ISPO Round Up

Posted on Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at 11:08 pm.

ISPO wrapped up this evening, and we were there to check out some of the product that will be coming your way in 2011. Of course this being the world’s biggest snow sports show there was really too much new stuff for us to be able to preview everything, however we did get to grips with the essentials, and by the essentials we mean the skis.

Hmmmmm... skis (K2)

Overall ski companies seem to be further embracing the rocker revolution, with every company now having at the least a rockered tip on one of their skis, and plenty of companies rockering a majority of their freestyle, freeride, and even all-mountain range. So if there is anyone out there who thought rocker technology was just a passing phase they should probably find a hat and start eating it about now. Other than this there is definitely a push towrd the backcountry this year, with more and more wider skis finding their way into ranges. Also mainstream companies seem to be looking toward the tourer now as well, with a focus on lighterweight skis. The other main change this year was the abundance of colour walking around the stands, maybe this is a backlash to the otherwise gloomy global outlook at the moment, but whatever the reason we like it.

There's plenty of colour on skis this year. Here's Head's Backcountry range

In the ski boot department there seems to be a similar push toward the backcountry skier, and again, in particular the tourer. Of course companies like Black Diamond and Scarpa have been making boots for this market for ever and this year they have lighter and stronger options, but we were genuinely surprised to see some of the more mainstream brands focusing their attention on the freeride and touring market. It looks like leading the way is Salomon, with their Quest Pro boot. The idea with this bit of footwear is that you have a boot that is comfortable on the hike/skin up and at the same time reliable and effective on the way down. This isn’t aimed at the hardcore skin skier, and if you are doing th Haute Route it might be wise to look for something a bit more specific, but for someone (like for example myself) who tends to hike/skin about a little to find the fresh stash, but still likes to charge on the way down, this could be a life changer. With interchangeable rubbery grip soles, this is a good boot to be wearing if you’re clambering around rock faces, and with a tour/ski mode this really could be the future of freeride boots. For freestyle the most exciting boot (certainly to look at anyway) was in the form of the Wallisch pro model, with its fat tongue, this boot not only skis well (from what we’ve heard) but also increase your park kudos.

The Salomon Quest promises much for the backcountry skier - it doesn't look bad either

Tom Wallisch's boot is designed for the park and even has a high-top style tongue to make you look the business as well

Anyway, obviously none of you are really reading any of this, as you are probably all looking at the glossy photos instead, so I’m just going to shut up and let you continue. We’ll let you know if any of this stuff actually works after the ski test later in the season.

So in rough alphabetical order here’s a look at some of next year kit, with comments where possible.

4FRNT

Tie-Dye poles and bindings from 4FRNT

Amplid

More from Amplid

The new range from Armada looks pretty good as well.

Armada freestyle

Atomic's all-mountain twins (names under ski)

Atomic Freeride range

Atomic park

Blizzard's freeski range

The Dynastar range

Dynastar Legend series

Elan

Elan

Faction

More from Faction

Fischer Freeride

Fischer freestyle

Head Freestyle skis, with the new JO pro on the left (see top for freeride)

K2's Darkside, an absolute monster of a ski

K2's factory series, including the new look Hellbent on the far left

Line looking good

Line

More from Line's line (see what we did there)

Line's poles. We included these because we like the thinner grips, which give you more hand to grab with

Movement

Nordica

Rossignol

Rossignol's S6 and S5

Salomon's El Dictator and sentinel, built for the backcountry

Salomon freestyle skis

New from Scott, the Mega-Dozer and Dozer

This is a new company - Ski Logic, we don't know much about them, but the skis look amazing with their all wooden finish and tribal graphics, so good in fact we'd almost rather hang them on the wall than ride them, though we are assured they ski very well as well

UK brand Storm look good for the coming season

Storm's chargers

More from Storm

Volkl Freeride (Kuro-Katana-Gotama)

More from Volkl, including the new rockered Bridge on the far right

Volkl Freestyle, the Wall and Ledge skis