My post just disappeared in mid-sentence, so let's try again. 1) Wear and tear. Skis flex each and every turn. Turn after turn after turn. This flexing is absolutely necessary to turning, for the flexing creates an arc which when combined with the side-cut of the ski helps define the turn. This flexing wears them out. I go through a pair of skis each season without abusing them. By comparison, it is pretty hard to wear out a sea kayak in one season. 2) R & D. Developments in materials and design have led to skis that out-perform earlier models. Lighter, stonger materials with better flex characteristics, better designs including core wraps and over-arching caps, and tinkering with widths and sidecuts have led to skis that out-perform those of previous years. For short an medium length radius turns, capped shaped skis are far more responsive than their predecessors. As long a skiers wish to improve the quality of their skiing, they will pay for gear that helps them do this. As long as the industry keeps producing better and better products, the market will be there. If, however, the industry fails to produce better products, then I expect that the demand will flatten out. Cheers, Richard Culpeper Past member, Canadain National Ski Team, Telemark Division *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sat Apr 10 2004 - 17:18:01 PDT
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