Help - Fat BC Ski for Me?

[Chainsaw_Willie]

Starting my search early and looking for a relatively fat (95 - 105mm waist) ski on which to mount some Freerides and do some BC touring next year.

I'm a true jong when it comes to gear, I bought my first new pair of skis in 15 years this year - the Head Mojo 90s and because of this I'm really only familiar with this year's models though I'm not opposed to buying an older model that fits my needs, especially if the price is right.

I really, really like the Mojo 90s and have skied them in everything from ice to waist deep pow. If I could find something that skis like the Mojo 90s in a wider width and lighter weight I'd be stoked.

I'm 5'8", 165 lbs, and 38, so no spring chicken either, though in pretty good shape and will be in better shape next year. I'm looking for a relatively forgiving ski that is both stable enough to handle steep, variable snow conditions yet turny enough so that I don't get intimate with a tree at high speed.

Criteria:

*Waist width in 95-105mm range, preferably towards the top of that range.
*Length in high 170 to mid 180-ish range.
*As lightweight as possible.
*"Turny", forgiving, yet stable (is this possible?)

I never see weights for skis published anywhere. I know the mojo 90s aren't the lightest ski out there. From checking out new skis at the shops and from what I've demo'd this year I found the Atomic Sugar Daddy and Volkl Mantra are pretty lightweight. Don't know about other skis in this category.

Possible contenders:

Head SuperMojo
Atomic Pimp Daddy
Atomic Sugar Daddy
Volkl Mantra (on the narrow end of the spectrum)
Volkl Gotoma
Fischer Watea
Solomon Gun Lab
K2 Maden AK (Big Kahuna is previous year's model, no?)
K2 Seth Vicious
Rossi Scratch BC

I know some of these skis may not meet my criteria, I've only picked them out from magazine reviews, so any help weeding out the unsuitable will be much appreciated as will adding others I don't know about to the list. The only one of these I could easily demo would be the Gotoma (I did demo the Mantra earlier this year, but it may be too narrow for what I want), and if we get any more good dumps before the end of the season I may just give them a try.

Thanks for any help and for reading all this!

[nutcase]

Well I just ordered some rossi sickbirds (same as the scratch bc) to mount alpine - with the intention of turning them into a bc rig later on. If your boot sole is close enough to mine you can give em a shot sometime.

[wildstyle]

i'm biased as i have the gotamas and the Gun labs. i can't give advice on the others.

On comparison, for your requirements, I would get the gotamas over the gun labs.

Why ?

Better construction, better value for money, some great deals at the moment, they'll still work in 5 years because of their wood core compared to salomon foam death after 30-40 days of Hard riding.

Saying that, i still love the gun labs .....

[adam]

I'm biased as well, but I gotta say: Gotamas.
They are:
105 in the waist
176 in length
Lightweight (mine are pretty good even with S914's)
Turny, forgiving and stable

I can make whatever type of turn I want. Super G's, or slalom on these things.

[Jumper Bones]

Well I just ordered some rossi sickbirds...

cliff, just curious, why'd you go Rossi again? Doesn't seem to be terribly different from your B3s...

tho the SickBird sure is purrty.

Will, the Viscious would be good, but it's definitely a heavier option.

[iggyskier]

cough cough capital cough cough.

My El Jefe need to get here soon.....

The new scratch BC seem sick. SV, Gots, and made'ns are sick, but not very light.

179 Bro?

[hemas]

Head SuperMojo
Atomic Pimp Daddy
Atomic Sugar Daddy
Volkl Mantra (on the narrow end of the spectrum)
Volkl Gotoma
Fischer Watea
Solomon Gun Lab
K2 Maden AK (Big Kahuna is previous year's model, no?)
K2 Seth Vicious
Rossi Scratch BC

Well, fro you're criteria you could write off SuperMojo's (too stiff, me thinks plus heavy), and both of the K2's (heavy).

The Fischer is good, though Prohete might be better option (106mm in the waist, and comes in three sizes) is it's relatively soft lenghtwise but holds it's edge really well (not soft twistwise).

About the same would be both of the Atomic's, though the Pimp has a full twin and thus skies shorter (plus might be a reason not to get it, if planning on building snowanchors from yer skis) and is a tad softer than the Sugar's.

Can't day much about the Salomon's, 'xcept Wildstyle seemed to have fun with 'em.

No idea about the Rossi's.

Völkls are relatively light for their size and as Wildstyle said, they should hold up really well of use.

