Gotamas again,183

I really like these skis. Uncle Louie, you skied 'em too short, methinks...

183 Gotamas with Sollie z-12 bindings
Me:
5' 11'
170 lbs
level 8

other skis in quiver:
179 Soft Bro
177 Mantra
186 Lahsa Pow Bro Model
178 AK Pro (racing ski)

Test Terrain; everything except boiler plate ice at Alta, PCMR, & Deer Valley

These are last year Golden Goats. Sierra Jim had an end of season sale and my quiver was down to just the Bros and the Mantras, and I liked the Mantras but wished they were wider, so, well, you know how it goes...


First, peel off the buddas and stick them on the refrigerator.


I got these for powder but was amazed at their performance on groomers and hard snow. They're a big, beefy platform that loves speed, GS turns and are super stable. I borrowed MT's 186 Legend Pros for a few runs a couple gatherings ago- felt close to that but more user friendly.
Short turns are not at the top of the list but are remarkably easy for such a fat ski. The Mantra has the edge here, but the overall cadillac ride is worth it to give up some nimbleness, having said that, they're amazingly nimble for this fat a ski. I just lay them over at high angles,dig in, and they come around real quick. I also find them very easy to ski. First day, I thought that I went too long, but that went away as soon as I got familiar with them. The 183 is perfect for me.

Powder performance is wonderful. I scored top to bottom freshies, as in first one down, on Yellow Trail at Alta last week in a couple feet of blower snow. Makes a real nice round arc, the float is perfect for me, and I didn't have any issues with tip dive or anything else. I could forget the ski and focus on breathing, rythm, and laying down clean symetrical arcs, which is what I like to do with pow. Euro powder 8 stuff.

Crud, fluff crud, variable conditions, no brainer. the 183 just blows through it.

I usually only do bumps when they're between me and powder, but I found these to do fine in small and medium bumps yesterday. I was free skiing with a couple instructors and no one felt compelled to give me pointers. We had great snow, stiff but very edgable, styrofoam consistancy in McConkey's bowl at PCMR. As long as I paid attention and stayed forward, they did great, pivoting or carving.

A few days ago I hiked Jupiter Peak at PCMR after the lift closed (got last call, I didn't walk all the way up). The Goats, while not light, aren't particularly heavy, and with the Sollies on, are easy to shoulder and carry. At the top, the East Face was pretty hard, with the pow partly skied off but mostly blown off (it's 10,000" and exposed). It's steep, falls are not good, too many rocks and small cliffs. I didn't do the chutes because they're pretty bony still and probably skied out. (you don't know 'till your're comitted) I chose the shoulder which promises some nice pow down below. I'd hoped for some at the top but ,oh well. The first three or so tight turns at the top were a bit clumsy. The Mantras or the Bros would have come around quicker, and I had to muscle the big Goats a bit. That might well be me. It's different when you're in a no fall zone, a lot of factors come into play. Once I got down out of the wind a bit, the powder softened up and First Chute and Puma Bowl below were deep powder and cut up powder, the Goats bread and butter. I hit thigh deep powder at one point in the trees and had no problem darting in and out to get it.

One more observation: Yesterday, I skied both the Goats and the AKs, which are a stiff, no nonsense race carver (68 underfoot) on groomers and I found that even though the Goats take a bit more effort to tip up and turn in short radius, they really don't give up much. I missed the big platform and playful nature of the ski, and this on hard snow.



Overall- Love these skis. Good candidate for Utah one ski quiver, though I wouldn't have believed it. Easy to ski, good on groomers and hard snow, great in crud, do everything they're supposed to do in powder, a bit of work in tight trees, bumps and short turns. Good technique goes a long way to fixing the last three.

I'd give the Soft Bros the edge in powder, because my edition (a couple years back) is softer, springier and more playful feeling in light Utah powder. Also, the lack of sidecut makes the Bros more versitile, turn shape wise, in soft snow. The Mantras do short carvers better. But taken together, like I said, I really like these skis.

what's a report without visuals. Here's some shots from the Jupiter Peak hike (PCMR)

1. the ridge showing the bootpack with the backside of Brighton in the background under the cloud.

