Revelations
On Taking What the Mountain Gives You
Or The Many Shades of Perfect Americans tend to treat all athletic endeavors as metaphors for war. Our most cherished spectator sports are either grounded in a military ethos (football) or are brutally confrontational (NASCAR, cage fighting) and...
The End is Nigh: An Optimist Looks at America’s Skiing’s Future
I’m an optimist by nature. Try to keep this in mind as I air my misgivings about the future of American skiing. As the thoughts I’m about to share were incubating, they started to coalesce around five points, all of which turned out to be more...
The Ski Price Matrix Explained
The snow-clad skis in this rack will one day adorn a similar rack inside a tent at a ski swap. If you can't stomach dropping a grand on a new pair of skis, the secondary market offers an abundance of options to buying new. Fall is ski swap time,...
Fear of Flying
What's wrong with this picture of the Peruvian lift at Snowbird, gateway to idyllic terrain? Not a damn thing, unless, like your esteemed Editor, you suffer from FOHL. Photo by "Guru" Dave Powers.I don’t remember the first time I felt it, at least...
How to Read Ski Data: Mining Ski Stats for Behavioral Clues
Labor Day marks the beginning of ski season in America. This wall at Bobo's displays a profusion of carryover, 2022 models. An equal allotment of new models overflow a small armada of ski racks elsewhere under the tent. At the top of most...
2023 Ski Market Preview: The Golden Age of Incrementalism
Labor Day marks the beginning of ski season in America. This wall at Bobo's displays a profusion of carryover, 2022 models. An equal allotment of new models overflow a small armada of ski racks elsewhere under the tent. Viewed in its...
When Shopping for a Deal, To Thine Own Self Be True
This skier qualifies as a Zealot: she's as committed to powder skiing as she is to this turn. (Photo by Adam Clark, courtesy of Salomon.)The unofficial opening bell of the 2023 season rings on Labor Day, the focal point of pre-season sales across...
In Case You Missed It…
This charming photo [courtesy of Head] of kinder overlooking the Alps served as the title photo for Will the Next Generation of Skiers Be the Last? After I posted what I assumed would be my last Revelation of the 2021/22 season, I realized I had...
Where I’ve Been & Where We’re Heading
Your Esteemed Editor in the company of Scot Schmidt, Greg Stump, Bruce Benedict and Fleppy the Flamingo shortly before Stump's induction into the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame in Sun Valley, ID last month. Mea culpa, Dear Readers, for I...
On Altitude, from Snowbird Secrets
The hike to High Baldy passes along the top of the Chamonix Chutes. Photo by Eric Hostetler.No matter where you go, there you are. This is the primordial flaw in the vacation concept. The principal goal, to get away from oneself, isn’t normally...
Everything That Goes into a Ski Matters: Innovation in An Age of Incrementalism
Everything that goes into a ski affects how the final product behaves on snow. Any change in any part, either in what it's made of or how it's assembled, affects the whole. Construction shown here is used by Head for its Supershape collection of...
Taking the Leap the Faith
I met Loyd Tinsley serendipitously while waiting to clear security at the Haley, Idaho airport. My facemask bore a small Völkl logo, which prompted Loyd to spontaneously reminisce about a pair of RTM’s he adored. This led to a brief exchange...
When to Buy in 2022, This Spring or Next Fall?
The photo above shows a section of the ski wall at Bobo's taken yesterday, Valentine's Day, 2022. Note that several models are down to their last size and in a few cases the last of its kind. The light dusting of snow we're expecting tonight could...
Calling All Ski Testers!
The Realskiers.com Test Card app makes it easy to file a report on every new ski you take for a test drive. If this Revelation’s italicized title sounds strident in tone, it’s meant to. I hope to rouse the attention of two vital constituencies: ...
Don’t Wait Another Day to Get New Gear
Remember the full ski racks of this fall? That was before every man, woman and child in America decided this was the season to get re-equipped. If you need new gear, you’d best hurry up and get it before it’s gone. Attention Shoppers! Please be...
The Things We Do for Love, Part 1
Scot Schmidt blasting off in Greg Stump's classic film, Blizzard of Aahhh's. Photo courtesy of Rod Walker. I first became aware of Greg Stump when Salomon North America’s Director of Marketing, Steve Meineke, and Competition Services’...
Lessons from the Front Lines
Jackson in action on the front lines at Bobo's in Reno, NV.For seven of the last ten days I’ve been perched on a stool, staring at a cross-section of American skier’s feet. During what is often a 90-minute counseling session, the owners of said...
Feet Don’t Lie
With every new ski season, I’m treated to a parade of pedal extremities, a fresh flotilla of feet, a bonanza of bony protuberances and collapsed arches. That’s right, I actually look forward to the next lost soul who has found his or her way to my...
Looking Back at 2021
We did it. Against long odds, we, the community of American Alpine skiers, pulled off a very respectable version of a ski season in the first few months of 2021. Wherever local restrictions allowed lift-assisted skiing, we not only showed up, we...
How You Can Help Save Christmas
Dear Readers, To fill you in on some essential background: The Stump-Bertoni Prize for Excellence was created to correct a grave injustice. As of two years ago, Realskiers.com had never won an award, if you can believe that. The fact that no...
The Skiers Who Changed Skiing
Walter Amstutz led the transition from free-heel to locked-heel skiing. In 1928, he pioneered a spring to control heel-lift, soon known as the “Amstutz spring.” Reduced heel-lift helped spark the parallel turn revolution. Photo courtesy Ivan...
Ski Buying Tips for Parents
Parents usually want the best for their children, but when it comes to ski gear for the littlest skiers, there really isn't much to differentiate one ski, boot or binding from another. We’re all hard-wired to protect children. As near as I can...
The Story Behind Jackson’s List
Jan's in Park City, UT has maintained an impeccable reputation for customer service since it first opened its doors under founder Jan Peterson. In this week’s Revelation, I share the backstory behind Jackson’s List, a new feature on...
Will the Next Generation of Skiers Be the Last?
The future of Alpine skiing as we know it is very much in doubt. These little tykes may very well be part of the last generation of skiers. Ski resorts generally do what they can to lower barriers to kids’ participation, like discounts for...
The Making of a Skier, Part XIV: My Illustrious Nordic Career
No, this is not your intrepid Pontiff sailing high over the Alps, but an actual Nordic jumper possessing all the skill and talent your blessed Chief Prelate lacks. This is the posture I imagined I was in when I slammed nose-first into a Vermont...
Getting Lost in the Details, Part Two
Alpine boot soles now come in three different iterations. Pictured here, front to back, are Gripwalk, an Alpine sole with replaceable sole pads, and a monoblock racing sole. Which one is right for you?Last week, I illuminated to what degree the...
Getting Lost in the Details, Part One
How well you take care of your skis will have an enormous influence on performance. In the race community, tasks like waxing, base structuring and edge beveling can take hours to achieve a perfect result. This Revelation proposes a practical guide...
The All-Resort Skier
While I earned my keep as an equipment maven during my tenure at Snow Country Magazine, towards the end of the relationship they let me try my hand at resort reviews. I’ll never forget the opening paragraph of my first submission because it...
The Best Skis of 2021/22
I’m of two minds when it comes to the “best of” business. I realize that many consumers appreciate this shortcut to any further research, take the gold medal as Gospel and act on it. From the designer’s perspective, even though I might make dozens...
The Skis Americans Don’t See, Part Two
This is the condition Powder skis were made for. If only we could use them every day... As I was dismounting my soapbox last week, I was on the brink of revealing a major reason why mainstream ski suppliers have a hard time making a nickel in...