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Philpug

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Yes, we have talked about the most influential ski models but what are the most innovative brands? Salomon with the introduction of the S727, The Monocoque ski? Power Rating ski sizing and volume sizing boots? Volant with the stainless steel design, Shane McConkey's Spatula, The Chubb and G-Max skis? Dynstar with the heart dampening? Rossignol? Atomic? Daleboot and their unique boot design that has had a loyal following since the 1980's? What are your brands that have brought game changing designs?
 

Tico

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The sad story of Cloudveil comes to mind. I used to product test for the twins and sully. A lot of current trends like bodymapped fabric panels can be traced to 90's Cloudveil. And the were first to the US market with schoeller, basically inventing the softshell genre.
 

jmeb

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Dynafit.

Invented the tech binding and continues to be by far the most popular maker of them. Absolute game changer for the increasing number of people who earn their turns.

To say nothing of their boot innovations.
 
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Philpug

Philpug

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Dynafit.

Invented the tech binding and continues to be by far the most popular maker of them. Absolute game changer for the increasing number of people who earn their turns.

To say nothing of their boot innovations.
Anytime your name becomes a Kleenex or Xerox..you have made your stamp.
 

clong83

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well, going back in time, Head come to mind for putting metal edges on skis
Second the nomination for Head. Maybe not so much nowadays, but from my understanding the guy basically invented the modern ski when everyone else was using solid wood construction. His innovations were: a metal topsheet, a wood or foam core, and a base material with metal edges. Then he went on to invent the modern tennis racket. From what I understand, he neither skied much, nor played tennis much.
 
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DanoT

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well, going back in time, Head come to mind for putting metal edges on skis

Do you know when Head did this or what was the name of the ski?

In the 1950s I remember having seen my parents skis in our basement from when they skied in the 30s and 40s. These skis had hardwood (lignite?) edges.

My first skis in the mid 60s where used (Alberg?) from the late 50s or early 60s were solid wood with metal edges with exposed screw heads with each piece of metal edge about 5" long.
 
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Philpug

Philpug

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Second the nomination for Head. Maybe not so much nowadays, but from my understanding the guy basically invented the modern ski when everyone else was using solid wood construction. His innovations were: a metal topsheet, a wood or foam core, and a base material with metal edges. Then he went on to invent the modern tennis racket. From what I understand, he neither skied much, nor played tennis much.
Where Head is innovative right now is in racing, as a brand, they are dominating.
 

Muleski

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I think that Head is on the list. My dad's company, Bostik, made the adhesive that held the wood cored Standard together, in terms of the base, topsheets, sidewalls.....the works. You are right, Howard Head was an engineer, an not a long term skier.

Howard Head did not invent, and was not the first to produce a ski with a continuous metal edge. But he was the first to make them on volume. The first were the Chris ski, made in CT. It's always been my understanding that he closed his ski company fairly quickly {the skis were not that good}, but that he did pretty well for a number of years as a result of a patent on the edge design. My dad probably only told me that story 1000 times, because my dad's college roommate was the guy who made that deal for Head.

My mom was a pretty serious athlete, and played a lot of tournament tennis. I can recall HH sending her 3-4 of his early Prince design prototypes. He told her that he knew they looked really foolish, but he wanted her opinion, and begged her to at least hit a fair amount with it. I think she and others helped him out, as the racquet had a huge sweet spot compared to everything out there....and was easy to play as a game improvement tool. She stuck with a wooden Dunlop Maxply for a number of years! Could not be seen hitting a Prince back then.

The guy was a genius. I recall when the 360 was introduced, and began to get traction. It seemed like every adult I knew was on the ski, unless they were real "experts". Both of my parents had been ski racers, and they both skied the Head Vector, later the Vector Comp, then the Comp. Pretty unusual for my Mom at the time. By the mid 60's, they had moved on to this new fiberglass stuff.

The success of Head skis did a LOT for the success of Bostik as an adhesive in the ski business. Which did a lot for the number of skis that came into our house. And for a lot of neat family vacations. Even better travel for my parents.

