 Poster: A snowHead
|
For those interested in buying a new ski or are curious, I share the "2020 best ski "awards given by Proskilab professional team that has taken place in La Clusaz 10 days ago.
Full details will be published in Proskilab.co.uk in September.
Slalom : Rossignol Hero Elite R22 / Dynastar Master SL R22
Giant Slalom : Dynastar Master GS R22
All-Mountain (85 mm to 92 mm at waist) : Elan Wingman 86 Ti
Women's All-Mountain : K2 Mind Bender 88 Ti & Stöckli Stormrider 85
Freeride touring : Volkl Mantra W.Werks
All-Mountain Freeride (92 to 100mm at waist) : Rossignol Experience 94 Ti
Piste performance : Stöckli Laser SC
Women's cruisers : Rossignol Nova 14 Ti
Men's cruisers : Rossignol React R8 Ti
Men's intermediate : K2 Konic 76
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
Is Dynastar/Rossi paying anything here by any chance? How deep is your test pool? And why do you stop at 94mm wide skis?
Edit - seems not
| Quote: |
ProSkiLab™
Helping you choose the right pair of skis
PROSKILAB™ helps you to choose the best skis to match your needs, depending on your technical and physical prowess and the way you ski, by testing skis available in the shops to give you a reliable, objective and entirely independant assessment.
1er European ski review
The PROSKILAB™ review is published in 5 languages (French, Italian, Spanish, German and English). Every year, hundreds of thousands of Europeans visit the review to find the skis that are best for them.
How is PROSKILAB™ funded?
PROSKILAB™ is funded through the advertising spaces it sells on its site for various products and services related to skiing and winter sports. The site refuses all publicity for ski models or brands so as to retain its commercial independence and its freedom to evaluate the different ski models without bias (see further down the page). To get in touch with our advertising department, click here.
Reviews of the best models
Prior selection of the best skis
PROSKILAB™ was launched to review a small selection of models considered to be among the best on the market. Selection of the skis to be tested is in several stages:
1. PROSKILAB™ defines the criteria for each of the categories tested
2. PROSKILAB™ selects the manufacturers (4 to 7) for each category according to their speciality and the brand’s performance in previous reviews.
3. The selected manufacturers send us their best models for each category.
Manufacturers selected in :
The selection process means that the standard of skis to test out is globally excellent. That’s why the lowest marks are rarely under 12/20. In some cases, the PROSKILAB™ team may pre-test certain products to be sure of the quality of the skis before the comparative review.
A genuine comparative ski review
Many reviews test out skis with no guarantee regarding the consistency of the test conditions, which is crucial for a reliable comparison of such products. PROSKILAB™ is a real comparative review, as the skis in a same category are always tested:
by the same panel of reviewers
in the same snow conditions
A professional review
Skis tested by professionals
The skis are tested by paid professionals, often specialists in their discipline (freeride, freestyle, etc.). They are expected to push the ski to its limits and to analyse its behaviour.
The professional reviewers are selected on the following criterias:
Technical qualifications (at least 1st grade national ski diploma, High Mountain Guide certificate, 2nd grade national ski diploma, etc.),
Experience in competitions in the disciplines involved,
Prior equipment testing experience.
Additional remarks from expert skiers
The PROSKILAB™ review is completely independent and has no commercial ties with the ski manufacturers in any form whatsoever. Above all, PROSKILAB™ is the only professional ski test to refuse all advertising contracts with the brands so as to avoid any risk of financial dependence on the latter.
Ethics
Clear ethical principles
All the brands, whether specialist or mainstream equipment, a French or a foreign brand, well known or more exclusive, are tested under exactly the same conditions. A few brands that refused to take part in an objective and independent review are not included.
A wholly independent ski review
The PROSKILAB™ review is completely independent and has no commercial ties with the ski manufacturers in any form whatsoever. |
Which is all fine but you preselect your brands for each category so all you are doing is choosing from your pet shortlist based on some biases as to which brands are best in that space. Based on last year how do you defend not having Atomic, Blizzard, Faction, Black Crows, DPS, Scott etc in your freeride category?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
Good question!
First, we do not have a 100% freeride category, only 2 all-mountain categories and a "freeride touring" category. That explains that we have limited freeride specialized brands in our tests.
Second, based on this year, we did test Atomic and BC, including in the categories mentioned above :
https://www.proskilab.co.uk/m/ski-reviews-2019-atomic
https://www.proskilab.co.uk/m/ski-reviews-2019-black-crows
Third, we review skis with a comparative methodology. That means that all skis of one category are tested by the same testers within the same 3/4 hours. This is very important to us since it is absolutely impossible to compare skis reviewed on a different day and different conditions. Therefore we can review a limited number of skis (usually around 60) ...and a limited number of brands.
Brands get in and out every year.
There can be 3 reasons for a brand not to be in the test. That would be the case of :
Brands do not have any ski that would not meet or not sufficiently meet our categories requirements (that would be most of the cases),
Brands that refuse the principle of an independent test and favor tests on which they have a lever (usually advertising budget) and/or non discriminant tests (which are usually the same),
Brands that do not have a sufficient sufficient commercial coverage Europe-wide (testing is fine, but the skier must be able to buy the product) or organisation to provide skis for pretesting or testing (that would be the case of some of the small brands).
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
There is a 4th reason. Brands simply don't care about proskilab and feel the costs of supplying you skis to test don't justify the benefits even if you give them a favourable review.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