RealSkiers: Recent Episodes
Jackson Hogen
Realskiers with Jackson Hogen covers Alpine skiing in America from every angle. Jackson’s unique perspective derives from a multi-disciplinary background that includes product development at Salomon, marketing and athlete management at Head, ski design at Scott, ghost-writing for Warren Miller and testing 100’s of boots and 1000’s of skis. Hogen is widely considered to be the best ski writer of his generation. On Realskiers with Jackson Hogen, he brings all he’s learned, and some of the friends he has met along the way, to this unique podcast.
One of the subscriber benefits to Realskiers.com is access to the Revelations Archives, over 300 essays that together capture the major trends in ski equipment over the course of the last decade.
Today’s episode takes a big picture look at the phenomenal success of the BOA cable fit system that has found its way into virtually every alpine boot line sold in America. It’s a tremendous achievement in co-branding, considering that BOA doesn’t have an alpine boot of its own, and must develop a symbiotic relationship with every brand it works with in order to succeed.
Seismic changes to the American ski market in recent seasons has made it impossible for Realskiers.com to continue to gather enough test data to generate a meaningful result. So we won’t be reviewing individual ski models and ranking them as we have since the site’s inception. But we haven’t lost our ability to analyze any given skier’s situation and recommend a model or two to try or buy. This is the tale of our transition from a site focused on reviews to one dedicated to one-on-one consulting. Stay tuned to this channel to monitor further developments.
Our current ski season got off to a rocky start due to a serious over-supply of skis. It’s taken until now to transfer most of this backlog from supplier’s shelves to their constituent retailers, creating a robust buyer’s market for new skis.
The ski market in America has devolved into a hot mess. One of the manifestations of its dysfunction is a clog in the pipeline from supplier to skier. This podcast takes a look at how we got into this predicament and invites my Dear Listeners' to share their thoughts on the subject. You can log your vision of how we get out this mess via the Member Consultation form on Realskiers.com. Non-members can also submit their thoughts through the General Contact request form.
In the spirit of rank commercialism, I’m offering to you, my Dear Listeners, the opportunity to donate some of your hard-earned revenue to Realskiers.com. I realize that most Black Friday offers arrive in the form of some sort of discounted goods or services, a trend this special offer reverses. I’m going to instead give you several good reasons why you should divert an extra allotment of your income to the good folks at Realskiers.com.
The following bit of tripe was recently re-published by Apple News after first appearing in the pages of Bloomberg’s online publication. It consists of unreadable drivel from end to end, and certainly isn’t worth paying to peek behind the Apple News pay-wall to investigate, so I’ve reiterated the text, verbatim, in this week’s edition of Realskiers with Jackson Hogen, which I shall recite as we visit its few paltry paragraphs of twaddle. If you detect a tone of irritation mingled with impatience in my voice, it’s because this sort of crap gets under my skin. I don’t offer financial advice; I wish Bloomberg would stay out of my lane and resist the urge to comment on ski equipment that its writers clearly do not understand.
For some unfathomable reason, Bloomberg News decided to commission a small selection of ski and boot reviews for its elite readership. I only hope for its sake that none of their customers ski -and that fewer still know how to read - as it is hard to pack so much misinformation into such a compact collection of nonsense. Enjoy!
For some unfathomable reason, Bloomberg News decided to commission a small sampling of ski reviews for its elite clientele. I can only hope for Bloomberg's sale that none of its clients ski, or failing that safeguard, can read. It is a hopeless mishmash of inflated claims and outright misinformation. Enjoy!
The following bit of tripe was recently re-published by Apple News after first appearing in the pages of Bloomberg’s online publication. It consists of unreadable drivel from end to end, and certainly isn’t worth paying to peek behind the Apple News pay-wall to investigate, so I’ve reiterated the text, verbatim, in this week’s edition of Realskiers with Jackson Hogen, which I shall recite as we visit its few paltry paragraphs of twaddle. My commentary runs alongside the original in red. If you detect a tone of irritation mingled with impatience in my voice, it’s because this sort of crap gets under my skin. I don’t offer financial advice; I wish Bloomberg would stay out of my lane and resist the urge to comment on ski equipment that its writers clearly do not understand.
Skiing isn’t for the faint of heart. Neither is subjecting oneself to what is coyly referred to as “America’s Health Care System.” Hold that thought while I elaborate on point one, that a lifetime devoted to skiing is hard to navigate without occasionally experiencing a consequential impact with the planet or some other immovable object attached to it. If you ski long enough, you will eventually learn the meaning of terms like “laminectomy” and “stenosis.” If you don’t know these terms yet, please bear with me while I bring you quickly up to speed with those who know them all too well.
Welcome to another insightful conversation with Stu Winchester, who not only publishes the most thorough resort coverage in North America in his Storm Skiing Journal, he is perhaps the only true journalist reporting on the contemporary ski resort scene.Most resort reviews are rubbish, full of gushing praise lest the “journalist” lose his or her all-expenses-paid access. Winchester focuses on the facts: the infrastructure, the daily and season pass rates, the terrain accessed by the resort’s lift system. He does not review a single plate of escargot or cite a quaint amenity that one simply has to see. Instead, he breaks down the particulars of the Ikon and Epic pass programs - analysis that could save a skier hundreds of dollars on their pass purchases - and is probably the only journalist to have interviewed the leaders of hundreds of ski areas.
