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win-tip ski
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Twin-tip skis are a special type of downhill snow ski that were designed to enable the user to do tricks like those done by snowboarders. The name "twin-tip" comes from the shape of the skis. While most alpine skis have a defined, curved-up front end (or "tip"), as well as cut-off rear end (or "tail"), twin-tip skis have curved-up tips on both the front and back of the ski. This design allows the rider to ski and land tricks backwards, a much more dangerous and difficult feat with a traditional ski.

A novelty at first, twin-tips have rapidly gained popularity. They are made in a wide variation of flexibilities and base designs for different types of extreme maneuvers, and have started to break into the world of mainstream skiing. Their design has been refined continuously for almost a decade, and their use has expanded beyond the terrain park. Many of the widest skis on the market today are of the twin-tipped variety, making them incredibly popular with big-mountain powder skiers, since they handle well in deep snow.

Their increasing popularity is starting to cut into snowboarding's decade-long grip on "cool", and more young kids are turning back to skiing because of the fresh image twin-tips are bringing. Many long-time skiers have mixed emotions about this new-wave brand of skiing. While some see it as a long overdue reaffirmation of skiing's true dominance of mountain culture, others see the influx of newschool skiers and wonder if skiing as they know it is all but dead.