Items in my cart
Thursday, December 24th, 2009
Went over to Aspen for a couple of days before Christmas, to ski with Sven Coomer, Wayne Wong and John Clendenin. In this company I knew we’d ski fast, so I took my good skis, the metal Wagners (72mm waist, 166cm, 11m radius). Sven wanted me to try some new boots — the Head Raptor [...]
Thursday, October 16th, 2008
Here’s an issue you rarely hear the big factories talk about: Bearing surface. That’s the area of base plastic in contact with the snow, and it has a direct effect on the way a ski feels in powder. A typical narrow straight ski (take for example the 1995 Rossignol 4SV, 203cm, 64mm waist) had a [...]
Tuesday, October 14th, 2008
Pete mentioned that some folks have adapted to the smooth, stable feel of Volkls. Some people like very lively, energetic skis. Some skis just feel steady and predictable in funky weird snow, and some skis feel bouncy as if they can’t wait to get a new turn going. The difference usually lies in the nature [...]
Monday, October 13th, 2008
Here’s a history lesson: When Norwegian farmers began running across snowy meadows on planks of wood, they quickly discovered that where the snow drifted deep, the plank flexed. When you jumped on the middle of the plank, it bowed downward into the snow. This meant that in order to push the ski forward, you had [...]
Sunday, October 12th, 2008
Pete has asked me to contribute some thoughts on the art and science of ski design. Over the next few weeks I’ll post some advice, some data and some considerations regarding the design of custom skis. Buying skis has become both easier and tougher than it was 20 years ago. Before 1990, there were about [...]