As far as I know, October isn’t “National Buy Your Ski Boots Now” Month, but it should be. Carryover stock will never be more abundant, and new models will still have a full range of sizes, which won’t be true forever. Perhaps most importantly, bootfitters are also in relatively strong supply, so with any luck the one waiting on you won’t be juggling three customers at once. It’s a perfect storm of abundance: values on last year’s models, selection on this year’s new arrivals and personalized service are all at their peak.
Prof. John Seifert of Montana State University first popped up on my radar when I saw a video of a lecture he gave to the PSIA National Academy in 2019. That year, I published what I could glean from his presentation in a Revelation titled, Why Wide Skis Aren’t Good for Your Knees. Prof. Seifert went on sabbatical at the end of that school year and we drifted out of touch. We recently reconnected and I’m glad to say we picked right up where we had left off.We’ll pick up the thread of Prof. Seifert’s thesis in today’s podcast, along with a deep dive into the field Dr. Seifert first explored on the aforementioned sabbatical, namely the equipment used in mountaineering and its latest incarnation, skimo. If you haven’t heard what’s going on in this newly minted Olympic sport, suffice it to say it is an extreme form of alpine competition that I think will intrigue and fascinate those of us who merely ski downhill.
In today’s belated contribution to my podcast library, I’ll hew to my usual custom of reciting today’s Revelation verbatim. As penance for missing my customary Tuesday posting, I’ve added a bonus contribution to today’s podcast, namely the four full, 300-word reviews cited in today’s Revelation, annotated for your edification and amusement.
Liberty Skis, the brainchild of Dan Chalfant and Jim Satloff, was born 20 years ago - over après ski beers - in Beaver Creek, Colorado, from the urge to develop a lighter ski that would reduce fatigue and return more energy to the skier than the relatively dead planks of the day. They were on the leading edge of the Lighter is Better movement in consumer goods that has come to dominate the current equipment landscape.
This installment of The Making of a Skier doesn't have much to do with skiing, but it does cover a formative period of my youth which has informed my life ever since. It is timely in that it references a time in our nation's past when we seemed as divided as we are today. I offer it as a balm to our national wounds.
My very special guest today has known the highest high and the lowest low a ski racer can experience, and handled both moments with style and grace. She pulled off the run of a lifetime at the perfect venue, the roars of the home-country crowd exhorting her to victory in Vail, crushing the field despite starting 30th. There were no crowds - no witnesses of any kind - when an unidentified course worker slammed into her just 45 minutes before her scheduled start at the Calgary Olympics, breaking her fibula and dashing a lifetime of dreams. Always a team player and a class act, Pam Fletcher stayed in Calgary to cheer her teammates on.
In today’s Revelation on Realskiers.com, I extol the virtues of the 2025 season’s finest Frontside models, skis with a much more expansive performance envelope than they are usually given credit for. My ultimate objective in celebrating Frontside models above all others is to help create a safer mountain for all skiers. The greatest danger to the out-of-bounds skier is avalanche, but the greatest danger to his in-resort brethren is collision. A great Frontside ski delivers the turning precision mandated by today’s over-populated groomers. Please remember, the responsibility to ski courteously applies to us all.
Bob Gleason assisted at the birth of the rear-entry boot when he worked alongside Denny Hanson in the early days of what would become a huge phenomenon. He is one of the founding savants who taught bootfitting in an era of anything-goes designs. He’s been teaching bootfitting skills, from the rudiments to the exotic, for 45 years, and counting.
Realskiers.com has a long history of publishing its ski test data on our members' site - until this year. Simply put, there isn't enough data to justify publishing it. Here's the story behind the story...
The ski trade is in a period of radical change, from brand ownership to dealer relationships. In my opening Revelation of the 2025 season, I take a snapshot of the current turbulent situation.
In today's edition of Realskiers with Jackson Hogen - the final installment of the 23/24 season - I explore the current crisis facing the ski retail community in collaboration with today's guest, Gary Fleming, the newly anointed president of Winter Sports Retailers, an organization that represents over 300 locations in the U.S.
There's no going back to the good old days, no matter how much we may miss them. This tidy excursion into the past asks the pertinent question, is skiing better today, or worse?
Jonny Moseley’s Olympic gold medal at the Nagano Games in 1998 set the stage for a post-competition career that would be the envy of any athlete. Of course, a lot of athletes have followed a victory with a spot on late-night TV, as Moseley did on the David Letterman show, but not many are invited back, and even fewer go on to host their own show, as Moseley did for three years on MTV (which was a much more important entity then than now), or make the cover of Rolling Stone, or host Saturday Night Live, or segue into the announcing booth, as Moseley did for NBC at the Vancouver Olympics. This is the amazing story of the incomparable Jonny Moseley.
