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A ski is a narrow strip of semi-rigid material worn underfoot to glide over snow. Substantially longer than wide and characteristically employed in pairs, skis are attached to
ski boot Ski boots are footwear used in skiing to provide a way to attach the skier to skis using ski bindings. The ski/boot/binding combination is used to effectively transmit control inputs from the skier's legs to the snow. History Ski boots were leath ...
s with
ski binding A ski binding is a device that connects a ski boot to the ski. Before the 1933 invention of ski lifts, skiers went uphill and down and cross-country on the same gear. As ski lifts became more prevalent, skis—and their bindings—became increasin ...
s, with either a free, lockable, or partially secured heel. For climbing slopes,
ski skins Climbing skins are strips that attach to the bottom of Nordic, alpine touring or randonnée skis to help while ascending backcountry slopes. They are designed to be removed for skiing downhill. They are typically attached to the skis via a loo ...
(originally made of seal fur, but now made of synthetic materials) can be attached at the base of the ski. Originally intended as an aid to travel over snow, they are now mainly used recreationally in the sport of
skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IO ...
.


Etymology and usage

The word ''ski'' comes from the
Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
word which means "cleft wood", "stick of wood" or "ski". In Old Norse common phrases describing skiing were ''fara á skíðum'' (to travel, move fast on skis), ''renna'' (to move swiftly) and ''skríða á skíðum'' (to stride on skis). In modern Norwegian the word ''ski'' has largely retained the Old Norse meaning in words for split firewood, wood building materials (such as
bargeboard Bargeboard (probably from Medieval Latin ''bargus'', or ''barcus'', a scaffold, and not from the now obsolete synonym "vergeboard") or rake fascia is a board fastened to each projecting gable of a roof to give it strength and protection, and to ...
s) and
roundpole fence The roundpole fence is a wooden fence typical to the countryside in Sweden (in Swedish: ''gärdesgård''), Norway (in Norwegian: ''skigard''), Finland (in Finnish: ''riukuaita'', ''risuaita'' or ''pistoaita'') and Estonia (in Estonian: ''roigas ...
. In
Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...
this word is usually pronounced . In
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
, another language evolved from Old Norse, the word is (plural, ; singular: ).
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
and French use the original Norwegian spelling , and modify the pronunciation. Before 1920, English often called them ''skee'' and ''snow-shoe''. In
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...
, it is pronounced similarly to Norwegian, but the spelling is modified accordingly: .
Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...
and
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
adapt the word to their linguistic rules: and . In German, spellings ''Ski'' and ''Schi'' are in use, both pronounced . In
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
, the word is and the pronunciation was originally as in Norwegian, but since approximately the 1960s changed to . In
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
the word is spelled ''sgi''.Caprona, Yann de: ''Norsk etymologisk ordbok''. Oslo: Kagge forlag, 2014. . Many languages make a verb form out of the noun, such as ''to ski'' in English, in French, in Spanish and Portuguese, in Italian, in Dutch, or or (as above also or ) in German. Norwegian and Swedish do not form a verb from the noun.Bleken, Brynjulv (1973). ''Riksmål og moderat bokmål: en sammenlignende oversikt.'' Oslo: Aschehoug. .
Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...
has its own ancient words for skis and skiing: "ski" is and "skiing" is . The word ''suksi'' goes back to the Proto-Uralic period, with cognates such as Erzya ''soks'',
Mansi Mansi may refer to: People * Mansi people, an indigenous people living in Tyumen Oblast, Russia ** Mansi language * Giovanni Domenico Mansi Gian (Giovanni) Domenico Mansi (16 February 1692 – 27 September 1769) was an Italian prelate, theolog ...
''tåut'' and Nganasan ''tuta.'' The
Sami Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise net ...
also have their own words for "skis" and "skiing": for example, the
Lule Sami Lule may refer to: * Lule people, an indigenous people of northern Argentina * Lule language, a possibly extinct language of Argentina * Lule Sami language, a language spoken in Sweden and Norway * Luleå, also known as Lule, a town in Sweden * Lul ...
word for "ski" is and skis are called . The Sami use for the verb "to ski" (the term may date back to 10,000 years before present).Gotaas, Thor: ''Norge: skisportens vugge.'' Oslo: Font forlag, 2011.


