Mike:? Chill a bit.? Can you judge a book by reading the last pages?? I'm not trying to represent Peter (nor defend him).? You asked a question, I spent ten minutes looking up what was easy from the past few years.? On the pay site, he has ski reviews from as far back as 1999.? I assume that he didn't always have skis of the year.? Some years he just rated skis with gold stars or something to indicate the "better" skis.? I believe that he does come from a racing, coaching, and hard snow background (consistent with his age) and believes that narrower skis are better for learning edging skills.
Also, I didn't bother to include any of the write-ups about why he selected a particular ski. The Head iC160
Picking the "Ski of the Year" is no easy task. The overall quality of skis is high enough that almost any ski made today will outperform almost any ski made even as recently as four or five years ago, regardless of shape. The severe side cut found on even 74mm off-piste skis allows them to carve even better than old, narrow GS skis, a slalom with a tip of 110mm or more floats nearly as high as did early wide powder skis. In the end, such worthies as Volkl's T50 5-Star, Dynastar's Speed SX, the Rossi Bandit XX and Head's own iRace made way for the iC160 on the basis of versatility.
This ski can do it all; carve on the groomed, skid on the steeps, navigate reasonable bumps and even traverse deep stretches off the groomed. The iC160 may be the perfect "Swiss Army Knife" ski. It is a comfortable ride for everyone from high intermediate to less-than-demonic expert. It is quick, capable of rapid fire fall line turns, stable in arcs at speed and easy to maneuver at virtually any speed from almost stopped to 35mph.
Looking at this ski globally, and I must thank Harald for this point of view, the ic160 is beyond forgiving; it actually enhances technique and promotes carving skills, almost as though it were itself a kind of coaching machine. As Harald puts it, in his inimitable way, "The 160 pulls better skiing out of your body!"
His paragraph about the 2009 selection is below.? I assume the choice is his way of denoting a "watershed" chainge is ski sizes and abilities (and maybe a bit slow to admit that change).? As far as the Head skis, maybe that was a time when Head was "building" their reputation, because Peter is not very impressed with their current range of skis and decisions.? If anything, I believe that he may have a fondness for Dynastar.
In seasons past we have followed the traditional process of selecting one ski each per use category for unisex and female-specific Skis of the Year. Below, for example, is what could be the list this year?traditionally one would be overall Ski of the Year.
In a departure from tradition, however, this year's overall "ski" of the year is the All Mountain Carver. These are skis with waists between 74 and 80mm and turn radii between 12 and 17m. These are the most versatile skis made and we suggest that anyone who relies on a single pair of skis for all terrain and conditions consider one of these. For a more detailed discussion of this kind of ski, and why we chose it, please see About This Year's Ski of the Year, tab above.
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