Snow Skills

It’s been just over 10 years since shaped skis became a major factor in the skiing industry. The concept of a ski designed with exaggerated sidecut (relative width of the ski’s tip and tail compared to the width of its waist) has come a long way to making skiing easier and more efficient no matter what your ability. In that time, the design shaped skis have evolved past just a different sidecut to take advantage of new materials and design features as well. This evolution has changed how to select a proper length of shaped ski and resulted in today’s trend to select a shorter length than would have been chosen 10 years ago.

Traditionally, a ski would be produced for a certain range of abilities at the exclusion of other abilities; i.e. a ski designed for short radius, slalom racing turns would be considered uncomfortable in longer radius turns and softer snow. What’s changed in ski design in the past few seasons is the technology to meld materials and geometry to produce a greater range of performance for almost any snow condition, terrain, and tactic. The impact on the skiing consumer has been the choice to select shorter shaped skis that are even easier to turn that their predecessors with fewer limitations on where that ski can be used comfortably.

That’s been a hard sell with experienced skiers; historically a shorter ski meant less control at higher speeds and longer turns, but that’s just not the case anymore! As a personal example, last season I skied the Volkl 5 Stars, an all-mountain ski model that makes practically any turn shape in any snow condition well in a 175 cm length. This season, I’m skiing on the Volkl Allstar in a 168 cm length and although it’s a stiffer ski, I’m thrilled that I have yet to find any turn or snow this ski doesn’t perform outstanding in!

Suggestion: if you’re in the market for new skis, take the time to demo a ski like the Allstars on a length at least one size shorter than what your’re on. I expect it’ll be the start of a beautiful new friendship!