Photo Credit: Free Ride World Tour
Ski of the Season... Whitedot Preacher
by Jacob Banfield This season we wanted to recommend a ski that could go anywhere and do anything. Many skiers hunt for that mythical one-ski quiver, however very few ever really decide on the right ski to suit their needs. The Whitedot Preacher delivers on all fronts. They will float in powder, smash through crud and the tight turn radius means that putting them on edge is dreamlike. We talked to the Paul and Adam at Whitedot to get an insight into their skis and the philosophy behind them.
Where are you guys based, where are your skis manufactured?
Whitedot is based both in Chamonix (France) and Mayrhofen (Austria) where most of our product research and development takes place. Both these alpine resorts offer a fantastic mountain experience with albeit very different vibes. This gives Whitedot a really balanced environment to test our skis. Our production location is in the mountains of Southern Poland which allows us to be very reactive with our testing process as well as using a lot of natural and local materials in our skis. For example, our wood cores are all made from local ash and poplar trees whilst the flax we use in our CarbonLite range is grown and cut in European farms. How many people work at Whitedot? There are five owners who run Whitedot and we all have backgrounds as mountain professionals or have lived in the mountains long term. Equally Whitedot has a strong team of professional athletes to support us in ski development that include Eva Walkner who finished 2nd in the Freeride World Tour last season and Fred Syversen. These athletes are what drive our ski innovation forward. What have been the best things to happen at Whitedot? I think the thing that stands out for us all are first wins on the Freeride World Tour in both the mens’ (Dennis Risvoll - Norway) and womens’ (Eva Walkner - Austria) competitions, both of these were at their home mountains and on successive legs of the series – March 2012 was a good month for Whitedot! To succeed on such a global stage against some of the best skiers in the world is a fantastic achievement and something our team can be proud of! What do you have planned for the season as a company? Well, this season will inevitably be more busier than the last as we expand our ski range and reach across the world. We have just finished our production phase and now move into the testing phase of the yearly cycle. This is the most enjoyable part of the year for us - ski development, marketing the brand and exhibiting throughout the winter. In December the majority of the guys will be heading off to our home base in Chamonix, whilst the team will be busy testing out new shapes and materials. The freeride competition season really kicks off in January so everyone will be focused on that through to March. And in the margins we are always looking to get as much filming and photo work done as possible. Many of our skiers have extra commitments to other sponsors as well so it’s important to appreciate this during such a pressured time for them. Of course, in February onwards we have the global trade shows of ISPO in Munich and SIA in Denver and the planning and thought for these generally start, well, now. It never really stops, these’s no down time in the year for us as soon after that it’s time to start production for the following season! Where are your research and development focused right now? We currently have projects either in the concept or mid-development stage with the main focus being on testing new materials and new shapes. We are looking to expand our CarbonLite range for next season, bringing the benefits of carbon such as durability, weight and torsional strength and mating them with flax, a naturally grown and farmed material that has very impressive dampening qualities. We are also in the late testing phase of our new ski, the ‘Ranger’, which we will release next season. It has a 108mm waist and is focused as an all-access freeride ski; in other words a ski that is light and optimised for climbing and accessing new terrain but has all the properties of a high performance freeride ski that you can use all over the mountain. We are all really excited about the possibilities of this ski and we are working on the CarbonLite version to optimise the weight saving and create a truly unique product! Why is the Preacher such a good ski? The Preacher is a pretty special concept in ski design and has been part of our range since Whitedot was founded; it couples a wide waist for floatation and stability in challenging snow, taper at the tip and tail for the same reason, and a tight turning radius to make turning on harder snow intuitive. We pride ourselves that our production process is one of the best in the industry; all of our skis are built using the very best materials and techniques, for example the skis are all pressed in a strict temperature controlled environment and are built in their pairs all the way from the choice of the wood for the core to the final finishing process. This ensures that skis perform as a ‘true pair’ – this is a good example of best practice within the industry. How successful has the Preacher been, has it been well received by your Pro Team and the skiing community at large? The Preacher is our best selling model, not bad for a ski with 112mm underfoot! It is also the choice for many of our team like Fred Syversen and Eva Walkner, who achieved three podium places on the Preacher last season out of a total of five competitions on the Freeride World Tour. |