equipment

ISPO NEWS 2019 | Ski

As expected, nothing really new and unfortunately less and less of it

by Tobias Huber • 02/05/2019

Convex base on the blade at the SFB and outline (which is concave from this point of view)

Just like last year, the ski brands represented at the trade fair are becoming fewer and fewer. After the absence of the major Amer Sports brands Atomic and Salomon (and therefore also Armada) since last year, Black Crows, for example, is now also missing.

After the trend towards ever lighter skis in recent years, whether for touring or freeriding, some companies are now focusing on durability. Anyone can imagine where this comes from. Companies such as Faction are gradually moving the production of various lines to Austria (some higher-priced Faction models are now produced by Fischer), while others are not playing the game of super-light skis (as demonstrated by Atomic, for example) and are focusing on more mass and thus possibly longer durability (Völkl with the new freestyle powder ski).

All in all, as expected, there were no big surprises in the ski innovations. In some cases there are new models with "gimmicks" - such as concave tips at LINE, presumably to keep up with the Horizon-Tech from Atomic - or the development and marketing of the "athlete driven" ski from Völkl. However, the majority of the ski presentations included product and line maintenance.

It will be interesting to see where the ISPO "journey" takes us. As already mentioned, more and more manufacturers are staying away from the trade fair every year and using other ways to get in touch with their retailers and the media. In addition, all the details about new ski models can be found on various platforms and forums on the Internet in advance, and some of the information is also presented online in collaboration with the brands. K2 presented its new freeride ski collection at ISPO, but this was preceded by an online release two weeks earlier. In addition, the skis can already be purchased at selected retailers.

After a tour of the exhibition halls, however, we were still able to gather some noteworthy information:

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Faction

Faction is launching a new touring ski line called "Agent", which complements the "Prime" line. The "Agents", in the price segment below the "Primes", have slightly smaller radii compared to the "Prime" skis and therefore offer a slightly more universal range of use. The narrower models of the directional freeride line "Dictator" have also been given new shapes, and here too the skis have been given a little more sidecut. There are also special models with collaboration graphics as well as a monoski, which is not only designed to generate attention, but is also available for purchase.

Völkl

Völkl has renewed the all-mountain/freeride skis around the Mantra: Now there is the M5 Mantra (96mm) and a 102 Mantra, which they could actually have called Gotama. As a major highlight, Völkl presents the "Built Together" Revolt 121, a backcountry freestyle ski designed by the entire freestyle/freeride team. After years of the unchanged full rocker models One, Two and Three, Völkl is now focusing on rocker with camber for this type of ski, like all other brands, paired with a lot of taper on the nose and a not too hard flex. This ski category, which is now threatened with extinction, is obviously urgently needed by the team riders. From what we hear, the team riders are all very convinced by the ski and from now on no longer have to do freestyle tricks with the BMT122 (which, by the way, has been discontinued). Markus Eder has already won a Freerideworldtour stop with it. We at PowderGuide are also eagerly awaiting a test ski, which we will of course report on as soon as possible.

LINE

Line has introduced two ski models with dovetails in the freeride sector in recent years (Sakana, Pescado). Designer Eric Pollard has designed twintips again for 19/20: On the one hand, the Sir Francis Bacon returns to roughly its original dimensions (107 medium width) and a new model called Outline settles between Mordecai and Magnum Opus and replaces those mentioned with its 117mm medium width. Both skis have convex shaped bases in the shovel area and are, as expected, not too hard.

K2

While the K2 Factory/Freestyle collection remains unchanged for 19/20, the obvious highlight of the Seattle-based company is the new Mindbender collection. Not necessarily a direct successor to the Pinnacle series, but replacing it nonetheless, the Mindbenders boast a mix of carbon/titanium. Compared to the Pinnacles, they also have a slightly shorter noserocker and a slightly less extreme taper. As K2 does not have a racing background, the Mindbenders are still not the toughest skis on the market and the company still wants to convey the "fun" philosophy of the North Americans. Unlike many other manufacturers, who often only change the flex and binding positions on women's models, the Mindbender women's models also use different shapes that are offset slightly further towards the center of the ski compared to the men's models (in order to do justice to the supposedly different weight/power distribution for women).

Pictures of most of the exhibited freeride and touring ski lines from the brands already mentioned and from Blizzard, Fischer, Head, Elan, Black Diamond, Rossignol, Dynastar, DPS and Kästle, among others, as well as a few rocker profile pictures of some skis can be found in the gallery!

The widest K2 Mindbender (116C) in profile

Photo gallery

This article has been automatically translated by DeepL with subsequent editing. If you notice any spelling or grammatical errors or if the translation has lost its meaning, please write an e-mail to the editors.

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ISPO NEWS 2019 | Ski touring boots & bindings

Lorenzo Rieg • 02/04/2019

Once again this year, we are reporting from ISPO in Munich. This article is about touring ski boots and touring bindings suitable for downhill skiing, a sector that has been booming for several years and is therefore being provided with some interesting innovations by the various manufacturers.
ISPO NEWS 2019 | Avalanche safety equipment

Alex Schober • 02/04/2019

In the field of avalanche safety, ISPO 2019 was rather restrained in terms of major innovations. Some manufacturers revised existing products, changed minor details or added individual models to the existing product range. Spectacular innovations were largely absent (again this year).
ISPO Report 2018 | Ski

PowderGuide • 01/28/2018

The new products in the ski sector are very limited this year, as is the number of manufacturers still represented at ISPO. Amer Sports (Atomic, Salomon, Armada) was no longer at the trade fair this year and other companies are also exercising more and more restraint in terms of their stand presence.