But do take everything I said with a grain of salt as I really haven't locked my heels in over 10 years and most of my skiing experience with the skis have been with tele's.

[mntlion]

I have some heli daddy for sale, 170cm, same as the sugar and tele daddy, 99 waist, light, etc.

$300

[CarlE]

The Scratch BC is too heavy if you wanna be able to walk around with them, otherwise they would be perfect, i love my pair!

[KANUTTEN]

Possible contenders:

Head SuperMojo
Atomic Pimp Daddy
Atomic Sugar Daddy
Volkl Mantra (on the narrow end of the spectrum)
Volkl Gotoma
Fischer Watea
Solomon Gun Lab
K2 Maden AK (Big Kahuna is previous year's model, no?)
K2 Seth Vicious
Rossi Scratch BC

I'm surprised nobody has yet mentioned PMGear's bromodels. That really should hit target. Soft or stiff 179 or 188. Light, turnable and stable. Cheap. What more is there to know?

[nutcase]

cliff, just curious, why'd you go Rossi again? Doesn't seem to be terribly different from your B3s...

tho the SickBird sure is purrty.

.

[thread hijack]

Sickbird was a good price and assuming it skis just like the scratch it definately skis differenty than my xxx which will probably become my rock ski. Plus I really like the retro graphics of the sickbird

I was going to go with a bro or a gotama but given the price and my budget this enables me to still be on the lookout for something wider for deeper days .

[Vets]

I'm surprised nobody has yet mentioned PMGear's bromodels. That really should hit target. Soft or stiff 179 or 188. Light, turnable and stable. Cheap. What more is there to know?

I second the Bro recommendation. I have freerides on my 188 soft Bros and love them.
BTW I'm 5'10", 178#, and 45.
Chainsaw_Willie, I've also demoed the 179 prototypes, and these sound like the skis you are looking for.

[Chainsaw_Willie]

Thanks for all the input so far, much appreciated! I have quite a few questions arising from input so far but I'm tired and 5AM comes early. I'll check back tomorrow.

[Squatch]

Maybe the soft Bros (179)? They are fairly stiffish compared to most skis. (heard they were slightly softer than mantras--don't know how they are compared to the goats.) If weight is a concern, the bros are the way to go. Probably pricey compared to other choices because you won't find deals on them, but from what I've head it's worth it.

[Yossarian]

two thumbs up for the Sugar's as an AT ski, personal experience.
Also heard lots of great stuff about the Sickbirds.

[Sphinx]

96/67/86

[Chainsaw_Willie]

Okay, I'm a little more awake now and have a few minutes between jobs.

Nutcase - where did you hear about the sickbirds? Love that name! Are they truly the exact same as the Scratch BC, just a diff. topsheet, and if so, why do you suppose Rossi is issuing the same ski under a different cover? just curious there.

The Sickbird/Scratch BC should be considerably different than the B3s just on width alone, no? Going from memory, but isn't the B3 about 85mm underfoot and the Scratch 98mm, and very different sidecuts? Nutcase - are your XXXs pretty much the same as the B3?

Don't mind any discussions about AT skis or personal "biased" testimonials at all. I hardly expect anyone to have skied all the diff. skis I'm considering, and personal testimonials are what led me to the Mojo 90s which I might never have tried otherwise.

mntlion - thanks for the offer but 170 is too short for my tastes, especially in deep snow.

I'm adding the Bros to my list and dropping some others. New list of contenders:

Bros
Pimp Daddy
Sugar Daddy
Gotomas
Atua (I mistakenly typed Watea above, too long and wide for what I want)
Scratch BC/sickbird

hemas - what's a "Prohete"?? Never heard of it. I'm assuming it's a Fischer ski? (I know, I know, go look at Fischer's website. I'll do that later if you or someone doesn't get to answering before then.)

General questions about Bros: I've read snippets about them on this site but 'til now had assumed they were only a prototype model being issued by a small/up & coming company and only available to those with hookups. I guess I was wrong about that... So, where do I find more info on them? What are their dimensions? Pricing? Retailers/outlets? I'm assuming the obvious that PMGear is associated with this site and I'd do a bit more research if I had more time, but I have to leave for my second job in about 5 minutes...