It’s the New Year, often touted as a time for resolutions, for filing an amended flight plan for the trajectory of one’s life. It is in this spirit that today I’ve chosen to give voice to the Introduction to Snowbird Secrets, a pithy block of background information that isn’t included in its e-book version, and for all I know is routinely skipped over by those who consume this slender tome in print. While its date of issue lies well in the past, the eternal verities of Snowbird Secrets are still largely unfamiliar to the skiing public, perhaps because its title suggests it simply reveals some of Snowbird’s less-well-travelled routes. But Snowbird Secrets isn’t really about Snowbird, or perhaps I should say, it isn’t just about Snowbird. Although Secrets can certainly be used as a guide to the mountain’s legendary powder stashes, its most important lessons apply to big mountain skiing wherever it is practiced.Without further ado, permit me to regale you with the Introduction to Snowbird Secrets. I hope it will inspire a few of you to pick up a copy and let its lessons guide you to a better understanding, not just of how to ski, but of why you ski. I hope you enjoy the listen.
My guest today is Dave Bertoni, a curious choice, in that Dave currently has nothing whatsoever to do with the ski business, but today’s podcast isn’t about today’s ski trade, but explores its roots in the not-so-distant past. Did you ever wonder what became of the legendary Salomon rear-entry boot design that drove the two-piece overlap to the brink of extinction? Dave Bertoni knows, for he was at the meeting where the nails were driven into its coffin. Want to know the backstory behind the Salomon Spheric and Propulse binding designs or the creation of the first integrated ski/binding system, the Pilot?Bertoni’s career would be notable for his achievements at Salomon alone, but his career in skiing didn’t begin or end there. Beforehand, he ran the Mary Jane Ski School on the backside of Winter Park, Colorado, and later ran the show at The Buyer’s Guide, the first internet interface between U.S. ski retailers and wholesalers, and co-created, along with yours truly, the comprehensive ski retail training program, Desperate Measures.
Today I’m interviewing the world’s foremost ski historian, Seth Masia, who is President of the International Skiing History Association and the Publisher of Skiing History since 2014, and its Editor since 2002. He is perhaps best known for his 20 years of service at SKI (from 1974 to 1993), mostly on the equipment beat, where he was a pillar of the ski media, in those days, a very big deal. He segued from print to the cyber world when, between 1994 and 1996, he designed, built and launched skinet.com, the first consumer website. He capitalized on that experience with a three-year stint at Microsoft, followed by a year as director of Internet strategy at Intrawest, giving him a close-up view of one of the biggest resort conglomerates of its day. Seth is also a Level 3 member of PSIA, logging long teaching stints at Squaw Valley (as it was then known), 22 years at Vail/Beaver Creek ski schools and Aspen/Snowmass. He also saw the ski market from the equipment supplier side, serving as alpine product manager at K2 (during my tenure at Snow Country) in 1993 through 1994. Currently, he serves as a marketing consultant for Wagner Custom skis, as he has since 2007.
Robin Barnes is a 4-term member of the PSIA National Alpine Team, and the Director of Skier Services at Heavenly Mountain resort, and the former Director of the Ski and Snowboard School in Portillo, Chile. Robin also serves as a Contributing Author and Reviewer for 32 Degrees Magazine, the official publication of the Professional Ski Instructors of America. Barnes is a self-confessed skiing addict and rejoices in every kind of snow imaginable. “I love ripping it up in a GS course,” she says with her characteristic enthusiasm, “frolicking in the bumps, or tracking up fresh snow.”I sought Robin out because her unique background has allowed her to see the world of ski instruction from every angle. She is the quintessential “real skier,” who, during her Portillo tenure would log 275 days a year on snow. I caught up to Robin at her office at Heavenly Valley, gearing up for the 2024/25 ski season, which is just getting under way.
My guest today is Thor Verdonk, the Technical Product Director for the Rossignol Group. You’ve probably never heard of him, but you’ve heard of the products he has helped to shepherd into the market, most recently the Lange Shadow. The Shadow is unquestionably the biggest story in Alpine ski gear this winter. Bear in mind that Lange has been the epitome of the modern race boot for generations of racers. It’s probably the most imitated design in the post-war history of our sport. But the Shadow isn’t being touted because of its rich heritage, but for the degree to which it has departed from its ancestral roots. A boot design that for many years seemed trapped in amber pulled off the most ambitious re-design of the 2-piece, overlap shell since this primordial design’s inception.
There’s no way to answer the rhetorical question posed by this podcast’s title, but that Schaffner belongs on the short list of the world’s best bootfitters is irrefutable. His resume is bulletproof: he began modifying race boots for Salomon when its flagship boot was the rear-entry SX 90 Equipe, and he continues plying this arcane craft to this day. He has been an instructor for Masterfit University since its inception, has consulted with virtually every boot brand extant and has taken test runs in every Alpine boot made in the last 25 years. When Jim Schaffner talks about boots, the people who make them listen. You should, too.
