Park, Pipe & Beyond

This is the domain of the twintips, one of the hottest markets in the ski world. Skis in this category run the gamut of abilities: everything from riding rails, to skiing groomers, to hucking over huge jumps—and in both directions. Size plays a role. If you’re hitting the pipes all day, stick with lightweight, symmetric boards enabling quick rotation. Fatter skis inevitably are heavier and harder to spin, but legendary in performing huge hucks in the backcountry. And no, we haven’t seen the end of the unlikely marriage between backcountry granola and urban skateboard park. This is where most of the non-race technologies are driven, so expect some of the most uncanny-looking boards—and
graphics to match—in this arena. Keywords for the genre include stability, durability and performance.

Betting on a gamble
Nordica and Stöckli have both used gambling graphics in their Park & Pipe skis. Nordica has added the Ace of Spades model to its lineup, which comes equipped with a pre-mounted binding plate. Stöckli is mounting poker chip graphics one-by-one to the bases of its high-end Rotor 84. You can bet that no two are the same.

Après ski
In the world of crossovers, some skis are doing double duty. Elan’s Slingshot comes with an après mode: it has built-in laminated bottle openers.

Made in Canada
Dynastar’s Sixth Sense series was designed in Revelstoke. The company’s line of twins
runs the gamut from big-mountain boards like the Huge to park-and-pipe-specific
models like the Superpipe.

Hole in one
Fischer’s Villain Pro and Addict series use Real Twin Tip construction, which means performance is identical forwards or backwards. Sandwich Sidewall technology has toughened up lateral strength, and the Addict’s debossed tips make for lighter swing
weight enabling quicker rotations. A titanal insert below the bindings
reinforces edges for hard rail landings.

Edgier than ever
* Most of K2’s Factory Team twintips come with 3.5-mm edges (up from the 2.5-mm industry standard) for added abuse.
• Dumont, Salomon’s premier Park & Pipe ski, has double Edge Armor
protection through the edges and built-to-last ABS sidewalls.

Big bang
Does frontside Park & Pipe skiing sound like skateboarding to you? It did to the
designers at Line, who came up with perhaps the most surprising boards of
the year. The Afterbang uses a sevenply maple veneer deck running edge-to-
edge and tip-to-tail. Just like the skateboard deck it’s modelled on, it provides uncompromising strength and resistance to shock throughout the ski. Line’s plys are stacked from bottom to top, each layer progressively shorter in length to create a tailored flex pattern. Expect added pop with the carbon ollieband, along with butter
zones moved toward the centre for more leverage and control. The revolutionary
ski design also has several ecological benefi ts: it uses 40 per cent less plastic
than a cap ski and 50 per cent less than a sidewall ski. The artwork is befitting
of the genre. Skateboard legend Jimbo Philips and his father, Jim, created the
eye-popping designs.

Specs and retail prices for all models click here.