ScotsSkier moves to Augment Skis!

[ScotsSkier]

One of the things not too many people other than those connected to ski racing at the very top levels realize is that there are race skis, good race skis and podium winning race skis. And for most racers , (even at USST level!) getting the top level skis can be virtually impossible. And the time difference between good and great skis is significant.

The great news for those of us who don’t normally have the connections (and financing!) to get their hands on these unobtanium skis is that now with Augment we mere mortals have access to race skis at these top levels PLUS we can get them in a choice of flexes to match our personal needs!

This is a HUGE development that gives all Masters/USSA/FIS/ club racers the opportunity to get real WC quality skis tailored to meet OUR personal requirements/ age/ fitness rather than just having to take what we can get from the race ski racks and hope they work.
This level of personal fitting cannot be underestimated!

And I am very pleased to be able to announce that this season ScotsSkier will be racing on Augment skis from Augment Skis North America augmentskisna.com as a brand ambassador.

Many of you will know that I tested and reviewed Augment race skis at the end of last season and also raced on them at Masters Nationals and was hugely impressed by the performance and quality. I have been fortunate enough to be able to test all the major brands and in the past have normally raced each discipline on a different brand in order to get what worked best for me. So it took some thought before I made this decision to go with Augment across all 4 disciplines. However based on the great performance, speed and top quality of Augment skis, plus the ability to select them by flex to what works for me, I am confident - and very excited! - that this is a great opportunity for me to further improve my race results. And the support from the team at Augment skis NA has been outstanding. So, check them out, or if you are around Tahoe, i will do my best to let you test one of my pairs. This is the closest most of us will ever get to a real WC quality race ski.

 

[Tony S]

It will be interesting to hear what flexes you pick.

 

[cantunamunch]

It will be interesting to hear what flexes you pick.

And even more interesting to hear what comes out at the closet sale

 

[DocGKR]

I too am curious about which flexes you chose in each discipline.

 

[no edge]

Good luck to you ScotsSkier. This sounds like a great opportunity.

Where are they made and are they made by hand? Are they for sale to the rest of us? Do they make other types of skis besides racing?

 

[Philpug]

For someone who can ski any brand he chooses...this says a lot.

 

[Doug Briggs]

They have a variety of skis besides race skis. Carbon, Freetour, AM (All-Mountain), SC (Sport Carving). I got to ski them at the SIA on-snow in January.

Augment Sports

I skied both the 77 All Mountain Ti-Carbon (175cm) and the Sport Carving (176cm). I also got out on a pair of the GS skis. Totally top performance. Collectively Augment skis are extremely well made and rank a solid 9, if not a 10 on a 1 - 10 scale. It was at the end of the two days of testing and I was burnt out, but the skis were strong and excellent performers.

 

[DanoT]

In the early 70s, I think it was Dynamic VR17 that could be ordered by the public with different flex numbers, tip and tail. These were not race skis but back then everything was either a slalom ski or GS.

 

[ScotsSkier]

Good luck to you ScotsSkier. This sounds like a great opportunity.

Where are they made and are they made by hand? Are they for sale to the rest of us? Do they make other types of skis besides racing?

They have a variety of skis besides race skis. Carbon, Freetour, AM (All-Mountain), SC (Sport Carving). I got to ski them at the SIA on-snow in January.

Augment Sports

I skied both the 77 All Mountain Ti-Carbon (175cm) and the Sport Carving (176cm). I also got out on a pair of the GS skis. Totally top performance. Collectively Augment skis are extremely well made and rank a solid 9, if not a 10 on a 1 - 10 scale. It was at the end of the two days of testing and I was burnt out, but the skis were strong and excellent performers.

As Doug noted they make a range of all mountain skis as well a race skis. As I have remarked in previous reviews the build quality is superb, some of the best I have ever seen. The factory is in Mittersill Austria and IIRC they have been investing and expanding to meet demand. Made by hand? Well yes to some extent, and probably more so than most brands. Their race skis are true race-room build and quality.

They are on sale through selected retailers, ( but limited to one retailer in each town/ resort). Expect to see more of them this year. For USSA masters racers I will have racer discounts available.