Guru Dave Powers is my cherished co-author of Snowbird Secrets, a modern mystic with a way of looking at the world that is both whimsical and profound. He shares his intimate knowledge of Snowbird in his daily snow reports at Gurudavepowers.com, a must-read for anyone who wants to catch the best snow on this magnificent mountain. He is, in a word, unique.
On Traverses is Chapter 9 of Snowbird Secrets, 22 meditations about what it means to ski this cosmically connected mountain. I'm posting it today to commemorate this coming Thursday's podcast with Guru Dave Powers, whose work you can find at gurudavepowers.com. Enjoy!
You’ve probably never heard of my guest today, but Mike Bisner might be the most well-connected person in our sport. He has covered every base at an executive level, as general manager of one of the largest specialty chains in the retail sector, as marketing director at Salomon when the French juggernaut was riding high, and he later played a similar role at Head as it was shouldering its way into the first rank of ski suppliers in this country. His list of ski-industry connections might be the most extensive in our sport.
Kim and I are going reminisce about our time together at the Snow Country Magazine ski test in the early ‘90’s, but oddly that wasn’t the high point of her career. She is best known as the creator of the first and still longest-running women’s ski camps, which came after a career in ski racing that landed her on the U.S. Ski Team. She is notorious for a fairly spectacular crash that occurred while filming with Greg Stump and Bruce Benedict on License to Thrill, a spill that went viral before viral was a thing. A big-mountain competition champion as well as a world-class windsurfer, we caught up with Kim yesterday.
A few simple guidelines to guide you through the maze of new ski boots so you'll end up in the best boot for you and your beleaguered feet.
No one embodies the spirit of hot dog skiing as completely as the incomparable Wayne Wong. A living legend, he continues to rock the free(style) world!
Consumers waste a lot of time scouring the Internet for deals on skis, when in fact for a given category, chances are all the top models will be priced within $50 of one another. Of course there is a robust sale market, but its focus are the skis of yesteryear, particularly the recently obsoleted 2023 vintage.
Mike Adams has been a force to reckon with since he assumed the reins at Elan's U.S. distributorship in the early 1990's, raising their U.S. presence and richening their mix. He was the engine behind Salomon's renaissance at the end of that decade before accepting the role of running Atomic in this country. He's had his finger on the pulse of the sport right up the present day. He's as authoritative a source on the U.S. ski market as any man alive.
The Internet was already a cesspool of misinformation, then along came AI-driven content creation to turbo-charge the amount of uniformed rubbish available to a vulnerable public. In this episode, I expose the tendency to fraudulence that seems baked into AI.
In only 4 scant seasons, Stuart Winchester has metamorphosed from avid citizen skier to one of the most well-informed (and therefore well-respected) sources of information about ski areas of every stripe, particularly in America. His Storm Skiing Journal is a must-read for anyone who wants a granular view of American skiing. We love his byline: “Everyone's searching for skiing's soul. I'm trying to find its brains.”
Boots are not only the most important part of a skier's ensemble, the ability to fit boots is a specialty ski shop's most important asset. A shop's best assurance of survival in today's turbulent market is to field a team of bootfitters trained to match boots to their customers, optimizing both comfort and performance.
My guest on this week’s edition of Realskiers with Jackson Hogen is a member of a couple of ultra-exclusive fraternities, as he was both a world speed record holder and a man so highly regarded that he can still be identified with just two tidy initials, C.B. C.B. Vaughan set a world record in speed skiing in 1963, going 106.89 mph on regular downhill gear, at Portillo, Chile. I talk to CB about setting the record, of course, but there’s another big topic on the table, the creation of a spectacularly successful clothing brand bearing his name, with four factories and hundreds of employees. We chat about what made CB Sports so popular, as well as re-visiting a ski career that culminated in the world record he shared with Dick Dorworth, a ski/climbing legend in his own right.
The ski world is coming apart at the seams. The quality of advice offered by most ski media is rubbish, just when an objective, well-informed ski media is needed most. This is why I fight on, despite the obvious futility of my quest.
Tim Kohl is both a bon vivant who skis over 100 days a year at his home resort of Alta and a long-standing member of the ski hard goods community, going back to the days when he owned and operated RD skis and snowboards. His keen mind and lively wit have been observing our little world at close range for decades. A contrarian by nature, he always has an insight or two you won't hear anywhere else.
This hasn't been a big year for new model introductions as the pace of innovation has definitely slowed, but there are nonetheless significant developments in the ski world that are relatively new, and they aren't good.
This is the final podcast of the 22/23 ski season, in which I underscore the major stories of the season now attempting, unsuccessfully, to draw to a close. The podcast includes a thumbnail of each of this year's 26 Revelations on Realskiers.com. Hope you enjoyed the 40 podcasts I contributed to the cause. I'll be back before you know it...
This week’s Revelation provides a snapshot of where the American Alpine ski market stands at this stage of its evolution. My central premise is that, from a product standpoint, the two seasons will be mostly the same, which is why this week’s Revelation is titled, "Groundhog Year."
Last week I took a pilgrimage to Snowbird. This podcast is a condensed chronology of the trip, garnished with the lessons learned while on the road.
