This just proves the old saying - it's not the equipment, it's the athlete.
I learned this years ago in biking. When I was doing recreational road racing I bought a full up carbon fiber machine. After comparing 2 years of data with the previous 2 years of data taken from my steel bike I found almost no statistical difference. It may have helped if I were a pro racer, but at my level it made no difference. Shane could make two oak planks look good.
Don't ski the trees, ski the spaces between the trees.