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| What's new in skis for 2006-2007 . . . The inevitable question every year remains “So what’s new with skis this year. What’s changed?” The ski industry has demonstrated a willingness to feed this frenzy by constantly rotating models and graphics. On the macro level, it seems like we reinvent the wheel every year or so. However, on the micro level, when we really analyze the changes other than graphics, the changes are much more subtle on a year to year basis. The ski industry is constantly tweaking sizes and dimension to continue to improve efficiency, ease of use, and more accessible sweet spots. The ski industry strives to improve the user profiles of each ski. The past couple of years, skis have remained true to several key categorical groupings. The changes that occur on an annual basis seem to happen within the boundaries of these groupings for the most part. With these facts in mind, we have been able to group skis in a very precise profile for the Jackson market consistently for the last few years. Please note that these profiles really are designed for skiing at Jackson Hole. The emphasis of types of skis in Sun Valley, or even Park City is quite different than the types of skis we chose to sell here in Jackson. The whims of the skier and the mountain that they ski at dictate what type of ski to look for. In all these markets, the underfoot dimension still seems to dictate the ultimate performance of the ski. For skiing at Jackson, the following categories seem to define the best usage patterns.
So is “change” a superficial moniker just to get us all to buy more skis every year? The true answer is it depends. The consumer needs to ultimately ask themselves a few questions. Have your usage patterns changed? Have your terrain choices changed? Your ability? Your aggression? Your goals? Have you bought skis in the last few years? With such precise ski usage profiles and such great choices of different types of on snow ski feels, the right ski is out there for each skier. They simply need to be interested in looking for it. When we look at change in the ski industry for skis, it appears subtle when viewed for a few year window. However, when we open up the period, change in skis is incredibly dynamic. For instance, when we look at the chart above for use pattern, compared to five years ago, the groupings looked quite different. Five years ago our carving skis were 63 mm under foot with little shape (Volkl P50 Platinum). Our all mountain freeride skis were 68 mm to 72 mm under foot. Anybody remember the Salomon X-Scream Series, one of our best all mountain skis? At 68 mm under foot, today it would be a carving ski without enough sidecut for modern skiing. Powder skis. Try the Volant Chubb at 87 mm under foot or the old Rossi XXX at 90mm underfoot. Today, they would be mid fat skis without much attitude. Mid Fat skis in the 80mm to the 89 mm under foot range basically did not exist. The one lone exception was the legendary Volkl G4, a ski ahead of its time. However, we sold that ski mostly as a super versatile fat ski. Wow. Let’s slip back in time to ten years ago and look at the chart again. Whoops! The chart cannot handle that transition. The fattest ski we sold that year was the Volkl SnowRanger at 78 mm under foot. Our powder ski back then would now rate as a 50% on trail, 50% off trail ski. However, with its lack of sidecut, it wouldn’t hold a candle to its much easier to ski modern counterparts. Our all mountain skis back in 96-97 were late model GS skis, like the Rossi EXS and the Volkl P20 RS and RS Super with shapes roughly in the 92-65-75 range in a 205 length. A 205! What’s that! Want to wiggle. We sold full blown bump skis like the Salomon Super Force 9.1 2s. It maybe had a shape of 87-64-74, or something like that. You could also get that ski in a Power 7 length. So we ask again, is “change” a superficial moniker just to get us all to buy more skis every year? If you own any skis like those of ten years ago, and even five years ago, much has changed. The technology has come a long way in terms of shape, flex and construction. Today’s skis are much easier to ski and are much better “tools” to rip up the mountain. If you have bought skis that are just a few years old, do they satisfy your needs and goals for skiing? If they don’t, there is a ski that can. Often, multiple pairs of skis can form a “quiver” that emphatically handles all conditions that a mountain can throw at a skier. Not sure if any of this makes sense? Then come demo some of the new skis and we can help you compare and contrast the new skis versus what you like or what you own and then, we can all make an educated decision as to the merits of buying new skis. So happy skiing and remember to smile, because that is what it is all about! Here is a sampling of some of the tweaks in this year’s skis VOLKL – lots of great tweaks
SALOMON – a whole new line up of skis to better position in freeride categories
HEAD – a few exciting new models for better skier profile selection
ROSSIGNOL –mostly stood pat with great Bandit line but added B-Squad
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