I needed some endorsement ammunition to lubricate access to the mavens of SiriusXM, so I asked a few of the movers and shakers in both the ski and podcast spheres to spin a bit of promotional fluff in my behalf. What you are about to hear are the first fruits of this endeavor.
I thought ski "journalism" couldn't get any worse. I was wrong.As the topic this week touches on boot reviews, it bears mention that the best boot reviews on the Internet - by a wide margin - are found at bootfitters.com. Accept no substitutes!
The Mammoth Trade Fair will take place next week, just as it would any other year. But this year may well prove to be unlike any that have preceded it.
A new, free AI program can write ski review copy that sounds convincing even when it's dead wrong. We gave ChatGPT's AI program two assignments, and this is what we learned.
I've just completed a cursory analysis of the 2023/24 Alpine ski market. This episode provides a preliminary overview of what the not-so-distant future holds for America's skiing public.
We skiers are a resilient lot. We have to be. The sport that feels embedded in the most elemental fibers of our being requires winter. I realize that last statement isn’t entirely true, but anyone who mistakes indoor skiing or sliding on sand or grass or nylon filaments for the real deal is in a deep state of denial. The essence of skiing is inseparable from mountains and snow, bringing powerful forces to bear on any and all who dare to brave both.One of skiing’s baked-in ironies is that the skiing is best when you can’t get to it. The same storms that dump their abundant goodness on the mountains also visit all the roads that lead there, often rendering any attempt at access an extended exercise in impatience.
There are two shopping days before Christmas. In all probability, you know a skier who continues to use some ancient accessory that outlived its usefulness some time ago. Here are some suggestions for how to upgrade the ski experience for someone worthy of your largesse.
In today’s informative edition, I remind my Dear Listeners that a proper bootfit includes a lot more than just a new pair of boots. You might think a boot bench an odd place to give or receive a ski lesson, but it’s actually integral to the process for anyone who isn’t accessorizing with a numbered bib on the weekends.
In today’s episode, I explain just how the ski boot market works, what are its organizing principles and how to determine where you fit into the grand scheme of things.
Dear Listeners, with Christmas right around the corner, the need for a gift for someone special, whom you have thus far managed to neglect, becomes ever more pressing. As so many of you lean on me to solve your personal problems, I thought I should again serve as your guiding light, with particular emphasis on the neediest cases.The panacea to all your problems is, of course, a copy of Snowbird Secrets, a compendium of 22 timeless meditations on what it means to step into the gravity stream. To entice you into adopting a copy of your very own, here’s a taste of what lies therein, Chapter 5, On Being Early.
Today, I’m going to share you with you how I fared on my first ski day of the season, which happened to be yesterday, Pearl Harbor Day, another day that will live in infamy.
Today’s podcast is an oral rendition of its parallel Revelation, entitled, Skier, Know Thy Feet. It’s a primer on how you can prepare for your next bootfit session.
Apple News recently published a Men's Journal article titled, "The Best Ski Boots of 2022-23," which is typical of the sort of utter garbage spewed by mainstream media when it attempts to review ski gear. In this episode, I provide a blow-by-blow litany of its serial inanities.
Did you know today is National Make a Donation Day? To mark the occasion, we’ve installed a Tip Jar at Realskiers.com. I’m pretty sure that no public-service organization neither needs nor merits your financial support more than Realskiers.com. Send your substantial donation today, and reap the bountiful rewards in the Afterlife that are almost certain to follow.
The whole point of having ski categories is to compare skis that are meant for the same terrain and associated skier type. Once you start making comparisons across category boundaries, all coherence to any commentary goes out the window.
Today’s exercise skirts this prohibition by posing a different question: Not which skis are best for a given skier in a given genre, but which skis possess traits that allow it excel in ways that transcend the limitations of its genre. Consider this versatility a form of multiple-personality disorder, which, it turns out, is a beneficial trait in a ski.
I’ve identified 7 such extraordinary skis, with a snippet of text from its latest review on Realskiers.com. As recording this week’s Revelation affords me the opportunity to extemporize, I’ll annotate the text a tad to lend more context and texture to my entirely personal selections of 7 Skis That Transcend Their Categories.
Tim Petrick's career in the ski trade is a kaleidoscope of accomplishments. He is probably best known for his serial stints at the helm of K2, but he has also worked on the resort side at Booth Creek and Silverton Mountain Colorado, where he was owner/operator. He was also a Demo Team member at PSIA and he continues to guide clients into the backcountry near his home in Jackson, Wyoming. He is the living embodiment of the true real skier.
To ski at a high level, a great bootfit is as essential as snow. If you want to ski better this year, start by making an appointment with your favorite bootfitter. And I advise you to do it soon, before size selection gets spotty. In this episode of Realskiers with Jackson Hogen, I draw on a few recent bootfit sessions to help explain how to best shop for a boot and what classic errors to avoid.
