Spatulas on other days than the big powder days?

**runethechamp** · 03-04-2005, 10:54 AM

When do people here use their spatulas? I loved mine the first day I used them (this Monday at Kirkwood), but I am wondering what to do when I go up this Sunday (too bad I can't make it up for Saturday). Any Tahoe/Kirkwood locals (Arty, lph)?

**slim** · 03-04-2005, 12:07 PM

They're a great heavy cud post-pow ski and I absolutely love them for the Tahoe Spring Glop. On post pow days, I bring my spats and a second pair of something else. If things get crusty and hard, the Spatulas stop being much fun really quick.

**72Twenty** · 03-04-2005, 12:36 PM

Take 'em to Squaw. I bet SquawMan could totally school you on those things in his Spyder suit and super top secret non-pre-releasable bindings on in any conditions.

**SquawMan** · 03-04-2005, 12:50 PM

personally, I think you should enter Plake's Gunbarrel 25 mogul contest on them

that's 25,000 GNAR points at least if you make it into the Top 5

p.s. Spats are for powder only, it's sacriligious to use them for anything else (except water skiing)

**72Twenty** · 03-04-2005, 02:09 PM

Isn't that the tree (lower right) that Kim Raichelm (spelling?) clipped in License To Thrill? She was skiing with Hattrup and Kevin D. Andrews (D for Danger)...

They were rippin' that line on K2 TNC's better than most of us could do it on ultra fatties.

**vinnay** · 03-04-2005, 02:32 PM

where is that shot taken from and what run is it looking at?

**SquawMan** · 03-04-2005, 02:44 PM

Originally Posted by vinnay

where is that shot taken from and what run is it looking at?

it's Granite Chief Peak in Squaw Valley looking at it from the top of the Granite Chief chair unloading zone

you have to hike up to the top from there to get to it

that picture always makes me want to ski

**runethechamp** · 03-04-2005, 03:25 PM

Slim: Thanks, just the kind of info I was after.

Squawman: Even Shane says you can use them on all types of soft snow. I was just asking for some personal experiences here. If that's you in the picture, have you ever tried them on skied up crud for instance? And you better be careful with those Salomon bindings

Originally Posted by 72Twenty

Isn't that the tree (lower right) that Kim Raichelm (spelling?) clipped in License To Thrill? She was skiing with Hattrup and Kevin D. Andrews (D for Danger)...

They were rippin' that line on K2 TNC's better than most of us could do it on ultra fatties.

I always thought that was somewhere at Broken Arrow, but I might be wrong. I bet somebodyy here knows for sure.

**SquawMan** · 03-04-2005, 04:59 PM

[QUOTE=runethechamp]Squawman: Even Shane says you can use them on all types of soft snow. I was just asking for some personal experiences here. If that's you in the picture, have you ever tried them on skied up crud for instance? And you better be careful with those Salomon bindings

QUOTE]

people are being cordial for a change today, it must be the weekend

re: Spats on crud: it's hard to say because I'm bigger than the avg skier so for me they are fine but it certainly wouldn't be my crud ski of choice

I think for next year, you'll want Volkl Mantra's for crud and keep the Spats on the shelf for the true soft snow days

and let's see what Shane and K2 have cookin in the R&D lab

**runethechamp** · 03-04-2005, 05:09 PM

Other skis in the quiver for crud: Stockli Stormrider DPs, K2 AK Launchers (5 years old). They should work fine if the spats don't work that well.

**Arty50** · 03-04-2005, 05:21 PM

Spats are awesome in everything but hardpack and ice. Obviously they're great for pow, but they also rule in corn. As for skied out busted up crud, their is simply no substitute. They absolutely ownerize the stuff. Normal skis want to hook up and dive in crud. Spats basically help you smooth out a path through it.

