How long can interest in backcountry skiing keep growing?
By Craig Dostie
In the last few years, backcountry skiing has basked in the limelight of ski industry attention. Unlike the worldwide ski industry that has been reporting no growth for the past decade, based on participation surveys and products sold, sales of equipment used for earning your turns has continued to grow.
If backcountry skiers are a subset of the overall skier and snowboarder populations, and there is essentially no growth, how much longer can interest in backcountry skiing and associated equipment sales grow? Put another way, what percentage of the overall skier and rider population will be willing to pay for their fun with sweat?
Back when the idea of creating a magazine devoted to backcountry skiing first entered my mind, the foundation of my business plan was a simple but unproven belief that at least 10 percent of all skiers would be willing to hike for their turns. At the time, the mid-1980s, there were 14 million skiers in the United States, according to the Wall Street Journal. In my mind that meant the potential market size was more than one million strong, and in the near term I guessed there were around 100,000 active or easily converted backcountry skiers. That was all the justification I needed to pursue their attention.
Thirty years later the number of backcountry skiers has swollen to nearly double my original estimate of potential participants, depending on how you interpret the data. According to SIA’s “Downhill Consumer Intelligence Report,” in the preliminary Discovery Phase they make clear the size of the U.S. ski market, which includes snowboarders, is “remarkably static” during the past 35 years. In the last 16 years, the average number of annual sliders was 12 million. Two years ago SIA had numbers indicating there were 2.7 million telemarkers, and while I know that isn’t true, if one equates telemark with backcountry, then the number is probably as true as the average 12 million downhillers. In that case, backcountry skiers comprise close to 20 percent of slope dopes in America.
Whether or not that is the actual number isn’t really the issue being raised here. Rather, when the worldwide ski market is more or less flat, how much longer can we expect to see growth in a segment that is but a subset of the larger whole, which hasn’t significantly grown in more than three decades? That’s the long term question. The one that begs immediate attention is how close are we to seeing the asymptote of growth when the recent, three-year trend in snowsports participation in the U.S. is a reduction of interest, not growth?
This, of course, fosters more questions that don’t allow the luxury of waiting for market results to be tabulated in a spreadsheet, numbers that may not address the more important questions of why, and thus what to do about it. Nor do we have the luxury of sitting by idly and simply hoping things get better.
We know the economy has not recovered as the presstitutes in the lamestream media repeatedly claim because we know average household income is flat or down. We also know inflation is on the move because we see how the cost of everything has steadily risen in the last three years, especially essentials such as groceries and medical care. That means there is less disposable income available for the luxury of skiing, and SIA figures confirm this by noting participation by 18- to 35-year-olds is down. Equally important, there’s less snowfall, meaning less opportunity or reason to go skiing, much less buy equipment. All of which means anyone in the business of selling ski gear needs to be very careful about what products are carried.
Fortunately, the European market provides a good example of what happens in a more mature market. In spite of a similar stasis in the overall size of the downhill market, interest in skiing off-piste continues to grow.
Even if it can’t keep growing forever, backcountry ski gear is a solid inventory investment for the following reasons. First and foremost is the fact that core skiers go to the mountains more, and spend more on their favorite sport. Well more than a third (37 percent) of snowboarders are considered core, as are 30 percent of skiers, and if conservatively 15 percent of all downhillers are backcountry skiers, then roughly half the core skiers and riders are going out of bounds and need specialized gear. In other words, your best customers are, or are ripe to become, backcountry skiers.
Secondly – and I’ll admit this isn’t documented but I’ve seen it anecdotally – interest in backcountry skiing and riding grows when snow is sparse. It’s only slightly counterintuitive as to why. In a low snow year a lack of base is more evident at a ski area where a limited base is hammered into bony, dangerous ice. Meanwhile, even though coverage may be thin, the expanded terrain options in the backcountry deliver more satisfactory results. If they’re willing to hike, experienced backcountry skiers know they will find snow, thereby converting ever-increasing numbers of resort skiers into turn-earning BC skiers. Seth Lightcap, marketing manager for Jones Snowboards put it succinctly. “Powder lasts longer in the backcountry,” he says.
Secondarily, as other prices rise, so does the cost of running a ski resort, and with it the price of a lift ticket. If a drought doesn’t drive more skiers into the backcountry, Vail’s recent announcement that a daily lift ticket will be $160 surely will. As prices rise, the exodus grows and with it, interest in gear that gives access to the goods.
So while I may have been wrong 30 years ago about the percentage of skiers who would be willing to earn their turns, in today’s economy it appears that even if we’re nearing the limit, all the evidence suggests interest in the backcountry will continue to grow. So who knows what the real limit is?
In other words, if you don’t include some of what’s coming for next season in your inventory of snow gear, you’re missing what may be your entire margin of profitability.
