Powder guide online

Powder magazine have their gear guide online :

http://www.powdermag.com/08buyersguide/

Don't be too credulous though :D This is a US guide and the snow can be slightly different as are the average builds :D

I'm having trouble finding the page with women's skis that have flowery topsheets :D
Some interesting skis from my perspective. It's a little worrying to read comments such as.....
"this tiny waisted ski", referring to a ski with a waist of 78mm
:lol:
Clearly I need some new kit!

Well apparently 90 is the new 80 which is entirely unrelated to trying to sell more kit I'm sure.

Perhaps to keep down manufacturing and inventory costs they're slowly getting us used to the idea of having a showboard on each foot :wink:

I'm not sure if the print version of that is any more satisfactory, I though the on-line version was a bit facile to put it mildly.

My guess is that ski widths will settle down around some sort of norm' and that norm' will be under 90mm for "quiver of one" skis. Some additional width is OK for current skis compared to the same width a couple of years ago, for example a 90+mm ski of two years ago isn't comparable with the same width now. Manufacturers have managed to increase torsional rigidity which has improved edge hold on ice, traverses and on-piste. All of which has made them better off-piste skis as well of course.

Some of it is less to do with width and more to do with side-cut as well which along with that rigidity will determine the turn radius of the ski. My guess is that users will actually find a ski with a turn radius in excess of 20m to be no fun at all on the piste and over 25m, even 30m is just going to be miserable a lot of the time.

ise wrote:I'm not sure if the print version of that is any more satisfactory, I though the on-line version was a bit facile to put it mildly.

I'm glad that I'm not the only one holding that viewpoint :)

ise wrote:
My guess is that ski widths will settle down around some sort of norm' and that norm' will be under 90mm for "quiver of one" skis. Some additional width is OK for current skis compared to the same width a couple of years ago, for example a 90+mm ski of two years ago isn't comparable with the same width now. Manufacturers have managed to increase torsional rigidity which has improved edge hold on ice, traverses and on-piste. All of which has made them better off-piste skis as well of course.

Ah, so I do need some new kit :D

ise wrote:
Some of it is less to do with width and more to do with side-cut as well which along with that rigidity will determine the turn radius of the ski. My guess is that users will actually find a ski with a turn radius in excess of 20m to be no fun at all on the piste and over 25m, even 30m is just going to be miserable a lot of the time.

Some of those miserable folks riding barges, may be tempted to go away and learn how to ski in powder, rather than relying on width underfoot, then they'll ditch them for something more versatile :D ....Call me a cynic, but I'm not going to hold my breath for that one!