Play Bust a Crater

New Equipment and Trends - Getting back into skiing and looking to upgrade your gear?

We look at what’s improved in skis and bindings, boots, clothing, and even some new additions, such as helmets.

Danny Cardinal, retail manger of the Snow Rider Ski and Snowboard Shop at Snow Valley, Edmonton, provides equipment advice for skiers who are getting back into it.

Skis and Bindings

What’s New:

  • Shaped skis are in, straight skis are out. The shaped ski is usually a bit heavier and shorter than you are used to, but it will allow you to ski with less effort, particularly when initiating and following through on turns. You pivot much less and instead ski primarily on the edges. It wouldn’t hurt to take a lesson if you’re moving from a straight ski to a shaped ski.

  • You’ll find that the bindings are now often built right into or integrated within the ski, so you don’t buy them as an extra piece of equipment. These new binding systems give you more control of your skis, as you’ll find the skis more responsive.

  • Women’s skis are a relatively new phenomenon, designed specifically to accommodate a woman’s centre of gravity, which is different than a man’s. Also, they come in colours that women can match to their outfits.

Details:

  • Stores usually carry lines of skis that they specialize in. The Snow Rider Ski and Snowboard shops carries Elan skis and Nordica skis. As far as the binding situations, they are two very unique skis, in that Elan has a patent on what they call their Fusion binding. They have put it on a floating track right into the ski. The reason they wanted to do that is when you are in your turn and you flex your ski, it allows the binding to float and you can maneuver your ski through the turn.

  • The Nordica design is also neat and great for someone getting back into skiing, says Danny. They have created a plate that goes on top of the ski, but it’s designed in an ‘x’ pattern that weaves through itself. The reason is that most skiers, especially beginners, won’t be perfectly centered, so this helps you because it compensates. If you are too far forward, you are putting pressure on back of ski, but this binding system helps centre your weight. This feature is available in all of the Nordica skies from beginner to expert.

  • There is always some controversy over women’s skis. A beginner or intermediate ski has a bit softer flex and they centre the binding a little forward to compensate for women’s centre of gravity, says Danny. The women’s skis are still good performance skis, but some women are nervous that the skis will not perform as well as men’s.

  • Elan has done some neat things for women’s skis, says Danny. They have three lines of women’s skis, and one is very performance oriented. Another is the Elegance series, beginner to intermediate, which are really nice, easy skis, designed with classics looks: solid blacks and whites that women can match to outfits.

  • Also, the Cosmo Spice series provides funky graphics for beginners to intermediate level, and they are nice, easy turning, light skis. The bindings with the Elan skis is another new binding system of high performance material to make the ski as light as possible.

  • Going from a straight to a shaped ski: you will do less pivoting and more skiing on the edges.
    When you flex a straight ski, you try and create that arc with your ski, says Danny. By putting a shape to it, it will take you less effort to flex the ski into that position, so you can initiate your turn easier and won’t take as much effort. You are doing probably half as much work as you did with a straight ski. It’s not as much strain on the muscles. Introducing the parabolic ski has almost taken out the need to pivot your ski, it’s almost all edge work now, says Danny. So when you get into a situation when say you have a ski with a longer turning radius but you want to do a longer turn, with the longer skis, it was natural to pivot like that; now you might have to relearn. You will likely buy a heavier, shorter ski than what you’re used to. A rough rule of thumb is you can go down 15-20 cm from your straight ski.

Boots

What’s New:

  • There has not been huge changes in boots, but there are some worth noting, such as more emphasis on comfort and warmth. There are heated liners and more flexible boots that allow you to walk up and down stairs easier.

Details:

  • With shaped skis, you don’t need as stiff a boot. Basically what you will see with higher end carving boots is they still have a nice soft flex so you can walk around. Danny sells comfort oriented boots and several either have a hard soft control or ski walk control so you can switch back and forth. When you switch to ‘walk’,  the back of boot switches upright.

  • There are now heated liners, which are warmer and more comfortable, and most will mold to your foot. You can even put them in boot ovens and heat them up.

  • “You will like the change if you are coming from 70s and 80s when boots were really stiff and uncomfortable,” says Danny. “The new boot will feel incredible because of new liners, and there’s more focus on comfort and warmth.”

Helmets

What’s New:

  • If you are getting back into it, you probably weren’t wearing a helmet before. Well, get used to it. This is new equipment that has become standard. Protect your noggin.

Details:

  • “A helmet is something we encourage people to wear,” says Danny. There are helmets on the market now that are multi impact, so you can have a few bumps without having to worry about having to replace it. Danny carries the Protec, which is multi impact. Also, if you want an extremely light helmet (if you are not used to wearing one), try Protec or Smith, which is designed to work better with goggles so the helmet doesn’t block the top venting of the goggle.

Clothing

What’s New:

  • Lighter, more performance oriented, technical materials. Bulking up is out, layering with thin but warm materials and having what’s called a laminate (outside layer to repel wind and other elements) is in.

Details:

  • A lot of people don’t realize the new outerwear is very thin, very technical material. People expect to see bulky and don’t expect it to be warm enough, says Danny, but actually, there are many high performance, thin materials that will do the job better than bulky counterparts.

  • What looks to be “just a shell” will be quite warm. On the inside, Merino wools or silk can be easily layered beneath the shell, wicking away moisture and allowing the heat to seep up and through. Danny carries the very popular Sessions outerwear; for the jacket, try a softshell.