What follows is an admittedly incomplete listing of new product for next year, but this is a great place to start.
Bindings
Marker KingpinAs interest in tech bindings has grown, so has demand for bindings that are not only lightweight for uphill skinning but reliable for downhill performance. To address that, Dynafit developed a tech toe that rotates, delivering more elasticity to their notoriously tight binding. Next year that technology migrates down from its Beast 14 to its popular Radical binding, called the Radical 2.0. Yes, they said that last year too, but this time they mean it.
Last year G3 took the lessons learned with Onyx, its first foray in the world of 2-pin tech bindings, and unveiled Ion, a sharp looking, smart operating tech binding that made the heads of Dynafit advocates spin when they realized how easy it was to step into. Prior to Ion it was assumed one needed to know how to fiddle to click into a tech binding, but Ion says “no more” to that nonsense. This year G3 trims the luxury fat to deliver the Ion LT ($430), sans brakes, that tips the scales at a mere 16 ounces (456 g) per foot.
G3 IonMarker’s Kingpin marks the entry of a mainstream alpine binding maker to the tech realm where weight and efficiency matter as much or more than safety. Yet the Kingpin comes to market with TUV certification. This doesn’t mean skiing in the backcountry with training heels is now safe but will nonetheless calm the fears of skeptical alpine converts. Kingpin does modify the classic tech formula, with a six-pack of springs for higher retention forces at the toe pins, and a heel unit that clamps a boot tight with familiar downward pressure.
There are rumors Salomon has a tech binding in the works too, but when it will be revealed remains a secret. One thing is certain: Greg Hill was not added to Salmon’s athlete roster to be convinced that plate bindings tour better in the backcountry.
22 Design’s Outlaw ($400) is the first NTN design licensed by Rottefella to hold a tele boot between the toe and second heel. Outlaw builds on the proven Axl foundation with a free-pivot touring mode, adjustable, underfoot cable power position and a true step-in connection to the second heel of a NTN boot.
The M Equipment out of France won’t be at OR or SIA, but talk of Meidjo certainly will be. It’s the first commercial telemark binding to combine NTN with Dynafit technology. The result is a binding that uses a 2-pin tech toe with a spring-loaded plate that hooks onto the second heel of a NTN boot. Compatible boots must have tech inserts and, of course, the patented NTN sole with a second heel. Like any binding using the tech toe, Meidjo tours like a dream, and like other NTN bindings, delivers powerful telemark turns without sacrificing soul. And you thought tele was dead.
Boots
If there’s one area of backcountry equipment that can considered safe as far as maintaining inventory, it’s with boots. Of course, the usual caveats apply in terms of having a mix of boot shapes to fit a mix of foot shapes and sizes, but from a functional perspective at least one of the following should be on your short list of new offerings for next season.
Atomic goes full bore in addressing the requirements of weight-conscious skiers with the Backland Carbon Light boot. It features a huge, 74-degree range of motion in the cuff, a rockered sole, a carbon fiber spine, Quick Click tongues, a memory foam liner, and it tips the scales at only 2.25 pounds per boot. The ladies version shaves another ounce for those counting grams.
Salomon has been slowly gaining traction and experience in the backcountry market, and next year they introduce two new backcountry boots. The MTN Explore 95 is a svelte 3 pounds per boot with a cuff that moves fore and aft 47 degrees. The sole is lugged and rockered for comfortable skinning or scrambling over rock and has a heat moldable liner with a shell built with CFX Superfiber, Salomon’s proprietary name for incorporating carbon fiber for more stiffness with less mass. The MTN LAB is slightly heavier at 3.5 pounds per boot and more price conscious.
K2 knocked a solid hit with the Pinnacle when it returned to the ski boot world. Next year they will offer a timely aftermarket, rockered Vibram sole that can replace the existing WTR sole blocks with one that has more backcountry versatility.
Scarpa’s popular Freedom boot line will expand to three models next season with the addition of the Freedom RS ($830) with a stiffer, 130 flex rating thanks to a polyamide cuff. The new RS model will come with Mountain Plus, tech-compatible sole blocks that can be swapped with Mountain Piste soles for use with alpine DIN bindings. In addition, the price conscious Freedom, Scarpa’s only boot with a polyurethane shell, trims weight by eliminating two cuff buckles with a single, wider one and substituting wire buckles elsewhere and replacing the stock liner with a heat moldable Intuition liner.
Dynafit continues to push the bounds of how light a boot can be and still deliver downhill performance. The latest incarnation is Khion, which incorporates BOA lacing on the heal-moldable liner for a snug-yet-comfortable fit. Key to the downhill performance is a patented Precision Lock System that ties the cuff, Magnesium spoiler and lower shell together to act as a single, torsionally stiff unit to maximize power transfer. A special Formula Pomoca sole resists snow sticking to the lugs, and the buckles can be opened or closed with a single hand.