2. Two guys from West Virginia on the summit, Iron Mountain in the background with Thanes Canyon. Pioneer Ridge and Puma Bowl are below.

3. Looking up, about half way down. The peak is above the rocks. The Gotama's were very happy back here.

Nice review, Mr. Crab. You seem to have had the same revelation on these as I did last year. PCMR is my home mtn. but I ski LCC quite a bit as well. I am slightly bigger and am pondering upsizing to the 190s (though next years will be 186s and that might be perfect). They really are fantastic in UT conditions. They do everything so well with only minimal tradeoff in hard snow conditions or truly deep POW. I like to pound hard bumps when there's no fresh snow and, for that, I'll ride something narrower....but on just about every other day I'll grab for the golden buddhas.

I also agree with your comments and good technique really bringing them alive. My skiing has gotten better and better the last few years and it seems as skiing these is even more effortless than it used to be. You do have to stay on top of them...but if you do, they will reward you with a floaty, playful ride. Some guys complain that they don't charge hard enough for them ( as opposed LP XXL or Line Mothership) and that might be true...but I think its a matter of preference. I like charging skis but I don't want to have to be "on" every single day. These really are classic ski and make skiing in the west so much fun! Glad you like em. I'm out that way in about 3 weeks if you want to cut some turns....

Come ahead. It's beach weather, blue skies, cold, hot sun and high pressure. It won't last...

Cool...will shoot you a PM as it draws closer to see what your schedule is. Watching the weather and can't wait for some more snow. Cover was getting thin in spots last week....

I say for people our weight (170lbs) the 176cm is worth a try. I preferred it greatly over the 183. My point is, at least try it. It's like a totally different ski: much quicker and manouvrable, yet still stable and I haven't encountered a powder situation that it didn't slay with zero effort.
Here's to lots of powder days!

Not to quibble with your conclusion (you are only saying "...at least try it.", but I would say that for people of our weight (120 to 140lbs) the 176cm is the perfect length. The 176cm is actually 171cm and, with the upturned tail, feels only slightly longer than my 167cm W84s (and far shorter than my old 174cm K2 AK Launcher "powder" skis and about the same contact length as a 167cm K2 Coomba).

Depends on the terrain you're skiing. Goats work better with speed. If you are bombing bowls go longer if tight trees go shorter. Launching cliffs go longer, Moguls, shorter etc...

Just spent two days skiing my Goats in the 48" that fell in Steamboat. Spent most of the time in the trees (not hard to do at Steamboat) going tighter and steeper in search for the untracked lines (no cliffs or bowls which are rarer at Steamboat).... My experience continues to be that the 176cm under a 130lbs. skier is highly maneuverable and does not need much speed to turn....

P.S. I will say that the Goats don't take too well to a "swivel and smear" technique - they need to be angulated and driven into an arc (even in deep snow), which is more my style of skiing anyway. I could foresee that a shorter length would be more tolerant of other (did I say lesser? ) techniques....

Skied Gotamas(183s) and thought they were the best 1 quiver ski till I rode a pair of Line Prophet 100 in 186, WOW no red line a little more cut so altho they still float everything but ultra deep they rip the groomers a bit quicker than the Gotama. Will pickup the Prophet 135s for the really deep days!

Newbie here to the site, not skiing.

 

I just bought 168 Goats and have not had them mounted yet. I am 5'6'', 150. Do you think 168's will work for me or should I upgrade to the 176's? I'm a pretty advanced skier but want agility in a ski.

Thanks

PSA if anyone is interested in a deal on this year's Volkls, a local shop just bought a bunch and is selling Mantras, Gotamas and Katanas for 40% off.  I have no interest in this place, it just looks like a better deal than anything I'm seeing on the net right now.

 

http://www.pineneedle.com/store/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=24

 

In soft snow the 176 will be more agile, and they should be fine once things get a little skied out as well.

 

on that note as well in powder the 183 would be more agile than even the 176 for you, but would probably be to much when thing got tight and skied out.