Skiing gear is less expensive now than it ever was. I stand by that statement. Do not get me wrong, gear is not cheap, but it has not kept up with inflation.
There is no need to get into the previous century since many of our readers have not been buying gear for more than 25 years… at least not their own gear. But if we look back to some of the most popular gear in the early 2000’s, we will see that gear has not gone up in price that much.
If we just pick out a year for flat skis … say 2005-ish, most of the better skis like a Volkl Mantra were in the $600 range as a typical street price. What would that be in today’s money? Over $950. Today, most top end all mountain skis, like the Volkl Mantra M6 are in the $750-850 range.
Do you want to talk system skis? Well, in the late 2000’s, an Atomic Nomad Crimson Ti and a Volkl AC50 had a street price of $999. Their modern counter parts, the Atomic Redster Q9.8Ti and Volkl Deacon 84 have a MAP/Street price of $1,099. Again, if we followed the rate of inflation, these should be in the $1,400-1,500 range.
What about the more mid-level recreational skis? In the 2000's, most of these skis were transition skis, skis that you bought until you were able to afford the ski you really wanted. Today? $499-549 buys you a very good ski that all but the best skiers would, for the most part, be happy on. What does $650 buy you today? A damn fine mid 80mm offering that you would be proud to own.
Boots have followed the same pattern as skis, and actually possess more value today than 20 years ago. A $600 boot purchased 15-20 years ago has not only increased just minimally to about $700, but more so, you are getting a boot that is so much better designed and built compared to its predecessor that it is almost not a fair comparison.
What holds the boots to the skis? Bindings. Other than a few top end bindings which we will address in a bit, the sweet spot in mainstream 4-12 DIN bindings were $200-225. It was this way for a good decade plus. Not until the past year or two did we see that range take a slight step up to the astronomical (I jest) $225 to $250 range. We have seen the top level race/premium priced bindings increase from the low to mid $300’s to the low to mid $400’s. This is about a 25% jump, still well below rate of inflation.
Again, to reiterate, gear is not cheap but it is not as expensive as it could be. Frugal shoppers who look at leftover gear or are willing to take a step down from that premium model are getting good deals. That model below is better quality than ever. You can get a new ski, ski/binding combo, and boot for about the same price as the top-of-the-line models were two decades ago, and it will be far superior to that product in performance, sweet spot and versatility.
There is no need to get into the previous century since many of our readers have not been buying gear for more than 25 years… at least not their own gear. But if we look back to some of the most popular gear in the early 2000’s, we will see that gear has not gone up in price that much.
Do you want to talk system skis? Well, in the late 2000’s, an Atomic Nomad Crimson Ti and a Volkl AC50 had a street price of $999. Their modern counter parts, the Atomic Redster Q9.8Ti and Volkl Deacon 84 have a MAP/Street price of $1,099. Again, if we followed the rate of inflation, these should be in the $1,400-1,500 range.
What about the more mid-level recreational skis? In the 2000's, most of these skis were transition skis, skis that you bought until you were able to afford the ski you really wanted. Today? $499-549 buys you a very good ski that all but the best skiers would, for the most part, be happy on. What does $650 buy you today? A damn fine mid 80mm offering that you would be proud to own.
Boots have followed the same pattern as skis, and actually possess more value today than 20 years ago. A $600 boot purchased 15-20 years ago has not only increased just minimally to about $700, but more so, you are getting a boot that is so much better designed and built compared to its predecessor that it is almost not a fair comparison.
Again, to reiterate, gear is not cheap but it is not as expensive as it could be. Frugal shoppers who look at leftover gear or are willing to take a step down from that premium model are getting good deals. That model below is better quality than ever. You can get a new ski, ski/binding combo, and boot for about the same price as the top-of-the-line models were two decades ago, and it will be far superior to that product in performance, sweet spot and versatility.
