Why did most of the OG park ski brands fall off and stop making park skis?

NotaskibumMore money in selling $1K backcountry skis that will never get used?

thatsG95+ waisted skis are easy to sell and most core park skiers riding 85's don't exist anymore?

NotaskibumRossignol had the legendary scratch and owned the pipe circuit from like 2008-2013. Now they make poorly named skis for dads and overpriced gear.

Dynastar had the troublemakers which were so hot. Now i don't even see dads riding their skis anymore.

Soloman invented the park ski game with the 1080 and had the suspect which EVERYONE was riding (even tho it had TERRIBLE durability).

Scott had t wall at his peak and still run the pole game i will admit but i have no clue what kinda skis they got going on these days.

Atomic still makes the punx but the designs don't seem like they have changed in a decade.

Why is this the case? More money in selling $1K backcountry skis that will never get used?

NotaskibumSoloman

katrinaOne of my fav park skis of all time was the dynastar distorter.

But answer is obvious, they are large companies and that sector of the market didn't yeild, it's all about the dollars. With the come up of 'free-skiing' it does look like a lot of those companies are putting more of a freestyle shape back into their existing lines (see salomon blank). But there has also been a lot of consolidation in the industry, so Amer sports who owns Salomon and Atomic also now owns Armada, so there's so less motivation for Salomon / Atomic to make freestyle skis when that's thoroughly covered by their subsidiary Armada.

Chrischi69Vinny gagnier is literally the only pro i can think of that rides salomon lmao

sindreplassenelan too

Fancy_Latteif you had an opportunity to make millions through shifting your product focus you probably would too

CatdickBojanglesCouple pipe guys do too. They aren’t even selling the NFX in America now.

gilbertresselWe'll ignore how poorly you spelled salomon but yes I pray everyday that they'll drop that 1080 reboot they teased with remco

https://www.instagram.com/p/BwzmcT7hN4u/?igshid=1fxwry32pcvk8

DolansLebensraumThose look to fat to be actual 1080s. 1080s were pretty narrow iirc

katrinaOne of my fav park skis of all time was the dynastar distorter.

But answer is obvious, they are large companies and that sector of the market didn't yeild, it's all about the dollars. With the come up of 'free-skiing' it does look like a lot of those companies are putting more of a freestyle shape back into their existing lines (see salomon blank). But there has also been a lot of consolidation in the industry, so Amer sports who owns Salomon and Atomic also now owns Armada, so there's so less motivation for Salomon / Atomic to make freestyle skis when that's thoroughly covered by their subsidiary Armada.

Notaskibumobviously lol, these were a custom graphic on whatever ski they were testing at the time

DolansLebensraumFigured. I demoed 1080s as a wee lad and they were shit. Felt like they were made out of really hard plastic.

katrinaOne of my fav park skis of all time was the dynastar distorter.

But answer is obvious, they are large companies and that sector of the market didn't yeild, it's all about the dollars. With the come up of 'free-skiing' it does look like a lot of those companies are putting more of a freestyle shape back into their existing lines (see salomon blank). But there has also been a lot of consolidation in the industry, so Amer sports who owns Salomon and Atomic also now owns Armada, so there's so less motivation for Salomon / Atomic to make freestyle skis when that's thoroughly covered by their subsidiary Armada.

THE-Albino*But look at K2, they own hella companies that make good park dedicated skis and they have been able to release dope skis year after year.

katrinaYea which is awesome! It's not that none of them make park skis anymore, it just isn't the same as 2010.

Fun fact K2 and Line are owned by the same holding company that owns life alert and Mr. Coffee haha, I think it's called Jarden's or something.

THE-Albino*But look at K2, they own hella companies that make good park dedicated skis and they have been able to release dope skis year after year.

eheathBecause they didn't make very much money.

NotaskibumRossignol had the legendary scratch and owned the pipe circuit from like 2008-2013. Now they make poorly named skis for dads and overpriced gear.

Dynastar had the troublemakers which were so hot. Now i don't even see dads riding their skis anymore.

Soloman invented the park ski game with the 1080 and had the suspect which EVERYONE was riding (even tho it had TERRIBLE durability).

Scott had t wall at his peak and still run the pole game i will admit but i have no clue what kinda skis they got going on these days.

Atomic still makes the punx but the designs don't seem like they have changed in a decade.

Why is this the case? More money in selling $1K backcountry skis that will never get used?

WormracerCombo of things.

One is definitely sports marketing spending. Giving skier X $80k a year plus incentives, and a pro model that only sold 60 pairs. Seeing little to no tangible return from that investment. Hell I'd go back to focusing on running shoes instead of losing money.

Atomic is an interesting one. They might have the most expensive team out, yet they haven't really progressed park skiers much over the years. Might be a case of, "let's toss money into a team because it will elevate the brand image, but we really don't care about park/freeskiing". After doing over 175 TAFT stops I have probably seen a handful of Atomic park skis so I don't see them making a bunch of money off them.

WormracerCombo of things.

One is definitely sports marketing spending. Giving skier X $80k a year plus incentives, and a pro model that only sold 60 pairs. Seeing little to no tangible return from that investment. Hell I'd go back to focusing on running shoes instead of losing money.

Atomic is an interesting one. They might have the most expensive team out, yet they haven't really progressed park skiers much over the years. Might be a case of, "let's toss money into a team because it will elevate the brand image, but we really don't care about park/freeskiing". After doing over 175 TAFT stops I have probably seen a handful of Atomic park skis so I don't see them making a bunch of money off them.

WormracerCombo of things.

One is definitely sports marketing spending. Giving skier X $80k a year plus incentives, and a pro model that only sold 60 pairs. Seeing little to no tangible return from that investment. Hell I'd go back to focusing on running shoes instead of losing money.

CatdickBojanglesPretty sure half atomics park skis go to realskifi along with their massive budget.

Notaskibum"Park Skiing is a niche"

Here's some quick math for you all.

Vail sells ~1M epic passes a year. Best numbers (a few years old) for altera puts them at 250k, assuming these two have roughly half of the market. Lets say there are 3M serious skiers & boarders a year.

Lets assume 66% are skiers and 10% of those are park skiers.

That gives us ~200K ppl. Now assuming half buy new skis every year and each ski sells for $400.

Thats a $40M a year market just in the US or 100k units. Its small but not tiny.

@iggyskier and/ or @onenerdykid

Maybe you all have some thoughts here?

weastcoastHate to say it but I feel like Icelantic is falling off from the park scene, they did away with the DaNollies a few years back and now their only “dedicated” park ski is the nomad 95

eheath10% lol

NotaskibumWhat do you think it is then? 1%?

eheathprobably closer to .1%

eheathprobably closer to .1%

eheathprobably closer to .1%

NotaskibumThat's 2000 people....

Notaskibum"Park Skiing is a niche"

Here's some quick math for you all.

Vail sells ~1M epic passes a year. Best numbers (a few years old) for altera puts them at 250k, assuming these two have roughly half of the market. Lets say there are 3M serious skiers & boarders a year.

Lets assume 66% are skiers and 10% of those are park skiers.

That gives us ~200K ppl. Now assuming half buy new skis every year and each ski sells for $400.

Thats a $40M a year market just in the US or 100k units. Its small but not tiny.

@iggyskier and/ or @onenerdykid

Maybe you all have some thoughts here?