Has anyone skied the Atomic Helidaddy or Sugardaddy or even toured with them? They seem to be quite light, around 3.3kg so would only be 4kg with Dynafit bindings. I’m wondering what they are like in difficult snow? We’ve had so much manky snow this year with the rain I wondered if surface area is the solution? I should probably just take my Sweet Daddies out a bit more but I was just interested in opinions.

Don’t know about those particular skis,
but there is some long-running “lore” that heavier skis do better in difficult snow. I can sorta see how more weight in the ski helps some, but I’m not getting the physics of why it should make a big difference in handling difficult snow. (or maybe it’s that the materials useful for handling tricky snow just tend to be heavier)

width: I guess wider should be better, in that it “averages” the irregularities in a variable snowpack over a larger area. And makes it so the difference between riding on the surface versus breaking thru the surface makes less of a difference.

Ken

P.S. One thing I am convinced of is that heavier 4-buckle boots are better than lighter 3-buckle boots for difficult snow.

I haven’t toured with Sugar Daddies, but when I tried to follow skin tracks on my Nordica Enforcers (135-98-125), I found it a problem as the tips touched each other every time I pushed the skis forward. A bit irritating, and it can’t be doing the skis any good. On the other hand, Americans seem to skin on fatties all the time…

davidof - 19 January 2010 09:53 PM

Has anyone skied the Atomic Helidaddy or Sugardaddy or even toured with them? They seem to be quite light, around 3.3kg so would only be 4kg with Dynafit bindings. I’m wondering what they are like in difficult snow? We’ve had so much manky snow this year with the rain I wondered if surface area is the solution? I should probably just take my Sweet Daddies out a bit more but I was just interested in opinions.

Hi. leave the toothpicks for the knitpicking. go super phat with rocker along with dynafits. the bd split skins work great with.
the future is now.

Ive just bought the k2 Coomback s with dynafits.  Not quite superfat but not quite toothpicks … Not used them yet though and need to get some skins. What are split skins?  Colin do you mean the black diamond skins with the line of tape up the middle to reduce the stickiness?.  I have a set of them they are so sticky that they got covered in bits of sandwhiches, plastic and assorted other crap from inside my rucksack

if i’m right in thinking, the sugar daddy’s are twin tippers.  i had a mate in france who had them set up with fritischi freerides.  he didn’t do that much touring due to work, but was known to to venture out with his best mate on a split board. so quite a combo. he used them more as a fun/powder ski so don’t see why you can’t set them up with dynafits.

last season, before i got my atomic freedreams i was on rossignol b94 respect’s with freerides and had no problem with them.  my brother has been using them this season so i can’t compare the weight difference for climbing. but hey for the big powder descents they are great!

Interesting information. I had always thought that 80mm was about ideal for a “fat” tourer but I saw a deal on the Helidaddies. I think ski tracks would be a problem though.

Split skins - I saw someone on Coombacks the other day. He’d cut his skins down the middle except for tip and tail and then stuck them to the outside of the ski. Like that you can buy el-cheapo 70mm straight skins and use them on wide skis. Seems to work really well and you actually get less friction going up.

You’ll find the BD skins loose their stickiness, then you can peel off that center strip to give them a new lease of life or for regluing.

OliC - 20 January 2010 09:42 PM

if i’m right in thinking, the sugar daddy’s are twin tippers.

I was looking at the 2007 model which I’ve seen for about 200 euros. It is a traditional flat ended ski. From what I read on Teton Gravity

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82425

the sugar and heli were nearly the same ski but the heli was a bit softer.

My roommate toured on them for a number of years, they worked fine, we still keep them around the house as a loaner pair, a good ski to put people on, very neutral.

Hi, I used to tour with the sugar daddy pimp (twin tip 193 version). Exellent tourer. A light ski, but still enough ski to be fun in a variety of snow conditions. Not to much side cut, so it’s nice on the steeper parts with jumpturns too.
With dynafits you have a very nice setup.