PIDA - The Other Side of Rescue 

At five in the morning, the snow is as hard as concrete. The lifts aren’t running yet. The resort is still asleep. Sébastien Overney is already out there. Checking avalanche monitoring points, conducting preventive avalanche triggers, opening the runs. Before the first skier even shows up with their lift ticket, he’s already racked up the verticals. Then the day takes a turn. Rescue calls come one after another. Sleds to pull through tight turns. Hard snow, slush, spring concrete, fog. Conditions no one would choose. The ski patroller-rescuer takes them all, every day, from the first to the last day of the season.

It was for these professionals that ZAG developed the PIDA. Not just another off-the-shelf ski designed to tick a box. A tool born from a simple observation: no ski on the market had been specifically designed for the job of a ski patroller. Their challenges are unique. Their demands are uncompromising. Their ski had to be, too.

Sébastien Overney has been a first-level ski patroller and rescue worker as well as a snow groomer at the Les Contamines-Montjoie resort for the past five seasons. He is also a ZAG ambassador. This year, the PIDA is making its debut at Les Contamines-Montjoie. 

Sébastien Overney — This ski was developed exclusively by ZAG for professionals, specifically for ski patrollers. It’s a real stroke of luck and a great opportunity for us to have skis that suit us perfectly. We’re looking at a 95mm waist with a 19-meter turning radius on the 178 model. It’s a super responsive, lightweight, and very maneuverable ski. It really packs everything we need for our job.

S.O. — In our line of work, we need speed, maneuverability, safety on hard surfaces, and responsiveness. The PIDA checks all those boxes. In the morning, when the snow is hard-packed and we’re out breaking trail or setting up lift lines, we get excellent grip and speed. Then later in the day, when we switch to rescue mode, it turns very easily, even at low speeds. That’s essential when you’re pulling a sled or a stretcher to evacuate an injured person and you have to string together tight turns. And here in Les Contamines, we also perform preventive avalanche triggering on skins. So we need a ski for the whole day—from Touring early in the morning until the slopes close in the evening. The PIDA does it all. It’s a pleasure to work with this ski from the first turn to the last. 

S.O. — We’re looking at a core made entirely of wood—poplar—with a titanium plate underfoot that extends quite high on either side of Bindings. This provides excellent responsiveness and a lively feel underfoot, and it also reduces the tendency for the Bindings to come loose Bindings that’s important given how intensively we use them. We step in, step out, plant the skis in the snow, and put them through their paces in highly variable conditions. On top of that, ZAG has added a fiberglass layer that runs from the tip to the tail, covering the entire surface of the ski. That’s what helps preserve the flex and responsiveness over time, across multiple seasons. In the first season, the ski is super responsive. In the second season, it hasn’t changed. You retain the same performance characteristics to ski safely. 

S.O. — Yes , the base a black-and-yellow screen-printed design featuring the danger symbol and a cross. base was designed with ski patrollers base : when we arrive at an accident scene and plant our skis in a cross in front of the injured person to secure the area, we’re immediately visible. On busy days, in February for example, or in areas that aren’t necessarily very open, this visibility is a real safety guarantee for us and for the person we’re treating. It’s a small detail, but it’s the kind of detail that shows that the ski has truly been designed with the profession in mind. 

S.O. — This is the first ski that really suits us. Responsive, lightweight, versatile, and durable. You can do absolutely anything with it, from the start of the run to the finish. And it’s a blast to ride.