OCR Text |
Show Saturday, December 16, 2000 77ie Par Record A-21 Women's by Bruce Lewis OF THE RECORD STAFF Shaped skis - those with significantly sig-nificantly wider lips and tails -have come to dominate the merchandise mer-chandise on the racks of sporting goods stores over the past five years. They make it easier for all skiers to make efficient, technically techni-cally sound turns. Midfat skis, which combine increased sidecut with a wider waist for more stability sta-bility and flotation in ungroomed snow, have made more of the mountain accessible to intermediate interme-diate and higher level skiers. Women may get most of the advantages from these innovations. innova-tions. "With the advent of new technology, tech-nology, some of the biggest benefits bene-fits are reaped through women's skis." said K2 Skis product manager man-ager Jeff Mechura. "Women tend to be lighter weight, and skis in general are now more forgiving and easy to ski." Wheiher it's a unisex ski or a women's model, female skiers will probably notice an improvement improve-ment in performance. . In general, women's skis are designed to be shorter, softer-flexing softer-flexing and lighter in weight than their unisex counterparts. The softer flex is especially important with shaped skis. In order to really use the deeper sidecut. a skier has to be able to apply enough pressure to bend the ski and engage its edges with the snow. Many women don't have the weight or muscle to bend a heavier, generally stiffer unisex ski to its fullest advantage. Rossignol recognized that us freeride-oriented Bandit XX expert ski was a little too much for lightweight skiers to handle. The ski is now available in a women's version that is softer (the metal in the top sheet has been eliminated) and easier flexing. flex-ing. Dynastar has made its all-mountain all-mountain 4x4 ATL. already marketed mar-keted as a women's ski. a little softer. The company claims the changes result in a more well-balanced ride. Women's skis are made lighter for 2(KH)-0I from the inside out. Head's Cyber Light and Cross Light both contain a fiberglass-reinforced fiberglass-reinforced foam core instead of a weightier wood core and dispense dis-pense with a metal laminate, making these two models about 25 percent lighter than the men1 versions. Volkl's 20 20 technology technolo-gy refers to the fact that these women's skis are 20 percent lighter and 20 percent softer thart a comparable unisex ski. The premise is based, in part, on a study of Olympic athletes that showed women to have about 20 percent less muscle mass as a proportion of their weight than do men. The skis are built around a lower-density foam - rather than a wood core -and include a fiberglass torsion box to maintain stability and edge grip. While women's skis have always been softer, most manufacturers manu-facturers are saying that advances in ski construction mean that the easier flex no longer comes at the expense of stability or edce grip. The Volkl Caner V21 20 20. a high-performance ski billed by the company as being for expert women skiers, incorporates what Volkl calls its new Lnergy Technology, using a titanium cap on the ski for stability along with a vertical si Jew all construction for better edging. K2s Patriot G4W. part of the company's relaunched ski line, takes the place of the popular K2 Four -the company says it provides women with superior edge grip for hard snow. In addition to K2's Smart Ski Technology - an elec- UtMH'-lit - H itt'Jjf f Ittntri Y ctettgrwd Lit inturimv pln pctHy fur tH you on pe'ton ul mbarlnnn on cirr It s lHJ Aip-a. lor Irt titrv rung and tt mM prn t-W t-W rhtlngw of c hang Alpt if tommodtvt mr MAN. Children, crrnirH ntom. vtm rrurrnHroC. at prK vou can MorJ-Thr MorJ-Thr t o a tubvtantial diKtHini waiting fur you (I yxj htvvn I mokfHl tor two yar and ran quality. A a young ption on your vv d bound Hr ur- r, rr t tr frof ton you nd now and to th tutur C tn t m today , frrim your fat, fair, ffrtvndly skis, skiboards listed tronic system that helps the ski absorb chatter - MOD-equipped skis absorb impact loads (i.e., small bumps, ruts, variable snow), giving them a very forgiving forgiv-ing feel, according to Mechura. Advanced women skiers can try out the system in the MOD 7,8 W. which also has a wider waist for additional stability. The design of many women's skis also now account for the skier's center of mass being farther far-ther back than a man's. One way to provide women with more leverage is to position the widest part of the ski's w aist and the recommended rec-ommended mounting point for the binding a centimeter or so closer to the tip than on a unisex ski. Rossignol's T-Power Saphir. a compact, performance-oriented ski that is short, light, and highly maneuvcrable. has a "waist width positioned appropriately for women skiers," according to Rossignol's literature. Olin's Super DTV, promoted as an "easy-turning ski for aspiring carvers." comes with a seven-millimeter "energy ramp." which elevates a woman in height as well as in forward lean, helping her put more leverage on the ski and get greater maneuverability. With the popularity of freestvle skiing increasing, the demand for twin-tip skis are rising ris-ing at a dramatic rate. Last season. sea-son. Salomon's Teneighty could not be produced fast enough to meet the market demand from freestvlers. As a result. Salomon has expanded its line of twin-tips with the addition of the Verse. Ranging from 130 to ISO centimeters, cen-timeters, the Verse will be available avail-able in a women's models with the Verse 7 Lite -and the Verse 5 Lite. Almost all women's skis are sisters of comparable unisex models. Last season, however. Volant, known for its stainless-steel-capped skis, developed the Vertex series, the first line of its skis developed