Love them

By PJ Santoro Ranked #377 - Alpine Fat Skis February 4, 2010

I finally pulled the trigger on this ski after drooling over it for most of the early season. I am 6'3 220+ and ski mostly in Northern Vermont, with a week or two out west a year. After reading the reviews here and some other spots on the interwebs I decided to mount these +2 cm from boot center. The first day I took these out it was classic New England hardpack (a few weeks back before we started getting it good again). Actually I snapped one of my K2 PE's and I had these in the car so I wasn't really intending to take them out. My first impression was that this ski was not built for hardpack (which is obvious) as they were chattering a bit at speed and I was having trouble carving. I also initially thought this wouldn't be a good ski for the woods because of its size and weight. Luckily in the days since I've really figured out how to ski this thing. It was my first ski larger than 92 underfoot so it took me a few days to really dial this one, but this ski totally rips. I've taken it through the glades @ Jay Peak, some tight sidecountry lines on Mount Mansfield, day old cruddy pow remnants, bump runs and groomers and it eats it all up. Obviously this thing is not going to rip GS turns like my Superstar All Stars, but it can rip groomers. Once you get use to the rocker and how to turn this ski in variable conditions it will surprise you with it's quickness. It really does ski like a shorter ski without compromising it's burliness. I've alternated runs plowing through crud that others consider bulletproof with skiing really tight tree lines in powder. Considering that my initial impression of the ski as not really a "do-it-all" the versatility the ski has demonstrated really shocked me. With that being said I don't see this as my everyday ski. I'm luckily enough to have a decent ski quiver so this is reserved for days where there is snow, or will be some fresh snow in the woods. With the variable conditions we have to endure on the east coast it's sort of a reality that you can't ski 106's everyday. But this thing definitely rips once you get used to skiing it and don't give up on it after a few runs...it took me longer than usual to dial in to this one, but once I did it made it all worthwhile!

View Details: Volkl Gotama Ski

Helpful Votes: 2 Yes