The country of just eight million has chalked up a World Cup tally of 8,698 points so far this season -- more than the Norwegian, Swiss and Italian men and women combined.

Basking in the glow are domestic ski manufacturers, their order books filling up as the Austrian ski team goes from strength to strength.

``The success of the skiers feeds right into sales,'' said Head of Sport, Helmut Moest, a leading retailer Kastner & Oehler. ``There's a feeling of a new era, a euphoria that we haven't seen anything like this in years.''

But all was very different a few years back. Burdened by excess capacity, recession, a doggedly strong domestic currency and a lackof good snow during the winters, Austrian ski makers Blizzard, Kneissl and Kaestle skidded into the abyss.

Every second ski sold worldwide is made in Austria, but the bloodbath triggered by the struggle to survive in a quickly maturing industry resulted in a string of bankruptcies and takeovers by foreign interests.

Only Blizzard and Kneissl are now 100 per cent Austrian --Atomic belongs to the Finnish Amer group, Head to Swedish entrepreneur Johan Eliasch, Kaestle to Italy's Benetton, while Japan's Goldwin-Kanematsu holds a 31 per cent stake in Fischer.

None was prepared for the end of the boom-slide and then dipped further as global demand for skis caved in from the peak of nine million pairs to four million in 1997-98.

Industry experts now believe this is the bottom. ``The problem was that for 30 years there was always growth and in the late 1980s one didn't gauge correctly that the market would go into recession,'' said Alexander Schmied at the Chamber of Commerce's Austrian WoodworkingAssociation.

Combined sales of domestic ski makers contracted from a peak of 4.5 billion schillings ($380 million) in 1987 to around three billion last year. In tandem nearly 1,200 jobs have been lost in Austria to leave just under 3,000 employed in the industry.

``The growth rates were a thing of the past and manufacturers had to painfully adapt their whole production, to move away from overcapacity and the risk of stockpiling to be more flexible,'' Schmied said.

But the popularity of the ``carving'' ski made a big difference. Narrower and shorter than conventional skis, carving skis are shaped to facilitate sharp turns and have managed to lure speed enthusiasts back onto two skis from snowboards.

Industry experts say the conventional ski will soon cease to exist as carving skis are already expected to account for 90 per cent of the market this year.

Head, the leading manufacturer of carving skis worldwide by dint of realising the new technology was not just another fad like mono-skis, alreadygenerates around 90 per cent of turnover in its ski division from carving models.

Austria is heavily dependent on international markets. Japan is the single largest market for Alpine skis with its 15 million skiers, accounting for up to a third of global sales and one quarter of Austrian production, industry data shows.

But Japanese ski sales have shrunk over the last few years from a peak of two million pairs a year to 800,000, half of which are imported from Austria, according to the Woodworking Association.

Europeans buy about 45 per cent of skis and North America some 15 per cent. The popularity of carving skis has rekindled interest in skiing in the US, Austria, Switzerland and Germany.

The success of the Austrian ski team is not only giving a much-needed boost to domestic manufacturers, foreign makers are also cashing in on the success.

German manufacturer Voelkl, for example, equips a large part of the Austrian women's team, including World Cup runaway leader Meissnitzer, in a bid to improvesales.

Schmied is sanguine about the future but is well aware how fickle consumers can be.

``Let's just hope the Austrians keep winning like this for the next 10 years,'' he said.