Fischer Watea 94 (2009)

I have to admit I was taking a chance on these skis, because I had never skied a fischer ski, or a ski this fat. I have the 2008 model fischer watea 94 in 186 cm long. I looked at the 2009 models, which are the same as the 2008's except for the graphics, but the paint job on the newer 2009 was horrible making me go with the older 2008 model. I mainly have skied this ski at Whistler this year, and it performed really well in all conditions. The ski shinned the greatest in the West Bowl on Whistler mountain. The snow was really soft with fields of untracked soft snow. It floated very nicely in the untracked, and broke through the chopped snow with ease. This ski inspires confidence with it's very stable platform in a straight line run down a slope. The ski performed well on groomed runs too. The Dave Murray down hill run felt like I was on a high speed sunday drive with beautiful arcs. Oh, the ski does really nice long turns too. I guess the best overall feature of this ski is it's ability to inspire confidence, which will take your skiing to a higher level than last season. I believe it does this with it's wide stable platform, combined with it's forgiving softer feel. Okay, now for the things this ski doesn't do well, but it's a short list. It doesn't like ice, or really hard steep groomers. It will chatter on really hard surfaces. It's not that big of a deal for me that it chatters on hard stuff, because I try to avoid ice and super hard groomed runs. An example of a steep hard surface run that this ski chatter on is the upper peak to creek run, and the upper Dave Murray down hill run on whistler mountain. Both places where this ski chatter where in very steep sections on very hard pack (almost concrete like) surfaces. Second thing this ski is that great at is tight moguls, but it will do them if your fresh. This may be due to me and my fitness level. Some skiers that are good in moguls will not have any problems with these in moguls, but you have to admit they are pretty big to be swinging around in moguls. That's the only things I found that this ski was the greatest at but did an okay job in. All in all, I highly recommend this skis. They are fun and playful, very stable and forgiving, and inspire confidence to straight line down a slope. One last thing, the paint jobs on the new 2009 watea's are horrible. What was Fischer thinging. They somehow think brown and tan are going to sell??? As much as I like the ski, I would not buy 2009, because of the paint job. Look for a pair of 08 models. Maybe next year they will have a better look.