Skiing News, Gear Reviews & More - The Access Road

From the monthly archives:

January 2009

Introducing the Weekly Recap

January 29, 2009

As part of our commitment to make The Access Road a complete source of both “deep dive” articles on particular topics and late breaking news important to skiers and riders, We’re introducing a new weekly feature – the Weekly Recap. Published every Friday, the Weekly Recap will be comprised of a collection of short but [...]

Day Three at SIA 2009: Show Wrap Up, Hardgoods Trends

January 29, 2009

It’s the final day of our coverage of SIA 2009 here in Las Vegas, and it’s been quite an experience as usual. My day is spent meandering from appointment to appointment, trying to soak up as much of the experience (and information) as I can during my stops along the way. One of the best [...]

Day Two at SIA 2009: Ski & Snowboard Trends

January 28, 2009

It’s day two of our coverage of the SIA show in Las Vegas, and I’m fresh off a day that was focused entirely on skis and boards. I’ve looked, I’ve touched, I’ve talked to some people with some of the top brands showing here… and I’m ready to divulge what’s in store for 2010.

Day One at SIA 2009: Apparel Trends

January 28, 2009

The first time I hit the floor of the show at SIA, I was taken aback. Never wanting to be outdone, the major brands spend hefty sums and considerable time designing and constructing some impressive booths, seizing the opportunity to put forth their best impression to the rest of the industry at the one major [...]

Live from SIA 2009 in Vegas

January 26, 2009

Posts In This Series

9/27 – Day One: SIA Intro & 2010 Apparel Trends
9/28 – Day Two: Ski & Snowboard Trends
9/29 – Day Three: Show Wrap Up & Hardgoods Trends
It’s that time of the year again – when manufacturers, industry figureheads, retailers, professional athletes, and everyone else who has remotely anything to do with the snowsports [...]

The Future of Reporting Skiable Acres

January 22, 2009

Just as the length of a wall tells us nothing about the size of a room, the one dimensional metrics that ski resorts have been throwing at us in their snow reports for years tell us nothing about how much terrain is actually open. When you want to get a feel for the size of [...]

The Year of the Avalanche

January 18, 2009

It seems as though the 2008/2009 winter is destined to go down in infamy as one of the deadliest years on record – and it’s only mid-January. Each week has brought another story of lost skiers, nasty falls, bizarre equipment failures, and massive avalanches.
Just this past weekend, another snowmobiler in British Columbia lost his life [...]

Part Four: Putting It All Together

January 8, 2009

In the first three parts of our four part series, “Understanding & Choosing a Ski”, we’ve covered the major classes of skis (carving, all mountain, freeride, and backcountry), all of the most important characteristics of each particular model (waist width, sidecut, stiffness, and length), and even touched on why people make the decisions they do [...]

Part Three: The Most Important Things to Look For

January 7, 2009

In part two of our four part series, “Understanding & Choosing A Ski”, we discussed the four major varieties of skis – All mountain, freeride, carving and backcountry. While these definitions can be helpful in narrowing things down, there’s still a lot left to think about. Within each of these categories, there are literally hundreds [...]

Part Two: A Ski for All Conditions

January 6, 2009

Have you ever seen someone getting off a plane or bus picking up a bag full of skis and pondered… why do they need three pairs when most of us get by with just one? It’s a question that leads us into part two of our four part series: Understanding & Choosing A Ski. This [...]

Four Part Series: Understanding & Choosing A Ski

January 5, 2009

Links to This Series

Part One: Understanding & Choosing a Ski (this page)
Part Two: A Ski for All Conditions
Part Three: The Most Important Things to Look For
Part Four: Putting it All Together

In the five years I’ve spent on the demo circuit, one thing that never fails to surprise me is how little some of the most [...]

The Definitive Guide to iPhone Skiing & Snowboarding Apps

January 1, 2009

With 10,000 applications that have racked up 300 million downloads to date, it’s no wonder that there’s an abundance of skiing and riding applications in Apple’s iTunes app store. Unfortunately, weeding out the bad from the good can be difficult – many of the reviews in the app store seem to be less than honest [...]