Today’s episode takes a big picture look at the phenomenal success of the BOA cable fit system that has found its way into virtually every alpine boot line sold in America. It’s a tremendous achievement in co-branding, considering that BOA doesn’t have an alpine boot of its own, and must develop a symbiotic relationship with every brand it works with in order to succeed.

Inconsistent U.S. tariff policy hurt an already wounded U.S. ski market.

On Being Light is Chapter 8 of Snowbird Secrets, a collection of 22 meditations on what it means to be a skier, authored by "Guru" Dave Powers and Jackson Hogen. There is no other instruction manual that teaches the lessons found in Snowbird Secrets. The best technical skier of his generation who also happens to be a world-class instructor, Mike Rogan, says of Snowbird Secrets, "You not be a complete Alpine Slider until you finish this book."

On Being Light is Chapter 8 of Snowbird Secrets, a unique guide to self-discovery as revealed in 22 chapters about the spiritual side of big mountain skiing. Written by "Guru" Dave Powers and Jackson Hogen, Snowbird Secrets is part instruction manual, part guide to self-discovery. As Mike Rogan, the undisputed master of technical skiing, wrote about Snowbird Secrets, "You will not be a complete Alpine Slider until you finish this book."

Another Cornerstone Wobbles v2 by Jackson Hogen

Seismic changes to the American ski market in recent seasons has made it impossible for Realskiers.com to continue to gather enough test data to generate a meaningful result. So we won’t be reviewing individual ski models and ranking them as we have since the site’s inception. But we haven’t lost our ability to analyze any given skier’s situation and recommend a model or two to try or buy. This is the tale of our transition from a site focused on reviews to one dedicated to one-on-one consulting. Stay tuned to this channel to monitor further developments.

Swimming Against the Tide by Jackson Hogen

Swimming Against the Tide by Jackson Hogen

Our current ski season got off to a rocky start due to a serious over-supply of skis. It’s taken until now to transfer most of this backlog from supplier’s shelves to their constituent retailers, creating a robust buyer’s market for new skis.

The ski market in America has devolved into a hot mess. One of the manifestations of its dysfunction is a clog in the pipeline from supplier to skier. This podcast takes a look at how we got into this predicament and invites my Dear Listeners' to share their thoughts on the subject. You can log your vision of how we get out this mess via the Member Consultation form on Realskiers.com. Non-members can also submit their thoughts through the General Contact request form.

In the spirit of rank commercialism, I’m offering to you, my Dear Listeners, the opportunity to donate some of your hard-earned revenue to Realskiers.com. I realize that most Black Friday offers arrive in the form of some sort of discounted goods or services, a trend this special offer reverses. I’m going to instead give you several good reasons why you should divert an extra allotment of your income to the good folks at Realskiers.com.

The following bit of tripe was recently re-published by Apple News after first appearing in the pages of Bloomberg’s online publication. It consists of unreadable drivel from end to end, and certainly isn’t worth paying to peek behind the Apple News pay-wall to investigate, so I’ve reiterated the text, verbatim, in this week’s edition of Realskiers with Jackson Hogen, which I shall recite as we visit its few paltry paragraphs of twaddle. My commentary runs alongside the original in red. If you detect a tone of irritation mingled with impatience in my voice, it’s because this sort of crap gets under my skin. I don’t offer financial advice; I wish Bloomberg would stay out of my lane and resist the urge to comment on ski equipment that its writers clearly do not understand.

Skiing isn’t for the faint of heart. Neither is subjecting oneself to what is coyly referred to as “America’s Health Care System.” Hold that thought while I elaborate on point one, that a lifetime devoted to skiing is hard to navigate without occasionally experiencing a consequential impact with the planet or some other immovable object attached to it. If you ski long enough, you will eventually learn the meaning of terms like “laminectomy” and “stenosis.” If you don’t know these terms yet, please bear with me while I bring you quickly up to speed with those who know them all too well.

Welcome to another insightful conversation with Stu Winchester, who not only publishes the most thorough resort coverage in North America in his Storm Skiing Journal, he is perhaps the only true journalist reporting on the contemporary ski resort scene. Most resort reviews are rubbish, full of gushing praise lest the “journalist” lose his or her all-expenses-paid access. Winchester focuses on the facts: the infrastructure, the daily and season pass rates, the terrain accessed by the resort’s lift system. He does not review a single plate of escargot or cite a quaint amenity that one simply has to see. Instead, he breaks down the particulars of the Ikon and Epic pass programs - analysis that could save a skier hundreds of dollars on their pass purchases - and is probably the only journalist to have interviewed the leaders of hundreds of ski areas.

As far as I know, October isn’t “National Buy Your Ski Boots Now” Month, but it should be. Carryover stock will never be more abundant, and new models will still have a full range of sizes, which won’t be true forever. Perhaps most importantly, bootfitters are also in relatively strong supply, so with any luck the one waiting on you won’t be juggling three customers at once. It’s a perfect storm of abundance: values on last year’s models, selection on this year’s new arrivals and personalized service are all at their peak.

Prof. John Seifert of Montana State University first popped up on my radar when I saw a video of a lecture he gave to the PSIA National Academy in 2019. That year, I published what I could glean from his presentation in a Revelation titled, Why Wide Skis Aren’t Good for Your Knees. Prof. Seifert went on sabbatical at the end of that school year and we drifted out of touch. We recently reconnected and I’m glad to say we picked right up where we had left off. We’ll pick up the thread of Prof. Seifert’s thesis in today’s podcast, along with a deep dive into the field Dr. Seifert first explored on the aforementioned sabbatical, namely the equipment used in mountaineering and its latest incarnation, skimo. If you haven’t heard what’s going on in this newly minted Olympic sport, suffice it to say it is an extreme form of alpine competition that I think will intrigue and fascinate those of us who merely ski downhill.

In today’s belated contribution to my podcast library, I’ll hew to my usual custom of reciting today’s Revelation verbatim. As penance for missing my customary Tuesday posting, I’ve added a bonus contribution to today’s podcast, namely the four full, 300-word reviews cited in today’s Revelation, annotated for your edification and amusement.

Liberty Skis, the brainchild of Dan Chalfant and Jim Satloff, was born 20 years ago - over après ski beers - in Beaver Creek, Colorado, from the urge to develop a lighter ski that would reduce fatigue and return more energy to the skier than the relatively dead planks of the day. They were on the leading edge of the Lighter is Better movement in consumer goods that has come to dominate the current equipment landscape.

This installment of The Making of a Skier doesn't have much to do with skiing, but it does cover a formative period of my youth which has informed my life ever since. It is timely in that it references a time in our nation's past when we seemed as divided as we are today. I offer it as a balm to our national wounds.

My very special guest today has known the highest high and the lowest low a ski racer can experience, and handled both moments with style and grace. She pulled off the run of a lifetime at the perfect venue, the roars of the home-country crowd exhorting her to victory in Vail, crushing the field despite starting 30th. There were no crowds - no witnesses of any kind - when an unidentified course worker slammed into her just 45 minutes before her scheduled start at the Calgary Olympics, breaking her fibula and dashing a lifetime of dreams. Always a team player and a class act, Pam Fletcher stayed in Calgary to cheer her teammates on.