A Sneak Peak at Next Season's Skis, Boots and Bindings

The SIA Snow Show, held every winter in Denver, is a gear geek’s dream. Over 900 snowsports brands come together to show their latest and greatest products for the coming year. Skis, boots and bindings are always a hot topic, and lots of innovation should make every skier and rider salivate for what’s to come in 2012/2013.

Manufacturers add some amount of rocker to most skis in their line for 2012/2013, which is a good move since sales nearly doubled for reverse and mixed camber skis early this season. Rocker is not just for wide skis anymore: Rocker adds all-mountain performance to skis traditionally thought of as carving skis and also makes skis more maneuverable and easier to turn, helping skiers of all abilities.

Almost a third of all skis sold last season were women-specific skis. Next year manufacturers introduce new wider-waisted models for women, which hooks into a non-gender specific trend of sidecountry skiing. New technology has made wide skis easier to use in both powder and hard snow so manufacturers feel that women will be looking to add a second pair of skis with waists 90 mm and above.

New molds for ski boots and hike-ski features change the game for boots in 2012/2013. Boot manufacturers had to pick up the development pace to keep up with rapidly changing ski technology. This means a shift toward an emphasis on lateral stiffness and a more upright stance. Also, many boot manufactures will introduce or add new models with a hike-ski mode. This typically includes some mechanism or built-in design that allows for greater cuff mobility for hiking, but that locks the upper and lower cuffs together for downhill performance. These boots also tend to include ease-of-use features like rubber soles, which help skiers hike more comfortably as well as walk in icy parking lots.

To compliment the new trend in ski boots, binding manufacturers continue to offer bindings or introduce models that favor back- or sidecountry skiing, allowing skiers to free their heels and also lock down for alpine performance.