Latest Headlines
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Some Archived News
Stories of Note:
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 SIA Begins Tracking Online Sales... With Interesting
Results.....
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A Look At Jarden Inc., The New Owners Of K2
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No Big Surprises in Alexa Rankings Of Snow Sports
Media Web Sites
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BD's "Holy Grail" Binding: Details Emerge
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Commentary on the Demise of Couloir
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MORE...
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Notes On The Demo Tour and Introduction of Rottefella's
NTN Binding, Feb. 2007
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Rottefella breaks years of silence on their New
Telemark Norm (NTN) in this exclusive Telemarktips interview.
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Rottefella officially announces its new NTN system
(with photos):
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The Battle of the Titans, How We Got Here &
What To Expect...
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The Battle of the Titans Begins: Black Diamond
To Build Tele Boot & Binding System In NTN Showdown
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Black Diamond To Build Tele & AT Ski Boot Line..
(and maybe an "NTN" type system of their own?).
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Telemark News reports by Mitch
Weber
.
- 3/5-- Addressing issues in
its T-X NTN boots, Scarpa
will take care of unhappy NTN early adopters by replacing the
lower shells with the vastly improved triple-injected shells
now being built for the 2008 version Terminator Xs. The exchange
will take place over the summer at no cost to owners of the '07
models. More....
- 2/22-- Rossignol
may have a new owner very soon. Rossi
parent Quicksilver, Inc. has been rumored to be looking for a
buyer for the venerable ski maker, going almost all the way back
to the time that the California-based surfwear manufacturer first
acquired the ski brand back in July, 2005. Now it would appear
that a deal may finally be in the works. Quicksilver President
Bernard Mariette resigned early this month amid speculation that
he will make a run at buying Rossignol from his former employer.
Mariette is believed to have been the main architect of Quicksilver's
purchase of Rossi (and Cleveland Golf) three years ago for a
reported $303 million, and investors are said to blame Mariette
for holding on to Rossignol, despite its poor performance and
significant contribution to Quicksilver's nearly $1 billion in
debt.
Mariette began with Quicksilver
Europe in 1994, guiding the division through its development
stage before becoming president of the entire company in 2001.
Late last month it was announced
that Quicksilver had hired financial services firm JPMorgan to
explore ways to reduce its exposure to the sometimes difficult
winter sports hardgoods business. Quicksilver stock quickly rose
.28 cents/share on the news, and closed yesterday at $8.90/share,
up nearly two dollars from its mid-January low.
It is expected that shedding Rossignol
will allow the company to focus on its highly profitable and
successful Quicksilver, Roxy and DC Shoes brands.
- 1/8-- Rottefella president
Ulf Bjerknes has resigned and
will take the helm at ski wax maker Swix AG, according to a press
release today from the Norwegian manufacturer of telemark, cross
country and backcountry ski bindings. With his departure, to
take place no later than June, 2008, Bejerknes will leave behind
a five year legacy of growth and innovation at Rottefella. During
his time as president, the company introduced 13 new unique binding
models-- including the ground breaking NTN. Rottefella also acquired
Swiss AT binding maker Naxo AG, and in 2007, reached an important
company milestone, for the first time producing 1 million ski
bindings in a single year. This month Rottefella will further
expand its manufacturing capabilities, opening a new and fully
automated plastic component factory in Hurum, Norway.
Perhaps publicly best known for
colorfully comparing Black Diamond's still-in-development advanced
tele binding to a fantastical "live pink horse with wings"
in a recent war of words with BD chief Peter Metcalf (see below),
Ulf Bjerknes will depart from what appears to be a much stronger
company than when his tenure at the helm began. Rottefella's
press release closes with the following note: "The board
of directors of Rottefella appreciates the contribution and effort
he has made as managing director of Rottefella, and wishes Bjerknes
the best of luck in his future endeavours."
