For ya Spats lovers

[MTT]

2. “Franz” - Skis will only ever turn by carving. Skis will not in any way be made to slide. Tips and tails during unweighting are always lower than the center of the skis prohibiting any attempt at a slide. Throwing the skis sideways in anyway will end in a caught outside edge followed by a quick whiplash onto your side.



The Spatula’s decamber will prevent most Sunken Plow situations depending on the skiers weight. (The lighter you are the more you will reap the benefits of the decamber.) You will notice that you will not need to lean back on your skis in the powder nearly as much as you would on normal skis. This will allow you to stand upright and attack the mountain much more efficiently.

Having the option to eliminate the Franz carve from your powder skiing will open up a whole new world for you. Try sliding a bit sideways as you finish your turn. Remember to stand on both feet. Try doing a long slide instead of doing a turn at all. Skiers constantly link one turn to the next in powder because in the past we lacked the ability and technology to slide. It also has traditionally been considered proper style to make identical, consecutive linked turns down a powder slope. Now you have the option to carve, slide, crab sideways, hockey stop (If your really good) and basically use the slope in many creative ways instead of such a limited, traditional style.



How to ski your Spatulas on hard snow
These skis are not versatile. I will make no attempts to fool you (as all ski manufacturers typically do) into thinking that you can use these skis in all kinds of snow conditions. They are made specifically for the many types of soft snow. Powder, sun crust, wind affect, deep, shallow, light and heavy. They are not designed to be primarily skied on ice or most types of hard snow. Of course you will frequently find yourself skiing on some sort of hard snow even on a powder day. It may be on the groomer going back to the lift or you may hit a hard patch or a mogul along the way. Not to worry. They can be easily managed in any situation. You just have to know how to do it.

The first question that absolutely everyone always asks me is: “Yea, but how well do they work on the groomer?” The most accurate analogy I have come up with is that they work about as well on the groomer as a pair of GS skis work in the powder. Manageable but not great. However, I am confident that the satisfaction and pleasure which you will receive from the powder intended qualities of these skis will soon make the issue of Spatula performance on hard snow nonexistent. When the situation demands that you ski your Spatulas on the groomer or hard snow it is very important that you remember two things:

1. Stand on both feet.

2. Initiate turns by sliding.

Think of it this way. When initiating a turn using skis with side cut you simply roll the ski on edge and the tip of the ski catches the snow and depending on how much pressure you give it the ski either carves around fast or slowly. No matter what, the ski will turn. This is not so with the Spatula. They have the opposite shape. They were not designed to carve on hard snow. They were designed to slide and carve in soft snow. You will need to train your mind to think slide not carve especially when on the groomer. A ski with reverse side cut if forced to carve on hard snow will perform exactly the opposite task as a ski with side cut. Try it, you’ll see. Start the turn like you normally would. Weight forward shifting to the downhill ski, add pressure to the tip of the downhill ski, follow through with more pressure on the downhill ski through the turn and……..your downhill ski tracks off in the wrong direction and you fall onto your uphill ski! It won’t work! You must initiate your turns on both feet and by sliding them around! After you have begun your turn by sliding you will notice that you can actually finish the turn by carving once you are on your tails if you want. The tails of the Spatulas will catch and you can carve the end of the turn. It all sounds weird I know, but just remember this and try it a couple times on the groomed and you will probably get the hang of it in one run. Remember! You’re a slider now not a carver!

[tranzformer]

What sayest yee about some Fat Bastards. Just saw the post put up about some cheap ones on ebay. Or is this going down a few notches.

[tranzformer]

MTT: thanks for the post but I have already read it twice. Its a great read.

[MTT]

How the Spatula was born.



Back in 1996 the ski industry was just beginning to go through two revolutionary discoveries. The invention of “shaped” skis and the popularization of fat skis for soft snow. As we all know now fat skis have totally changed the way we ski powder and shaped skis have totally changed skiing on harder snow. As manufacturers began to experiment with massive side cuts for carving the groomer and the race course it was only natural for people to want to test out these new shaped skis. At the same time skiers were also just beginning to realize the benefits of fat skis in powder. Back then I had also recently made the switch from skiing on traditional skis to the very fat (at the time) Volant Chubb. I was spending my time marveling over the benefits of fat skis in most sow conditions. Then I decided to try out the new shaped skis in the soft snow. Since the qualities of fat skis were so fresh on my mind all the time I was immediately able to recognize how horrible side cut is for soft snow. If I had been skiing on traditional skis all year like most everyone else this revelation may not even have happened.



During the summer of 96 at a bar in Las Lenas Argentina while hanging out with some friends I quickly sketched a picture of some fat skis with reverse side cut onto a beer napkin. We all spoke about it and of course some even laughed at the idea. I took the napkin home and kept it in my “Cool and funny stuff” file in my file cabinet for about 2 years never really expecting that any ski company would bite on the idea. In the mean time as ski companies started making their shaped fat skis with all this side cut I remained skiing on fat skis with minimal side cut trying to milk as much flotation and control as possible from them.