As for stiffness - I don't want a noodle, need something with enough beef for when the snow isn't all soft and silky. Just don't want a 2x4 either. I skied the Mantras in thigh deep powder on wide-open slopes and really liked them in the pow and they are a somewhat stiff ski though I understand they're a bit softer than the Explosiv. Wasn't as impressed with them on hardpack and in bumps at the bottom of the runs, but then hardpack and bumps is what I'm trying to get away from with a BC ski... I think the Gotomas are quite a bit softer, not sure. I'll have to rent a pair this weekend if I make it to Xtal. If the soft bros are pretty close to the Mantras, then they'd probably be close to what I'm looking for.

Finally, a good deal is important right now. Blew my wad on the Mojo 90s and bindings, I need a new computer and scanner, and my truck needs a new engine. However, I know good deals are to be had towards the end of the season, which is why I'm starting to look now.

Okay, time's up, off to work I go. Thanks again everyone!

[Son1cdeth]

Go with the Bro's. That will be my next AT rig after this season. Everyone on this site raves about them. Perfect dimensions, lightweight, and developed by the maggots. What more could you want?

PM Splat for more info. He's the mang on all things Bro.

[bio-smear]

Check out the Karhu Team Jak. 100mm in the waist and 186cm near-twin. Karhu has some other 90mm lightweight skis in the Jak and Jak BC (not twins). telemarkdown.com is having some especially good closeout deals right now. I personally ski an older Jak for AT and it's a great ski. The sickbirds mentioned above can be had on the cheap right now too, like $375, as can the Team Jak. Not bad for a brand new fatty.

[hemas]

The Gotama is softer than the Mantra, but also wider so it's almost a tie between the two. Pro's are stiff and light and generally a kick ass ski (in a good way). Prohete (sp?) is the old Ficher 10.6, so 106mm in the da waist and opposed to rest of their freeride-line comes in three sizes ~170, ~180 and
~190cm

For purely AT-/touring setup I would get the sugar's (even the 193's, if I can find 'em). For and allround setup, mebbe the Bro's and for pure pow the Prohete's (Big Stix 10.6's with new top sheets, if I couldn't find the 10.6's on sale).

The goat seems also a viable pow ski (soft'ish like the 10.6) and the Mantra is basicly a tuned down Explosive' with more sidecut...

But now I'm rambling after a bar night... so some one wiht more info, please post yer opinions...

[Catbert]

*Waist width in 95-105mm range, preferably towards the top of that range.
*Length in high 170 to mid 180-ish range.
*As lightweight as possible.
*"Turny", forgiving, yet stable (is this possible?)

Demo some of the skis on your list, and then buy the 176/183 gotama. Sugar daddy is lightweight as well, but less stable than the gotama when straightlining it... or so I hear.

[frorider]

i'm familiar with most boards on yer list, and can tell you that my BC setup (bromodel stiffs) is damn fine.

i like a BC ski that can handle all kinds of snow conditions, including scraped-off ridges that are pretty icy but dump you into a bowl full of powdah. the bro is more versatile than a soft fattie like a gotama in those situations.

[nutcase]

Nutcase - where did you hear about the sickbirds? Love that name! Are they truly the exact same as the Scratch BC, just a diff. topsheet, and if so, why do you suppose Rossi is issuing the same ski under a different cover? just curious there.

The Sickbird/Scratch BC should be considerably different than the B3s just on width alone, no? Going from memory, but isn't the B3 about 85mm underfoot and the Scratch 98mm, and very different sidecuts? Nutcase - are your XXXs pretty much the same as the B3?

!

My xxx's at 90mm underfoot are pretty much the old b3 before they came out with the b4 so the xxx would be more similar to the current b4.

The sickbird showed up today and I flexed it next to the xxx- seems to have a significantly softer tip but is stiffer through most of the ski than the xxx - plus significantly fatter throughout the whole ski. As far as I have been able to determine the only difference between the sickbird and the scratch bc is the base material. I dropped them off at the shop to be mounted and checked them out compared to the scratch bc they had and I couldn't find any difference in flex or construction. I think the sickbird is going to be an awesome ski. Like I said before- if we can fit you into my bindings you can try them out at xtal sometime.

My guess is that if you choose either the gotama, the bro or the sickbird/scratch bc you will end up pretty stoked on your choice.

[flip]

I'm exactly your size, and have been real happy so far with the sugardaddy (180cm helidaddies from mtnlion). If I weren't cheap, the BD Verdict and Jak BC were at the top of my list at the time.

Now that the 179 Bro is out, the soft would be my first choice even site-unseen. Almost the exact same dimensions as the sugar, likely lighter weight (sugars aren't actually that light), sandwich construction, and from damn good folks.

[descender]

Sugars for light weight and normal tail, otherwise Gotamas.