Realskiers.com Recommends Top 2021 Models in Cornerstone Categories

Realskiers.com Recommends Top 2021 Models in Cornerstone Categories

When the ski world skidded to a stop last March, the Realskiers.com database had already logged hundreds of digital test cards, a very promising start to what turned out to be a dismal season.  There was just enough data to separate wheat from chaff, a winnowing process that revealed the top 70 unisex models spread across the four most popular genres: Frontside, All-Mountain East, All-Mountain West and Big Mountain.

It seems like ages ago, but it was only Friday, March 13 that I skied Mt. Rose for the last time. I left the mountain that day brimming with blind optimism. My plans to recruit veteran instructors to rotate through some twenty-five 2021 women’s models were taking shape. I took a few test laps under sunny skies and headed back to Reno confident that I had my bases covered.

The Big Squeeze: Why it Pays to Understand the Brand

The Big Squeeze: Why it Pays to Understand the Brand

We live in difficult times. I’m not referring to the messes mankind is making on every macro level, but the state of affairs within the tiny, cloistered domain of the ski maker. In a financial marketplace that demands growth as the measure of success, squeezing more...
The Dropout’s Guide to Skiing

The Dropout’s Guide to Skiing

During ski season I work a few days almost every week fitting boots at Bobo’s, which affords me the opportunity to interact with a broad swath of the skiing public. Bobo’s is a specialty shop but not a specialized shop: we supply every stratum of skier with an...
2020 Powder Skis

2020 Powder Skis

Powder skis represent the triumph of optimism over the dictates of reason. There’s only one reason to own a Powder ski, and it’s in the name. If you don’t anticipate catching a fresh snowfall of two feet or more, you don’t need a Powder model, which in Realskiers...
The Lost Kingdom of Carving Skis: The 2020 Technical Category

The Lost Kingdom of Carving Skis: The 2020 Technical Category

Once they were kings. After a relatively short incubation period in the early 1990’s, shaped skis suddenly overran the worldwide ski market, effectively ending the reign of long, skinny skis by the second half of that pivotal decade. When I attended ISPO in 1996,...