NO SNOW TOO DEEP, NO ICE TOO HARD
You’ll see old Gotamas, one of our favorite big-mountain skis of all time, with hundreds of days of abuse, still in liftlines everywhere from Taos to Fernie, but the current Gotama (new last year) is a worthy upgrade. Rocker (tip and tail) makes the “Goat” floaty enough for bottomless powder, but you can carve trenches on hardpack, too. “It’s super-easy to scrub speed and then reengage your line,” said one tester. The only catch? You have to ski the belly of the turn because of the rocker. 137/106/122;
FLOAT: 5
HARD-SNOW PLEASURE: 4