State of the State: Women's Skis

In the last 30-plus years, the ski industry has gone back and forth about women’s skis more times than Mikaela Shiffrin in a slalom course.

First we needed them. Then we hated them. Then we loved them. And, now, we don’t need them—what is going on? Should we still be buying women’s skis? And to further complicate matters, are any of the skis brands are still slinging as “women’s” actually any different than their unisex counterparts? 

Jeannie Thoren building skis in the Blizzard factory, Austria.

First a little history. The push for women’s specific gear came initially from an early pioneer, Jeannie Thoren, in the 1980s, who felt strongly that a ski should be adapted to suit a woman’s lower center of gravity, smaller feet, and smaller body mass. Ski companies began to adopt her philosophy in the 1990s, and the split of women’s and unisex skis began. While intentions may have been good, the gear that came out of that first endeavor was by and large slammed as being “shrinked and pinked,” thus achieving the opposite effect of giving women skiers the respect they deserved. (Still others wondered what, exactly, is a “unisexual.”) Then brands reacted to that criticism and created women’s gear that did not, for the most part, condescend, and women’s skis enjoyed their heyday. Until now. 

What is happening today may have been prophetically spoken aloud by Jason Levinthal, the visionary who founded Line Skis, nearly 15 years ago at an industry trade show, when women’s skis were approaching their peak. “Skis don’t know what’s in your pants,” he said. “They know three things: your weight, ability level, and strength.”

Turns out, brands now think he might have been right. While some ski companies like Blizzard are still making dedicated women’s constructions—and damn successful ones at that (the Black Pearl 88 has been the best-selling ski across both genders for a decade)—most have swung back to the idea that Levinthal was selling long ago. Most ski companies now are building skis but with the same basic construction but in smaller sizes with different topsheets for women. “Passion knows no gender,” touts Fischer’s tag line from 2020. But this begs the question, what happens when you take a unisex construction and shorten it?

Fischer's ad campaign 2020.

On average, women have an average of 26 pounds less skeletal muscle mass than men and an average of 33% less lower-body strength. At the same height, a man’s average weight is anywhere between 26 and 12 pounds heavier than a woman’s, with the difference decreasing as height increases. So, while women may win the strength-to-weight ratio category (not to mention a zillion others like longevity, endurance, and ability to put the cheese back in the cheese drawer), they’re still lighter and less physically powerful, on average, than their male height counterparts. So a woman may not, in fact, be well-served by the unisex ski in a shorter size. And if she listens to the shop kid who’s selling her to go even shorter, she may get a stiff ski that is less stable, which is just the worst. 

All things are possible when you are gear built for you. Wagner's Graphics Guru at Irwin, Colorado.

But ladies (and, smaller/slight men who don't fit the 'norm'!), before you throw your unisex skis in the fire and decide to take up ice fishing, read on. This conundrum is perhaps being solved, albeit quietly, with another concurrent trend: Many ski companies are tailoring the construction of the ski according to the length, which essentially achieves the same thing the women’s skis did. Shorter skis are slightly softer flexing, perhaps with less metal, to account for the smaller skiers who choose them. So, in essence, these are more or less "women’s" skis, albeit with a more inclusive marketing message. 

Is that as clear as mud? Yeah, we hear you. Which is why we suggest (shameless plug alert) you get a custom pair of skis built by our expert ski designers that will be perfect for you, regardless of which bathroom you use. Wagner takes into account all the things that matter most—weight, ability level, and strength—and a million others that the big brands don’t. For a ski to be perfect, it has to be built for you. Make your call with a ski designer today!

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Article by Kimberly Beekman

Kimberly Beekman is the former editor-in-chief of the late, great Skiing Magazine (RIP), and a longtime editor of SKI Magazine before that. She currently uses the title of “freelancer” as a beard to ski powder all over the world. She lives in Steamboat, Colorado, with her wonderful daughter and terrible cat.