Mike Hattrup will forever be remembered for his role alongside Scot Schmidt and Glen Plake in Greg Stump’s Blizzard of Aahhh’s, but that’s not why he will soon be inducted into the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame. As rightfully renowned as he is for his filmed exploits, it’s his various roles behind the scenes that are being duly recognized by the Hall. In this week’s episode of Realskiers with Jackson Hogen, Hattrup and I take a deep dive into his lifelong devotion to improving the ski experience for us all.
If you want your ski gear to love you, you have to love it back. Many specialty shops are now using tuning machines that can replicate - or improve on - any factory finish. In this week's Revelation, I discuss how to get your ski gear ready for the season that's just around the corner.
A two-time world champion in the early days of freestyle skiing, John Clendenin went on to create what is almost certainly the best teaching method for learning the fundamentals of off-trail skiing. His surreal skills are matched only by his genius for communicating to skiers who want to ski the whole mountain.
A new ski goggle will read your texts, answer your phone, keep tabs of all your friends, play your music and track your speed and vertical. Oy.
I joined Salomon in 1978 at an entry level so low they had to install a new bottom rung on the employment ladder to success. Part of my job was to inspect the workshops of all the dealers in my enormous territory. Little did I know that I was the only rep ever to inspect a shop. This is the tale of one such impromptu inspection.
In 2017, Seniorskiing.com's founder, Jon Weisberg approached me about creating a list of skis suitable for the senior set. I complied, and here we are several years later and the award is still standing. Alas, the same cannot be said for the dearly departed Mr. Weisberg, in whose memory I continue to dole out this recognition. In this podcast, I explain how a ski earns a Silver Skier Selection and why this matters for the senior set.
Today’s Revelation is a fairly long one, as it consists of correspondence between myself and a few Realskiers adherents about the Revelation I posted last month on the rarely mentioned phobia called Fear of High Lifts, or FOHL. The letters are fairly lengthy as they are rich in contextual detail, so please bear with me as I relate their sundry sagas of fear on high lifts.
Today's podcast addresses the still highly relevant issue of what happened to ski injuries when the Alpine boot standard was first adopted, in 1978, through 2000, when it achieved total compatibility with all Alpine bindings. Now that we’ve once again muddied these waters, the mid-shaft tibia fracture is back, an injury that we had reduced from a potential high-water mark of 60,000 tibia fractures a year to 2,000, a 97% reduction in a serious injury, saving American skiers an estimated $600 million a year in medical costs and at least that much in non-medical costs, not to mention the agonies of breaking one’s leg.
Today’s Revelation and companion podcast have been culled from the timeless pages of Snowbird Secrets, Chapter 7, to be precise, titled On Taking What the Mountain Gives You Or The Many Shades of Perfect. I’m sure some of my Dear Listeners are already tingling with anticipation for the winter ahead, although at this time - October - we don’t know what that winter will look like. We have to be prepared, mentally and spiritually, for a winter that falls short of our expectations. We have to learn, or perhaps re-learn would be more appropriate, to make the best of what the mountain gives us.
So, I present for your listening pleasure, On Taking What the Mountain Gives You, Or The Many Shades of Perfect, Chapter 7 of Snowbird Secrets, which I would be remiss not to remind you, makes an excellent holiday gift for skiing friends and family members.
Bootfitting is the quintessential skill of the specialty ski shop, and the one thing the Internet can't copy, which is why the shops that do it right are likely to survive. Herein, I describe what "doing it right" consists of.
While the business of skiing is doing better than ever, there are five factors in play that cast a long shadow over skiing's future in America.
Skiers have so many choices today, it's hard to know where to begin when hunting for a new ski. In this podcast, I explain what the big picture looks like, then narrow down the new ski buyer's search to a single genre where he or she is most likely to find his or her next ski.
This podcast of today’s Revelation concerns a topic that ought to be of interest to all consumers: Price. How much, exactly, should you expect to pay for your next pair of skis? While the vast majority of the Alpine adult ski market runs from $399 to $1200, the actual price spread in any given category is far less, as I shall soon illuminate.
While this podcast is brief, its message is both pithy and important. Just give me 5 minutes of your time, and I’ll explain the ins and outs of the U.S. ski price matrix.
Larry Prosor not only bore witness to the birth of a new kind of skiing, he helped define it and shape it with his work. In this podcast, he reveals the backstory behind some of his most iconic photos and the legendary athletes they portrayed. The period he captured feels like a golden age today, more beautiful, more emotional, more connected to our lives than the present.
Today's podcast is a rendition of this week's Revelation on Realskiers.com, likewise titled Fear of Flying. The subject is a rarely mentioned yet most likely widespread phobia: Fear of High Lifts, or FOHL. This podcast merits sharing, for FOTL is a menace that lives in the shadows. Let there be light.
Every brand has a history, and either owns or has a relationship with a factory or factories where its skis are made. The more you know about a brand’s traditional strengths and weaknesses, and more importantly, where, how and by whom their skis are created, the better equipped you are to make a sound buying decision.
Most ski reviews publish a short list of statistics for each model, a tidy bundle of information few skiers pause to inspect. In this podcast, Jackson reveals how to extract vital information from this oft-ignored cache of data.
