Equipment choices and how it impacts skiing choices

Below is a very interesting article from 32 Degrees - PSIA's membership journal.  I find this very interesting as we now live in a period that has more choices in our ski equipment than any other time in history.  Your equipment choice fundementally effect how you will interact with the snow and skills blends needed to be successfull and how you will choose to have fun on the hill

Sorry for the format but I had to paste it in from a pdf

How the Fast Pace of Ski Innovation Could Turn Up
More Business for Instructors
Better Skis = Better Lessons
By Peter Kray, PSIA-AASI special projects editor


The past 20 years of ski and snowboard design are beginning to resemble snowsports’ version of the space race, when the level of innovation only accelerated with each succeeding breakthrough. From the rise of shaped skis such as the Elan SCX and HEAD Cyber in the early ’90s, to fat skis, ‘Pontoon’-sized powder boards, and the exploding use of rocker in everything from park and pipe boards to backcountry gear, it’s hard to imagine that any other sport has undergone so many evolutionary leaps so quickly.

But have ski and snowboard instructors benefited from all of that equipment- based ingenuity? They certainly could, according to former PSIA Alpine Team Coach Mike Porter, who delivered a presentation titled, “Are We Keeping Up with the Constant Changes in Ski Technology?” at the PSIA 2012 National Academy in Snowbird, Utah, this past April.

“This is an exciting time, as the equipment innovations have opened up the playing field,” Porter said. “It’s a time for innovation and playfulness, and we have the teaching system to lead this transition.”

Porter provided a mini history lesson on ski design to an audience of more than 100 attendees at the academy, joking
that rocker has actually been around ever since skiers started bending the shovels of their metal GS skis in the bumps
in the ’70s and found that those skis performed better in powder. From that accident of innovation, to the influence of
snowboarding on ski design, and the way everyone from intermediates to experts are now benefiting from the application of rocker, Porter said that technology is continually evolving to help people ski and ride in places and ways they never have before.

“We need to promote the various ski
types and how they can provide new
feelings and experiences,” he said. “And
make sure we are training and teaching
a broad range of skill blending.”
With so many ways for people to
express themselves—from straightlining
to slashing gates to throwing flips
in a halfpipe—it may seem impossible
to meet the needs of so many personal
preferences and styles. But that is
what makes PSIA’s skill concept as
relevant today as it was when it was first
introduced 40 years ago.

“One of the foundations of our
teaching system is the skills concept,”
Porter said, adding that good technical
instruction is still about finding the
best mix of rotary, pressure control and
edging movements for each consumer.
“Finding the appropriate skill blend
for the customer and their choice of
equipment will be our desired outcome,”
Porter said.

He cautions, however, that instructors
also have to be ready to provide a filter
for the consumer in terms of the real
impact of what each new aspect of
new technology can really do. “Just
because it’s new doesn’t always mean
it’s good,” he said, adding that all of the
new categories of skis and snowboards
don’t always match the personal needs
of the consumer. This, he said, presents
a key opportunity for instructors. “Our
challenge as teachers is to be able to
meet the needs of our guests and match
them with the equipment that can meet
their needs and abilities,” said Porter.
“We can guide the customers to best
match their equipment to their desired
outcomes.”

Whether it’s helping students better
utilize the gear that they are already on,
or helping them find new skis that are
best suited to their abilities, properly
educating people about current technology
is yet one more role of the
modern instructor.

For example, PSIA Alpine Team
member Eric Lipton, who was leading
Academy ski groups at Snowbird, said
he actually taught a lesson at Beaver
Creek, Colorado, last season where
students were encouraged to cycle
through new gear. “It really helped them
understand just what some of the new
technology does, and also gain a better
understanding of their own skiing,”
said Lipton. “It’s the kind of thing I look
forward to doing more.”

Interesting article

Technology is great but will only take someone so far...it's not the arrow, it's the indian

same in golf......every spring  company's come out with all kinds of gadgets for peeps to "buy a golf game", never happens, EVER!!!! I know cause I've tried

I imagine that in both sports there are a lot of people using equipment that isn't really suited to their abilities...most would be better off investing in lessons

equipment variation would be certainly interesting from a teaching point of view - the same motions applied to a rockered fatty and a stiff sl ski yield pretty different results

pro2860 wrote

I imagine that in both sports there are a lot of people using equipment that isn't really suited to their abilities...most would be better off investing in lessons

truth right there.....i (just before collins cup) went to a regular flex shaft in my driver (rocket ballz) and killed it. guess there's nothing wrong with being "regular"

look at all the shmo's we see at GP with there million dollar outfits and skis but can't even get out of their own way

Boo skis on those ancient Stoklis and rips it up

campgottagopee wrote

Boo skis on those ancient Stoklis and rips it up

Stoklis are real men skis!  HA!  Loved my stockli sotrmriders were awesome!  

campgottagopee wrote

truth right there.....i (just before collins cup) went to a regular flex shaft in my driver (rocket ballz) and killed it. guess there's nothing wrong with being "regular"

ScottyJack wrote

campgottagopee wrote

truth right there.....i (just before collins cup) went to a regular flex shaft in my driver (rocket ballz) and killed it. guess there's nothing wrong with being "regular"

Annnnnnd Scotty hits the meatball right over center field.....

