 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi 'all,
following on from a previous post, i thought i'd open a large can of worms and ask.... is anyone, like me, getting dizzy with the speed of ski developement and would quite like it' on hold 'for a couple of seasons  ?. Before all the expletives start flying  , hear me out.
It seems that we spend a lot of time wondering what next seasons ski's/gear etc is like, and not fully appreciating what we are currently on at the moment. Don't get me wrong,i love trawling the internet for pics of next years boots/ski's , but its getting hard to keep up!
My own example of this is that last season, after many happy seasons skiing Volkl, i demo'd a pair of Atomic R11's in Steamboat and loved them to bits! So much so that my wife bought me a pair for a birthday present! As far as i know this version of the R11's is only a season old but now the whole R range has been peplaced by the Metron, so my ski's are already antiques!!!I would just like a couple of seasons to fully use them (and still enjoy my G3's ..which are positively prehistoric!) without worrying about what Atomic are replacing them with.
Am i barking up the wrong tree, or just 'barking' 
Cheers,
EB.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Welcome to snowHeads excitableboy. Know exactly what you mean. I'm a relative newcomer (8 weeks) and find the choice a bit mind blowing. Just when you think you've found the skis for you, a whole new range comes in which beg to be tried out. I can honestly say that buying is not something I could do yet (other than a second hand pair for dry slopes) 
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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?
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As it is usually said, the ski usually remains the same, with it just the topsheet that changing. Markets, like the japanese, are constantly demarnding ever new flashier skis. If there was no development what would we be all currently skiing on. In some ways yes skis do change too quick. but this has more to do the trends that we see in skiing in recent years, than the manifactures enforcing the changes on us. First we got carvers, which were long, then we had the 'fashion' of snowblades, then shorter carvers, etc etc. the types of skis were limited earlier, but now there is a type of ski for every man (and women) on the mountain.
Yes manufacturers do come up with all these 'gimics' on there skis (head intelligence, Salomon Pilot, Volkl motion, etc etc) and they feel abligiged to add this to pretty much ski in their range, which in some respects ruins some skis. But these 'enchancements' have made the sport more popular again, as it makes the sport easier. Which is a good thing.
What i do feel is that does create a certain amount of friction between people. With the kids i train with, the ones with white fischers are looked down upon by the kids on black fischers, although it is exactly the same ski.
Back to my trends in skiing, which at the moment is mid fats/Ski cross/fat freestyle skis. 'Normal' skis are made to be ski cross skis. for example the sx9 and gs9 are identical if memory serves me correct from my atomic talk at the beginning of last season, but as racing isnt as popular as ski cross (not seen as cool) then they create a ski with a different colour topsheet and market it as a ski cross ski. Some skis shouldnt be really defined as these ski cross skis, and example of this being the crossmax 10, both old and new. a supercorss ski proper should be reponsive and have a certain amount of stiffness, like the sx11, but instead salomon create a very consumer based ski, which was damp and nasty to ski(which i also thought about the salomon equipe 10 sl, which is meant to be a race slalom ski) But also the trend is to make all skis fatter with these small sidecuts(metrons) which combine the turning ability of a super short slalom ski with the stability and floating ability of a pair of fat skis. On my basi course last november, one of the things we learnt about was taking people into the park and pipe, making skiing fun, but the skis they are using most be suitible for this. but most skis have this ability to multitask. Even on my recreation slalom skis, which actually have a turned up tail and a fat tip and tail, pretty much everything the boys on 1080s and lines were doing i could do.
ok this has turned into a it of a rant so ill finish up in a minute
If you look at downhill race skis( or not from the racing thread in the piste forum), the ski is exactly the same ski used in previous seasons, with the 'new' race line top sheet on, so it looks something like the companies gs ski. The ski works and is proven. so it doesnt change. The more technical skis change ever race but in these events the ski is more done to athlete preference and continous research into stiffness and geometry. What i feel is needed is the manufacturers to hit a medium between what they do in racing. Establish a ski line that people can recognise, but constantly make small changes as a perfect product cannot be made to cater for some many different people. they can add skis to a line with new gimics on but the basic ski, graffic, consumer group should remain the same.
On another note, salomon has been trying to phase out the xscream series for the last 2 yars but due to its cult following the ski remained relatively unchanged throught out its life and people kept demarding it. Next year i think it is gone!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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excitableboy, welcome to snowHeads, and I know what you mean, but is it any different in other areas? Computers, cars, portable CD players, games consoles, trainers, squash rackets: the ranges change every year. It's all marketing. As ringaminga says, most of the changes are cosmetic, but gullible Joe Public (me included) is convinced there is performance improvement as well.
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