Re: the article The truth about this hell shitty industy and how w

Let me start by saying this,

I am very happy someone else wrote this aritcle for me. I've always been to lazy, and figured it would go unheard or no one would listen. I'm glad there are kids out there who realize this shit.

Before I get into anything else I have to point out one mistake, but only because this one mistake is a prime reason athletes in this industry get treated like shit.

By no means was/is the 1080 the best selling ski ever. infact it couldn't be further from the truth. I think what you ment was, it is the best selling twin tip of all ever. I don't know the truth of that statment either, but it is reasonable none the less.

Now that being said-

Support those who really support skiing. Every one stop, go back and read that sentance a few more times till its permantly planted in your head. Now that you know this, make it your wepon.

You worked a summer of of crapy minumum wage labor. the only reason you'd work in taco bell, or some other crap job is to save money and get a pair of twin tips. Finaly the day has come, you go to the store and buy some 1080's (doesn't have to be salomon, insert, Rossignol, Dynastar, etc.)
boom good bye money, hello twin tips. Meanwhile back in france some fat french salomon executive is laughing at you. Don't think that Salomon is the only company treating their riders like shit. Most of the big names out there aren't making nearly as much money as you think.

Twin tip skis make up a TINY and I mean TINY TINY TINY portion of big ski manufacturers total sales. There were less than 5,000 twin tips sold in the US TOTAL between all the manufacturers! Most big ski manufactures survive off of rental ski productions, rossignol makes over 10,000 pairs of rental skis alone every winter.

So why are they laughing? Because they take your 500 bucks and dump it back into rental ski development. Its like a little bonus for them, like finding quarters in a couch. Its simple economics, why the hell would they want to put money into somthing that is so little to them on paper? They make a couple hundred twin tips a year... so what? They aren't out on the snow, and they don't see the potential. They could care less.

So now you ask how do I make them understand? SUPORT THE COMPANIES WHO REALLY SUPPORT SKIING. Give it time, over the next few years there are bound to be rider centered companies poping up here and there, Snowboarding is a perfect example, All the ski manufactuers jumped on the wagon right off the bat and failed miserably because they brought their skiing industry bullshit to the snowboarders. A snowboarder in the early 90's wouldn't be caught dead on a ski manufactuer's snowboard. What did the snowboarders do instead? They said fuck you and did it the right way. They started their own companies. Once the ski corperations realized their mistakes, and how much of the action they were really missing out on, they were forced to re-structure, and re-gear. Now companies like Rossignol Snowboard and Salomon Snowboard stand some what independent from the skiing side of the companys, and are run the right way athlete-centric. Snowboarders are now thinking twice about riding on a ski manufactures snowboard. Give it a few more years and there will be plenty of skier owned and opperated companies to choose from, its just a matter of time.

Whether you want to belive it or not, Jason Levinthal is the Jake Burton of skiing. Everyone just hates on him and his company because they started out making ski-boards. At this point everyone should be kissing his ass, or at least giving him respect, because he truly cares about the sport of skiing and its direction. Siver Cartel, is another perfect example. Oakley has a fantastic team and cares about their athletes. There are other companies out there that do care about skiing, I just don't want to start naming them for fear of leaving someone else out. Like I said before: Give it time, the winds of change are blowing.