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FEATURE ARTICLE
...the progression of the ski manufacturing industry...
And the list of new ski manufacturers gets bigger and bigger.
Roxy, Line, as well as NZ's own Kingswood Skis, ...as well as these ones
Evolution Skis http://www.evoskis.com/
Igneous Skis http://www.igneousskis.com/
Liberty Skis http://www.libertyskis.com/
Movement Skis http://www.movementskis.com/
Zag Skis http://www.zagskis.com/
Also the 'incumbent' brands of Volkl, K2, Atomic, Fischer, Dynastar and Head are producing a wider range of skis, from Big Mountain to Pipe and Park and even Junior Pipe and Park skis.
Another ski manufacturer you may not have heard of...
Faction Skis
A tearaway group of pro skiers and random misfits who joined together in a secret base hidden deep in the heart of the European alps to create a guideline for a revolution.
What they say...
Everything we do or produce has to reflect the following ideals:
No cost cutting. No compromises. We build the skis we want to ride and we build them to last using the latest tech combined with sustainable and environmentally friendly manufacturing.
Our skis take time and effort to produce, and we only release a limited amount of stock per year.
samples of their product...The Wednesday's are our most popular skis - and this year we've made them more versatile than ever. As an all-mountain park and powder ski for guys they're just at home in the pipe as they are in the backcountry and trees - and as big mountain ski for girls they excel as well. The flex is semi-stiff - a combination of smooth flex for landing in the park and stiff enough to go anywhere else you want to take them.
Specs:
- 122/92/112mm tip/waist/tail
- 21m radius sidecut
- 52/47mm tip/tail height
Construction:
- Full laminate poplar woodcore
- 20º ABS sidewalls
- Glassfibre under-binding re-inforcement
- Full length double-width Rockwell steel edges
- Ptex 2000 grade extruded bases for durability
- Two year extended warranty
- Freestyle + freeride mounting points
- Faction Design House secret ingredients
Thirteen
Dimensions:
Size range (cm) 191 Ability Level Adv-Exp
At length: 191cm
Tip/Waist/Tail width (mm) 142/112/132 Turn radius (m) 28
Performance:
Manufacturers' view: To cater for all the bigger harder-charging guys (& a few girls) out there Faction have brought back the Thirteen to the collection – similar to the Faction 3.zero but with a stiffer flex and a 191cm length this ski will cut through anything at any speed.
All Faction Skis are still handmade with a full laminate construction woodcore, fiberglass braiding, 22 degree ABS sidewalls, ptex 2000 grade bases, full length wrap-around Rockwell steel edges, and some secret ingredients from the Faction Design House for the best combination of performance, durability and feel out there. No cost cutting foam cores or capped skis that you see from the mass produced brands.
FACTION SKIS
Chalet Diligence, Place Centrale
1936 Verbier, Switzerland
+41 (0)797 299 493
info@factionskis.com
Update from World Freeride Champs in Tignes
11 April 2007
Very sad news from the World Freeride Championships in Tignes. The event was meant to be the culimnation of the IFSA Big Mountain Tour, but in reality this has been a disappointing season for the series. Two of the key European events in March were cancelled due to poor conditions and a number of the European riders struggled to make it over to North America for their events.
However, the World Championships in Tignes, was meant to put the disappointing season to rights by providing the world's leading freeskiers with the opportunity to showcase their prodigious athletic and death-defying talents to an appreciative European audience.
"Death-defying" athletes constantly battling huge risk.
"Death-defying" really are the pertinent words here. Big Mountain freeskiing puts the riders in seriously exposed situations and relies on their skills, self-control and occasionally their mandatory body-protection to eschew major calamity, while still pushing the slope to the limits of what is practically possible to ski.
It's a fine balance and one that these supreme athletes tend to tread very carefully. It may look like sustained & reckless personal endangerment, but in fact the riders evaluate conditions, routes and risks extremely carefully. Testament to this is the minimal number of casualties at freeride events around the world (it's far, far lower than at, say, freestyle events).
However, there always remains a massive potential risk when riding on rock-strewn slopes of up to 50+ degrees, dropping off 60-foot cliffs into narrow chutes and using steep snow-flecked cliffs as some kind of vertical snow maze to 'billy-goat' through.
18 year old, Neal Valiton, killed in tragic fall
11 April 2007
Sadly, yesterday, young Swiss rider, Neal Valiton, paid the ultimate price for pushing at those boundaries of performance in such a perilous context. The 18 year-old rider landed badly from his first jump in the preciptious terrain. Careering into stone and ice at that speed can cause massive injury and tragically the young rider suffered a ruptured cervical vertebra (basically a broken neck) and died on the hill, despite the immediate attention of the emergency medical staff there on the hill. As Will Jones from Radio Val told us, "I saw it happen and it was pretty awful really!"
Unsurprisingly, the championships were stopped immediately in tribute to Neal Valiton, the courageous young Swiss rider so unfortunately cut down in his prime. | 
5 Day Snow Forecast