History

Although it is not clear who invented the skis, the oldest wooden skis found were in
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
(c. 6300–5000 BCE),
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
(c. 5200 BCE) and
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
(c. 3200 BCE) respectively. The early skis were not used for fun, leisure, transportation or speed their sole purpose was to keep the user on top of the snow while
hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
or when in a
war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
. Early skis were generally accompanied with walking sticks to help the user maintain balance. Nordic ski technology was adapted during the early 20th century to enable skiers to turn at higher speeds. New ski and
ski binding A ski binding is a device that connects a ski boot to the ski. Before the 1933 invention of ski lifts, skiers went uphill and down and cross-country on the same gear. As ski lifts became more prevalent, skis—and their bindings—became increasin ...
designs, coupled with the introduction of
ski lift A ski lift is a mechanism for transporting skiers up a hill. Ski lifts are typically a paid service at ski resorts. The first ski lift was built in 1908 by German Robert Winterhalder in Schollach/Eisenbach, Hochschwarzwald. Types * Aerial l ...
s to carry skiers up slopes, enabled the development of alpine skis. Meanwhile, advances in technology in the Nordic camp allowed for the development of special skis for skating and ski jumping.


Asymmetrical skis

This type of ski was used at least in northern Finland and Sweden until the 1930s. On one leg, the skier wore a long straight non-arching ski for sliding, and on the other a shorter ski for kicking. The bottom of the short ski was either plain or covered with animal skin to aid this use, while the long ski supporting the weight of the skier was treated with animal fat in similar manner to modern
ski wax Ski wax is a material applied to the bottom of snow runners, including skis, snowboards, and toboggans, to improve their coefficient of friction performance under varying snow conditions. The two main types of wax used on skis are glide waxes and ...
ing. Early record of this type of skis survives in works of
Olaus Magnus Olaus Magnus (October 1490 – 1 August 1557) was a Swedish writer, cartographer, and Catholic ecclesiastic. Biography Olaus Magnus (a Latin translation of his birth name Olof Månsson) was born in Linköping in October 1490. Like his elder ...
. He associates them to
Sami people Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise net ...
and gives
Sami Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise net ...
names of ''savek'' and ''golos'' for the plain and skinned short ski. Finnish names for these are ''lyly'' and ''kalhu'' for long and short ski.


Single long ski

The seal hunters at the
Gulf of Bothnia The Gulf of Bothnia (; fi, Pohjanlahti; sv, Bottniska viken) is divided into the Bothnian Bay and Bothnian Sea, and it is the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea, between Finland's west coast ( East Bothnia) and the Sweden's east coast (West ...
had developed a special long ski to sneak into shooting distance to the seals' breathing holes, though the ski was useful in moving in the packed ice in general and was made specially long, 3–4 meters, to protect against cracks in the ice. This is called '' skredstång'' in Swedish.