 

[no edge]

I would thing that the shop selected ought to be a racing shop. I wonder if there is one in this area. Right now I am looking for something for the bumps but not necessarily a dedicated bump ski - but with side-cut.

 

[Ron]

the 88 I tested was simply superb and like @Doug Briggs commented, it was at the end of 2 says of testing and I was blown away at just how good that ski is.

 

[ScotsSkier]

It will be interesting to hear what flexes you pick.

I too am curious about which flexes you chose in each discipline.

Good question guys!

Here is what I have selected based upon testing some different flexes and what I know I like from a ski
(Me 165#, 5'7.5" (Looks like I am at that age where I am shrinking!))

165 FIS slalom flex 4
188/30 FIS GS flex 5
205/40 SG flex 5
211/50 DH flex 5 (I did think about going for a 6 here)

 

[Primoz]

I know this is pure paid marketing here, and we probably shouldn't say anything bad about this, but if someone has issues with this, you can freely delete my post. If we step aside a bit from money paid for these two Augment is best articles, there's several issues with these "so great skis". First, most of development in skis is through racer's input, something which Augment doesn't have... not a single decent one, which means there's serious lack of proper feedback. Now what that means for development of skis it's up to each and everyone of you to decide. Second, all those fancy writing about hand made skis, real race room skis, picking your own flex and stuff. Cool, but does it really matter for hobby racer? I have been involved a lot into picking best possible skis for racers so I know how much it takes to properly do that, and I know that noone, regardless on how serious he takes his hobby racing has ability, resources, time and options to properly do this and to get something useful out of "picking your own flex". Testing and picking right stuff is so complicated, that it's simply not possible to be done on hobby level. But it certainly sounds cool, and if someone things his skiing will improve, go for it.

 

[gary posekian]

I know this is pure paid marketing here, and we probably shouldn't say anything bad about this, but if someone has issues with this, you can freely delete my post. If we step aside a bit from money paid for these two Augment is best articles, there's several issues with these "so great skis". First, most of development in skis is through racer's input, something which Augment doesn't have... not a single decent one, which means there's serious lack of proper feedback. Now what that means for development of skis it's up to each and everyone of you to decide. Second, all those fancy writing about hand made skis, real race room skis, picking your own flex and stuff. Cool, but does it really matter for hobby racer? I have been involved a lot into picking best possible skis for racers so I know how much it takes to properly do that, and I know that noone, regardless on how serious he takes his hobby racing has ability, resources, time and options to properly do this and to get something useful out of "picking your own flex". Testing and picking right stuff is so complicated, that it's simply not possible to be done on hobby level. But it certainly sounds cool, and if someone things his skiing will improve, go for it.

thank you Primoz

 

[Corgski]

First, most of development in skis is through racer's input, something which Augment doesn't have... not a single decent one, which means there's serious lack of proper feedback. Now what that means for development of skis it's up to each and everyone of you to decide.

Interesting question from a general engineering perspective, will the lack of top level racer input affect the ability to produce the best U16, U21 and Masters skis? Extrapolating from elsewhere I would say it is a problem if it causes your design and manufacturing to go off in the wrong direction. Basically, as long as you can cater for the best in principle, even if not in practice, I think you can be OK (ie, no shortcuts). In principle top level feedback should be an advantage but I am not always sure. Years ago the company I worked for was collaborating with one of the Formula One racing teams. The incredibly detailed requirements and tweaks many of which would be invalidated by any design change was often way more of a distraction than something that could improve our product in the longer term. I think one could find many stories of companies getting stuck into supporting every requirement of their top customers and losing relevance everywhere else.

At lower levels one way of getting different flexes is to go for a different length and radius. Maybe a range of flexes would better enable lower level skiers to get the correct length and radius instead of sizing for flex.

