OR Winter Market: The Backcountry…

This years show saw 34 exhibitors in the backcountry category, from mainstays like Patagonia and Mountain Hardwear to such niche hardgood companies as Scarpa and Twenty-two Designs. This number is up slightly from 2009, paralleling the trend for overall exhibitors, which rose to 720 in 2010 from 700 the year before. Nearly 170 of these exhibitors, including backcountry manufacturer Venture Snowboards, are new.

Category sales have also grown. According to Snowsports Industries America, season-to-date Internet sales of backcountry boots, skis and bindings have risen 34%, and specialty sales 8%. The only downtick occurred in chain stores, which dropped 16%, giving the category a 22% increase across all channels. With resorts continuing to open backcountry gates, this follows a similar growth curve in participants; the category has grown to 1.24 million participants per year. “The outdoor industry is coming off a vastly improved holiday season, leaving retailers and vendors more optimistic,” says Haroutunian. And this applies to the backcountry market as well.

Capitalizing on the niches growth, Boulder, Colo., avalanche equipment manufacturer Backcountry Access delivered two much-anticipated products at OR: the Tracker2 avalanche beacon and Float 30 avalanche airbag. After revolutionizing the transceiver market in 1997 with the Tracker DTS, the worlds first digital avalanche transceiver, the Tracker2 adds a third antenna for increased close-range accuracy, faster processing and greater range. Its the beacon you want your touring partner to carry, quips co-founder Bruce Edgerly. The company is poised to revolutionize another category with its Float 30 avalanche airbag, a 30-liter backpack with a compact, re-fillable compressed air system. Pull a trigger on the right shoulder strap and a 150-liter airbag inflates behind your shoulders to offer protection from trauma and aid flotation. Neighboring booths heard the deployment constantly at the show. The biggest challenge in avalanche rescues is no longer the beacon search, says Edgerly. The majority of time is spent digging for the victim. By reducing or eliminating the burial depth, you dramatically increase the chances of survival.   

 

Under new management after being sold by Quiksilver to previous president Bruno Cercley and Australias Macquarie Group in early 2009, Rossignol has cut its worldwide workforce by 30% and is focusing on the basics. Good changes have come because of it, says Communications Director Susie English, adding that 2009 ended ahead of 2008. Instead of trying to be everything to everyone, its very focused on product. Rossignol cut back its number of SKUs, and by the end of January it had already achieved many of its sales goals for the year. Leading the charge in the backcountry category: eight AT and telemark skis, including the S3 and S7, which combine rocker with camber. On the touring front, it unveiled the BC125, a metal-edged touring ski with a positive-track base, as well as the X-Ium performance package in its racing line, a boot, binding and ski package weighing 230 grams less than its 2009 predecessor. 

Salomon has entered the backcountry market with the Quest, the companys first AT boot. Available in six versions, including the high-end, 4.62-lb. Quest 12, which comes with a thermoform liner, the line is designed with performance in mind. Skiers want to access the goods, and that often means touring or hiking, says alpine product category manager Mike Aicher. We wanted to bring to market a product with zero compromise in performance. Its entirely new at all levels–new molds, new shells, new liners and even a new patented hiking mechanism. Were doing to boots what people have done to skis-this is the first alpine performance downhill boot truly for all terrain.  Salomon incorporated three-density rubber traction into the sole and decreased its buckle count to three to eliminate weight — all while staying true to its alpine performance roots. As far as banking on sales in the niche, performance trumps all.

K2 has rolled its K2 Telemark and Alpine Touring lines into a new Backside line, featuring such models as the Darkside, Sidestash, Coomback and Wayback. The common thread, explained category manager Mike Hattrup, is that theyre all designed for the backcountry. Features setting the new collection apart are notches and straight tails for skins, as well as tip and tail holes. These touches transform the line from simply great skiing skis into functional backcountry tools, Hattrup says. He adds that sales of the collection have been better than expected and that the company has been sold out of most models since October.  Even if a skinny Randonee race ski has 2 lbs. of snow on top, the lightweight construction is worthless, Hattrup says. This new technology affords a ski as light as the featherweights that collect snow, but that offers better performance.   

In 2011, Venture Snowboards will break ground on a new 8,000-square-foot wind-powered manufacturing facility in Silverton, CO, built entirely from sustainable, recycled or reclaimed materials. This year, its hanging its hat on backcountry splitboards, with all three of its models — the Zephry-R, Storm-R and Helix-available in solid and split versions. “Our decision to offer split versions of all our models was influenced by our own passion and because the backcountry niche is continuing to grow, says Venture marketing director Lisa Branner, adding that splitboards will represent nearly 50% of the companys production  this year. Venture has also incorporated rocker into its models and continues its charge on the sustainable front. Its boards cores are made of Forest Stewardship Council-certified hardwoods, with all 2010/11 models made with a pine-based bio epoxy to reduce petroleum content.

