You can’t always get what you want!
As someone who skied over 100 ski models last season – the better to inform my judgments as editor of realskiers.com – I can hardly discount the many merits of trying a ski before you buy it. As someone who has labored up and down the ski trade for 40 years, I’m also aware of the pitfalls inherent in the demo experience.
There are two principal, polar problems with relying on trying any new ski before you buy it, which can be summarily characterized as scarcity and over-indulgence.
On the scarcity side, there’s a good chance that the most popular models of 2014 will be in short supply when demo season rolls around. After years of chronic oversupply, the ski pipeline has been shrinking. Even when a company knows it has a hit on its hands, it can’t just quintuple production. The banks and boardrooms that finance production have learned to keep a cap on exuberance.
Take the case of the Blizzard Bonafide. Before its introduction 3 seasons ago, Blizzard was making good skis that few Americans knew about and even fewer bought. When the Bonafide debuted to raves, Blizzard’s inventory was perforce low and the model quickly sold to the wall. While management boosted the forecast for the following year, the pent-up demand more than absorbed the increase. For two years, nearly every available Bonafide was sold before they could make it into a demo fleet.
This year looks like the pattern will repeat; Blizzard’s reorder stock is already gone, which means that, as you read this, the coveted 180cm length is already an endangered species. Although the Bonafide’s brief history is unusual, it’s to be expected that the most sought-after models will sell out first, effectively removing them from demo fleets that typically don’t debut until after the New Year.
While a handful of stars will flicker out before demo season, the vast majority of current models will find their way into demo racks, thereby contributing to the opposing peril, over-indulgence. Some skiers, defying the limits of common sense and their fiscal well being, become addicted to trying new skis. They lose sight of the destination where ownership, familiarity and finesse reside, instead investing in endless trials that inevitably blur into a paralyzing hodgepodge of faintly recollected sensations.
To put it bluntly, ski testing, if done with any measure of discipline, is not as much fun as skiing. Your ability to immerse in the moment will always be mediated by the need to focus on the skis’ response to terrain and skier input. That’s no way to ski.
(If you’d like to know more about total immersion in the moment, check out Snowbird Secrets, co-authored by Guru Dave Powers and yours truly. Now back to our feature presentation.)
Now that we’ve dispensed with the extremes, where does the middle path of prudence reside? First, make a critical self-assessment: what terrain do you ski well and what terrain are you hoping to ski better on this new set of sticks? This will help to identify the genre of ski you seek, or the pool in which you’ll be demoing.
Once you’ve narrowed your selection down to no more than 5 skis, you’ve gone about as far as you can go by yourself. Now you need a consigliere, preferably one with a demo fleet that’s maintained in top tune. Even the best specialty shops most likely won’t have every ski on your wish list, but this is more blessing than curse. You shouldn’t need more than 3 swings at the piñata to find your new best friends.
Ideally you’ll try your winnowed field back-to-back-to-back in identical conditions appropriate to the genre. As that’s not likely to transpire, do the best you can to evaluate your finalists fairly. If you fall in love with the first ski you try, don’t hesitate to snap it up; sometimes one run is all it takes to discover true love.
Speaking from personal experience, every ski I’ve added to my locker was one I fell for on our first date, usually after only one run. Skiing a dozen more skis of the same ilk didn’t quell my ardor. Point being, when you find a ski that’s the right fit for you, you’re done, whether it’s the first ski you try or – heaven forbid – the fiftieth.
If you dive into the demo process, keep in mind that you’ll enjoy this wonderful sport more as a skier than as a ski tester. Life is short; our life on skis is even shorter. My advice is to spend most of this precious ski time bonding with your favorite rides and leave the bulk of the ski testing to those of us loopy enough to try to do it for a living.
– Jackson Hogen