 

[ScotsSkier]

I know this is pure paid marketing here, and we probably shouldn't say anything bad about this, but if someone has issues with this, you can freely delete my post. If we step aside a bit from money paid for these two Augment is best articles, there's several issues with these "so great skis". First, most of development in skis is through racer's input, something which Augment doesn't have... not a single decent one, which means there's serious lack of proper feedback. Now what that means for development of skis it's up to each and everyone of you to decide. Second, all those fancy writing about hand made skis, real race room skis, picking your own flex and stuff. Cool, but does it really matter for hobby racer? I have been involved a lot into picking best possible skis for racers so I know how much it takes to properly do that, and I know that noone, regardless on how serious he takes his hobby racing has ability, resources, time and options to properly do this and to get something useful out of "picking your own flex". Testing and picking right stuff is so complicated, that it's simply not possible to be done on hobby level. But it certainly sounds cool, and if someone things his skiing will improve, go for it.

Primoz, as always I respect and value your input and experience. However several ithings here that I must correct for the record before anyone thinks this is just some advertising hype.

First (and foremost!) this is NOT paid marketing. Nobody is paying me or asking to me write these posts, Not Augment and not Pugski. As has been pointed out previously, my racing has always been purely self supported and i have always tried to find the right/fastest skis for me- not the trendiest/best marketed/cheapest. Along the way I have also bought and tried a lot of skis that didn't work for me . for example my new Rossi SGs last year - 3 runs and I knew they weren't the right ski for me - a tough decision to make when I had invested in 2 pairs! - but they just weren't working so i took the hit and moved on. (And several Pugski members over the years have got good deals as a result of my mistakes!). And I have also been fortunate to have owned a few pairs of skis that have come from WC/EC/Norams and have seen how different they can be form normal "race-stock".

Second, while Augment may not have many skiers on the WC - and lets be honest they do not have the big budget clout of Head/Rossi/Atomic to buy the top racers - they have had a presence at EC level. A lot of their design team came from Nordica so there is a depth of knowledge there. Does this mean they have the same capability at WC level as some of the major players? probably not at this moment as you point out. Doesn't mean that they do not have the capability to make great race skis that work really well. I realize your focus is primarily at WC level. Mine(and my athletes!) is not quite at that esoteric pinnacle.

Hobby racer? yes, guilty as charged. But for this hobby racer - and coach - last season included 150 days on snow, 100+ days coaching, 26 race starts in 4 different disciplines at USSA, National and FIS international Masters level. (According to my wife this is a full-time job, not a hobby! . ) Yes, i don't have a WC level budget to test but I do try a lot of different set-ups to see what works and what doesn't, and I can also see the impact of different skis and stiffnesses on my athletes so i have learned a bit about quickly narrowing down what works and what doesn't for me personally. I was also one of the earliest Masters adopters of the 188/30 FIS W GS ski, and took a lot of criticism for it from coaches before they realized it worked and was faster!.

For me and my athletes getting a ski that works right for our environment/sets is the key. What is going to work for a competitive 65 y/o is very different from an athletic 21 y/o. Yet with most of the mainstream race stock it is almost impossible here in the US to find anything other than a Medium flex. So the 65y/o and the 21 y/o could be on the same ski with say Atomic. Does that really make sense? Flex is IMHO one of the most important aspects, more so even than radius, so having a choice to suit the skill/weight/age/experience is helpful (It can also add to the confusion of course without coaching input!)

As to the build quality, I stand by my experience that the race skis I have seen from Augment are hands down the best quality out of the box I have found. Very little fettling required to be ready to go - unlike most of the Rossi/Dynastar race product I have had which needed a lot of work first. And as we both know, some skis that come straight out of the race room have a lot of imperfections that would not pass muster for sale, even though they ski great!

Most members here know I have always remained objective and unbiased in my recommendations. I have also been fortunate enough to be able to fund the skis that work for me through a variety of sources. With 20+ pairs of race skis in the closet already, I had no need to switch brands (in fact would probably have cost me less not to switch!!). As I do in my professional life I try my hardest to maintain my integrity. I will not push or promote something just to make a sale unless I believe it is the correct option. One reason my professional clients keep coming back to me is they know I will always give them an honest answer and tell them what they need to hear, not just what they want to hear!!

However after testing Augment I was convinced that they work well for me and give me the opportunity to improve further. As someone who only started racing at 50, I will take advantage of every opportunity I can to be competitive - hobby or not!! .

