Equipment Hype Hinders Skiers and Riders

Posted by Mitch Kaplan Jul 5, 2006

New ski boots made of see-through plastic. That's the latest word coming down in the ski world from Nordica and Tecnica. It makes a person wonder.

In the too-many-years I've been skiing, snowsport gear has changed radically. And there's no doubt that what's on the market today can't in any way be compared to what was available then. It's the equivalent of comparing operator-operated switchboard technology to cell phones.

And, why not? The materials available today to ski equipment makers make the old gear's materials look, well, antique. Indeed, the changes have made the sport easier and more fun. When metal skis replaced wood, we benefitted. When plastics came into play with skis and boots, we benefitted.

But, not all of us all the time.

Because along the way, manufacturers have confused us with a nonstop barrage of hype that has portrayed even the worst mistakes and junk as major breakthroughs that would bring all our skiing up a notch.

Anyone remember the Hexcel ski? It was built of fiberglass had a "honeycomb" core that was supposed to make it light and responsive. And it did - unless you skied in the east or during early or late-season. It was useless on ice and, heaven forbid, if you hit a rock it just broke apart.

And then there was a series of foam-filled boots that were supposed to conform to your foot. Which they did. Until the boots were worn outdoors in sub-freezing temperatures. Then, the foam just stayed in a lump.

This was going on before my participation in the sport, of course. Nordica advertised in 1959 a leather, lace-up that was purported to be "a boot for every skier handsewn by master Italian craftsmen for comfort, for support, for stamina."

No boot - indeed no footwear of any kind - is for everyone.

In 1951, Anderson and Thompson, a Seattle company, advertised a wood ski "guaranteed against breakage." Most any wooden ski would break eventually, but were constructed with lamination, thus supposedly stronger. Whether they skied worth a damn was something else.

And now along comes Nordica with its Speedmachine 14. It made from, according to the press release, "a new generation of transparent plastic materials for use in ski boots. With the introduction of these new Desmopan aromatic ether thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPUs), the company is promising skiers even better performance.

"'The strength of the new grades lies in the significantly improved low-temperature flexibility and low-temperature impact strength,' says Luigi Cermesoni, head of the Sports & Leisure TPU segment at Bayer MaterialScience. 'These features mean that ski boots can be made stronger and manufactured in thinner wall thicknesses, thus allowing greater design freedom. This is especially true for areas where two different TPU materials overlap."

Okay - maybe it's a better mouse trap. Or ski boot. But, why transparent?

"... alternating between transparent and opaque colored areas produces varied contrasts. If decorated areas are oversprayed with transparent TPU, a 3D deep-gloss effect is produced, which makes the design stand out. The interesting and attractive technical features of a ski boot's internal workings can be made clearly visible, allowing the manufacturer to communicate his design skills and technical expertise."

Communicate his design skills and technical expertise? Sounds like hype to me.

The bottom line problem with this kind of technical mumbo-jumbo is that it hides the truly beneficial design and materials advances when they do appear.

Perhaps the best example is the advent of so-called "shaped" or "parabolic" skis about ten years ago. Shaped skis - like oversized tennis rackets or jumbo golf drivers - actually do make skiing easier. Their hourglass-like shape allows them to be made in shorter lengths while maintaining the best performance characteristics. They make turning easier. Which makes skiing more fun.

But, by the time shaped skis came along, we'd seen so many other highly hyped, but basically bogus, design changes that lacked the revolutionary effect purported for them, that - like folks reacting to the little boy crying wolf - it has became hard to believe what really works.

Which is sad. Because the shaped skis do.

So, now we have see-through ski boots. I'm sure they'll make my skiing better. Unless, of course, they don't fit.

Related story: Ski Gear - Too Much Choice