Modern skis

Around 1850, artisans in Telemark, Norway, invented the cambered ski. This ski arches up in the middle, under the binding, which distributes the skier's weight more evenly across the length of the ski. Earlier plank-style skis had to be thick enough not to bow downward and sink in the snow under the skier's weight. This new design made it possible to build a thinner lighter ski, that flexed more easily to absorb the shock of bumps, and that maneuvered and ran faster and more easily. The design also included a sidecut that narrowed the ski underfoot while the tip and tail remained wider. This enabled the ski to flex and turn more easily. Skis traditionally were hand-carved out of a single piece of hardwood such as
hickory Hickory is a common name for trees composing the genus ''Carya'', which includes around 18 species. Five or six species are native to China, Indochina, and India (Assam), as many as twelve are native to the United States, four are found in Mexi ...
or
birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 ...
or
ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...
. These woods were used because of their density and ability to handle speed and shock-resistance factors associated with ski racing. Because Europe's forests were dwindling, finding quality plank hardwood became difficult, which led to the invention of the laminated ski.Skiing Heritage Journal
Seth Masia, Dec. 2003. Web. 8 February 2010.
Beginning in 1891, skimakers in Norway began laminating two or more layers of wood together to make lighter cross country running skis. These evolved into the multi-laminated high-performance skis of the mid-1930s. A laminated ski is made of two types of wood glued together. A top layer of soft wood is glued to a thin layer under a surface of hardwood. This combination created skis which were much lighter and more maneuverable than the heavy hardwood skis made before. Although lighter and stronger, laminated skis did not wear well. The water-soluble glues used at the time failed; they warped and split along the glue edges (delaminating) frequently and rapidly. In 1922, a Norwegian skier, Thorbjorn Nordby, developed strong waterproof glue which stopped the problem of splitting, therefore developing a much tougher laminated ski. Research and design of laminated skis rapidly progressed. In 1933, a new design technology was introduced with an outer hardwood shell completely encasing an inner layer of lighter wood, successfully eliminating spontaneously splitting glue lines. This early design eventually evolved into an advanced laminating technique which is referred to today as single-shell casing technology. In 1950,
Howard Head Howard Head (July 31, 1914 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – March 3, 1991) was an American aeronautical engineer who is credited with the invention of the first commercially successful aluminum laminate skis and the oversized tennis racket. Head ...
introduced the
Head Standard The Head Standard was Howard Head's first successful ski design, and arguably the first modern downhill ski. The Standard used composite construction, with a plywood core sandwiched between aluminum outer skins, steel edges tapering into the core, ...
, constructed by sandwiching aluminium alloy around a
plywood Plywood is a material manufactured from thin layers or "plies" of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured ...
core. The design included steel edges (invented in 1928 in
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
,) and the exterior surfaces were made of
phenol formaldehyde resin Phenol formaldehyde resins (PF) or phenolic resins (also infrequently called phenoplasts) are synthetic polymers obtained by the reaction of phenol or substituted phenol with formaldehyde. Used as the basis for Bakelite, PFs were the first commerc ...
which could hold wax. This hugely successful ski was unique at the time, having been designed for the recreational market rather than for racing. 1962: a
fibreglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...
ski,
Kneissl Kneissl is a manufacturer of handmade skis, biking and tennis equipment and apparel, based in Kufstein, Tyrol, Austria. History To 1990 The Kneissl Company was founded as a wheel factory in 1861. The first skis were produced in 1919. In the ...
's White Star, was used by
Karl Schranz Karl Schranz (born 18 November 1938) is a former champion Alpine skiing, alpine ski racer from Austria, one of the best of the 1960s and early 1970s. Born and raised in Sankt Anton am Arlberg, St. Anton, Tyrol (state), Tyrol, Schranz had a leng ...
to win two gold medals at the
FIS Alpine World Ski Championships The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships is an alpine skiing competition organized by the International Ski Federation (FIS). History The inaugural world championships in alpine skiing were held in 1931. During the 1930s, the event was held annua ...
. By the late '60s fibreglass had mostly replaced aluminum. In
1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...
,
Magne Myrmo Magne Gunnbjørn Myrmo (born 30 July 1943) is a former Norwegian cross-country skier who competed during the 1970s. He won a silver medal at the 1972 Winter Olympics in the 50 km. Myrmo won two medals at the 1974 FIS Nordic World Ski Cham ...
became the last world champion (Falun, 15 km cross-country) using wooden skis.Saur, Lasse (1999): ''Norske ski – til glede og besvær.'' Research report, Høgskolen i Finnmark. In 1975, the
torsion box A torsion box consists of two thin layers of material (skins) on either side of a lightweight core, usually a grid of beams. It is designed to resist torsion under an applied load. A hollow core door is probably the most common example of a torsi ...
ski construction design is patented. The patent is referenced by Kästle, Salomon,
Rottefella Rottefella is a Norwegian manufacturing company of winter sports equipment, more specifically ski bindings. The name "Rottefella" refers to the three-pin binding invented by Bror With in 1927, inspired on a couple of rat traps he had seen in a h ...
, and
Madshus Madshus is a Norwegian ski and ski-equipment manufacturer, located at Biri in Gjøvik. The company produces cross-country skis, ski boots and poles. History Madshus is one of the world's oldest ski manufacturer. The first Madshus skis wer ...
. In 1993 Elan introduced the
Elan SCX The SCX, for "SideCut eXtreme" (or "eXperiment"), was an alpine ski introduced by Elan in the winter of 1993/4. Skis before the SCX had almost always used a shape that was slightly curved inward on the sides, typically by compared to a straight ...
model, skis with a much wider tip and tail than waist. When tipped onto their edges, they bend into a curved shape and carve a turn. Cross-country techniques use different styles of turns; edging is not as important, and skis have little sidecut. For many years, alpine skis were shaped similarly to cross-country, simply shorter and wider, but the
Elan SCX The SCX, for "SideCut eXtreme" (or "eXperiment"), was an alpine ski introduced by Elan in the winter of 1993/4. Skis before the SCX had almost always used a shape that was slightly curved inward on the sides, typically by compared to a straight ...
introduced a radial sidecut design that dramatically improved performance. Other companies quickly followed suit, one Austrian ski designer admitting, "It turns out that everything we thought we knew for forty years was wrong." Line Skis, the first free-ski focused ski company inspired the newschool freeskiing movement with its twin-tip ski boards in 1995. The first company to successfully market and mass-produce a
twin-tip ski A modified version of their alpine counterparts, twin-tip skis are designed to enable a skier to take off and land backward while jumping and to ski backwards (switch) down a slope. The name "twin-tip" comes from the dual shape of the ski. While m ...
to ski switch (skiing backwards) was the
Salomon Group Salomon Group is a French sports equipment manufacturing company based in Annecy, France. It was founded in 1947 by François Salomon in the heart of the French Alps and is a major brand in outdoor sports equipment. Salomon constitutes a par ...
, with its 1080 ski in 1998.


