I read RSN every once in a while, mostly to keep a thumb on the pulse
of master's skiing in america... You guys are the life blood of our
sport and its great to see such an enthusiastic bunch...

This is the first time I've replied to any message on RSN and Im doing
it because I wanted to clear up what Mr. Kelley had said about the
idea of 'picking over' skis- mainly because its insulting that you
think our national team gets skis after a european ski shop. come on,
man. in case you didn't notice our national team is extremely
competetive now...

-the first people to get skis are the superstars for each brand. they
are number one priority for the ski companies. these skis are picked
by the company's world cup representative and the superstar's wax
technician.

-national teams are the next to get skis. typically the wax
technicians will travel to the factory to pick skis. yes, there is a
race room where the 'best' skis are kept. yes, americans get their
skis from the same room as the norwegians.

-the next people to pick skis are the ski company's race service
people, for example eli brown with fischer or rick halling with
atomic. these guys pick skis for the athletes sponsored by that
company but not taken care of by the national team. these guys get
skis from the same room as the national team.

- skis are shipped to ski shops independent of anything going on the
top racer skis. in the us what typically happens is the company will
ship ALL of skis to an american distributor who then ships skis to
individual ski shops. the skis you buy in the us are the same skis as
bjorn is buying in norway and fritz is buying in germany. you have the
same chances of getting a good pair and a bad pair. the only possible
difference is that more people in norway/germany know how to pick
different skis for different people. thats why you guys need someone
like zach caldwell picking skis for you.

don't sell american skiing short. its disrespectful to our top young
athletes who are not far from the top.