Then in 1998 the Volant design engineers came out to Squaw Valley. The plan was to test out some new shaped fat skis that they wanted to make with a bunch of my friends and knowledgeable skiers. These new skis were basically a Volant Chubb with more side cut. We tested them against many skis including our old, used for a year Chubbs. Yes, they were more versatile and could be used to carve easier turns on the groomed but in the powder they still were more work than skis with minimal side cut. Then Scott Gaffney, who was one of the testers, decided to open his mouth and suggest a concept which is probably the most important yet now seeming so obvious discovery in powder ski technology. He said, “I think my old, dead, decambered Chubbs float much better in the powder than those ones with new ski life or camber.” And then the light bulb flashed on. I dug up my old beer napkin and began pondering the concept. I thought about hard snow and soft snow and began comparing the similarities of powder to water. I realized that the effects of riding on powder snow would be very similar to riding on water. Water skis have reverse side cut. So do surf boards. And they both have decamber or rocker.



Over the course of the next two years I would talk to people about how cool it would be to have skis with decamber and reverse side cut specifically for powder. Almost everyone I mentioned the idea to would either laugh or politely smile. All except for Scott and JT Holmes and a few others. I never really pushed the idea to Volant very hard because I assumed that no one would listen. Nobody buys powder only skis. The industry already lost on that bet. The skis that sell are the all mountain carver that are so versatile right? Right. No one wants to buy more than one pair of skis. So why even attempt to make something that a ski shop can’t even sell? So nothing happened for 2 years. Finally after stewing over it for too long I began talking to the design engineers at Volant about just gong for it and jury rigging a pair or two together in the shop in their spare time. If it wasn’t for the hard work and extra after hours put in by Ryan Carroll and Peter Turner in the Volant factory the first and only four pairs would never have been made in the summer of 2001.



The first prototype arrived at my doorstep in August. Soon afterwards I packed up my beautiful, shimmering, new, steel Spatulas and flew down to New Zealand to work on a film project. As I am a very spoiled professional skier we were heli skiing the whole time and I got to test them out. They immediately blew my mind! Everything was so easy! No more leaning back to prevent tip diving. No more excessive body movements to force the skis around. No more big GS turns or body smears to slow down. No more boot sink. I couldn’t believe it! I ran straight to the phone and called Volant over seas and spewed my guts raving for 45 minutes about how great they are.



Unfortunately when I got home I got the news that Volant was going to be sold to another company and that everyone was getting canned. No one was going to be able to put any time into making more Spatulas. There were four pairs in existence on the planet with no foreseeable solution. I held on to three of them and Ryan Carroll held on to one single ski of the remaining pair. The other single ski went on tour with the new Volant to help promote the Spatula concept if and when we ever got it together enough to start making them again.



Luckily as time would tell Volant got back up on its feet and contracted the Atomic factory in Austria to make all its skis. Perfect! Atomic makes great skis and their standards are nothing short of excellent. They also happen to be the company who first made super fat powder skis back in the 80s. The Atomic Powder Plus or “Fat Boy” is today still considered on of the best powder skis ever made by many western skiers.

Peter Turner and I then pushed for some budget money to be spent on creating around 300 pairs of Spatulas to be made in the Atomic factory.



The powers that be thought it over. Powder specific skis? They won’t sell very fast. If we are lucky we will break even with these skis. But they are revolutionary. They will change the way people think about skiing powder, the most enjoyable type of skiing. They will open up a whole new world for people. It’s a big risk, but what great idea isn’t? Everyone said yes and the project was a go. Now as I sit here and write this its October 2002 and Volant is making the first batch of the greatest powder skis ever. I can’t wait for it to start snowing and for a small part of 300 people’s lives to change! Have fun on your new Spatulas! And remember, if someone makes fun of them, there are no friends on a powder day! You don’t have to wait for their slow ass! Good luck!



Shane McConkey

[MTT]

Yep I plagerized it from the EBay Web page. I saw the same thing in brochure previously. Now it is saved for all time??

[marshalolson]

What sayest yee about some Fat Bastards. Just saw the post put up about some cheap ones on ebay. Or is this going down a few notches.

skip those... not even in the same ballpark as an explosiv or heli dog

[tranzformer]

skip those... not even in the same ballpark as an explosiv or heli dog

Ok, so basically I should think about getting some longer pp or some explosives if I dont go the spatula route?

[MTT]

Have you heard of the PM Grear Bro Model? Its this Fat Ski designed by hot skiers who chat on this Ski Forum called TGR. They are basicly handmade by this guy Spats, who lives @ Tahoe.

[tranzformer]

Have you heard of the PM Grear Bro Model? Its this Fat Ski designed by hot skiers who chat on this Ski Forum called TGR. They are basicly handmade by this guy Spats, who lives @ Tahoe.

Yeah I thought about the Bros but arent they kinda expensive, or is there some magg hook up??

[MTT]

There is a slight break for Maggots. Also retail off the website is not much more than those spats on EBAY. Also If you throw out an (I want some) in Gear Swap well you never know? The new ones are out maybe one of these guys might give you a good deal on used?
They won't be more than a year old

[tranzformer]

There is a slight break for Maggots. Also retail off the website is not much more than those spats on EBAY. Also If you throw out an (I want some) in Gear Swap well you never know? The new ones are out maybe one of these guys might give you a good deal on used?
They won't be more than a year old

Overall what type of a ski would you classify the Bros and how would they compare head to head with the Spats.

[Crinkle]

everyone has a beater moment, i just had mine on a cat walk fucking around, like we all like to do to pass the time. Next time i'll grease for sure.


Today was windblown pow with some exposed wind swept knobs and then deep buttery goodness in other spots. I was lovin the spats today. With the turned up tips, you can really charge downhill without worrying about tip-dive. Confidence inspiring speed machines.