In this podcast, Jackson issues a rousing, resounding appeal to his Dear Listeners to encourage them to convert their favorite ski shop on Jackson's List (of specialty ski shops) into playing a more active role with Realskiers.com. We'll connect the 20223 models available at any shop on Jackson's List to the Recommended ski reviews on Realskiers.com - for FREE! Hallelujah!
Labor Day marks the beginning of ski season in America. In this episode of Realskiers with Jackson Hogen, your host takes you on a tour of all that's new in Alpine skis for the 2023 season.
A garland of loving words to lay on the gravesite of ski journalism, and an appeal for my Dear Readers' support.
The ski season has officially begun, kicked off by Labor Day sales and swaps that will soon be in full swing. Be aware that the ski market is a constantly shifting target, with lots of ways to buy used gear that really doesn't fit you. This cautionary note is intended to help my Dear Listeners to avoid the pitfalls of bargain hunting.
Dr. Jasper Shealy has been studying ski injuries for the past 50 years, and continues to be active in the field. Later this spring he will present his updated research on skier fatalities, titled Snow Sports Deaths in the US: 1974 through 2019, at the International Society for Skiing Safety. His insights into the causes and prevention of ski injuries are grounded in an unparalleled career in the field. He is well worth listening to.
On Altitude is purloined from the pages of Snowbird Secrets. It reminds us what a privilege it is to ski, not just here, but here and now, when it's possible to ascend to great heights without lifting a finger. Like all chapters in Snowbird Secrets, it teaches us to be present and to be grateful.
Many of my Dear Listeners will remember Kristen Ulmer as the most filmed female skier of the 1990's - regarded by those in the know as the best female athlete of that decade - but not many know that she chucked it all, the films, the sponsorships, the adulation way back in 2003. In this unguarded interview, Kristen chronicles her remarkable career change from star athlete to mindset coach. If you've never heard of her, you'll want to get to know this extraordinary athlete, author and all-around luminary presence whose Art of Fear workshops at Alta provide perspectives you won't find anywhere else, I promise you.
Dear Listeners, do I have a treat for you! None other than Michael Patrick Rogan, Coach of the PSIA Alpine Team - that’s Professional Ski Instructors of America - a ski tester for SKI magazine for a quarter of a century or so, SKI’s instruction guru since Stu Campbell held that post up until recently, and one of the most beautiful technical skiers you will ever see. He has been elected to the PSIA Demo Team a record seven times. He knows whereof he speaks.
In this week’s Revelation, posted as a podcast a scant two days ago, I cited two extraordinary cases of skiers who took a huge leap of faith in order to obtain the best bootfit possible with their cantankerous feet. While we’re on the subject of blind faith, I thought it an opportune time to dig deeper into the subject of trust and how it relates to skiing.
I wrote this rumination on trust ten years ago. Not a word of it has aged in the interim. I hope you enjoy my narration of On Trust, Chapter X in Snowbird Secrets, available on Amazon.com or at Snowbird, which is where I go to settle any trust issues I might have.
Getting the right boot begins with finding the best bootfitter you can, then placing one's bottomless trust on that person to guide the process to a successful conclusion. You'll never find the perfect fit unless you take the leap of faith.
One of the most recognized and filmed skiers in the world, Scot Schmidt's pioneering style and remarkable ability inspired generations of adrenaline-sport athletes. Scot is arguably the greatest ski film star of all time and inarguably the most watched skier of the 1980's. In this compelling podcast, Scot describes his thoughts as he faced certain death, and other highlights of his life on skis.
Today’s podcast is helpfully titled, When to Buy in 2022, This Spring or Next Fall? It’s an age-old question, but for 2023, the answer is more nuanced than ever. Allow me to enlighten you as I answer the perennial question of when its wisest to buy, this spring or next fall?
Jimmy Petterson has skied in 75 countries and has chronicled his travels in two remarkable volumes, both titled Skiing Around the World. He has done most of it on a shoestring, having never lost the thrill of skiing a new mountain on a free pass, the ski bum's Holy Grail. It would take weeks to encompass all that's contained in Skiing Around the World; this podcast is a good place to start.
Mainstream publications with strong brand recognition are using their presumed journalistic integrity to pawn off shoddy "Top Skis" and "Top Boots" lists that steer the consumer straight to Amazon and its ilk to buy. This is particularly disturbing when there seems to be little to no integrity in the "best model" lists, such as a recently published "Top 8 Boots" list created by Popular Mechanics. "Sham" is too kind a word.
Today’s podcast is a clarion call to America’s specialty ski shop personnel to take advantage of every opportunity to try out whatever new models you can while the getting is good. While you’re at it, take a moment between runs - lift rides, for example, provide a suitable opportunity - to jot down how each ski fared according to the criteria listed on the Realskiers Test Card app.
Don’t have the Realskiers Test Card app on your Apple or Android phone? Why not? You don’t have to be affiliated with a shop to download it or put it to good use. If you’re an unaffiliated consumer, please enter the letter “c” in lieu of dealer name. If you are ski shop owner, manager, employee or designated gear tester, all the better. Please remember to always include comments with your completed score card and don’t forget to save each entry!
