Photo: Tao Kreibich
Like any sport, progression and high performance in skiing have grown hand-in-hand with the evolution of equipment. Using plastic shells for boots in the ’60s ushered in an era of keeping our feet dry. While it may not classify as “equipment,” per se, resorts lifting bans on jumps and building moguls launched us into freestyle experimentation. And over the past two-plus decades, innovation with skis themselves have grown in leaps and bounds, with sticks seemingly getting wider and shorter as the years go by.
With that in mind, have you ever locked into a pair of skis anywhere near the ballpark of 210 centimeters? Heck, when was the last time you saw somebody even attempt it?
Former Free Ride World Tour competitor Tao Kreibich just dusted off a pair of skis measuring 210 cms that are probably older than just about anybody reading this. According to Tao, they’re from 1945, which means they’ve survived the Cold War, they’ve been around longer than the Super Bowl, 20 editions of the Winter Olympics, you get the picture. Needless to say, Tao handles himself on these skis better than most of us could ever hope. But these aren’t exactly high-performance pieces of equipment. He’s on the struggle bus, for sure, and it’s a good display of just how far equipment has come to enable the kind of performance we’re all used to watching from world-class athletes.
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