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Germany was only a passing blur through the car windows as lack of sleep and the desire to see the mountains took over. The needle of the speedo constantly hovered in areas unknown in the UK whilst the clock kept ticking on, all the time the miles continued to add up and so did the messages from new service providers on everyone’s phones. Then, after a sweaty 10 hours from Dunkirk, we turned off to follow the river Inn, heading for the Austrian city of Innsbruck and our ultimate goal of the pretty village of Neustift. It was June and the ski season had been finished for a while, but the lure of 5 days testing on the amazing Stubai glacier had everyone excited.

Sunday saw our first day on the hill, with everyone eager to get up the lifts and out onto the snow. Even though the clouds were low it had looked very promising with the 6 man lift open, accessing a well groomed run of 3km. Before we could get our much anticipated turns, the first job was to get all the skis unpacked and the test site set up. This didn’t take long and the position next to the lift was perfect (both for convenience and a touch of lounging in the sun). There was plenty of snow but the relatively high temperatures meant that it was a bit heavy and by 11 o’clock the piste was quite cut-up.

Testing was soon under way and before long everyone had realised that the slopeside off-piste was super sticky and definitely warranted fat planks and lots of speed. This meant some of the biggest skis were getting an early look-in as the testers were choosing their own rides, but, impressively there was a wide variety of skis being taken out as everyone stuck to the task of skiing the whole range.

To get the most out of the 5 days on the Glacier, the testing had to be approached with a certain mindset. There would be no point everyone just skiing all their favourite skis or trying them without making any adjustments to their technique and style, all that this would have achieved is to end up selecting their own favourite ski. The skis had to be skied with the knowledge of the target audience; for example, skis like the £300 K2 Omni 4.5 need to be skied slower and differently than carve crazy models such as the Fischer RX8, they were then compared to the similar models to really understand the sometimes subtle differences. To further help get the most information from each ski we used the vast experience of Tom and Ali from New Generation Ski School, and ex British Race coach John Sheddon, to give tips and advice on manoeuvres and drills that could make and break the performance of certain categories of ski.

Part of the beauty of summer skiing is that often it is very quiet and this year the mountain was virtually deserted so we had the whole run to almost ourselves, with no queues at the lifts or in the excellent restraunt, leading to a lot of tired legs by 3.30 when the lifts started to close. The later closing than some other glaciers is another reason that Stubai makes such as good base for summer skiing.

Once back in the lift station car park we had the 20 minute drive alongside the river back down the valley to Neustift. This has to be one of the most pleasant journeys back from work that you could ever imagine. Windows were wound down and glowing faces were cooled with the fresh breeze, whilst tired legs were allowed to rest as the beautiful scenery rolled by. Back at the hotel, chilled beers on the balcony seemed to be the most popular choice of après-ski, enjoyed whilst soaking up the fantastic views as the afternoon clouds would lift and a clear blue sky would take over. Relaxing was easy, surrounded by the lovely Tyrolian buildings and peaceful farmland.

Each evening before dinner we would all get together to hold a discussion on the events of the day. The mood was relaxed and prizes were given out for crashes and spills, with the introduction of fines for testers that did not explain any negative comments on their cards (this went down very well with the test centre guys as the fine involved them being bought beer, and ultimately led to goading and entrapment when they realised they could stitch up the testers by suggesting unsuitable models!) These evening meetings included talks on the science of top-level performance coaching, a lot of hands on work making and adjusting footbeds (all under the watchful eye of our very own guru Julian), the experiences of British skiers in ski school and how their equipment will affect their learning, and how to get the right information on ability.

Monday saw the clouds come back, and a slight drizzle in the test site, but this alternated with gorgeous blue skies and light gentle snowfall, a trend that continued for the rest of the stay. Like the weather the main run changed during each day, with firm groomed snow first thing, soft pistes by mid morning, and heavy wet snow lower down by the afternoon. Whilst not ideal skiing conditions the fast lift combined with the snow to make a perfect testing situation.

Over the next few days we enjoyed many skiing related activities, including: John Sheddon’s ‘core form coaching’, Mark Watson from the EB Freeski team coaching 180’s and 3’s and also building a nice little wind lip kicker, 2 days of ‘modelling’ for the Mens Fitness magazine winter photoshoot (I think it’s Novembers edition you need to watch out for!), explaining the sales cycle to Ali and Tom from New Generation and seeing them try it out, picking up many tips from the top-level instructors who have joined us, and sharing many runs with new friends from the guests and press that had come over with us.

By the end of the stay the range had been tested extensively with all 16 shop staff benefiting from the time on snow they had. There were a lot of aching bodies, and even a couple of very battered ones, including one freestyler who ended up at Innsbruck hospital after having a few problems with the K2 MissDemeanor. But everyone came back wiser, happier and refreshed. The aim of the week was to make sure our stores have people who have used all the models in the range and thoroughly understand what every ski does, and this was definitely achieved. So, when you visit one of our shops you can be sure the advice you are receiving is accurate and means that you will end up with a ski that is going to be right for you and great to use.

Many thanks to the following people who made the week such a success: Julian from Castleford for all his work in the evenings (a real footbed genius); Rhys from Milton Keynes and Paul from Kensington for all the help and assistance they provided; all the staff at the Almhof hotel and especially Anita; the Stubai Glacier lift company; Katie from Spike; Eric, Penny, Alf, and the guys and girls from Mens Fitness; John Sheddon; Tom and Ali from New Generation ski school; Bob and Liz Brigham; and all the staff and guests that came with the right attitude to make it such a good week.

Steve

PS. Paul R's review - he didn't make the group photo.