Skiing - The Proper Alpine Sport
The ski season is in full throttle and we couldn't be happier. After years of snowboarding, something is drawing us back to the proper alpine sport: downhill skiing. Maybe we're tired of knuckle-dragging or maybe, as we get a little older, we realize that downhill skiing is the more refined alpine sport.
In either case, we're back in our ski boots and loving our shaped skis. Members of the Product Appeal editorial team have hit the slopes and are excited to share with you our top selections for boots, skis and skiing apparel.
For men, we recommend the Salomon XWave Free 10 ski boot. It is unfailingly responsive to the slightest command. Salomon XWave 10 boots give advanced and expert skiers added volume in sensitive foot areas. It features stiff flex designed for you all-mountain killers out there. And, best of all, it is toasty and comfortable. The boot retails for $579.00; but, if you look hard enough, you can find some on ebay for about $329.
We cut some excellent tracks on the Nordica Hot Rod Eliminator Skis. The Nordica website says that this ski was "produced for advanced allmountain skiers who need the ELIMINATOR to feel stable on hard packed groomers, yet be just forgiving enough to take an occasional run off piste." They come with Marker bindings. We love them!
For women, we're grooving on Nordica Olympia Speed skis, which are "engineered for freedom at high speeds, the SPEED will give any advanced woman a thrilling ride, passing all the boys on her way." These skis retail for about $699 and include Marker bindings.
Keeping with the Nordica family, we found comfort in the Nordica Olympia Beast boots. The Nordica Beast 10 Olympia Ski Boot is designed for intermediate to more advanced ladies who like to ski the entire mountain. Nordica has produced this boot for another year because of its great popularity. The comfort and responsiveness you get from the women's specific Comfort PFP lining and footbed is unmatched in this category. These boots retail for about $389.
Ok, now that we've got our gear, let's make sure we look good on the mountain. The KJUS brand is by far the chic-est ski apparel brand. This line was developed by Lasse Kjus, a Norwegian alpine skier who has won the World Cup twice, an Olympic Gold Medal and several World Championships.
Among our our favorite KJUS (pronounced sh-uice) ski jackets is the KJUS Creator Jacket, which is available in a bold blue and will ensure that your skiing partners don't lose sight of you on the mountain (this is actually a significant safety benefit; wearing bold colors on the mountain means you're easy to see).
We also love the KJUS Discovery Jacket. Both the Creator and the Discovery feature lasered and adhesive-bonded pockets with waterproof zips (very cool). The Discovery takes it up a notch by incorporating the Recco-avalanche rescue system, a mobile telephone headset system, and hooks integrated on snow-skirt to attach to the pant. We must admit that we don't own any KJUS ski apparel.
It is probably the most expensive line out there; the Men's Discovery jacket retails for a whopping $899. But, we do try them on everytime we enter a ski store...mmmh, they are delicious (so, if anyone wants to send us KJUS apparel, be our guests).
Because KJUS is almost prohibitively expensive (unless, of course, you're part of the skiing jet-set), we recommend the Arc'Teryx (ArcTeryx) brand. Arc'Teryx manufactures technical ski apparel that is a little more reasonably priced.
Wonderful collection!! I also found at Adidas store many sports apparels and shoes with many coupons through couponalbum.com...
Posted by: Alexandra | February 12, 2008 at 01:01 AM