildsnow said.

http://tetongravity.com/forums/showp...1&postcount=18