Powder/Backcountry AT Ski

[Wasatch Girl]

Hi Divas!

New here to the forum but have been reading it eagerly this season as I'm finally back in the gear game after a lapse of about 7 years. I've been skiing all that time, with some pauses due to broken leg, pregnancy, but have been skiing on inherited gear that doesn't really fit me. After my leg break I sold my alpine setup because I couldn't get my newly mangled leg into my old stiff boots and skied only my AT gear for several years until I inherited a friend's Volkl Tierras which are fun for carving but a tad too short and not great in mixed conditions/powder. I also got smart and finally got Dale boots, which are a dream, but that's another thread.

I just purchased and am loving the Blizzard Samba in 166 as my all-mountain fun ski, and am looking for a ski to replace my somewhat blah AT ski which is a Black Diamond Joule 2009. I bought that to replace my G3 Sirens, as after I broke my leg I could only ski my AT boots and the Sirens were just too soft for inbound skiing. The BDs are an OK ski, but not fun to me and having bought them on sale for a super deal, did the job until now. They're also pretty heavy compared to the newer skis that have come out lately.

About me: I am 5'6" 150 lbs, athletic advanced to lower end of expert (don't ski cliffs, narrow, steep trees or anything super extreme) skier in Utah. Alta is our main mountain and my husband, friends and I tend to ski a lot of off piste, powder when we're lucky to get it, but more so crud and bumps when we've not had snow.

I'm hoping to pick up a ski on sale end of season that might double as a fun powder ski as well as my AT ski. I don't want to go too wide especially if using it for both, but somewhat wider than the Samba.

I've read great things here about the Armada VJJ 2.0, the Atomic Millenniums, and at the recent OR Demo day tried the Blizzard Sheevas and was surprised with how much I liked them even on groomers and in bumps. I've always been nervous to go wide underfoot as prior to my leg break I was on the K2 Burnin' Luvs and have recently been skiing my friend's Volkl Tierras until the Samba purchase. However, I would love to try something wider for those lovely powder days we sometimes get lucky enough to enjoy here that would also float more in the backcountry. The Joules this year haven't been cutting it.

Any input is very welcome! Thank you all!

 

[arbusch]

I love both my atomics and mainly backcountry ski. Both have dynafit bindings on them. I have the atomic century and millennium. Century do better in more variety of terrain and tighter trees. The Millennium love powder, crud and open bowls.

 

[BcRose]

We seem to have ski brand connection! I am going to demo some Sambas on Friday as I am looking for a resort ski to compliment my Volkl Tierras. I used to tele ski on G3 Vivas. I generally ski more days in the backcountry than I do a the resort.

I have just started skiing Voile Chargers as my backcountry ski and are really happy with them, though I have mostly been lucky enough to ski them in mostly quite nice snow so far. So far they have been great in powder, heavy "powder", and some light crust. Skis and I also did well enough on some firm, horribly textured wind blasted slopes the north wind had destroyed last Sunday. The rocker in the tip seems to make breaking trail in deeper and/or thicker snow somewhat easier, at least compared to the Jils they are replacing. The widths of Voile skis vary with the lengths. They are really light (5lb 7oz for the 154's) which is nice for skinning and carrying if boot packing is required. The Chargers are the widest ski Voile makes for someone my size, I have the 154 which are 99 width, I weight about 102. If you are looking for a wider ski, you might want to take a look at their V and X series skis. I also have dynafit bindings, but do not ski my backcountry skis at the resort. Voile is headquartered in Salt Lake City and I noticed on their website that they have a demo program out of their retail store in Salt Lake City. Hope this helps. This is a fantastic forum, I just joined recently as well.