2010 Buyers Guide

[Magpie]

Hey all just want to say hello 1st. This is my first post here.

Its here. I love when the Ski Magazine Buyers Guide comes in summer. Gets me thinking about skiing and dreaming about $1'200.00 skis. This year especialy because I skied 120 days last season and my gear is done for. This will have to be a buy new gear season for me.
I really like the AC 30's. I used a pair at Beaver Creek last season and love them. I wasn't surprised to see them on the list. I'll be looking for K2 Apache's on eBay or Amazon to try and save some money. Boots will have to be a shop purchase for obvious reasons.
This years issue is noticeably thin compared to previous gear guides. I wonder why.
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[Tony Crocker]

Powder's Buyer's Guide is out also, same issue as the Shane McConkey tribute. I'm eagerly awaiting reviews of Head's first rockered ski, the Jimi, as I have a free voucher from them after winning a NASJA award. Powder liked it; there were no Head skis reviewed at all by SKI this year. SKIING's Guide will hopefully be out soon. SBC Skier will be at least another month. Anybody here get Ski Canada and/or know when their first issue comes out?

This years issue is noticeably thin compared to previous gear guides. I wonder why.

The ski mags, like all print media, are having their problems. My services providing snow data are at the moment no longer welcome. SKI/SKIING will no longer pay freelancers to do anything. Powder's annual resort guide (probably November issue) will be advertorial, not an independent review by their staff.

With regard to the print media problems, look in the mirror. Many of us are getting most of our useful info from places like FTO rather than the ski mags. I have to believe magazine circulation (and thus advertising revenue) is declining.

 

[EMSC]

SKIING's Guide will hopefully be out soon

It's already out (I got mine late last week). Since I'm not buying this year I haven't paid attention to any of the mag's likes or dislikes on gear this year, so I couldn't tell you how it's organized or what it recommends.

I have to believe magazine circulation (and thus advertising revenue) is declining.

It might even be the reverse. I haven't heard anything on the circulation front (could still be down a lot), but I can tell you that Ad revenue is way down.

Powder's annual resort guide (probably November issue) will be advertorial, not an independent review by their staff

Even in this environment, that's a bad choice by them. What exactly would be the point of reading that issue then?

 

[Tony Crocker]

Even in this environment, that's a bad choice by them. What exactly would be the point of reading that issue then?

With those pages counted as advertising, they will have more room for other features by the staff. Nonetheless, the editorial staff is not pleased with this decision, which was made very much at the last minute.

I suspect it may not be repeated if they get a lot of flak from their readers. On a tangentially related topic, some of you may know that the TGR Forum was originally under the auspices of Powder Magazine. The "maggots" revolted en masse and took that Forum to TGR due to a forum administration change that displeased them. What was that change? Wiping out the archives during a system upgrade.

 

[Marc_C]

Since I'm not buying this year I haven't paid attention to any of the mag's likes or dislikes on gear this year, so I couldn't tell you how it's organized or what it recommends.

Has Ski or SKIING ever had a bad review of a ski in the past decade? Yeah, they list some dinky little cons for each ski, but really, it's all just varying degrees of positive.

 

[Tony Crocker]

SKI and SKIING don't print reviews of skis they don't like. But you don't know whether they disliked a ski vs. not testing it all. It appears that neither magazine tested any Head skis this year. Based upon past years it's very unlikely they disliked every ski Head makes. If there's a widely distributed ski from a manufacturer who has some other skis listed, then the odds are higher that it's "disliked" vs. "not tested."

 

[rfarren]

Ski gear reviews are fun to look at, but not all that useful. I think boot reviews are next to meaningless, I don't understand why they even bother reviewing them. I guess it's all just season stoke.

I guess this is topic drift, but while I was in London I went to Harrods. They had a ski on sale there for 5,000 pounds. Thats about 8,000 dollars for a pair of skis. Talk about a waste of money.

 

[BoulderSkier]

Has Ski or SKIING ever had a bad review of a ski in the past decade? Yeah, they list some dinky little cons for each ski, but really, it's all just varying degrees of positive.

Agreed, its hard to judge what gear is quality and what is not. I take ski tests as more of a preview of whats out there and which companies have made advancements in their lines rather than just replacing the top sheets. I was thumbing thru Freeskier's buying guide and it looks like there are quite a few new additions out there filling the "all mtn." niche since times are tough and many people don't want to invest in a multiple ski quiver. Not sure what anyone here is into, but if you're looking into skis for the deeps this yr. i've got my sights set on the JJs by Armada or maybe the S7 by Rossignol. Demoed the JJs in Schweitzer last yr. and was blown away by the versatility of the 5 dimension sidecut. Just my two cents tho.

 

[Admin]

Welcome to FTO Liftlines, BoulderSkier! Just drove through your town yesterday and had a wonderful lunch at Brasserie Ten Ten. It's been years since I've been in downtown Boulder!

 

[Tony Crocker]

i've got my sights set on the JJs by Armada or maybe the S7 by Rossignol.

Word-of-mouth is excellent on both of those skis. One of the Idaho skiers at Eagle Pass Heli had the JJ's, and both he and the guide raved about them.