Norwegian Ski Federation Membership Is Declining Steadily

Norwegian Ski Federation Membership Is Declining Steadily

Money & Finance, Newsfeed, Travel & Mass Sport
17% down. That's by how much the membership in the Norwegian Ski Federation declined from 2012 to 2018, according to NTB news agency via Nettavisen In 2012, there were 178,091 members, while in 2018 the number dropped by over 30,000 to 147,789. The silver lining is in the fact that the ski association is still the second largest in the country behind the Norwegian Football Association (that keeps on adding members) The Norwegian skiing is known for its well developed, robust ski club network- all of which are paying fees to Ski Forbundet, relative to the amount of its members. Clearly, a reduction in membership would lead to that revenue stream drying up quite a bit. With TV audience figures for the langrenn still high, there is no need to…
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Review: Best Ski Boots For Classic Right Now, Part 2: Madshus, Rossignol, Salomon. Plus Alfa And Spine

Review: Best Ski Boots For Classic Right Now, Part 2: Madshus, Rossignol, Salomon. Plus Alfa And Spine

Gear News, Newsfeed
This is a continuation of the story. If you want to read about Atomic, Alpina and Fischer offerings as of this autumn, go here A few additional things to mull over: - Some (not all) ski bootmakers say that designing and producing true racing Classic boots is actually more difficult than the ones for Skating. Due to conflicting characteristics the sole should posses: rigid in some parts, flexible in others. - Top market for Classic boots is Scandinavia & Finland. Warmth is more of an issue in long-distance Classic races Norwegians, Swedes and Finns are so fond of. [caption id="attachment_13221" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Madshus Super Nano Classic are venerable product that is still being used by the world's best ( cue Krista Parmakoski) . Pros: cheapest carbon classic boots on the…
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Review: Best Ski Boots For Classic Right Now, Part I: Alpina, Atomic, Fischer

Review: Best Ski Boots For Classic Right Now, Part I: Alpina, Atomic, Fischer

Gear News, Newsfeed
Same ground rules as in our review of Skatings boots: "Best boots" in our glossary are those made for Nordic racing at the highest international level in the last couple of years, give or take. That invariably means carbon sole boots. Well, almost invariably - it's true that even at the World Cup level you occasionally get to see a skier or two racing in non-carbon soled boots. Especially in very cold weather. That makes some difference compared to freestyle races where carbon sole is now absolute must-have. But statistically it is rather negligible and certainly not applicable to true WC podium crowd Technically, we should also be including combi ( a.k.a. skiathlon or pursuit) boots as they ar occasionally being used by some in classic races at the World…
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Inside Atomic With Yann Vallett, Part 2

Inside Atomic With Yann Vallett, Part 2

Newsfeed
We continue our conversation with Yann Vallet, Atomic Nordic boss of the last 4 years, where he talks about products developed under his guidance. All quotes are from Yann - while photos used for illustration purposes are ours, taken at different FIS World Cup stages & during athletes' training. [caption id="attachment_13131" align="alignnone" width="1920"] - Atomic philosophy is " Sport first, but customer satisfaction is equally important"[/caption] [caption id="attachment_13136" align="alignnone" width="1920"] - No, still can not order fully personalized ski construction. But you could order personalized design of the skis provided that you are ready to pay for at least 50 pairs of them.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_13128" align="alignnone" width="1920"] - Atomic does not have special sport skis production. We strive to have top skis produced as identical to each other as they…
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Inside Atomic, Part 1

Inside Atomic, Part 1

Gear News, Newsfeed
...Mere five years ago it felt like Atomic is phasing out its involvement in Nordic ski racing. With only one medal in cross skiing competitions in Sochi 2014 ( Claudia Nystad's bronze in 4 X 5k relay) it certainly felt like hey-days of the 1980- early 90s when Atomic was among the leaders on the international circuit are over. Not that anybody would be shocked. Since 1994 Atomic GmbH is fully owned by Amer Sports Group that already has one strong ski-related brand in its portfolio - the Annecy-based Salomon. Atomic was doing ( still does) fantastic podium-wise in crucial Alpine ski segment while Salomon steadily expanded from being leading ski boots producer to becoming top-flight xcski and apparel maker. In situation like that any business consultant would recommend folding…
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