This post comes from the fearless leader of Off-Piste magazine who made the trek to the OR show in SLC a couple weeks back. Thanks very much for the report Dave. Some interesting boards for next year. Can you say "rocker"?
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The news on the ski front for 2011 is that, surprise, rocker is still the name of the game. If you have not moved to a rockered or early rise ski yet, you will have even more options to choose from next season. Check here for a great article describing ski rocker.
The usual suspects all have new boards for 2011-12. Black Diamond showed nine new skis for next year. Most of the new BD boards are part of their Power Series and include the Gigawatt (163-135-141), a redesigned Megawatt (151-125-131, 188cm) with a tighter turning radius, Amp (141-115-123) and the Warrant (130-95-118) featuring new sidewall construction. The new skis also include a redesigned Justice (140-115-125) that is lighter and now takes its place as the biggest ski in BD's Efficient series line-up. The new Justice weighs in at 8lbs 6oz in the 185cm length, not exactly featherweight, but lighter than the last year's Justice.
BD JUSTICE AND GIGAWATT (IN THAT ORDER)
K2 has revamped all of their Backside ski line graphics and showed a redesigned Pontoon (157-132-122) as well as the new Sideshow (132-90-115) and two new women's skis: the Sidekick (139-108-127) a Sidestash with no metal in its construction and the Brightside (132-90-115).
SAMPLING FROM K2 FOR NEXT YEAR
In other cool ski news, Volkl showed four very cool new skis built with light, backcountry minded construction: the Nunataq with tip and tail rocker (139-107-123), Nanuq with tip rocker (131-96-114) and Amarauq (127-88-109). The Nunataq takes the popular Gotama dimensions and lightens the ski with new construction.
TAKE A LOOK AT THEM VOLKL GRAPHICS…
Also new to the backcountry ski front is La Sportiva. These guys launched three skis and a very nice looking tech binding, not to mention new rando-racer minded boots. I am short on specs for the new skis, but I will post them when we get them. In the meantime, the one standout ski from La Sportiva is the green Hi-5, a big 100+ waisted ski with aggressive tip rocker.
AND ~ NEW FROM LA SPORTIVA
There is more to report, but it will go up in the next round. Look for details on new skis from G3, Dynafit, DPS and Voile.
