I generally pride myself on being prompt. While some may scoff at this, particularly family, I have a very good record of arriving to my university lectures on time. On Tuesday morning, I broke my illustrious pattern, arriving to an Intellectual Property lecture about 10 minutes late. The cause for this delay was a significant build-up of ice on my windscreen. I stepped out to my car to find what had been labelled as a frost, (thanks Jim Hickey) but was more akin to sheet ice. The kettle of cold water didn’t fix the problem, so in absence of an ice scraper, I spent 10 minutes getting extremely cold hands as I used a credit card to chip and scrape. I’ll admit prima facie this isn’t my most exciting story, but what it points to is the early arrival of what I think will be a deep harsh winter.
While some ski fields are getting good coverage, especially further south, it isn’t quite time for skiing yet. As such, there is still plenty of time to expose my inner gear geek (or not so inner), before I get better things to talk about. Hopefully you read last week’s post on outerwear, and more to the point, I hope you found it interesting and informative. This week I have decided to write on a topic that I find particularly exciting: skis.
Skis are an important part of skiing. Obviously. Their evolution has been remarkable. I was 18 months when I first had a pair of skis strapped to my feet, and while they had tread on the bottom so I could walk around. The first skis I actually remember had a rabbit on the top sheet, and were distinctly skinny and very straight. My current quiver, made up of big mountain skis, backcountry touring skis, and all mountain skis, are radically different beasts. Like outerwear last week, every season a company will release technology that is said to “revolutionise” skiing. Some of the time it does, most of the time it doesn't. Hopefully I can take you briefly though what to look for when expanding your quiver for the 2014 season.
Generally there is a correlation between skiing ability and ski stiffness. This is a rule of thumb, but for the most part, where you want to rip down the piste, your technique is solid, and you require stability at high speeds, you’ll be after a stiff ski. Conversely, if you want to cruise between flat whites and cappuccinos, speed is of little interest to you, and there is room for improvement on your technique, you’ll probably want to get a softer, more forgiving ski. For the purposes of this blog, and its intended audience, I would encourage you to shy away from the extremes: terrain park skis with the stiffness of a cooked noodle at one end, and race skis with about as much flex as a concrete foundation at the other.
Aside from stiffness, of which there has always been a spectrum, skis are getting undeniably fatter and longer. Ski dimensions are to given in a set of three numbers. For example, my all mountain skis are 132-98-123. These are a millimetre dimension for the widest part of the ski at the tip, the narrowest part of the ski in the centre or “underfoot”, and the widest part of the ski at the tail, respectively. To illustrate this “growing” trend (ha!), traditionally, and even up to a couple of years ago, a ski with a waist width above 90 was considered fat, and reserved purely for powder skiing. Despite this, my 98’s are almost exclusively reserved for on-piste resort skiing. This is because with the development of skiing technology, the 98s have the torsional stiffness of a narrower ski, meaning I can easily set it on edge, but it also has stability underfoot when I decide to plunge off a groomer, or go exploring. I have other skis in my quiver also – some backcountry touring skis: 186cm in length, and 128mm in the waist, and some big mountain skis which measure in at 2 meters in length, and 130 in the waist. Admittedly, they sit on the edge of practicality and stupidity, but the point of this is to demonstrate that you really mustn’t shy away from skiing a wider, longer ski. Technology is constantly developing to make all mountain skis really live up to their namesake, performing well on the whole mountain. Despite this, you must be realistic about it. Assess (honestly) how you ski. If you ski groomers all day, with no desire to plunge off trail, there is little need to embrace a ski wider than 75mm underfoot. However, if your ideal Whakapapa day is lapping Black Magic and the Pinnacles, considering a wider ski is a worthy investment.
The other thing that has a lot of people scratching their heads is rocker. Originally designed by the late, great Shane McConkey (who quite honestly mounted bindings to a pair of water-skis and skied Alaska), rocker was initially incorporated into skis to make them easier to ski in powder. Rocker, also known as early-rise, is identified by the last contact point of the ski being moved back from the tip. See below:
The technology is now used by almost all ski manufacturers, on all skis. Rocker comes in many forms, with skis resembling bananas being generally reserved for powder, but low, slow rocker widely used on all-mountain skis. The idea behind all mountain rocker is the ski already having a flex. This means when the ski is put on edge, the turn will already be initiated. This makes skis more responsive, and quicker edge-to-edge performance. Again, in combination with wider skis, you must not be scared by rocker. It is here to stay for a good reason: it will completely change how you ski.
With all of this in mind, similar to last week I will make a few recommendations of what I believe will be epic skis for Whakapapa all-mountain skiing.
Atomic Alibi
Recipient of the powder-mag Skiers Choice award, this ski is something that can be skied all day, in any condition. It’s 98mm waist width, rocker in the tip and tail, and traditional camber underfoot (identifiable by the ski directly under the binding not being in contact with the snow) it is an awesome all-round all-mountain ski. It’s torsional stiffness means it will hold an edge on whakapapa ice, but its shape and width means it will rip in spring corn snow.
Salomon Lumen
An awesome looking women’s ski, this 96mm all mountain ski is a great option for an intermediate to advanced skier seeking a ski that can transition from groomer to off-piste without any issue whatsoever. It is light and reasonably forgiving, but equally high performing. With the variable conditions prevalent on Whakapapa, this is as close as a ski gets to a Ruapehu one-ski-quiver.
Kingswood Archetype
There is no way I could make an all-mountain recommendation without mentioning Kingswood. Each ski comes in a variety of lengths and widths, but the all-mountain ski, the Archetype, is what I could consider the ultimate whakapapa go-to. By asking a variety of questions, Kingswood owner Alex Herbert custom makes each ski to your specifications (height, weight, skiing ability etc), this means they are ideal skis for both men and women. They are bulletproof, have incredible on-piste stability, amazing off-piste performance, and with bamboo core and sidewalls, they look awesome. With a price tag of $1,150.00 they aren’t the cheapest skis on the market, but if you can afford to splash out, there is no better ski for New Zealand conditions.
I am hesitant to write a gear guide, but I cannot overlook my inner gear geek. There are very few things that get me more excited than ski gear – hopefully I am persuading you to share my view. As always, until next time remember to pray for snow.
Dylan Pine.