Skiers have always fallen behind snowboarders when it came to powder. Traditional skinny skis simply did not have the surface area to provide any float on the powder meaning only very advanced riders were capable of going off piste. Any snowboarder can dabble in off piste fairly easily due to the ease with which snowboards float over powder. The fat ski revolution has changed this. The end of skiers in spandex and tight fitting all in ones.

Fat skis is a pretty broad category, and covers everything from the slightly fat all mountain ski, capable of ripping up pistes after a powder dump and diving through tree runs like the Hazmat, to the Genome a deep powder ultra fat ski.

The shape of a powder ski is characterised by being wide underfoot and very wide tips and tails for improved flotation. Typically they have a deep sidecut to improve turn initiation and allow them to handle more normal conditions. Fat twin tips like the Genome and Double Helix allow you to land switch even in deep powder. The term mid fat freeride skis typically refers to all mountain skis such as the Hazmat. These are designed to go anywhere, off piste and on. They are good at everything and make great everyday skis but are no racing ski and no deep powder ski.

Freeride skis are proper fat skis. They are over 100mm underfoot (Helix 105mm, Double Helix 121mm, Genome 141mm) and aimed for big mountain skiing only really. How fat you go depends on the location and style of skiing you are doing.