Atomic Femme Fatale skis
April 8, 2008
This is a slightly unfair review, but since it’s positive, I’ll go ahead and post it. It’s unfair because I tested a pair of Femme Fatales that were really completely unsuitable for me, the 150 cm length. That means they come up to about my collarbone. I had them while starting back to skiing after having knee surgery; I wanted short little boards that wouldn’t be too much of a strain on my tender, arthroscopic-camera-ravaged knee.
The cool thing was that I really had fun on these little shorties. They made my return to skiing really easy and uneventful, and for that I thank them. The adorable little 150 cm length got me making adorable little tiny-radius turns (my ski partner even said “look at your cute little turns!”) and were super light, just what my knee needed.
One of my favorite features of these skis was the notch for STS skin tails. LOVE. I really don’t know why all backcountry skis don’t have this notch. On the Femme, it’s part of a rubber-ish cap on the tail of the ski, and it held my skin tail securely in place and prevented the scratches I always get on my ski bases from putting my skins on and off. This feature is genius and there’s no reason why we can’t have it on all skis. Well, there might be a reason, but it’s probably some ski construction industry secret.
Unfortunately I had to part ways with my tiny companions when I graduated back to the backcountry – I just sank in the powder wearing these. I mean sank. To my waist. And stopped. Halfway down. They were also too short to deliver any real speed and I spent a few anxious days chasing the other Geargals around the mountain, unable to keep up and feeling like someone’s little sister. You know, the one that mom and dad drop off at the resort with big sis and her friends, while big sis pouts and complains that she doesn’t want to babysit all day. That is not a dynamic that I wanted to revisit at this point in my life. So, if I could test a pair of the Femmes that were suitable to my size, I would have a more thorough review for you, but I did enjoy these skis a lot, so that’s something. I actually regret selling these skis, as they were fun and I can see that they’d be useful in certain short-ski-appropriate situations, but the cute little skis went to a new home with a cute little woman who only came up to my chin. Seriously, if there is one way for a Geargal to feel beastly, it’s for normal-size her to stand next to a perfect adorable tiny size 85 pound woman. She was a perfect match for the wee little Femmes, and I’m sure they’re very happy together. And she is one lucky gal, as what is only knee deep powder for me is thigh deep for her. Hmph.