Comments:
According to Rottefella, the search for a new company president
has already begun. While Ulf Bjerknes' successor will take over
a company that clearly has become something of a binding design
and manufacturing powerhouse in our little niche of the world
of skiing, a lesser strength for Rottefella in recent years has
been their marketing, and especially their relationships with
distributors and dealers. At one time, relatively recently in
fact, Rottefella had 3 distributors in North American alone.
With the Rottefella business spread so thin, none of the three
had the motivation and resources needed to service retailers
necessary for a ramped up Rottefella to take things to the next
level. Naming Backcountry Access (BCA) last year as the sole
distributor for Rottefella's tele line in North America was a
step in the right direction, but many industry observers still
feel that there is a lot of work to be done in this area, perhaps
presenting one of the more important challenges the next head
of Rottefella will face in the future.
- 1/2-- Garmont has unveiled
a new line of AT boots it
will debut at the Winter Outdoor Retailer trade show next month.
In a recent press release, ski boot product manager Paul Parker
says "Garmont's new anatomic overlap design sets a new standard
in ski mountaineering boots. The result is the best of all worlds:
light and comfortable on the tour, formidable on the descent."
Parker continues, "What makes these boots truly unique is
the overlap shell closure system. The overlap shell follows the
anatomy of the foot and lower leg for crisp, precise downhill
performance. At the same time, the design eliminates the restrictive
tongue to allow more independent movement between the cuff and
lower shell. In the touring mode, the instep and foot are nestled
comfortably and securely so the boot and foot stay in contact."
Parker concludes, "This all
adds up to three new boots that are better walking, climbing,
and skinning, with a sweet, progressive downhill flex."
Garmont supplied the following thumbnail
descriptions of the new boots: "The Radium tops the new
standard. It's got everything: light weight, 4-buckle support,
and Dynafit®-
compatibility. The Argon is the benchmark for skis with step-in
ski mountaineering bindings. Its multi-injected lower shell has
a unique flex insert for touring ease, multi-injected cuff for
a close, responsive fit with awesome leverage. Burly enough to
rip the toughest terrain and conditions on big skis, light enough
for extended tours. Light weight makes the Helium the best choice
for alpine tourers. Yet, the Helium's high overlap construction
provides a new level of downhill control for 3 buckle boots."
Comment:
With Black Diamond set to debut their first-ever boot line to
the ski media tomorrow, competition for the the tele and AT boot
buying public's dollar is already heating up. Expect to continue
to see more innovation and added features from Garmont, Scarpa
and Crispi as BD enters the fray. And stay tuned for our report
from BD's Park City, Utah, media "Boot Camp," taking
place this week.
- 12/5-- A "World Telemark
Freeskiing Championship" event
is coming to Alaska’s Alyeska Resort. The comp will take
place on the same weekend as the annual "Jeff Nissman Memorial
Telemark Festival," March 28 -30, 2008. This is just one
week after Crested Butte Mountain Resort’s 12th Annual U.S.
Extreme Freeskiing Telemark Championships, slated for March 20th-22nd.
We are told that there will be the usual men's and women's divisions,
as well as a junior division. As additional details become available
we will pas them along here in Tele News, in the meantime competitors
and those interested in attending should mark their calendars
and start making plans to attend what promises to be an amazing
event, and an awesome addition to the telemark comp scene.
- 11/12-- In new tele and AT
boot news... Black Diamond
held a "Boot Camp" recently for their North American
reps and key personnel. Details of the initial, Fall 2008 offerings
in the new BD boot line have subsequently begun to emerge. On
the tele boot side, the Utah-based industry leader will introduce
six different models, divided into two categories. In its "Power
Series," BD will have the Custom, Push and the women’s
Stiletto, which BD says will feature "progressive
flex, torsional power, and alpine inspired fit technologies."
In its "Efficient Series" of tele boots, BD will include
the Seeker, along with the women’s Trance
and Axis. In this category BD aims to deliver lightweight
and versatile boots with smooth bellows flex and a high level
of torsional rigidity. On the AT side, BD will debut three "Power
Series" models, the four-buckle Factor, a softer
flexing Method, and the women’s Shiva. Black
Diamond says its AT line will blend "alpine overlap construction
with lightweight touring functionality, combining the performance
an alpine skier demands, while providing a highly articulated
walk mode for access to the backcountry."
