It is interesting… lots of investigative work because we only read about contracts sporadically. When delivered, the skis are very “low key” and disappear from collective consciousness until they pop up at Coleman’s a decade later with no description. It robs us of exercising options to buy when civilian versions are available before the ratshit is beaten out of them.
A good case is the Icelantic model just posted… if it wasn’t for high resolution images taken of troops on manoeuvres, they’d be just another white parabolic ski. The resolution allowed zoom until Icelantic was readable. Below that was the length… 173 or 176… barely legible. This allowed the exact civilian version to be matched (ironically, the 10th Mountain Special Edition).
Note that this image has only been viewed 43 times… ever. Probably half of those are from the National Guardsman photog who who posted the image after a cool bit of TDY. Three times by me. Crazy how much stuff is out there for the taking, if yer willing to dig deep enough.
Talk of the Voile Vector doesn’t appear to be more than conjecture and banter on TT…
http://eddie.dnsprive.com/~telemark/vie ... 453#p29955
The truth is that SOF often chooses small batches of personal gear, sometimes chosen by operators at the sub unit level. Because they operate “low key”, you don’t see announcements. Their buys might be part of a generic purchase by US Army etc. Or it’s a local purchase. Photos of equipment in the field are vetted to remove “signatures”. Doesn’t mean the odd one doesn’t slip though, but there often isn’t the body of evidence to conclusively say that, for example, the SEALS use “x” ski.
Doing this because we all know how to ski. We all know what we ski. What we don’t always appreciate is what’s out there, being used in places other than a Powder article… most of which isn’t functional skiing. Just asshatting.
Too much of that online already. We can make TT a place of real knowledge if we want.
