Sponsored 11 Most Influential Skis of All Time

[Snowplow Skip]

The Ballet? Maybe a dozen people bought ballet's as regular skis. Twin tios changed the skiing landscape along the lines of the way SUV's changed the automotive market. The Mark IV was important but not significantly more than a Yahoo 2 or Rossignol Freestyle or Dynastar Pulsar, it was just Olin's offering in that segment. It didn't change everything.

I had a pair of Century skis (175) w/ Spademan bindings and Olin Mark IV (180) w/ Salomon 555E bindings that I used for ballet. They could crash moguls fine; but I still preferred my 190 Dynastar S730 for daily drivers (I just like longer boards than most folks my size,) even for those big ass moguls and hucking 360s (once around was all we did back then.) I was not in the game for new tech during the late 80's-2018. So, I can't comment on the rest.

 

[James]

They hadn’t figures out the flex. The Mahres talked about they experimented with lots of sidecut, but they were so stiff they just locked in. Straight racing skis were damn stiff.

 

[crgildart]

Oh, it most certainly was. Heck, there's a pair of Olin Extreme Comps sitting next to my desk and a Mark IV just around the corner. The Mark IV, however, didn't kick-start mass-produced twin tip skis like the 1080 did. There were some borderline angry employees over not including Olin!

The Mark IV was only HALF as innovative ad the Mark IV COMP was.. The comp was 70mm under foot. That was previously unheard of and admittedly took longer to be copied. As for skiing switch and others immediately copying it.. snowplow nails it.

Actually, yeah it did. Most were marketed as "Ballet" skis though. By 1976 along with Olin there were the Atomic Trick, Hart Ballet, K2 244 Ballet, Rossignol Ballet, Sarner Daffy to name a few.

 

[Uncle-A]

In the early pages a lot was said about the Olin Mark IV's and later I think it was @Philpug that mentioned the Kastle Freestyle Pro so I have to add since I have owned and skied both of them I think the Kastle Freestyle Pro was a better ski. The Olin was heavy compared to the Kastle and the Kastle was narrower then the Olin. Admittedly I have owned more Kastle skis than any other brand but I think it has more to do with the quantity of the product than anything else.