From an ongoing series of articles from our main page:
Part 1: Pretest Briefing
After Pugski’s inaugural visit to the SIA trade show, we set off to Copper Mountain to start testing skis. Testing skis isn’t just a matter of going from tent to tent deciding what we want to try that's fresh and cool. Instead, as we receive information on each manufacturer and what they will be offering, I start to build a list of skis that are new, structurally improved, or carried over from the previous year. The night before the test, we go over which skis to try. I have a spreadsheet of the newest skis in categories from sub-80mm frontside chargers to 110mm+ powder skis and the most contested categories in between.
Tricia and I have compiled a list of skiers we know and whose opinions we trust: women @SBrown and @SkiNurse, who both ski close to 100 days here in Colorado, and men such as @FairToMiddlin whose Layman’s Guides to skis have been very popular, @Drahtguy, our 11/10ths skier who loves to charge, plus annual stalwarts @Ron (aka Finndog) and@UGASkiDawg. To round out the opinions, we recruited @epic and @Brian Finch for their reviews from the eastern show at Stratton.
The night before the testing, we executed a game plan over sushi supplied by @coskigirl and a decent bit of libation along with the obligatory ShotzSki. My initial plan was to work left to right on our spreadsheet, hard snow skis to big powder skis, but looking out the window at Copper, it was snowing about an inch an hour and the forecast looked like it would do that all night. Ok … let's look at the list again and work right to left and start with the powder skis. But then we wake up to see that we only got 4 to 6 in., so we work from the middle out, 85mm up to 100mm skis. First-world ski testing problems, for sure.
From there we set up our “BSL buddies," two testers who have a similar boot sole lengths that can swap skis on the hill without having to return to the tent city between runs; this makes the process work more efficiently. We talked about how to take notes, where a audio recorder on a phone is a great tool for recording basic thoughts on a ski, and we discussed who a ski is for, who it is not for, and a tester's tip, something that sets that ski apart. This is all information that our readers have come to expect from us.
During the pre-test briefing, the question came up, What if a ski is just not good? We discussed, Well, why is it not good? Could it be the tune? If we get on a ski and it just feels “wonky” (an insider's technical term) and you think it might be the tune, get your BSL buddy to try it. Is it the tester or the ski? If your co-tester feels the same way, bring it back to the tent, explain what you felt, and swap with with another pair. I haven't been to a ski test where there wasn't at least one ski with a bad tune. It is not uncommon for these skis to get to Copper only hours before the show after being overnighted from a factory in Europe. Not a big deal, but it happens. Now, if the other tester doesn’t think it's the tune, this is when our job gets more involved…time to figure out who that ski is for. Ski the ski a little forward or neutral, find the sweet spot, something that should be done with every ski but even more so here.
Expect our Thumbnails, Layman’s Reviews, and such to start coming up over the next few days and weeks. This information will be compiled into more extensive long-term tests and combined with results from other demos such as the ones at Mt. Rose and Mammoth in California. We will also see reviews and quotes from other respected members on the site such as @dawgcatching, @WadeHoliday, and @SkiEssentials. All this will be brought to you this spring and into the fall when other buyer's guides appear so we can all compare notes. We will be able to see where we hit the nail on the head with a ski or we can talk about a ski that we missed.
Stay tuned for Part 2.
Part 1: Pretest Briefing
After Pugski’s inaugural visit to the SIA trade show, we set off to Copper Mountain to start testing skis. Testing skis isn’t just a matter of going from tent to tent deciding what we want to try that's fresh and cool. Instead, as we receive information on each manufacturer and what they will be offering, I start to build a list of skis that are new, structurally improved, or carried over from the previous year. The night before the test, we go over which skis to try. I have a spreadsheet of the newest skis in categories from sub-80mm frontside chargers to 110mm+ powder skis and the most contested categories in between.
Tricia and I have compiled a list of skiers we know and whose opinions we trust: women @SBrown and @SkiNurse, who both ski close to 100 days here in Colorado, and men such as @FairToMiddlin whose Layman’s Guides to skis have been very popular, @Drahtguy, our 11/10ths skier who loves to charge, plus annual stalwarts @Ron (aka Finndog) and@UGASkiDawg. To round out the opinions, we recruited @epic and @Brian Finch for their reviews from the eastern show at Stratton.
The night before the testing, we executed a game plan over sushi supplied by @coskigirl and a decent bit of libation along with the obligatory ShotzSki. My initial plan was to work left to right on our spreadsheet, hard snow skis to big powder skis, but looking out the window at Copper, it was snowing about an inch an hour and the forecast looked like it would do that all night. Ok … let's look at the list again and work right to left and start with the powder skis. But then we wake up to see that we only got 4 to 6 in., so we work from the middle out, 85mm up to 100mm skis. First-world ski testing problems, for sure.
From there we set up our “BSL buddies," two testers who have a similar boot sole lengths that can swap skis on the hill without having to return to the tent city between runs; this makes the process work more efficiently. We talked about how to take notes, where a audio recorder on a phone is a great tool for recording basic thoughts on a ski, and we discussed who a ski is for, who it is not for, and a tester's tip, something that sets that ski apart. This is all information that our readers have come to expect from us.
During the pre-test briefing, the question came up, What if a ski is just not good? We discussed, Well, why is it not good? Could it be the tune? If we get on a ski and it just feels “wonky” (an insider's technical term) and you think it might be the tune, get your BSL buddy to try it. Is it the tester or the ski? If your co-tester feels the same way, bring it back to the tent, explain what you felt, and swap with with another pair. I haven't been to a ski test where there wasn't at least one ski with a bad tune. It is not uncommon for these skis to get to Copper only hours before the show after being overnighted from a factory in Europe. Not a big deal, but it happens. Now, if the other tester doesn’t think it's the tune, this is when our job gets more involved…time to figure out who that ski is for. Ski the ski a little forward or neutral, find the sweet spot, something that should be done with every ski but even more so here.
Expect our Thumbnails, Layman’s Reviews, and such to start coming up over the next few days and weeks. This information will be compiled into more extensive long-term tests and combined with results from other demos such as the ones at Mt. Rose and Mammoth in California. We will also see reviews and quotes from other respected members on the site such as @dawgcatching, @WadeHoliday, and @SkiEssentials. All this will be brought to you this spring and into the fall when other buyer's guides appear so we can all compare notes. We will be able to see where we hit the nail on the head with a ski or we can talk about a ski that we missed.
Stay tuned for Part 2.