ScottyJack wrote

campgottagopee wrote

Boo skis on those ancient Stoklis and rips it up

Stoklis are real men skis!  HA!  Loved my stockli sotrmriders were awesome!

They are great skis...i think the pair this dude is on was the first pair ever made

campgottagopee wrote

Annnnnnd Scotty hits the meatball right over center field.....

gorgonzola wrote

equipment variation would be certainly interesting from a teaching point of view - the same motions applied to a rockered fatty and a stiff sl ski yield pretty different results

Great point

There are more ski choices of combinations of sidecut, camber / rocker, flex etc then ever before.  I own 5 pairs of skis and the widest is almost double the width of the most narrow in the waist.  I have several combinations of rocker and camber including the Elan Amphibio that has rocker on one edge and camber on the other.  All these require different skill blends for a desired outcome.  I daily give some thought as to what ski is the best for that days conditions and what type of skiing I want to do and sometimes switch at lunch.  I think we are living in the golden era of ski equipment.

Versitility  is critical to adjust between skis if you own more than one pair.  I'd recommend that if you are going to book a lesson to let the ski school know what type of skis you will be on so you can learn from someone on like gear.

Disclosure: I am a pro rep for Elan.  2nd disclosure - the Elan Amphibio's rip.

Holy chit, just read that article and I remember Elan SCXs!!  They were my first ski after returning from a year off due to broken femur.  SCXs def changed how I skied.  those were some super carving little sticks.  getting them to turn was mostly foot work.  Little toe to the big toe and some ankle roll...  Way less sink at the hips, drive the knee/shines forward motion.

I liked them and would carve like an alpine board snowboarder down mtn run!  Once I got my strength back though they were way to turny for an everyday ski and performed less than stellar under variable snow conditions especially a breakable crust type setup.

I think my next ski was a Nordica Wave.  Was like one of the first models Nordica came out w/.  Was a really cool dark blue color and was more traditional as far as side cut.  I loved that ski.  I put a super cool raven w/ red eyes sticker on the left ski tip.  Then went out west on a 15 day trip ending w/ sick runs in Cody Bowl including a very memorable ride down four shadows.  

Wish I knew where the waves ended up.  I know where the SCXx are.  In a patroller's basement off the memorial highway!!

   

I don't really see ski specialization as having an effect on most skiers taking lessons. Most people taking lessons probably don't have a quiver. They probably have one do it all ski. And ski specialization is actually decreasing as the "one ski quiver" is becoming a reality for most people. I just gave up a three ski quiver for one ski. I wasn't using the race skis hardly ever, I wasn't using the mid-fat much at all. 90mm skis are turning faster than ever and holding their own on firm surfaces. They will never be race skis but most people don't want race skis. Half a dozen years ago, the fat skis all had huge radius and were all meant for straight lining and laying down 11s. Not so much any more. I see ski specialization as having less of an impact.

Regarding skills, the fundamentals are the same no matter your ski preference. How you apply those fundamentals may be different but conditions are going to matter more than equipment. If you want to arc on a groomer, there really is only one way to do it well regardless of ski choice. Some skis will allow you to do it easier and more fun than others. But you still need to have good forward pressure and angulate.

I think the one ski quiver is a myth that is only going to be become more and more unattainable as ski designs get more varied.  A 90 mm waisted ski is never going to perform like a 74mm waisted ski on a hard pack day particularly if you want to ski a shorter radius turn shape.  Are they better 90mm waisted skis than in the past yes - are they as good as current gen narrower skis for the particular task as an everyday eastern hard pack ski - no and they never will be.  I can never see myself only getting to a one ski choice as I know how much performance for a given days condition I would have to be giving up to get there.  Last season only emphasized that point for me - I remembered how much fun a SL race ski that sat in my garage during the last few good snow years could be.

I also don't agree that there is only one way to achive a given outcome.  If you want to make a wider ski with rocker turn shorter it can be accomplished by using more rotary but that turn is going to look different than it would on a carving ski and its not going to be a pure arc but by necessity have to have some smear in it.  Not saying that is a bad thing and it takes just as much skill to accomplish but it will be two very different turns.

A good number of my adult lessons last year were specifically requested by returning  skiers to the  sport on new equipment.   They were
Mostly back to ski with their kids.    

Great news for the family and ski industry.   Skis are starting to be like cell( I mean smart) phones.  afraid to buy or you get lost in a technology gap.