As for hardpack, they'll work. Just as long as it's not ice. There are two basic techniques. Both involve a bit of practice. One involves sliding your turn. Think of your skis as hour hand on a clock. If you want to travel towards 12, you may have to point the tip towards 11 or 1. Depending on the slope and quality of snow; you may have to adjust that to 10 and 2 or even 9 and 3 for powersliding. The second technique is fairly easy, just shift your weight back a touch. You can carve the tails by getting in the backseat. Just don't allow yourself to get kicked forward or you'll carve the wrong way. Of course a normal sidecut ski will be much better, but it's entirely possible to ride Spats on groomers. It just takes practice.

**natty dread** · 03-04-2005, 05:51 PM

Anything but HARDpack. I've skied on mine 30 out of 40 days this season.

**Dexter Rutecki** · 03-04-2005, 05:59 PM

Originally Posted by 72Twenty

Isn't that the tree (lower right) that Kim Raichelm (spelling?) clipped in License To Thrill? She was skiing with Hattrup and Kevin D. Andrews (D for Danger)...

I don't think you can see it in that shot, my spotty memory of Squaw is that Reichelm's tree is a bit further 'in' on Squaw (skier's right) than Granite Chief.

Here is the tree, with a fairly well-known Squaw skier (not Squawman) demonstrating Spatulas on a nice pow day two years ago:

**onehotchili** · 03-04-2005, 06:22 PM

i might be a traditionalist.... but i like my Spats in deep pow. when its firm and on the groomers, they are just too funky... at least for me.

guess that's why i have a pair of Mantra's coming to me any day now for all mountain conditions out here in Tahoe.

**SquawMan** · 03-04-2005, 06:33 PM

Originally Posted by onehotchili

i might be a traditionalist.... but i like my Spats in deep pow. when its firm and on the groomers, they are just too funky... at least for me.

guess that's why i have a pair of Mantra's coming to me any day now for all mountain conditions out here in Tahoe.

you said it brother, Mantras are the way to go

post a review once you've had the chance to try them

p.s. Dexter actually contributed a nice picture for a change insitead of an insult, amazing

**Arty50** · 03-04-2005, 08:49 PM

Originally Posted by onehotchili

i might be a traditionalist.... but i like my Spats in deep pow. when its firm and on the groomers, they are just too funky... at least for me.

Agreed. While I'm comfortable with skiing them on groomers, they're not exactly great. People always ask why I have Spats and Gotamas. When I know there's going to be a mix of pow and groomers or that I'm going to be doing a bunch of traversing/hiking, I vastly prefer my Gotamas. A perfect example would be at Mammoth. They groom the hell out of the lower mountain. So if you're ripping top to bottom laps, you want fatness to float up top and traditional sidecut at the bottom. I love my Spatulas, but they're hardly the be-all-end-all of skis.

**Duker** · 03-05-2005, 11:27 PM

I did a recreational race on my spats today. I took first in my age group! it was totally sick, I skied the last 3 gates switch.

**Superstar Punani** · 03-08-2005, 12:36 PM

What happened at the tree?

**phUnk** · 03-08-2005, 12:40 PM

Originally Posted by Superstar Punani

What happened at the tree?

"Oof. Woah!"
-Kim

**runethechamp** · 03-08-2005, 01:04 PM

But where is the tree?

**72Twenty** · 03-08-2005, 02:00 PM

Pain and Glory: Kim Reichhelm

by Jackson Hogen
Squaw Valley, California, 1988
It was the first run on her first day of shooting with filmmaker Greg Stump, and freeskier Kim Reichhelm wanted to make a big impression. Her chosen line narrowly avoided a cliff by making a tight but doable turn around a big pine tree just above it. But Reichhelm misjudged and hit the tree, which knocked her off balance and over the cliff. It was a spectacular tumble, headfirst, with cameras rolling and a cordless mike picking up every impact. Somehow, she emerged unscathed and laughing (a little hysterically, she admits). The footage made Stump's 1989 License to Thrill , and even landed her a spot on Letterman. Reichhelm went on to win two World Extreme Skiing Championships, "but nobody remembers me for that," she says. "I have bar owners come up to me all the time and say, 'I rewind you more than any video I've ever shown.'"