About Ski Tests

Every year at this time all the ski tests come out. Customers find them to be important. This is because they appear to be (and kind of are...) objective opinions from experts. The sales person at the shop is a sales person and will tell you what you want to hear. The objective expert is to be believed, For this reason I am always eager to dee the test results. Some tests are (we feel) bogus and filled with journalistic hyperboly. Some tests are better. A few are really good. We personaaly test every ski we sell and every ski we would consider selling. We also test pretty much every brand we compete against. We consider ourselves "professional ski testors". Last year I skied over 75 different skis. All of us do this. It's part of the job. That being said we are always curious to see what the tests say. This year as with most we feel validated. The brands we support and the ski models we chose did very well. A number of "ski of the year" picks and our new brand, Elan, had its bext results ever by far in the magazines. All this being said let me say this: As "professional ski testers", our job is to UNDERSTAND every ski we sell. This lets us match up the skier with just the right ski. Award winners are always good skis that a lot of skiers would love. The trick is to match the skier with the correct and perfect ski to give them the most enjoyment out of their ski day. I don't want this to turn into a sales pitch, but this is what we take the most pride in. It is hard to find a lousy ski these days. Most are good to great compared to anything just a few years older. Putting you on just the right ski to put a smile on your face is the trick. After most ski sales as final and we gather up the hardware and carry it to the tech room we usually say to sombody "they are going to love this setup!". That when it gets fun! By the way, the best ski test results (in my opinion) in a magazine are in SKI PRESS. The absolute best testing for consumers is available at www.realskiers.com (http://www.ts2003.com/)