Many also credit Head with indirectly leading to the development on the Rossi series of Allais metal race skis, which pretty much owned the DH world through the mid 60's......until Killy dominated the sport on his Dynamic VR17's. Emile Allais pretty much engineered his skis by cutting up a bunch of Head race skis, as it's been told to me. I think they improved the core, and had access to better base material in particular. Also easier to build the ski, test, then tweak in a shorter time frame.

I think it's neat that the Head brand name lives on. It's had a number of turns and twists!

I absolutely would put Volant on this list, Rossignol, Dynamic. Dynafit, and Lange. Salomon. Marker, I think, Look. Scott Poles. Maybe even Head 2.0. I think that Atomic should be, but I'm not sure of the exact reason why....other than race results.

Need to think some more. Makes me think about Volkl, and some of the custom, premium skis. Depends on how far back you go. Kastle was the race ski between the early 50's and 1964.

Would not be surprised to see Renoun on such a list in 10-15 years. Seems like a design breakthrough.

Fun stuff.
 

Muleski

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BTW, the ski edge thing with Head was the continuous one piece metal edge, imbedded into the ski. Not a segmented metal edge, and not a screwed in segmented edge......both of which had been around for years.

I remember my dad cleaning up his tuning room/bench at our ski house when I was a kid, and he had a box with probably 50 pieces of segmented edges and screws......some removed form skis that he had broken. He made some comment like "guess we won't need these anymore!"
 

Doug Briggs

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Burt, Cubco and Miller come to mind; all for their bindings plus Miller for their 'Softs'.

Rosemount, Scott, Hanson, Lange for boots; some successful, other not so much.

Fischer and their Vacuum boot.

Howard Head was innovative: continuous steel edges, polyethylene bases and of course metal laminates. I'd say today's Head skis are fast and at the top of heap, but respectfully, not massively innovative. It still is just a laminate construction, despite the electronic doo-dads and KERS.
 

DanoT

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Howard Head was innovative: continuous steel edges, polyethylene bases and of course metal laminates. I'd say today's Head skis are fast and at the top of heap, but respectfully, not massively innovative. It still is just a laminate construction, despite the electronic doo-dads and KERS.

What do posters think about Head's use of Graphene ("Lightest, strongest material in the world")? I am not sure if they use it in race skis but it is mixed in with the fibre glass in the Joy models of in their very successful line of woman's skis, Monster skis, and the new very popular Kore skis.

Is the use of Graphene in skis innovative or unique? Other ski companies are finding other ways of building light weight skis that aren't noodles but Head seems to have hit it out of the park with Graphene.
 

Ron

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Is the use of Graphene in skis innovative or unique? Other ski companies are finding other ways of building light weight skis that aren't noodles but Head seems to have hit it out of the park with Graphene.

good point! yes, the graphene is innovative and other manufacturers are incorporating new materials that are similar or provide benefits/improvements over traditional materials. i think new materials will be a more prominent element in ski evolution and will allow further refinement of ski design. Again look at Renoun @Cyrus Schenck
 

Doug Briggs

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I don't think the use of newly developed materials in an otherwise standard design counts as innovative, but I won't argue against that opinion either. I see its use as an incremental improvement, not an innovation. Now if Head developed and created Graphene solely to utilize it in their skis I would reconsider.
 

crgildart

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White Stag and Roffe stretch pants. I have to admit that pretty girls in shapely ski clothes was a factor in me being so enthusiastic about skiing in my teens and early 20s..
 

crgildart

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On the serious side, what Vuarnet did for on the snow optics and flat light enhancement was huge for me. Once I saw what I had been missing, going back to average eye gear wasn't happening..
 

Jack skis

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Back to metal edges: In an article John Fry wrote for Ski History Association, Rudolf Lettner started developing metal edges after suffering a dangerous fall on an icy hill around 1917. Took him until 1926 to finalize the idea and get a patent. We'd all be in a world of hurt if metal edges hadn't come to pass. Thanks Rudy.
 

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