Voile, now celebrating its 30th anniversary, has grown every year, most recently posting a 10% gain over the previous season. The key, says sales and marketing director Dave Grissom, is innovation. This year the company is expanding its ski line from three to five models with the addition of the Vector and Charger, lightweight offerings building upon the success of the Drifter. The company is also entering the third season of its Switchback telemark binding, and has added a non-pivot, more price-oriented counterpart called the SX. But its bread and butter,  noted Grissom, is in splitboards.  In November Voile unveiled its Light Rail, a splitboard-specific, strap-style binding that simplifies the entire splitboard system.

It should make splitboards more mainstream, said Grissom, citing its fast transition from climbing to riding. The company also continues to reap the rewards of its splitboard hardware patent, with several new companies recently signing license agreements for the technology. Splitboard-related products are a big component of our business, Grissom says, adding that the category comprises 40% of the companys total sales. 

Capitalizing on the recent resurgence in the telemark market, Garmont has introduced the 7TM, a releasable step-in telemark binding, while continuing its innovations on the boot front. The new Prophet boots represent its newest entry into the companys New Telemark Norm (NTN) line, which utilizes a binding-boot interface system designed by Rottefella. While its augmenting its conventional telemark line with the Voodoo, a four-buckle boot employing four types of plastics for flex, its real thrust involves the alpine touring market, as illustrated by a new line of ultralight AT boots. “The AT/freeride market has been fully validated, says Garmont USA president Gord Bailey. The first step was to get skiers to understand the technology and performance benefits, and weve done that with visible, intuitive innovations. But now that people are confident in AT performance, they want to go farther, faster. And that means going lighter. The company unveiled a new ultralight AT boot line at the show with the Masterlite and Literider, both of which employ the companys Web Frame Technology for support and weight reduction. 

Scarpa has gone green with its T2 Eco, a telemark boot using castor oil instead of petroleum oil for 90% of its plastic parts while maintaining the same stiff internal chassis of its NTN line. Its also aggressively pursuing modern freeheel trends with its NTN-specific Terminator-X Comp, a triple-injected four-buckle boot, and its TX-Pro, a two-buckle, touring-oriented NTN boot. Well see more sales in all of our NTN boots this season, contends marketing director Chris Clark, adding that the NTN binding system is also distributed by Garmont and Alpina. Its an easier system to use and offers higher performance.

On the sales side, he notes that the T1 line is now almost even with T2 Eco sales, up from occupying just half the market share position historically. In general, four-buckle boots are where the action is, he says, adding that the companys Gea for women and Maestrale for men are the lightest four-buckle boots on the market. Three-buckle boots are just about dead, the T2 Eco being the exception. The company is also seeing growth in the AT category, with its four-buckle Spirit 4 its best seller followed by the Skookum. We get reports from our biggest retailers that Scarpa continues to be their best-selling backcountry boot brand, with the Spirit 4, T1 and T2 the three best, says Clark.
With the OR show in its backyard, Salt Lake Citys Black Diamond played host by launching a new Efficient Series of AT boots and skis. It calls the series a breakthrough in balancing performance with light weight and range of motion. At the heart of its boot innovation, as seen in the Prime, Quadrant and womens Swift: the Triax Pivot Frame, which enhances the platform of a freeride boot through patent-pending Pivoting Cuff Technology — a resistance-free cuff allowing for an industry-leading 40-degree range of motion. In keeping with its emphasis on the backcountry category, the company also unveiled four new skis, including the Aspect, Stigma, Starlet and Drift, all with lightweight paulownia wood core construction.

BD has also expanded its Ascension ski line and AvaLung backpack offerings, including the popular Seth Morrison Bandit, and used the show to debut the new Fritschi Freeride Pro alpine-touring binding, featuring DIN 12, Power Control Transfer and enhanced walking efficiency. BD has seen super solid sell through on its newly launched Power series of AT and telemark boots and skis, and the Efficient series should do even better, says spokesman Penn Newhart. The company continues to invest in their core categories with success based on innovation.

Just a little more than a year after moving its operations to Ogden, Utah, just 454 minutes north of the shows home in Salt Lake City, Atomic continues to ride the success of its double-camber backcountry touring skis introduced in 2009, including the Mountain BC, which carries a partial metal edge down to the skis mid-section.

Its a very important category for us, Nordic Director Rick Halling said. He adds that the company has doubled the lines sales ever since switching to a positive traction pattern on the base. The company also continues its stronghold on the skate skiing side, unveiling the World Cup Skate, which at just 890 grams for a 190cm model, it claims is the lightest weight skate ski ever made. It also offers its first price-point skate ski in the $329 Vasa Race.

Dynafit sales are up substantially, says company President Chris Sword, adding that the company is enjoying a growing slice of a growing pie. Innovation can drive growth and growth can drive innovation, he says. We have both. For Dynafit, this manifests itself in everything from its popular Titan AT boot and freeride Stoke ski to its new DNA carbon race boot, at 2.1 lbs. the lightest and stiffest race boot in its class. Combine it with the Low Tech binding and Stoke ski and randonee racers get an unprecedented 12-lb. package. Its all about continuing to push innovation, says Sword, adding that the DNA currently has five pending patents. We utilize the best of alpine and Nordic technology combined.