Superior Spring Skis

OK, so we've all had a tough week or two.

Hard times require some perspective, which gives us all the perfect reason to hit the slopes for some much-needed, snow-aided gravity research -- that is, skiing.

Luckily, despite the warm weather here on the Street, there is plenty of snow left out West.

Spring skiing 2007 should be epic.

And not only are there significant amounts of snow waiting for you, there are also interesting new developments in ski technology for 2007.

To get a sense of the cutting edge of ski design, I recently headed out to Park City, Utah, with a fresh pair of high-tech Atomic Nomad Crimson skis and Neox 4.12 bindings ($1,250) matched to Atomic's similarly slick M-Tech M110 boots ($749).

My verdict? Prepare to have your stodgy impressions of modern, do-everything skis vaporized.

For the decent skier looking for well-mannered rides that still behave reasonably well (that is, go fast) yet don't have the dorked-up feel of soft-intermediate skis, it's tough to beat these Nomads.

Angling for the Everyman

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