 

[Primoz]

@ScotsSkier my post wasn't meant as personal attack or anything similar. Maybe it's just coincidence and two Augment posts at almost same time, one relevant (yours), the other completely irrelevant (like who cares if some third class Austrian skier signs the deal and picks Augment skis) sounded to me like pure marketing. But as I wrote, maybe it was just coincidence and super weird timing and all has nothing to do with PR Second, with "hobby racer" I didn't mean anything bad either. Just that there's "slight" difference between resources and options some recreational racer has, regardless on days on snow, races etc. compared to some top level athlete. And this plays big deal with testing stuff or better yet with quality of tests. I know how proper testing is done on top level, so that's reason why I honestly doubt anyone without such resources can do proper testing and getting advantages of numerous different shapes and flexes each producer has, even less between different producers. I completely agree flex is more important then anything else, but I'm not so sure without whole bunch of testing, anyone can figure out what's best one.
As for Augment tech side, yeah top engineer came from Nordica, bringing with him whole Nordica file, but that was some 3 or 4 years ago. Things changed in 3 or 4 years, and things that were top at that time (mainly due huge involvement of Neureuther and Dopfer in process over the years) are more or less obsolete today. Chief designer can have as crazy and innovative idea as he wants, but without proper feedback from top racers, he will never know if those ideas work or are just plain crazy. And that's why I still say company without proper WC team can't develop proper (read: competitive) race ski (I'm saying exactly same thing for Elan for years). For U16 years ski (U21 are regular WC regulation skis anyway) as @Corgski wrote, noone does any serious development, so it's irrelevant. Same goes for master skis. All, or at least 95% of testing that race service does is on WC skis. I believe Augment skis come great out of factory, I heard same for Stockli, and for that I'm sure it's better option then Rossi/Fischer/Head with their mass production. QC of few 100 pairs is much easier to achieve then QC of few 10.000 pairs from mass production. I admit I don't really give much on that, but I also admit, that my skis are real WC stock skis which means I don't need to deal with "bad QC" as skis for WC racers are still not quite same what "race service skis you can buy" are. So for that I agree smaller companies are better way to go then big ones, where chances you will get real stuff is almost, if not totally, zero.
PS: If skis work for you, good for you. I'm happy for that, and again, with hobby I didn't mean aything bad

 

[DocGKR]

"As I do in my professional life I try my hardest to maintain my integrity. I will not push or promote something just to make a sale unless I believe it is the correct option. One reason my professional clients keep coming back to me is they know I will always give them an honest answer and tell them what they need to hear, not just what they want to hear!!"

Yes--Very much this.

 

[ScotsSkier]

@Primoz . No offense taken, I just wanted to clarify that this was not simply an empty sales pitch, it was a carefully considered decision on my part to go with Augment based on testing, it is not a paid gig!. Unfortunately Daniel Meier's team didn't give me a heads up about their announcement so we could coordinate.......

I fully understand what you are saying about in depth testing at pro WC level to be able to identify the minor differences and improvements. For those of us at the lower echelons of the sport (or hobby) we have to make a judgement with a lot less science and a lot more guesswork. I am probably fortunate to do more testing than most but at the end of the day there is still some subjectivity in it.

One of the exciting things about Augment is that there is now actually an element of choice on flex, plate etc. for us at lower levels of racing . For most of us this option did not exist before. For FIS spec skis (which most competitive Masters are using) major brands typically offered one model and flex, (Atomic nominally have 3 - stiff, med and soft but hard to find anything except Med; fischer offer 2 or 3 flexes but that is pretty much it). Will we select the optimum flex? Probably not but we now at least have the option to dial it in a bit more closely to our personal needs rather than a "one size fits all", which can only help us improve.

And I will be reporting back here on how they perform, warts and all....and in ski racing you can't hide from the clock!

BTW, I think the use of "hobby" is probably down to your your translation into English, .....typically hobby means something less competitive....like gardening!

 

[ScotsSkier]

And even more interesting to hear what comes out at the closet sale

Early preview...
https://www.pugski.com/threads/early-preview-of-scotsskiers-annual-closet-clearance-sale.16438/