Geometry

Described in the direction of travel, the front of the ski, typically pointed or rounded, is the tip, the middle is the waist and the rear is the tail. Skis have four aspects that define their basic performance: length, width, sidecut and camber. Skis also differ in more minor ways to address certain niche roles. For instance, ''mogul skis'' are softer to absorb shocks, ''powder skis'' are wider to provide more float and ''rocker skis'' bent upwards (''reverse camber'') at the tip and tail to make it easier to turn in deep and heavy snow.


Construction

Skis have evolved from being made of solid wood to using a variety of materials including carbon-
Kevlar Kevlar (para-aramid) is a strong, heat-resistant synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, the high-strength material was first used commercially in the early 1970s a ...
to make skis stronger, stiffer in twisting, lighter, and more durable. Ski manufacturing techniques allow skis to be made in one or a combination of three designs:


Laminate or sandwich

Laminated skis are built in layers. Materials such as
fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...
,
steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...
, aluminum alloy, or
plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...
are layered and compressed above and below the core. Laminated construction is the most widely used manufacturing process in the ski industry today. The first successful laminate ski, and arguably the first modern ski was the
Head Standard The Head Standard was Howard Head's first successful ski design, and arguably the first modern downhill ski. The Standard used composite construction, with a plywood core sandwiched between aluminum outer skins, steel edges tapering into the core, ...
, introduced in 1950, which sandwiched aluminum alloy around a
plywood Plywood is a material manufactured from thin layers or "plies" of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured ...
core.


Torsion box

The Dynamic VR7 introduced a new construction method in which a smaller wooden core was wrapped in wet fibreglass, as opposed to pre-dried sheets of fibreglass being glued to the core (essentially replacing metal sheets). The result was a
torsion box A torsion box consists of two thin layers of material (skins) on either side of a lightweight core, usually a grid of beams. It is designed to resist torsion under an applied load. A hollow core door is probably the most common example of a torsi ...
, which made the ski much stronger. The VR7, and its more famous follow-on VR17, was the first fibreglass ski that could be used for men's racing, and quickly took over that market. Over time, materials for both the core and torsion box have changed, with wood, various plastic foams, fibreglass,
kevlar Kevlar (para-aramid) is a strong, heat-resistant synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, the high-strength material was first used commercially in the early 1970s a ...
and
carbon fiber Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...
all being used in different designs. Torsion box designs continue to dominate cross-country ski designs, but is less common for alpine and
ski touring Ski touring is skiing in the backcountry on unmarked or unpatrolled areas. Touring is typically done off-piste and outside of ski resorts, and may extend over a period of more than one day. It is similar to backcountry skiing but excludes the ...
.