Scott adds the SuperGuide Carbon, a taller, stiffer boot than its predecessor, the Cosmos. It features a heat-moldable liner with Gore-Tex for superior warmth and breathability and a buckled power strap at the top of the cuff. Carbon reinforces the lower shell along the sides for more lateral control and so every ounce of energy from your lower leg is transferred to a ski.
La Sportiva continues to focus on “light is right” products, and its new Spitfire, Sideral and Starlet boots will appeal to skimo racers and fitness skinners alike for how little mass they add to feet. Now you can, literally, run up mountains with skis underneath, whether for the aerobic fitness high or to maximize the number of laps and vertical feet of human-powered skiing you can achieve. Each model locks or loosens the cuff via the lone cuff buckle. Stiffness comes from a Grilamid shell, but the real beauty of these boots are their compatibility with all AT bindings, plate-style, 2-pin tech bindings, even Ski Trabs new TR2 binding with special heel inserts.
Skis and Boards
As usual there are simply too many skis to cover them all, but here are some noteworthy highlights.
Black Diamond trims its ski line for next season from a mass of confusion to three series in three sizes. The lightweight Carbon Series remains unchanged. New for next year are the Boundary and Link series. Boundary skis are built for reliable freeride performance on either side of the boundary with an emphasis on dampness for dealing with day old crud or worse; available in three waist widths, 100, 107 and 115mm. The Link series addresses the requirements of long tours when weight and versatility matter with a softer flex than their carbon siblings. It comes in widths of 90, 95, and 105mm.
Blizzard joins the backcountry carbon crowd with its “Light Done Right” Zero-G collection of skis. This series features Carbon Drive, a uni-directional carbon frame construction on top, with a paulownia wood core, sidewalls and three layers of light fiberglass in waist widths of 85mm ($720), 95mm ($840) and 108mm ($960).
G3 continues to expand the use of carbon throughout its line of skis and next year into snowboards with the Scapegoat Carbon, weighing a mere 5 lbs. 13 oz. Less sexy but more intriguing is G3’s addition of the Stinger 78 XCD ($560), a waxless metal edged ski with a 78mm waist.
Jones Snowboards is developing new splitboards that use 3D shaping to the base to take advantage of traditional camber for solid edgehold and a lively response without limiting the surfy feel that comes from a rockered ski. The trick is in beveling the sides in the right strategic locations to create a splitboard that is nimble without being loose, and stable when conditions call for it. Perhaps more exciting is the development of splitboards for kids, to plant seeds of freedom for the next generation of turn earning riders.
Volkl sheds serious weight by trimming dimensions to a bare minimum in its new VTA-88 ($900) ski. According to Geoff Curtis, head of marketing in the USA, “[the VTA] was the smallest width waist we felt comfortable with that would be great for minimizing weight going uphill without compromising performance skiing down.” The VTA 88 borrows from the BMT series combining a thinner edge with a central ridge for adequate support and smooth flex characteristics. Added to the mix is a hybrid core using air-channel construction with some carbon thrown in for lateral stiffness and a lighter, polyamide tip and tail to minimize swing weight. The end result is a 170 cm ski that weighs a mere 2.2 pounds per ski.
Voile’s V-Twin is a lightweight twin-tip ski aimed at the next generation of backcountry skiers who prefer twin-tip skis and will easily see the value in a lighter version of their favorite shape when earning their turns. For Voile it isn’t much of a departure from what it has done since its beginning, nor is Voile ignorant of the pros and cons of twin-tips skis in the backcountry. Rather, this is a clear tip of the hat to appeal to the generation of future backcountry skis, not silver haired veterans. The V-Twin will come in two waist widths: 107mm and an obese 125mm version.
Climbing Skins
Volkl partners with Colltex to bring one of the best climbing skin brands on the planet to America with the distribution network of a popular alpine ski brand. This is in addition to Volkl’s existing Vacuum skins for those who aren’t ready to embrace new glue formula until they’ve survived more than a season or two.
High Trails has finally set up a distribution network so next year retailers will have a choice of glueless skins to offer their customers. New for next season is a plush that uses a high-tech fiber that is lighter than mohair with a similar glide and greater longevity.
While carrying the right gear is essential to selling it, so too is the expertise to understand where it is appropriate. A person who is just getting into the backcountry probably needs a different combination of boots, bindings and skis than someone who has been doing it awhile. In any case, customers can tell whether the person they’re talking to has the experience and knowledge to back up their recommendations, or whether they’re just pushing product to make a sale.
If you’re carrying backcountry gear in your shop, make sure you have the expertise in house to match customers with the right stuff. When you’re selling backcountry equipment you’re selling to core customers, folks whose sphere of influence brings with it new customers you can’t reach any other way.
