Getting Better

By Jamie Preston Ranked #6 - Alpine Fat Skis November 8, 2011

I had the chance to ski these last spring and was not disappointed. I had one of the first pair of Gotamas in March 03 and immediately loved them - although the Gotama no longer gets the "whoa, those are super fat!!" comments of eight years ago. The ski has had ups and downs, and I feel this version is an up. The new ski is slightly wider, 139/107/123 versus 137/106/122, and the kick of the tip and tail has been increased. This makes for a pretty quick, lively and user friendly ski - not always the terms used for a Volkl. It will probably be considered one of the more versatile all to big mountain skis out there - although that category is pretty loaded now, and it depends where you are skiing. This will be a good "fat" ski in Vermont, but will be dwarfed out west, where a wider option will serve you better on the bigger days. Although, so long as the snow is relatively soft, this will really work on groomers, powder, and even bumps. My sister in Telluride (say, bumps) has made this her everyday ski, trading last years version for this after skiing these with me at Alta last April in 16 inches, which went from light to heavy to crud, and then we skied with the kids on the groomers. Finally, the rumor was production of this shifted from China back to Germany, but I don't know that for certain.

View Details: Volkl Gotama Ski

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