PSA: Another XC gear crunch in the offing for next season

[Woodserson]

Word on the street is that many if not most XC ski manufacturing companies have sold out their entire 21/22 inventory to their dealers. That means whatever shows up on the shelves this autumn of your local shops or online retailers is it for the year. No 2nd mid-season refill, no special orders, no nothing, what you see is what you get.

Of course we will see how this pans out, but if you had something special in mind you really wanted to get your hands on and were waiting for post New Years sales... maybe don't if it's worth that much to your season's enjoyment.

[Nitram Tocrut]

Got an email from a small local shop that says the very same thing. I wonder if the market is not gonna be balance by the probable influx of lightly used gear as newcomers to the sport might get ride of their newly acquired gear... OR many of them get hit by the GAS syndrome and soon realize they « NEED » zillions of skis to fit every possible conditions... not talking about me

Since you started the topic @Woodserson what is on your list of must buy... you cleared some space in your ski closet this past season so you must have room for new gear

[fisheater]

Hey Martin,
Next year I plan on spending my GAS money on gas. I hope to do a little traveling. I planned to travel this season, but I enjoyed the trail skiing close to home so much I didn’t travel.
I guess I will spend a bit of GAS money, to upgrade my pack contents. Since I ski solo, I want to be comfortable on an unplanned overnight.

[montrealer]

interesting. glad I found me some nansens this year!

[FourthCoast]

[...] I want to be comfortable on an unplanned overnight.

Are you talking about packing everything you need to camp out overnight unexpectedly?

[fisheater]

I am thinking about an upgraded sleeping bag. I have an old down bag, that I'm hiding from The Smithsonian. I am also thinking about a winter grade bivy, a down puffy. and a small stove. I do a lot of overnights this time of year, it's a lot colder in the winter. I do more truck camping this time of year. and late fall, mostly close to a Great Lakes shoreline for crack of dawn shore launches. I like to catch while they're yawning!

[fisheater]

The gear I am looking at is for more isolated areas than the typical Michigan loop type trails which I certainly enjoy.

[Woodserson]

Bumping this from last March to remind everyone-- looks like what the retailers were telling me last winter is coming to pass. Between an incredible upswing in demand for nordic gear as people rediscover the sport during Covid, to the Fischer factory fire, ski inventory was entirely spoken earlier this year. You want something bad, get it while you can. There will be no refills.

It almost makes me feel dirty to push this, this kind of messaging is great for the corps to rake in the cash, but at the same time I want the passionate to get their hands on skis while it's possible. We are such a scroogey bunch of penny pinchers, this year might be a good year to put that aside.

Also, ski swaps. I'm getting good luck scoring sweet things at ski swaps.

[John Dee]

I don't get what you mean. Do you mean that everything produced over the next few months is filling preexisting orders? And doesn't sold to dealers mean that they will be available from dealers? I'm sure it will be a mess of some magnitude.

[Woodserson]

I don't get what you mean. Do you mean that everything produced over the next few months is filling preexisting orders? And doesn't sold to dealers mean that they will be available from dealers? I'm sure it will be a mess of some magnitude.

Every ski has been spoken for. So if you walk into your local shop and see X on the wall, it's safe to assume that's all they are getting for the season. Usually there is a mid-season second order that rolls in to fill gaps, etc., that won't be happening this year.

All this went down last spring and is largely separate from supply chain stuff.