slide, glide or carve? usually, there’s only one option at a time. kneissl built a new ski which is suitable both for gliding and carving: the powerglide ski (pdf) :) it’s based on a ‘classic’ sandwich construction, but might be worth trying.
recently, i had the opportunity to test atomic‘s top-of-the-line race-carving ski, the gs:11. it’s a nice, fast and warp resistant ski, but mainly fun for racing (radius: 19 m) and less suitable for free carving. on the other hand, allround carving skis are usually too soft and slow. that’s where the kneissl powerglide skis comes into play :) if they just had more dealers, i’d like to test such a kneissl next! if i can’t test-drive the kneissls i’ll probably go for a good cap construction ski (my favorites here: elan and salomon)
btw: regarding ski boots, i’m not happy with the currently offered models. i tried several of them, but i still prefer my very aged nordica 857 boots which combine a convenient rear entry with good instep flexibility and yet fit tightly. all the major boot manufacturers however only seem to sell these silly front entry boots nowadays – which is a pity as these boots are very inflexible at the instep. i wonder how long it will take for a comeback of the good old rear entry ski boots! i hope mines won’t go bust till then ;)
