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This year the Start Haus is carrying a wider selection of ski clothing than ever before, thanks in part to our new soft goods guru, Jennifer.

One line Jennifer was excited about when she got to check it out in person was Sherpa, a small mountaineering-oriented clothing line actually made by Sherpa mountain guides in Nepal.

"The story is amazing behind Sherpa - it's a family owned company, which is rare these days, and it's actual Sherpas that climb Mt. Everest," Jennifer said. "They could pick any gear out there, and I think that says a lot."

Boot fitting is our specialty at the Start Haus, and our huge ski wall offers a ton of choice, but ski bindings shouldn't be overlooked as an important part of the equation.

Philpug takes us through our range of ski bindings, from high-DIN race ski bindings to high performance freeride bindings, junior ski bindings to backcountry ski bindings, to help you decide what's right for you, and what factors you should consider:

Editor's Note: Bootfitter's Notes is a new series of posts the Start Haus will be sharing, in hopes of giving buyers extra insight into different ski boots, and how they fit. Whether you're an online shopper who doesn't have the ability to come into the Start Haus for a proper boot fitting, or your doing a little homework before coming in, these articles are here to help you.

Lange RS Ski Boots

The RS series from Lange are the blue boots that you see all over the slopes these days.

The 2015 version of this comparison is here: 2015 Narrow All Mountain Skis

When we move up in width from the frontside carver ski collection, our next category is this one that ranges from roughly 82-90mm.

Some skis in this category have a distinct bias toward hardpack and could possibly be considered as wider frontside skis. Most however, trade off a little of the hard snow capability in favor of increased versatility when softer snow and off trail usage is considered.

Some of the models in this group can work pretty well in up to say a foot of snow, and many of them are quite good in bumps. Most of these models still have fairly minimal rocker and will in general, are at least somewhat softer in flex (especially in torsion) than the frontside specialists.

This is a very popular category with a lot of variation in characteristics. Some models in this category have metal in their layups while many others don’t. Some skis in this group will use binding plates and some are sold flat.

See the 2015 Review Here!

As a western (Tahoe) based ski shop, we at the Start Haus have a lot of demand for wider soft snow biased skis, and for sure, we carry a wide array and sell a lot of them.

However, even on a “normal” year in this snow-rich area, there are periods when it doesn’t snow for a week or more. Last year, it basically didn’t snow any appreciable amount after the first of January.

For periods like this, it pays to have a good hard snow ski. Even in that mythical “normal” year, most Tahoe skiers will find that if they have this type of ski, they’ll ski it quite a bit. Some years, like last year for example, they’ll ski it much of the time. This category of ski is also a very popular choice for ski instructors and other well-schooled skiers in the East, Midwest or the West, who understand what edge angles and pressure are all about.

The Atomic Ritual returns unchanged except for graphics from last year.

This is one of those skis that we talk about when the discussion turns to the “one ski quiver” for a good western skier. To us, this designation means a skier with roughly a 50/50 bias between hard packed snow and softer or deeper snow, and the ability to handle most off trail type terrain.

Naturally, these are neither dedicated groomer tools nor are they powder specific skis either. Many skis in this category are in the 95-98mm width range and several of them have stiff metal layup constructions.

The Atomic Crimson TI has been a familiar name in the Atomic ski lineup for some years, but for 13-14, this ski is entirely new.

In fact, all the top models in the Nomad collection carry the same names as in the past but they employ a new technology known as "Arc."  This is a design that integrates the binding into the ski construction via a channel in the ski. This in itself isn’t entirely a new thing but Atomic takes this one step further by incorporating a power platform into the channel directly under the foot. This transmits power to the ski without the stiffening effect that channel type systems have sometimes exhibited. The result of this new construction is a ski with a slightly softer flex but more importantly, a more balanced flex.

As the skiing community ventures farther and farther off the beaten path in to the backcountry, so does the Start Haus.

That means not only carrying the best backcountry skis, bindings and touring boots, but avalanche safety gear too.

There's been a lot of buzz around K2's new ski boot line for 2013-14, with some pretty exciting innovations for both alpine and backcountry ski boot design.

What you haven't read is that Start Haus owner and one of the country's best boot fitters, Jim Schaffner, had an opportunity to provide design input in the all-new K2 ski boots. Jim is well known for his experience in ski boot R&D, as well as boot fitting and performance tweaking at the highest level of our sport.

"I had my first test in the prototype boots September 2011 in South America," Jim said. "From there I was invited to be involved in some of their debrief/design improvement sessions, and the re-testing process as design changes were made. Basically providing feedback on fit, skiability and performance."

Some of the biggest news for the upcoming 2013-14 ski season is that market-leading ski maker K2 is getting back into the ski boot business. It might come as a surprise to some when we say that K2 is back in the boot business, because many skiers won’t remember K2's brief entry into that market years ago. For sure, they were in and then out again rather quickly back then. This time around, we expect K2 to be in the market to stay and for a long time to come.

In introducing a brand new boot line into an established market, K2 wisely chose not to try and completely re-invent the wheel so to speak. Rather, K2 looked at existing boot models and shapes and chose to refine many of the existing shape and fit technologies along with the addition of an entirely new external spine/hinge feature called the “Powerfuse Spyne”.

We've got four great deals on Marker Bindings we ended up with overstock on - the Marker Jester and Marker Jester Pro for frontside skiers, and the Marker Tour F10 and F12 for those who want to head into the backcountry.

The Marker Jester is a DIN 6-16 binding with serious rigidity and power for driving wide, long or stiff skis over big terrain. Normally $359 - now $249

With rules changing on race skis almost yearly, it's hard to know when you can save big on end of the season race ski sales, or when you've got to wait for the latest and greatest to show up at the Start Haus.

This year, Sierra Jim breaks down where you can save, and wear you should wait, in this video:

Basically, if you race FIS, GS skis have a new radius, but if you don't race FIS or are looking for Super G or SL skis, we've got screaming deals worth checking out.

Click here to shop our race ski sale, or call the shop at (530) 582-5781 to find out what 2014 race skis are available now.