OK, here's one to ponder on as you read through this. What was the most tested ski at the British Ski Test?

Our piste champion - as in I could barely get him to try a pair of fat skis because he was happy going everywhere on piste skis - was Guy, here waving Rossi Zenith 82s which he considered 'quite wide'. Honestly.

To give a little background to the test and what the various constituencies want out of it, you need to know that retailers, media groups and manufacturers are all there in some force. There's a large pool of combined results too, which Fall-Line contributes to. And this is what our 134 testers collectively did:
28 retailer test groups attended - up from 22 last year
17 ski brands - down from 23 last year
711 test skis with a total retail value of £278,665
2,764 test results recorded - 500 more than last year

The test numbers went as follows:
o 524 Monday - not everyone arrived until lunchtime
o 749 Tuesday - well into the groove
o 605 Wednesday - day after a fairly large party
o 746 Thursday - urgently need to get results
o 140 Friday - many folk left on Thursday

So that's the test in numbers. The most-tested skis will be because a) they're new and interesting, b) they reviewed well last year and several people never tried them out c) they're going to be stocked anyway and the retailers need to know what they're like and d) the media think they sound great but for one of a number of business reasons they're dead in the water. We like to think that we are heavily involved in a) and b) and we know, judging by the looks on ski buyers' faces, that we also add a lot of testing time to skis in the last category. But hey, if it's just a graphic change that's needed to make a ski sell then at least we can let everyone know it skis well.

For a ski to get a lot of tests in our group it has to be pretty sound because we work very closely with retailers. We need to know what they rate and can sell, and they want to know what we rate. So we technically get more out of them, and let this record state that we're very grateful.

So - what got a lot of tests? There are six ski categories in the test: Race, Piste, PArk and Pipe, All-Mountain, Freeride and Big Mountain. There are various sub-categories, for example backcountry freestyle as part of Big Mountain, but all those who know how to land switch in powder by design don't need to be told what to use.

The category with the least tests was Race, followed by Park and Pipe. These make some sort of sense, mainly because they're pretty specialist skis which tend to be assessed by skilled skiers in the arena they'll be used in. Park and Pipe covers a lot of twin tips, lots of which are bought for All-Mountain and several are now in that category. Piste and All Mountain are vying for top spot as biggest categories, though the blurring starts here and only gets worse. K2's Kung Fujas, now even wider than last year, is rated as an All Mountain ski (which we agree with) as is Head's Titan plump piste ski (which we also agree with). I'd like to take the Kung Fujas down an icy piste as much as I'd enjoy aiming the Head into some chopped up off-piste but they're both making huge swathes of the hill more enjoyable than ever.

The Freeride category seems to have sorted itself out into wideish skis that need some rider input. If you're in this bracket you can expect to get a ski that works almost everywhere but will be exhilerating and potentially exhausting. We'd say that the Volkl Mantra and Gotama, and Scott Crusade are at the top of this particular tree, with newcomers like the Salomon Sentinel and Rossignol S3 as contenders. Mind you, the Mantra and S3 were popped into the Big Mountain category, which seems a bit odd to me.

Here are Paul, Di and Jenny from Team Bartletts demonstrating (literally) the width of the range under consideration.

Big Mountain is a category that is growing significantly in terms of awareness and relevance to the UK. A couple of years ago we tested 53 skis in this area and I reckon the total sales were less than that - most of the test skis were given to sponsored skiers after the test. Jump forward two years, and we cut back to printing seven big mountain ski reviews. Now what happens? Every bugger wants an Atomic Bent Chetler. After two excellent years of snowfall it makes sense that keen skiers are popping a pair of something entertaining and slightly selfish in the shed, and that was reflected in the testing despite no fresh snow. Ten years ago that would have been a pair of race skis. At least we found out how they ride on hardpack...

So, what ski saw the most tests? Happily, these mostly ranked from category (a) above...

In fifth place, with 28 tests, was the tweaked Scott Mission.

In equal third place, with 30 tests apiece, were the Atomic Nomad Blackeye Ti and the K2 AMP Rictor.

In second place with 31 tests was Salomon's Tornado Ti.

And, with 34 tests claiming top spot was Head's Supershape Titan.

Four of these are new or revised. The least expensive is £500, the most expensive will be around £640 with a binding. All of them could lay comfortably within the All Mountain category, but some tend towards Piste or Freeride. None are narrower than 75mm underfoot or wider than 88mm. Expect to see all of these skis widely available. The Atomic, K2 and Salomon are all close competitors. Who knows, some may even feature in the Fall-Line Ski of the Year Awards, announced in one month's time...

More testing details to be found here

Online Ed James' account here; makes an interesting counterpoint because he's a snowboarder forced to 'enjoy' the Ski Test...