“As the largest, most expensive,
complex development project we’ve ever undertaken, it’s
hard to contain my enthusiasm about these boots,” says Peter
Metcalf CEO of Black Diamond. “They represent the best of
BD today, exemplifying our design philosophy in terms of innovative
product. BD Boots will fully meet the demands of today’s
freeride skier. We set out to build a better boot for the skier
who wants one boot to rip all terrain and our design team has
delivered.” For more details, check out this boot
program press release from BD.
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New boot news also came down from Garmont
this week, with the introduction of the Axon, a tall,
4.5 lb, four buckle, downhill performance oriented, Dynafit compatible
AT boot. Garmont says that the Axon is targeted at "the
aggressive off-piste, backcountry freeride and ski mountaineer
who demands the highest-performance ski boots with full walk
mode." |
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The Axon will be in shops this fall,
with an MSRP of $849 in the US and $969 in Canada. Further details
can be found in this Axon
Specifications (146kb pdf) press release.
- 10/26-- A war of words has
turned up the heat in
the Battle of the Titans, Black
Diamond and Rottefella's competition to establish a new norm
for telemark's boot-to-ski interface. In a seven
page article appearing in today's edition of one of Norway's
most widely read newspapers, Rottefella head Ulf Bjerknes trades
barbs with BD's president and CEO Peter Metcalf. The extraordinary
exchange takes place near the end of the piece and opens with
Bjerknes comparing BD's nacscent "Holy Grail" binding/boot
system to a pink horse with wings. Here is our rough translation:
Bjerknes: "The situation with Black Diamond's
binding is comparable to asking a little girl what she wants
more than anything else in the world, and when she answers 'a
live pink horse with angel wings and golden hair,' you promise
her that she will get it next Christmas."
When the reporter then asks Peter
Metcalf how BD's binding is coming along, the feisty CEO answers:
Metcalf: "Ahh, where do I start? To develop
an advanced telemark binding is actually far more challenging
than developing an alpine binding. And at the moment we have
run into some unforeseen difficulties."
Reporter: Can you send us pictures or drawings of
the binding?
Metcalf: No, we must have the patent in place first.
Reporter: You won't have the Holy Grail binding in
stores this winter. Will we be able to see that it actually exists?
Metcalf: "We have set a goal to launch the product
in the fall of 2009. In the meantime you should ask yourself
this: Do we telemark skiers want another Microsoft in our lives?
Is the NTN an exciting new development, or is it just being built
to eliminate competition? The NTN could end up being the final
nail in the coffin for telemark. Keep in mind that Rottefella
has a reputation in bindings for being anything but innovative."
It's a long and detailed article,
with many quotes from material here on Telemarktips, as well
as from interviews with myself and others who have been involved
in the story over the years. The shots that Ulf and Peter take
at each other's projects are surprising for industry leaders
in the business side of telemark. It just does not happen in
this small, niche market where relationships tend to be friendly
and cordial, even among the fiercest competitors. The level of
smack talk, even behind the scenes and completely off the record,
has always been very low, almost nonexistent even.
So to see these two capping on their
competing programs is an indication of just how much is at stake
here. This is not just about what is going to happen next year,
the year after, or even over the course of the next decade. Given
how long the current norm has been in place, this fight to establish
a new standard could very well determine how tele skiers attach
their boots to their skis for the next century, perhaps even
longer. Though growing in popularity, telemark currently occupies
a tiny, single digit percentage of the ski and snowboard market.
The potential for growth is huge, and if an advanced system helps
build the sport in the way that many expect it might, the financial
reward for the winner in the Battle of the Titans looms large.
- 10/11-- At the eleventh hour
it would seem, Rottefella has
begun to make public a bold plan to market their new, due in
stores in a matter of days, NTN binding as a release system.
