... don't do park, don't want fats.

As noted elsewhere, we had rental 1080 Foils for some epic days in Tahoe. They handled the conditions so beautifully that my kid and I are seriously considering buying Foils for our powder skis. They seem to be soft enough for a woman to handle, slice thru crud like butter and porpoise beautifully in powder. Only other mid-fat we tried this season were Rossi B2s of which I was not terribly impressed.

So .. any comments, opinions? Recommended bindings for same? Anyone know if Salomon will be carrying the line next year? Or ... recommendations on other mid-fats we might want to try. Ability levels: me; intermediate, happier on groomers but beginning to love powder: my daughter; advanced speed demon, still getting up to speed on powder, can't handle waist high stuff yet.

Beyond the question about Salomon's next year plans, it seems that you're asking "why shouldn't we do this?" You were happy-> do it and even next year's gear becomes irrelevant.

What did you -not- like about the B2s?

About the B2s ... we were up at SS when the storm hit in early Feb (boy have we had powder luck this year!). We got rental B2s for Sat/Sun as those were pretty much all they had in midfats. They looked pretty well 'used' so I asked the guys to give them a good wax job before we picked them up in the morning. I dunno, they seemed heavy and much more reluctant to turn than the Foils. The B2s cut thru the crude but didn't seem to have the float the Foils did .. then again the powder in the Sierra was like skiing silk. It might just have been the difference in the water content of the snow. The Foils seemed to carve a bit better on groomed terrain while the B2s seemed sluggish. I've skied Rossi's before and they just didn't thrill me. Our regular carvers are Volkl 5 Stars so we are used to a snappy response which doesn't seem to be one of the main characteristics of the Rossi's we have tested.. Everyone has their particular favorites; we just liked the 1080s a lot more than the Rossi's and I wanted to find out what other opinions of the Foils might be before we ante up a couple of K for 2 pairs.

So, mid-fat with a really active (120mm+) tip, we notice the following:

Nordica Hot Rod Nitrous
Atomic M:EX (there is also the Sweet Daddy)
Fischer Maunga
Volkl AC4/Queen Attiva
Rossi B3

Saving, possibly the M:Ex none of those will be $cheap. If you think you'd get enough float by going down to a 75-77mm waist size then a host of other possibilities in the all-mountain-carver category opens up, such as the Elan Magfire 8/10.





EDIT: Post changed entirely, My fault for not paying attention.

The Foils have a waist of 81 which seems more than enough for the type of powder we will probably do .... The Queen Attivas seem to be more of a fat ski for off piste which I dont think we are gonna be doing any time soon. I heard gossip that Volkl will be bringing out a true mid fat next season which will be the 1st of the chinese skis. There are some things the chinese can do well but I dont think ski manufacture is one of them, so we want to stay with EU or US manufacture.

You're right. AC4 fits though.