2023SkiTestdebrief: thefuture'sbright

The SCGBTestTeamheadedto La Clusazin France for a five-dayski-testingmarathon.Here'sour rundown of the latesttrends and excitingnew developments

WORDSHENRYJOHN

The 2023 annual industry SIGBSki Test is in the bag. In La Clusaz, France, over 600 pairs of next year's skis from all the biggest brands were waiting to be put through their paces -and put them through their paces we did. The SCGBTest Team spent five days hammering up to 12 skis a day each, from first lift to last. Piste, all-mountain, freeride, freestyle, touring -no ski category was left unturned, and by day five we all had our favourites -and rather tired legs, too.

Before we bring you our best skis for next season (you'll have to wait for our Autumn 2024 Kit Guide for that), here are some of the most interesting takeaways from the test ...

Powertothepiste

Skiers will have long recognised the importance of racing technology in developing standout on-piste skis. Some of the biggest and most important trends we've seen in the past couple of years in this category has been tech filtering down from the World Cup circuit and making really good piste skis even better.

Last year, Rossignol's Line Control Technology was a winner in bringing the Rossignol React lOTi back to into our top picks, and we have long been impressed with Head and their Energy Management Circuit, a development ofKERS technology. Both of these bits of kit act as shock absorbers within the ski. However, rather than adding bulk and weight, as a trefoil might in days gone by, these are unnoticeable, built into the main body of the ski.

All other brands have been playing catch-up ... until this year. The piste category was more difficult than ever to pick our winners. With a surge in technology flooding into the market as brands completely embrace their World Cup-winning designs, we struggled to tell many skis apart!

In the end, we were able to pick our top three for both men's and women's, but rest assured it is very difficult to go wrong when picking a piste ski next season. After a decade or more ofliving in the shadow of all-mountain skis, it is time to give power back to the piste.

Pushingtheboatsout

One of the best skis we tried to carve on all week came in at 106mm underfoot. Elan seriously impressed us with their Ripstick, utilising their unique Amphibio technology to create a freeride ski with support on its inside edges, but an outside edge that freely releases back the other way. Last year it was the 96mm that won the day, this year we had the snow beyond the piste poles

Skiing's biggestnames - includingthe legendary GlenPlakewere La Clusaz-bound totest2024's offerings to challenge the 106mm underfoot. They are not alone, however. The top runners and riders in the freeride category all impressed us with how they handled on the corduroy, as well as how they smashed through crud or floated through the powder.

Long gone, therefore, are the days when freeride skis resembled 'boats': long, fat planks that were good for pointing straight down a powder line and not much more. The Black Diamond Impulse 104, for example, features reinforced edges to boost its edge performance over its playful 98mm-underfoot cousin, and a multi-wood core from Blizzard has helped their Rustler series flex perfectly underfoot to give skiers exceptional control.

Next year's powder skis are fun all over the mountain. Some of them want to coax the heel out to have some fun thanks to a lightweight but supportive design, others reinforce their edges with well-placed metal to give the ski a proper boost when rolling edge to edge.

DEATHOFTHE ALL-MOUNTAINSKI?

What does the refinement of freeride skis mean for the future of all-mountain skis? Following the explosion of one-ski quivers in the last decade and a half, manufacturers have started to apply the same logic to their wider cousins, drawing on piste technology to improve the all-round performance offreeride skis.

This does mean that the golden age of all-mountain skis has shuddered dramatically to a close. With high90mm and low-l00mm underfoot skis performing as well as, if not better than, all-mountain skis on-piste and in choppy snow, as well as offering exceptional float in the powder, trying to find that happy medium in the late 80s or early 90s is suddenly a thing of the past.

Should we be writing the obituary of the all-mountain ski, perhaps?

REVIVALOFTHE ALL-MOUNTAINSKI

Perhaps not. As Mark Twain once penned: "Rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated."

Rather than wait patiently for its demise, the all-mountain category has rationalised and diversified. At the lower end of the spectrum, the focus has returned to good-quality piste skis that can handle a quick dive off the piste or a myriad of different snow conditions, rather than trying so hard to be a skinny freeride ski. The Volkl Deacon 84 and Elan Primetime are good examples of this from this year's Test.

Further up the pecking order, all-mountain skis are diversifying. Whereas traditionally we had two sub-categories (piste skis designed to go off-piste, or freeride skis designed to go on), we're now looking at up to four sub-categories. Alongside the original two, we are seeing skis stripped back of their technology to create something simple but fun. The Serpo from Black Crows is perhaps the best example of this, alongside the Black Diamond Impulse 98. While the Volk! Blaze is the complete opposite of their Mantra M6 we tried -and fell in love with -last year.

We're also seeing the rise of touring-compatible skis. Partly driven by this stripping back of the technology in the ski, the rise in tour and particularly hybrid setups is allowing all-mountain skis to go anywhere on the mountain. Sticking a Shift binding on a Black Diamond Impulse or Black Crows Serpo is an immediate guarantor of a good time in the backcountry.

Sustainability

Perhaps the biggest, most remarkable step forward in ski technology this year has been in the area of sustainability.

It has long been noted that skis are not particularly environmentally friendly, especially when it comes to disposing of them. The combination of woods, metals, fibreglass and plastic, all held together by resin, makes them very difficult to dispose of responsibly.

That has changed this year, with a couple of really noticeable examples to help us all ski more sustainably. Rossignol have created the Essential, the world's first recyclable ski. They have removed the resin that binds the ski together (don't worry, it won't fall apart under your feet), and the fibreglass normally found in the core of the ski, and replaced plastic elements such as the topsheet and sidewall with wood. When you are done with the Essential, return it to Rossignol and they will ensure 77% of the ski is recycled, with the rest burned for energy and only 6% going to waste.

The other big step forward has been in the recipe of the ski. Two brands, Atomic and Dynastar, have independently arrived at the same result: by removing metal plates and replacing them with a high-density wood, you can reduce waste by 30%, greenhouse gas emissions by 50% -both across the lifecycle of the ski -and offer a ski that is better performance-wise than before. This technology can currently be found in Atomic's Backland touring range and Dynastar's M-Pro range, and will be rolled out widely in years to come.

Afinalnote

We are super excited to bring you our top picks for next season in Ski+board, on the Ski Club website, and via the Ski Club's YouTube channel.

Stay tuned in the autumn for more, and in the meantime don't forget the Ski Club is on hand to help you find your perfect pair of skis over the phone on 0208 410 2009 or via email at information@skiclub.co.uk.

We would like to thank our sponsors for their support in making our participation in the 2023 SIGBSki Test possible. Thank you to Snow+Rock, Huski Mountain Delivery and OVONetwork for their generosity.