Suddenly, we have many questions for our friends from Norway,
and yet some answers are already being found in a four page Technical
Manual (click
here for a 600kb pdf) we received from Even Wollo earlier
today. Among the boilerplate on page one, Rottefella explains
that the release values are to be set through the selection of
the appropriate binding cartridges and spring preload.
As if that were not a big enough
surprise, on page two we find out that the four different spring
cartridge choices we enjoyed in last year's non-release demo
model, have been apparently replaced with just two. blue and
green.
Also included in the material we
received today is the Release of Liability Agreement dealers
will be asking customers to sign upon purchase (17kb
pdf). Of note is the following disclaimer:
A look at Rottefella's NTN Limited
Warranty (17kb
pdf) also shows that the Norwegians are respectably guaranteeing
the binding to be free from defects in material and workmanship
for two years.
Analysis: This
is a very bold move on the part of Rottefella. In the NTN Tech
Manual it is said that the "forces needed for the boot to
release sideways from the NTN binding are similar to the forces
described in the ISO standard for sideways release in ski bindings."
If this is true, and they have accomplished this without sacrificing
the performance of last year's demo version, then perhaps they
are onto something. The NTN, with its under the forefoot attachment
is, after all, operating in uncharted waters in many respects,
including the area of releasability.
Still, we have many questions and
concerns. This major change in the positioning of the NTN within
the market has already apparently resulted in the loss of one
of the features we liked best last year: the ability to customize
the feel and activity level of the NTN to personal preference.
The fact that the NTN's release function and its values are dependent
on the main binding springs, also seems like a bit of a step
backwards: in this design it would appear that the release values
only accurately reflect the forces needed to trigger a release
when the skier's heel is flat on the ski, as soon as the heel
begins to be raised, the springs compress and the values change.
This, of course, does not strike us as being particularly desirable,
especially considering that our heel is flat on the ski only
50% of the time when telemark turning.
We are very much looking forward
to testing this revised model of Rottefella's NTN. Will the activity
level of the binding, when set to our recommended release values,
be enough? Will it be too much? Will we stay in the binding at
those settings? Will we release in a bad fall at those settings?
These are just some of the questions we will want to answer when
we begin to test the fall 2007 production version of the NTN.
- 10/3-- Pro telemark skier and film
star Max Mancini is in a Denver,
Colorado hospital recovering from injuries he sustained in a
major three car accident on Sunday. According to a press briefing
by the Colorado State Patrol (CSP), Max and girlfriend Molly
Jackson were travelling southbound on Colorado's Highway 285
when Mancini's Black BMW 328xi station wagon crossed over into
the northbound lane, sideswiped an oncoming Lexus, then went
into a spin before colliding with a northbound Toyota Tacoma
truck. The CSP report states that "the passenger in the
BMW died at the scene. Three people were flown by helicopters
and two people were taken by ambulance to area hospitals with
moderate to serious injuries. Alcohol and drugs are not suspected."
Details on Max's condition remain sketchy, although we have been
told that, as of yesterday, he was alert and able to talk to
his family.
In recent years Mancini, 25, has had one
of the highest profiles of any skier in the freeheel world. He
has starred in numerous telemark ski videos, appeared in two
Warren Miller films and was the subject of a national spot for
Nature Valley Granola Bars (3mb
Windows Media, 3mb
Quicktime). Along with Lorenzo
Worster, Ben Dolenc and Taiga Young, Mancini was also a part
of the 2004 Freeheel Storm Tour, travelling the U.S. in an RV
and bringing attention to the sport of telemark skiing everywhere
they went.
A native of Crested Butte, Mancini was
reportedly returning to CB, along with Jackson, when the tragic
accident occurred.
Editor's note: On behalf of all of us here at Telemarktips and
the Telemark talk Forum community, we send out our best wishes
to our friend Max for a complete recovery, and our sincere condolences
to Molly Jackson's family, as well as to the young couple's close
friends. Numerous messages of encouragement and sympathy have
also been posted to this
thread on our Telemark Talk Forum.
Telemark
News story index & archive..
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