In the mood to broaden - and widen - your horizons? Then check out these skis

Brian Metzler, Special to the News

Published November 4, 2006 at midnight

Text size

More Skiing & Snowboarding

More stories »

In the market to buy new skis? If so, there are two words you need to understand: short and fat.

The trend of skis getting wider and shorter has continued for all levels of skiers - so much so that you might not believe your eyes when a ski shop salesperson sizes you up for a new pair of sticks.

The change in size and shape reflects the trend of skiers wanting to ski more than just groomed runs and bumps. More and more resorts are featuring out-of-bounds terrain, bowl skiing and sections that combine open glades and trees, and the shorter and wider ski designs reflect that need for versatility.

But the good news is that the decidedly more stumpy shapes are easier to ski on all types of terrain than their longer and skinnier predecessors, said Tom Winter, senior editor at Boulder-based Freeskier Magazine.

"Because fatter skis tend to be more torsionally stiff, you can actually make them softer longitudinally," Winter said. "And that means that it's easier to initiate turns, and they're generally easier to ski on hard snow, but they also have soft tips and a wide design that allows them to float in powder."

A long time ago, most skis had under-boot waist widths from 62 to 67 millimeters and ranged from 180 to 210 centimeters in length. In the late 1990s, when the shaped-ski trend took hold, slightly shorter skis began popping up with waists in the 75- to 85-millimeter range.

This winter, big-mountain expert skis typically sport widths of 100 to 110 centimeters under foot, and specialty powder skis are as wide as 130 to 140 centimeters under foot. If you rode a pair of 205-centimeter Olin Mark IVs in the late 1980s or even a pair of 190-centimeter Salomon Xscreams in the late 1990s, you're likely in the market for something with a length of 165 to 175 centimeters.

That's a hard pill for some skiers to swallow, but usually only until they ski on them and see how easy they are to control.

"We definitely get a lot of people that say, 'Wow, that's considerably wider and shorter of a ski than I've been on before. I don't know if I can do that," said Dennis Meeker, manager of Christy Sports in Boulder. "A lot of people think they need a longer ski, but if you look at the ski wall in the store, our longest ski is about 181 (centimeters), with the exception of some specialty powder skis."

What they cost

• New skis range from $550 to $1,000 without bindings and as much as $1,400 with bindings. Can't afford that kind of bling? Several Colorado resorts have demo centers or host demo days that allow skiers to test out new skis for a fee of $25 to $50.Choosing your skis

The type of skis you need depends on what kind of skiing you're going to be doing.

Are you content to ski groomers most of the day?

Do you like to mix it up and ski through the trees in Steamboat?

Or would you rather sail down Vail's wide-open Back Bowls?

"What you need to do is be pretty honest with yourself about what terrain you're going to ski," said Tom Winter, senior editor at Boulder-based Freeskier Magazine. "Everyone would love to have the pure powder ski and ski powder all the time, but it's Colorado we're talking about. There is a lot of inbounds skiing going on here, and there's bumps and sometimes icy conditions, so you want something that's going to be versatile and perform well on everything."

Generally speaking, most non-race skis fall into four categories based on the width of the ski under the boot. The tip and tail width will be determined by what type of ski you buy, while the length will be determined by your height and skiing ability.

Frontside cruiser skis

Cruisers such as the Salomon X-Wing 8 or Atomic SX:12 (pictured), are geared toward beginner and intermediate skiers who spend most of their time on groomed terrain. Widths typically range from 68 to 75 millimeters at the waist. These skis are all about carving smooth, hard-packed snow and tend to sink in powder and struggle in crud.

All-mountain skis

All-mountain boards, such as the K2 Apache Outlaw (pictured) and the Rossignol Bandit B3, have widths that generally range from 76 to 90 millimeters and are built for intermediates and experts who like to mix it up and combine groomed terrain, a bit of tree skiing and some back bowl skiing into a day on the slopes at Winter Park or Copper Mountain.

Big-mountain skis

These skis, such as the beefy Volkl Gotama (pictured) and the Salomon X-Wing Sandstorm with 90- to 105-millimeter waists, are for the person who spends most of his or her time seeking out the steepest and deepest sections of a mountain or in the out-of-bounds terrain adjacent to it - for example, the North Face at Crested Butte or in the Deep Temerity section of Aspen Highlands. These skis can tackle crud and powder with ease but are versatile enough to ski on hard-packed conditions when necessary.

Powder skis

Specialty powder skis are the biggest tools in the shed, built specifically for skimming deep stashes commonly found in the backcountry at Silverton Mountain, the out-of-bounds terrain at Jackson Hole or on snowcat or heliskiing trips throughout the West. Two of the biggest models, the K2 Pontoon (pictured, 130 millimeters at the waist) and the Fat-ypus A-lotta (140 millimeters) are like mini snowboards on each foot. Most powder skis aren't versatile enough to ski groomers or tight trees, but the A-lotta, made in Summit County, is an exception to that rule.

Subscribe to the Rocky Mountain News