Monocoque or cap

During the 1980s, Bucky Kashiwa developed a new construction technique using a rolled stainless steel sheet forming three sides of a torsion box over a wooden core, with the base of the ski forming the bottom. Introduced in 1989, the
Volant skis Volant is a brand of ski equipment, currently owned by Amer Sports. It was founded as an independent company in the US, by brothers Hank and Bucky Kashiwa in 1989. The brothers developed the stainless steel "cap" ski, and founded the company wi ...
proved expensive to produce, and in spite of numerous positive reviews, the company never became profitable. In 1990, the Salomon S9000 took the same basic concept but replaced the steel with plastics, producing a design they called "monocoque". Now referred to as the "cap ski" design, the concept eliminates the need to wrap the core and replaces this with a single-step process that is much less expensive to produce. Cap ski construction dominates alpine ski construction today.


Historical

The classical wooden ski consists of a single long piece of suitable wood that is hand-carved to the required shape. Early designs were generally rectangular in cross-section, with the tip bent up through application of steam. Over time the designs changed, and skis were thinned out to the sides, or had prominent ridges down the center.


Notable manufacturers

* K2 is a major US-based ski manufacturing company. In 1961 they were one of the first companies to begin producing and distributing fiberglass skis. Today K2 is primarily renowned for its wide variety of torsion-box ski designs. They sponsor several professional skiers and ski teams. * Rossignol is a French company established in 1907. Rossignol introduced its first fiberglass ski in 1964. Today the company offers a wide range of ski designs and produces over 500,000 pairs of skis per year. Rossignol also manufactures boots, bindings, and poles. * Elan is a Slovenian company, located in Begunje, notable in ski manufacturing for inventing shaped skis, also called parabolic skis, which made carve turns possible at low speeds and with short turn radius.


Types

In the
history of skiing Skiing, or traveling over snow on skis, has a history of at least eight millennia. The earliest archaeological examples of skis were found in Russia and date to 6000 BCE. Although modern skiing has evolved from beginnings in Scandinavia, 5000-ye ...
many types of skis have been developed, designed for different needs, of which the following is a selection.


Alpine

Alpine skis, also called downhill skis, are skis designed specifically for lift-assisted resort runs. Ski design has evolved enormously since the beginnings of the modern sport in mid-19th-century Norway. Modern skis typically have steel edges, camber, side cut, and possibly reverse camber. During the 1990s side cut became more pronounced to make it easier to carve turns. Alpine skis typically have fixed-heel bindings. Specialised types of alpine skis exist for certain uses, including
twin-tip ski A modified version of their alpine counterparts, twin-tip skis are designed to enable a skier to take off and land backward while jumping and to ski backwards (switch) down a slope. The name "twin-tip" comes from the dual shape of the ski. While m ...
s for
freestyle skiing Freestyle skiing is a skiing discipline comprising aerials, Mogul Skiing, moguls, Ski Cross, cross, Half-pipe skiing, half-pipe, slopestyle and big air as part of the Freestyle skiing at the Winter Olympics, Winter Olympics. It can consist of a ...
, slalom skis, GS Skis, powder skis, telemark skis and
monoski A monoski is a single wide ski used for skiing on snow. The same boots, bindings, and poles are used as in alpine skiing. Unlike in snowboarding, both feet face forward, rather than sideways to the direction of travel. Similar equipment inclu ...
s.


Backcountry

Backcountry skiing, also known as off-piste skiing, is any form of skiing done outside of ski area boundaries. Most of the time this type of skiing is done with alpine touring skis, or telemark gear, where skiers take advantage of climbing skins and a detachable heal, to ski uphill. When the skier reaches the top of the area they want to ski down, they take off the climbing skins and make the necessary preparations to ski back down. Backcountry terrain can also be accessed with standard alpine equipment by riding a lift uphill at a ski resort and then leaving the resort boundary. However, this is more commonly known as sidecountry because of its immediate access from a ski lift.


