The weather is changing, temps are dropping and it’s feeling a bit more like winter is going to be on its way before you know it. With the onset of all these colder temps, I decided it was time to pack up and take a road trip north to Boyne Mountain for the Snowsports Summit and Skitoberfest events.
These are two great events put on simultaneously by Boyne resorts and it definitely brought out a great crowd of snowsports enthusiasts. Skitoberfest was taking place outside, throughout the Boyne Mountain Village, with lots of activities for both adults and kids – live music, food and free chairlift rides to name a few. Inside the main civic center, a number of manufactures were on hand, showing off the latest and greatest in skis, boards, boots and bindings. We were able to catch up with a few of them and find out what’s new for 09/10 season and spotted a couple growing trends across ski/board manufactures.
One major changed in ski and board design that we’re seeing hit the market is the use of “rocker design”. Opposed to camber which helps create a spring-like “pop” to the ski/board, rocker allows the equipment to float a bit more through various terrain, especially powder and crud. So far we’ve heard mixed reviews across different terrains and haven’t had a chance to get on anything with rocker to try it out in the Midwest. The other growing trend is that of more forward flex in equipment. Boots are laterally stiffer, with more forward flex. Skis are stiffer torsional, with more flex tip to tail, a huge advantage on the world cup race circuit as it allows the racer to put the ski on edge faster and easier than before, while still having a great amount of edge hold and strength.
Burton had a great display showing the difference between rocker and camber and the advantages each have over one another in different types of terrain. Rocker technology is where it’s at in powder, crud and some park use where floating is key with a buttery feel under your feet.
The Channel is a pretty sweet setup from Burton that allows the rider mount their bindings however they see fit. 3 major adjustments can be made, stance width, unlimited stance angle – not fixed, and centering to eliminate toe and heel drift.
We caught up with Nordica rep John Kerkhof who showed us the hot new Ace of Spades lineup for this season. This ski is park/pipe specific, very durable and lightweight for maximum air control – not to mention it has a pretty sweet top sheet graphic. Very symmetrical at 113-86-113 and available in a 177-184cm.
Another cool piece from Nordica is the X-Balance Integrated System, “Integrated design and X-Balance engineering provide a perfectly round flex curve that allows the ski to perform with TIP-TO-TAIL edge hold, putting the whole ski in the users control.”
We caught up with the guys at Technica to talk boots, wound up talking about Blizzard Skis, for those of you who didn’t know, has been a part of the Technica Group since 2006. Technica’s biggest change this season included the Phoenix boot. An all mountain boot, a more relaxed version of their full on race boot with a good lateral stiffness and plenty of forward flex. Blizzard announced the release of their IQ Max Slider, an open-source binding mount solution that allows you to mount virtually any brand and type of binding to their skis.
Over in the Fischer booth, we noticed an odd looking pair of boots. Fischer announced its Soma-Tec boot that will completely change the way your stance. “Soma-Tec boots are different to conventional ski boots because of a unique stand position of the feet on the skis. The natural, offset V-position of the feet is retained and the body’s centre of gravity lies directly above the middle of the ski.”
Although Fischer is a dominating force on the World Cup, they also make a pretty sweet freeride ski. Unlike its race bread cousin, the Watea Series is straight up off-piste ski gear. Powder, crud, you name it, these skis have the construction to hold up.
Another top contender in the freeride class is Salomon. With models like the Dumont and Suspect snagging the top 1 & 2 spots in twintip/freestyle category amongst ski testers, the Shogun switches things up with its rocker technology that’s carried 350mm down from the tip. Advantage – rides up on top of the powder and crud, but still able to steer it on the groomers. Did we mention a major material of its build is Bamboo?
We caught up with a unique company who is hand crafting skis right here in Michigan. SCC Skis out of South Lyon, MI has been designing and 
developing their ski technology for the past 4 years and are finally releasing it to the public. These guys have a full line of skis from race, all-mountain to park and pipe, we even scoped out a set of big-mountain skis that were nuts! Quite a bit of time was spent in their booth talking with partner in crime, Jeff Thompson, on the design and fabrication of their skis. From start to finish, SCC designs and presses every ski they make. They try to source the highest quality materials they can find in the USA, with wood core construction that ranges from beech, ash and poplar, all depending on the type of ride they are trying to achieve. You can expect more on these guys this season – keep an eye out for them as they make their rounds for demo days.
After checking out all the gear inside, I had enough time to head outside for the Salomon Jib Fest finals getting underway. A pretty decent turnout from both skiers and snowboarders willing to throw down on a couple of boxes and a narrow patch of snow. Salomon ripper Simon Dumont was on hand to play his part in judging the contest as well.
All in all, a great event, good turn out and we’re looking forward to it next year!