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After a great day of skiing together, I sat down with Jake Stevens (Rossignol’s Winter Sports Equipment Director for North America) to talk about world-cup race skis vs. recreational skis: what do they have in common? How do they incorporate technological advances? And what are the available options between skis designed to win gold medals and those designed to have fun on the weekends with your family and friends? It’s a conversation that is guaranteed to get you thinking about various approaches to the mountain — and your own approach to sliding around on snow.
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TOPICS & TIMES:
Jake’s Background in Racing (8:47)
Ski Gear at the World Cup Level (12:13)
Line Control Technology (27:46)
The Direction of Tech Developments (30:31)
Understanding the Options via Rossignol’s Hero Line (33:13)
Rossignol Arcade 88 (45:51)
Surprising Products & World Cup Finals in Sun Valley (51:43)
CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCASTS (click each to learn more):
Jonathan, injection isn’t “terrible”, it’s wonderful!
Seriously, injected courses are probably the best thing that has ever happened for up-and-coming racers, because it makes the course much more consistent and less prone to ruts and holes for racers with high bib numbers. It also enabled the “turn 30” second-run format at the World Cup level, which has likewise created more “second-run mobility,” i.e. the potential for a racer who was towards the bottom of the top 30 in the first run to make a huge move in the second.
Injected courses also enable truly strong racers to make harder turns than they could on softer snow, because once the edge is locked into that ultra-hard “snow” they can load it up to the limits of their physical strength without worrying about losing the edge. Mikaela Schiffrin is a good example of an athlete who exploits this – Competitors like Vlhova have been able to consistently beat her on softer/warmer show where Schiffrin can’t fully exploit that strength and technique, but she’s nearly unbeatable on the hard stuff.
I don’t claim to be able to make strong turns on injected snow of course. My own platonic ideal for carving is “hard but grippy”, i.e. a condition that most skiers would claim is icy but that a well-tuned ski will hook up in. Softer than that and G-forces are limited by potential for the snow to give way, harder than that and my own technique is limiting.
Jonathan, IMO Sun Valley is one of the great “wide-open bombing” mountains in the US. If I were going there I’d bring my Super-Gs along with some more versatile boards. Seriously. At least when I was there the patrol tolerated that sort of thing early on weekday mornings, provided you knew what you were doing, stayed well clear of civilians, and put the speed skis away as soon as the crowds start to get out.
It also has some really great mogul runs, and Sun Valley used to be known for producing first rate mogul freestylers. I remember one narrow one in particular that drops through the trees on the far looker’s left – “Fire Trail” maybe?