If there is a single, do-it-all ski – particularly for western, big-mountain skiing – it no doubt lives in this category and probably has a waist width of 98 or 100mm. The reason is simple: up to this girth (95mm-100mm), these relatively wide skis don’t...
In yet another example of our cutting-edge journalism, permit us to point out that men and women are different. The pertinent manifestation of this principle is that the same width ski that makes an ideal men’s all-terrain tool is a tad too wide to be an everyday ride...
It wouldn’t be unfair to lump all skis over 100mm at the waist into a giant bucket labeled, “Powder,” and leave it at that. Obviously, the fatter the ski the better the flotation, so pick a ski based on how high you want to ride on new snow and you’re good to go. We...
The women’s Big Mountain genre has bedeviled us since we began covering these super-fat models as a separate category six seasons ago. Part of the problem is that skis this wide require some semblance of new snow to be given a fair evaluation, limiting their appeal as...
The fattest of the fatties (>113mm) are true specialty sticks, meant for when the snow is so deep even a 108mm won’t float high enough. This reality won’t keep some folks from sporting them every day, but this is lunatic-fringe behavior as hauling a barge around on...
