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New Skis This Season
Kenny's Staff
Photo: Laura Hertz
For the '97-'98 ski season, The Mountain Zone decided to grill the real experts, the guys behind the scenes — the ski techs in the best ski shops in Vail, Colorado. Here are their picks for the top cruising, carving and powder skis. At most stores, the all-around favorite was the Salomon Axendo series.
Tips from Kenny's Double Diamond
Kenny Friedman, Owner
First of all, I think there is one thing that needs to be understood, there is a sub-trend occurring right now in the ski industry. The first trend was, of course, the shaped skis, which are what everyone is asking about. The next trend of the new generation is what I call the "mid-weight" category. Several manufacturers are coming out with this, including some ’98-’99 products that I have seen.

The waist of these skis is going to be wider, which will make them much more versatile for the all-mountain experience. Personally, that is where I believe our dominant sales will be. If you take a powder ski on one end and use the presumption that the product is going to ski the best in the deep snow and take a shaped ski and use the presumption that it carves well in hard snow, this becomes a blending of the two technologies.

We see changes in our customer base throughout the year. In the beginning of the year, we have customers buying skis who have read a lot about the products in the various magazines. As we get further into the season, the customers demo more and we sell higher performance skis. People will test skis they haven't read about, but then love them and say, 'hey, this is a wonderful ski.'

— Laura Hertz, Mountain Zone Correspondent

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