Anyway, there’s a link on the Realskiers.com free, public home page - right next to the Apple and Android app store icons - to a video in which I explain how to download and operate the app.
Bindings are a tricky topic because skiers tend to have strong beliefs about what certain bindings can and cannot do, beliefs that may have only a glancing connection with reality. This despite the fact that bindings are the most knowable piece of gear a skier owns. Despite the dangers inherent in the topic, in this podcast I delve into a new binding from Tyrolia that may help reduce knee injuries in backward twisting falls.
This week’s Revelation is another bulletin from the front lines of the American ski market. It’s more newsy, topical - and brief - than my usual weekly tirade. It’s also a call to action for anyone who has been putting off getting new skis or boots this year.
Today’s podcast will be short but sweet, more in the style of a news bulletin than one of my more dreamy reveries. It’s my first report on what’s in store for next season, but certainly not my last. As the news is hot and time is short, I’ll get right down to brass tacks.
About ten years ago, I was partly responsible for Greg Stump breaking his foot to bits, which has rendered him a non-skier ever since. I hope to help rectify this situation next weekend, when for the first time since his injury, Stump will attempt to put his feet in ski boots. The driving force behind Stump's return to skiing is his impending induction in the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame, where he hopes to join other inductees on the slopes of Sun Valley.
In today’s episode, I take you to the front lines of the ski trade to share some fundamental verities revealed by skiers’ behavior and comments from the boot bench. My in-depth research uncovers the fact that women are better than men, that skiers will endure unspeakable pain in order to avoid buying new boots, that the Returning Skier phenomenon, first revealed in these pages, is very real indeed, and that ski buyers tend to be terrible researchers due to the fact that ski journalism is all but dead in its mainstream incarnations.
By far the most popular genre of women's Alpine skis is the narrower slice of the all-terrain market we call All-Mountain East. In this podcast, I explain why this category is so popular and review 12 of the best models for the 2021/22 season.
This episode takes a measured look at 2021 from a skier’s perspective, particularly in how we experienced the sport of Alpine skiing here in America. As my expertise lies primarily in the equipment sector, this brief analysis of the past year is rather gear-centric. I hope you find it informative and edifying.
With Christmas almost upon us, I felt this episode ought to be devoted to spiritual matters, so I have turned to the most sacred of skiing texts, Snowbird Secrets, which I co-wrote with Guru Dave Powers during the summer of 2012. As December is the 12th month, I’ve selected Chapter 12, On Hands & Feet for your listening pleasure. As the Goo and I did with every chapter, we ground its lesson by taking the reader on an actual run down the mountain where its teaching comes into play.
I would be remiss in my hosting duties if I didn’t mention that Snowbird Secrets is available on Amazon. It would make an incredibly thoughtful gift for any skier in your family.
The Stump-Bertoni Prize for Excellence was created to correct a grave injustice. As of two years ago, Realskiers.com had never won an award, if you can believe that. The fact that no such award - one for ski reviews and all related subjects - had ever existed was not an acceptable excuse. So, we created it ex nihilo, (pontifical terminology for “out of nothing”) proving that if you want something badly enough, stop whining and make it yourself. This notice is both a nostalgic look back at life as we knew it then and a prescient peek into the future.
In today’s podcast, I reveal a stunning discovery: hiding in my backlog of files were 76 Revelations that I wrote between 2013 and 2015. Before you cry a collective, “Who cares?” be advised that most of them could have been written yesterday. To prove my point, I herein relate a trifecta of somewhat dusty Revelations; aside from some cultural references that date their provenance, the advice they contain still rings true.
Jackson has compiled a list of the ten individuals without whom Alpine skiing might never have survived as a sport. The names on this list are most likely unfamiliar to you, not because their exploits and inventions aren’t worthy of your attention, but because they transpired in the misty past, and our culture can barely remember yesterday.
Lycra, Lace and Leather was just one of many parties held during the golden years of the SIA show in Las Vegas. This podcast describes a single evening's antics, hoping to stir similar memories among my Dear Listeners. It serves as a reminder of what once was, and quite possibly will be no more, a national trade show that brings all of skiing's many tribes together.
The options available to children are nowhere near as diverse as the world of adult gear. This podcast outlines basic buying advice when shopping for kids skis, boots and bindings.
Jackson's List fulfills a long-standing need for a comprehensive list of America's best specialty ski shops. It would be a great boon to skiers everywhere if all ski shops met a minimum service level, but that's not the world we live in. Jackson's List has been created to help skiers and quality ski shops find one another. It is intended as a work in progress; this is the story of how this its first draft came to be.
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews
JACKSON HOGEN and www.RealSkiers.com are dedicated to helping skiers find their perfect match. We do more than just rate the current crop of skis available on the U.S. market; we organize our reviews using a clear methodology that points the prospective ski buyer in the right direction. To learn more about how Realskiers.com gathers its data and presents its results, please read How to Use Our Reviews