Ski Newsletter
January 2008

What a crazy year. The industry is having a consolidation year. First K2 bought Volkl and Marker. Tecnica bought Nordica. Quicksilver bought Rossignol, Dynastar, Look, and Lange. Atomic bought Volant and Salomon. Who can keep track?? The big guys are grabbing the little guys the market next season is going to be very different from a manufacturing standpoint. The skis are getting shorter and wider. Twin tips are taking back some of the snowboard crowd allowing them to do all the park and pipe maneuvers, now on skis. The majority of the skis are now sold as a system. (ski and binding together) This allows the manufacturer under the guise of better performance to force a new binding on the purchaser and a binding from that manufacturer. Snowboards seem to be in a holding pattern, size seems the same and just refinements of existing technology. Burton still rules but seems to be so mainstream that some are jumping the ship to lesser-known brands, just to be different.

The west is getting the snow early and a lot this season, Colorado seems to be constantly snowing. The Pacific Northwest, this year, seems to be back on track and getting their share. Utah is up to last year's levels and is still great. New England had early season snow but warm after Christmas and little snow has made them ready for more snow to refresh what nature brought. Early January seem mild and in spite of early predictions the snow may be late again.

We demo next years skis the end of January, we'll update you on next years toys in February…THINK SNOW!!!