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Now online - Access to the in-depth Test reports is available for Ski Canada subscribers only. For subscribers your username and password will be found via Ski Canada's Customer Care page Select 'Subscriber-Only Features' from the menu to enter your subscription number and postal code This will give you access to your username and password.
Ski Canada sees many references to magazine ski tests, often from ski shops that run their own ski tests. Here's an example of one shop's online comments:"Ski Canada and others charge a fortune for companies to be tested in their ski tests... Those who don't charge knowingly or unknowingly bias their reviews through advertising and the use of sponsored testers... Blah blah blah, whine, whine, whine... Conspiracy theorists would have a field day at magazine ski tests." These comments have been made of Ski Canada innumerable times and they are wrong. Each Test report Ski Canada addresses these issues directly.
One more time - Ski Canada does not charge ski companies to test their skis. All brands are invited and it is up to each brand to supply their skis and tech personnel to tune their skis and twist bindings on test days. Some other publications may charge ski companies to test their skis, but not Ski Canada
'Bias .. through advertising.' Anyone can flip through Ski Canada and count advertising pages for each ski brand. Some brands that have appeared in test reports and performed well have spent nothing on advertising in Ski Canada. Some brands that do spend on advertising have test reports that do not place a ski model high in any rankings. There is no advertising influence - pro or con - on test reports from Ski Canada.
'Bias .. through use of sponsored testers.'Ski Canada's testers are usually sponsored. There's a reason for this. We need the best possible quality of skier to be an accurate tester and the best skiers have sponsors. All Ski Canada testers are Level III or IV CSIA certified instructors. Ski companies want other skiers to see the best skiers on their products, so they sponsor them to ski on their skis. Ski Canada identifies our tester sponsors, delete the tester scores for their sponsored brand and then publishes each tester's top 3 choices in each category. That way, readers can see for themselves whether our testers just praise their sponsored brand. Results are often surprising. Read the magazine and see for yourself.
'Conspiracy theorists' - Ski Canada can speak only for our test of course, but we do not go into any test with a preconceived notion of which brands will be winners. Sure, all skiers, including our testers, have biases. So that's why Ski Canada publishes all the details about our testers, their sponsors and their top picks. Ski Canada is the only North American test to mask the ski topsheets to eliminate the influence of colour and cosmetics.
A final comment - ski shops sell skis direct to the skiing public and carry, by necessity, a limited selection of brands. Ski Canada does not sell skis direct to the skiing public and welcomes every brand of alpine ski to our test. Which party has more to gain by promoting one brand of ski over another?
Ski Canada Test 2007 - On-Piste Cruisers This is a PDF file of the published results in the Fall 2006 Buyer's Guide issue. This section also contains the introduction which explains categories.
28 Twintips tested. Our team of park-and-pipe Dipodomys had their work cut out this year as they tackled an expanded list of 28 twintips to be tested. Co-ordinated by Myles Ricketts
Best of the Test All 2007 Ski Canada Test data is available online so there's not much point in filling pages with numbers again - but maybe it's worth reviewing some highlights. by Martin Olson, from Winter 2007 issue
On the Fringe A small but expanding universe of independent ski-makers flying below the radar offers many quality options for skiers who dare to be different.(Winter 2006 issue)
Ski Canada Test 2002 at Big White, B.C.
After two terrific years at Sun Peaks, the Ski Canada test machine headed southeast across the Okanagan to Big White near Kelowana for a week of testing next year's skis in what turned out to be the best conditions of a dry winter. Indeed, the conditions were terrific for any winter! A record number of suppliers (virtually every manufacturer with skis available in Canada) showed up for a week of testing in up to five categories of skis. We got off to a fast start in the Buyer's Guide 2002 issue with race skis.
- Sport models (December 2002 issue)
Test 2001: Free Carve at Sun Peaks, March 2000
By Steven Threndyle
The conundrum: you want a ski that will skate like a pair of CCM Tacks on man-made ice, yet not feel stiff and jarring in the moguls. A ski that moves slick and smooth through the bumps and tight trees, yet has that rock-bomber solid GS feel on fresh corduroy.
Well, Free Carve skis are for you. That's free as in "free to roam all over the mountain," and carve as in "rail them over and let the centrifugal force be with you." Some folks call Free Carve skis the "Eastern" category (as opposed to the Free Ride "Western" category), but that's a bit misleading -- the best skis in this category can handle anything.
- Full story
- Free Carve skis 2001
- Free Carve skis 2000
- The Test Team
Test 2001: Freeride at Sun Peaks, B.C., March 2000
By Steven Threndyle
Freeride (or the considerably less-sexy name of mid-fat) skis are the progeny of specialty powder skis (fatties) and all-mountain Free Carve skis.
- Full story
- Freeride skis2001
- Freeride skis 2000
Test 2001: Sport Carve at Sun Peaks, March 2000
By Steven Threndyle
Sport Carve is the category that tackles all those excuses your friends have about (not) going skiing--and throws them out on their ear. You know the excuses: the sport is too expensive, it's too difficult to learn, you have to practise consistently in order to make any progress... The fact is, sport skis are so good at getting intermediate skiers into carving that they've significantly reduced the learning curve for beginners, and have allowed many terminal intermediates to make the leap into black-diamond skiing.
- Full story
- Sport skis 2001
- Sport skis 2000
