It's all about the shape...

Shape skis have made a tremendous impact on the ski industry over the past number of years. New ski innovations, constructions, and shapes have allowed the finest skis in the world to get even better.

The challenge, which has always existed, is choosing the correct ski for your style and terrain preference. Discovering your terrain preference, which leads to the correct shape for your style, is the key to finding your perfect ski.

When you first stand at the ski rack in your favorite ski shop you feel overwhelmed with the choices of sizes, shapes, colors and models. The key to get through this jungle of skis is to go over your favorite runs, amount of time you spend on soft and hard snow, number of days you ski, speed that you travel, who you ski with, and finally what skis you are currently using, At this point you are ready to discuss the 6 different shapes of skis available to purchase for the 2007-08 season.

The key to being totally stoked with your new ski purchase is to pick the correct shape for your needs. So, let’s look at the 6 different shapes available today.

There are three points on the ski that we measure to get the shape of the ski, Tip width, mid point width and tail width. These measurements directly relate to the terrain design of the ski. These terrain choices are based on how much time the skier spends on hard packed snow verses either powder or sun softened snow. The six terrain preferences that we choose from follow as such…

Hard or packed snow	Powder or sun softened snow	SSSC’s terrain description
1.) 80%	20%	Free Carve
2.) 60%	40%	Free Ride
3.) 50%	50%	Pure 50/50
4.) 40%	60%	Free Float
5.) 20%	80%	Plenty Float
6.) 5%	95%	Total Backcountry

Once your terrain preference has been chosen, we will know the perfect shape for your style. The next step is to discuss your level. We have broken down the choices into the type of runs that you most often ride. Green/Blue, Blue, Blue/Black, Black and Double Black are the choices in this area. If we take the correct ski shape and combine it with the types of runs you ride most we will get into the area where the top manufactures have designed skis specially with you in mind.

Each leading ski company designs a number of models with similar shapes. Based on the experience of the salesperson, he or she will be able to guide you to the best model and company using your newly discovered shape and performance level. Each company has a distinct ride. Characteristics like smoothness, quickness, lightweight, predictable, and powerful are some features we depend on to pick the correct company for your overall ride.

All this information is gathered each season at our on snow testing in February and again with our customers in March. By using our own customer base to find out the overall ride of each different model of ski we get a better understanding of what skis we should purchase and sell for the coming season. Once this testing is done, all the information is put into a chart format to share with each ski customer as they search for the perfect ski. Let our staff put you through the test to find your perfect pair of skis, and remember always Shop Locally, at SSSC, where you lead and others follow…