Ski Gear -- Behold The Big Boys: While Skiers Slip And Slide On Narrow Slalom Skis And Freeriders Plow Through Powder On Snowboards, Powderhounds Are Passing Them All Up - And Having More Fun Doing It - On ''Fat Boy'' Powder Skis -- Fat Chance

A hundred years of tinkering, trial and error, computer-aided design and high-tech wizardry have brought us to this: A ski that looks exactly like a cross between an AMC Pacer and the Fabulous Sports Babe.

Go to your local ski store and behold its immensity. A big, strappin', wide ski. A ski you could landscape. A corpulent carver.

Welcome to the girth revolution.

"Fat boy" skis, a merging of the best elements of both alpine ski and snowboard technology, were born three years ago when designers at Atomic ate way too much Kentucky Fried Chicken and drew up a ski in their own bloated image.

Or something like that. In any case, Atomic put some of their fat boys into a helicopter, hauled them high into the deep and fluffy and - voila! - found they made powder skiing a breeze for even the Extremely Nervous Intermediate.

Hot dog backcountry hounds who tried them agreed: Fat boys, they declared, would open powder skiing to the masses. Rather than sink deep into the powder - and throwing the driver into a fluffy faceplant, as a conventional ski does - fat skis glided right along the top.

That allowed skiers accustomed to hard, groomed slopes to sluice the loose using the turning techniques they already knew. And it made powder skiing effortless to experts.

The problem was the look.

Skiers, being the psuedo fashion hounds they are, are reluctant to embrace any ski item that pushes them close to the realm of dweebdom. Fat skis, 160 to 180 millimeters long and up to 115 centimeters wide, are nearly twice as wide at the waist than the average slalom ski. They look like they were conceived by Disney animators and assembled in a Hostess Sno-Ball plant.

Hot skiers who hadn't strapped them on compared them to strapping cafeteria trays on your feet and stayed away in droves.

"I guess I'm somewhat of a purist," said Mike Hattrup, an extreme skier and K2 product manager. "My (initial) reaction was the same as lots of other people - they're probably fine for some people, but not for me."

Thankfully, this didn't deter heli-ski operators, who saw the fat skis as a long-sought key to open wild backcountry doors.

"We're all very firm believers in them," said Randy Sackett of North Cascades Heli-Skiing in Mazama. "They've essentially revolutionized our industry by making heli-skiing that much more accessible."

Heli jockeys such as Sackett always have believed any strong intermediate skier could be taught quickly to ski in powder snow. Convincing the skiers of that was the problem. Fat boys plump up their confidence.

Aside from their obvious floatation advantage, fat skis turn sharper amongst trees. And they make heavy, crusted snow easily negotiable. That greatly expands skiable terrain available to helicopter pilots.

Ski builders believed increased exposure through heli-skiing would create a demand among infrequent powder skiers and even ski-lift regulars. They were right.

In a year where few major ski developments are piquing skier interest, fat boys have arrived. Fine-tuning has created sharper sidecuts, making some fat skis useful on both groomed and ungroomed snow. The skis are on widened shelves at ski shops from California to Alaska.

With lower prices, expanded product lines and greater public acceptance, they're even selling in the Puget Sound area, where many skiers who hike to natural snowfields in the Cascades and Olympics - and even many who prefer the ungroomed backcountry at established ski areas - are riding the wides.

Getting into a pair became much easier this year, thanks to innovations in ski brakes, which are required at downhill ski areas. Conventional brakes on bindings weren't wide enough to wrap around fat skis. But several binding makers now build a fat-ski friendly brake system.

Few skiers buy fat boards as a primary ski, local shop owners say. But many are adding them as a second, special-conditions ski - the perfect boards for a post powder dump day at Whistler, Bachelor, or the bowls at Crystal Mountain.

Crystal, in fact, will offer six fat skis as trial demos in its on-mountain ski shop this winter. Like it, buy it.

"It's a nice addition to your quiver," Hattrup said.

Fat skis fall into two general categories: Super wide-bodies and narrower "guide skis."

Fat skis usually have bindings offset toward the inside edge. They include the likes of the Rossignol Axiom ($500), the Atomic Powder Plus and its twin sister, the Dynamic Powder Extra (both $600), the Wolf Cloud Smoke ($590) and the LaCroix IX Powder ($550.)

"Guide" skis usually have the bindings mounted dead center and tend to run longer. They include the Research Dynamics Heli-Dog ($500), the Atomic Heli-Guide ($600), the Miller Short Magic ($490), and the Volkl Explosive ($535, available in January.)

But Northwest skiers set on fat boards might look first in their own backyard. A new ski, the Odyssey Max F/X ($395), is less expensive and built in Brier.

Designers Paul and Coni Nelson say it's a "hybrid" fat ski, built specifically for Northwest all-terrain ski-area conditions. The Odyssey has a 99 millimeter waist and a 113 millimeter tail. At 163 centimeters long, it's shorter than many fat boys. But that shouldn't discourage larger skiers: It comes in three different flexes to accommodate skiers as light as 120 pounds and as heavy as 275.

The Odyssey's snowboard-style sidecut and centered binding make it a smooth handler on powder, crud or corduroy groomed snow, Coni Nelson said. Coupled with another local invention - Issaquah designer Ed Dittmar's Ice Control Edge groove - the ski is effective in all but solid ice or extremely hard packed snow.

"It's an energy-efficient ski," she said. "And it's not just for powder. We designed it for Northwest snow. This is a ski you can take up to Snoqualmie Pass."

Last season, Odyssey built only 150 pairs, which are long gone. This year, with financial backing from a Denver sponsor, they'll build 3,000 pairs, which will be in ski shops throughout the West in January.

"It's kind of scary for us," Nelson acknowledged.

You know how it is. Powder skis could go the way of the rear-entry boot and day-glo skiwear. Right into the abyss.

Fat chance.