Remember those days of alpine skiing: you learned to snowplough and you practiced and finally perfected it. You were then instructed in the next lesson to forget about the snow plough. Now you are going to learn parallel. The skis were long and difficult to maneuver from turn to turn and your burning legs and your beads of sweat blurred the whole purpose for being on the slopes. Some of you gave up alpine skiing altogether and some switched to snowboarding, a sport that had a proven record for fast progression.

Thanks to the 1990′s and modern technology, alpine skiing has re-established itself as the user friendly snow sport. Ski manufacturers realized that by producing a more user friendly ski that was shorter and wider, alpine skiing could appeal to the masses. The alpine skis of today possess more shape, defined by side cuts. These deeper side cuts and shorter skis allow the beginning and intermediate skiers to maneuver the skis better and to carve turns more easily. For the more advanced skier, the skier has to modify their stance to allow the new shaped skis make the turns and do more of the work for them. The 1990′s skis marked a revolution in alpine skiing. Read the rest of this entry »