exclusively for women. The company held focus groups to determine w hat ski features fea-tures women deemed most important. Then, working from that list - which included stability, stabili-ty, ease of turning, and edge control con-trol - Volant came out with the Vertex, the Vertex SuperKane and the Vertex Powerkarve. The Vertex T3, a quick-turning carving carv-ing ski for aggressive women skiers, joins the line-up this season. sea-son. Most women's ski models seem to be targeted toward beginner to advanced skiers, leaving expert females to choose from a pool of mostly unisex models. The industry's logic seems to be that, as a woman increases her skill and aggressiveness, aggres-siveness, she's better able to maneuver a heavier, more rigid ski. But this past season, a leading lead-ing ski magazine slipped several women's models into its anonymous anony-mous ski test without designating them as a "woman's ski." Guess what? Women testers rated the women's model above the comparable unisex model about 80 percent of the time. And two-thirds of the women (who were all advanced to expert skiers) chose a women's ski as their favorite from among all the test models. j ttew could yog no! tow that new fr; ctwftvs? Ttt s starts id doot b& I you not ks, that refined l-CUsa 575 Skiboarding oa the rive in popularity Apparently, skiboarding is here to stay. Quickly becoming a standard snow-riding tool at ski and snowboard snow-board resorts, skiboards are miniature skis generally 76- to 99-centimeters in length that perform like in-line skates on snow. If sales over the past few years are an indicator, skiboarding skiboard-ing could become one of the hotter hot-ter sports of the 21st century. They allow users to try everything every-thing from an introduction u snow gliding to gravity-defying new-school acrobatics. New products prod-ucts for winter 2000-01 range from rail-nding tricksters to skiboards ski-boards designed for trekking into the backcountry. Skiboarding has become a hit among Echo Boomers, the 76 million mil-lion Americans currently between the ages of 12 and 24. It's also gaining in popularity among adults, too. Just as snow boarding survived growing pains - including a backlash back-lash from the establishment in the late lWOs - skiboarding appears to have carved its own niche 10 years later. One of the bigger signs of acceptance has come from ESPN, producer of the Winter X Cumes. Skiboarding has been included in each of the last three Winter X Games, including the 2000 event held at Mt. Snow. Vt Add the new U.S. Skiboarding Series and suddenly skiboarding has a solid foundation. Now the same tricks kids are doing on skateboards and ui line skates are becoming accepted by skiboarders on the mountain And halfpipes and terrain parks, once thought to be the province only of snow boarders, are being taken over by skiboarders as well as skiers on twin-tipped skis. Initially ski shop retailers had difficulty selling skiboards. but there were some reasons for that. W hen skiboarding firs! started to grow in 197, most consumers were unfamiliar wish the sport; it was hard to tell who the ideal customer cus-tomer would be. That was about the time that French ski maker Salomon jumped in and helped the market take off. Salomon released its first Snow Blade skiboard that year and has continued to innovate its products since. During winter 19J.2OO0, Sahvtnon was expecting expect-ing to sell about 40.(XKj Snow Blades in the U.S. and 200.000 worldwide. Skeptics might shake their heads in disbelief, disbe-lief, but even if sales come close to those numbers it will mean the market has solidifieii. Part of the key to Salomon's success has been its ability to reach the south market. mar-ket. Salomon has continued to innovate with new products and this winter unveiled a rail-gnnd-ing skiboard as part of its new Aggressive line. Altogether. Salomon will offer three different Snow Blade products as well as an updated version of its skiboarding boot. The "W-centimeter SB10 is the cornerstone of the new Aggressive line. The SB 10 (at retail) is a bit wider underfoot under-foot than any of its pievtous models mod-els and has a base designed with Please see Skiboards. A-22 Look at that face. How could you not love that face? i w 1 f i(jr ' S 1 jLi dwsfit Tlwt ptrfectly inttsnrtvtf fog lanv? And how eoutd you not lovt tfew that mW M bodt What atout thcs rstosipwd ax prwectiv r How cowkl wtth er 2$ adwweea Tht ooesftm te. how ytyoait "a a to i:st T t-C Ken Garff Imports SouUi State Street (801)257-3000 (800)725 - -vx-v. kcngxrff . coni "A CHILD 2 THE CHRISTMAS STORY i TOLD IN SONG AND WORD j BY THE CHOIR OF SHEPHERD OF THE MOUNTAINS LUTHERAN CHURCH SUNDAY. DECEMBER 17. 2000 j 8:30 AND 11:00 AM 4051 NORTH HIGHWAY 224 649-2233 I ...... yiks f fa Safe prices good through Saturday, December 30th f FOOTH I LL ORIENTAL RUGS 1 460 Foc4iifi Driv in Sal Lake City Near ItSe mouth of Parley's Canyon 5S2-3500 IS BORN" Vw nVH &&Jar Pncm So 12x19 hdaAgro 56756 $4054 10 lU T3xtar Con wnporory 4732 23o6 912 Pok.sion J 72S2 4369 8x10 hAo V9 Dy Aya 5120 1 534 6x9 Thttcr Corteryxmxy 1931 579 5x8 Vg Dv Soumock 1172 536 4x6 Aighon iMhoey 852 639 4x6 hdm Tin 60 330 3x5 AfcWi 179 134 2.5x35 Mamcya ICelsm . 55 39 3741 )ON,S KACE, ARTISDC DittaOR o o o o 1 i y i ii i a'i i iif Tickets now on sale! Good seats still available. Call355-ARTS. 'l tub's Fa write jloluhiy Tradition!, .J. MS - MT! o o o o NulmcRcf Join us for the magic December 8-30 as Ballet West presents the 2000 edition of The Nutcracker. Seating is limited. Call us today! FMIOO jEp iMnmmi SVt Hut -tf.Z A Great Gift Ideal NO"vf AVAILABLE! Met ci popuia hakb l sd Tt tJ.ruLhrr tnilnmt Mi-. , pfemstt) of t Vtifummtr Sifhft DneoL ht fcnfBu oa lh ' ttlN,, pnvijc si at ADelta mi o o o e NIK' Call 355-ARTS wv. arttix.com U ar Cm o |