Nordic

In Nordic skiing the skier is not reliant on ski lifts to get up hills, and so skis and boots tend to be lighter, with a free heel to facilitate walking. Styles of Nordic skiing equipment include: * Cross-country
skis A ski is a narrow strip of semi-rigid material worn underfoot to glide over snow. Substantially longer than wide and characteristically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partial ...
are light and narrow, with a slight
sidecut Ski geometry is the shape of the ski. Described in the direction of travel, the front of the ski, typically pointed or rounded, is the tip, the middle is the waist and the rear is the tail. Skis have four aspects that define their basic performance ...
. Three binding systems are popular:
Rottefella Rottefella is a Norwegian manufacturing company of winter sports equipment, more specifically ski bindings. The name "Rottefella" refers to the three-pin binding invented by Bror With in 1927, inspired on a couple of rat traps he had seen in a h ...
's NNN, Salomon's SNS profil, and SNS pilot. Ski bases are waxed to reduce friction during forward motion, and kick wax can also be applied for grip. Some waxless models have patterns on the bottom to avoid the necessity of grip waxing for classic technique. * Skating skis are shorter than classic skis and do not need grip wax. The skating technique is used in
biathlon The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not tim ...
s. *
Ski jumping Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the final ...
skis are long and wide. *
Roller skis Roller skiing is an off-snow equivalent to cross-country skiing. Roller skis have wheels on their ends and are used on a hard surface, to emulate .Bryhn, Rolf and Knut Are Tvedt (eds.): ''Kunnskapsforlagets idrettsleksikon''. (Norwegian Encyclop ...
have wheels for use on dry pavement, in the absence of snow.


Ski Maintenance

Ski maintenance encompasses four facets: binding adjustments, waxing, edge shaping, and base repair. ''Binding adjustment'': Safety-release ski bindings require adjustment to fit the weight and height of the skier. Annual maintenance assures that settings continue to be correct. For rental skis, such an adjustment is required for each change of customers. ''Waxing'': Most ski wax minimizes gliding friction on snow. " Grip wax" promotes grip on snow for cross-country skis. Wax may be applied in three ways, melting on, rubbing on and as a paste. * Hot wax is applied with heat by ironing the melted wax on the ski base and allowing it to penetrate the pore structure, it is then scraped off and burnished. * Hard wax may be rubbed on and smoothed, mechanically from a bar or canister of the material. This technique is the rule for grip waxes. * Paste wax allows reducing friction with a rapid adjustment to snow conditions at the expense of durability. ''Edge shaping'': Edges engage the snow, especially during icy conditions. The angle from the plane of the bottom of the ski is set, depending on the type of skiing anticipated, as follows: * Slalom skiers: 0° to 0.5° * Intermediate skiers and giant-slalom skiers: 0.5° to 1° * Beginners and down-hill racers: 2° Edge shaping may be done daily with carborundum or diamond stone to remove imperfections. Tuning the edges requires a series of applications of sharpening tools and stones, working at approximately right angles along the metal edge. ''Base repair'': Ski base repair has three levels: cleaning, filling imperfections, and surface preparation. * Cleaning promotes the removal of dirt and wax, allowing repair material to bond to the ski. * Repair of gouges may be accomplished with a drip-candle of paraffin and polyethylene blend or a harder, more durable stick of pure polyethylene. Both are melted into the imperfections and then scraped even with the surface of the ski. * Surface preparation involves blending of repairs into the base and then texturing to befit the snow conditions with a gritty material, using successively finer grits, depending on the snow temperature. Other treatments include "rilling" installing miniature grooves along the ski or a steel brush.


See also

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List of ski brands Skis The following is a list of businesses known for manufacturing skis. Some of these manufacturers may also produce boots and bindings. Boots The following list consists of companies known ''primarily'' for their ski boot Ski boots are foo ...
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Noboard Powder surfing, also known as powsurfing and often spelled as one word e.g. "powdersurfing", is the act of surfing on snow free of any form of bindings and without the aid of ropes, hooks or bungee cords. Powdersurfing is performed on "powsurfer" w ...
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Monoski A monoski is a single wide ski used for skiing on snow. The same boots, bindings, and poles are used as in alpine skiing. Unlike in snowboarding, both feet face forward, rather than sideways to the direction of travel. Similar equipment inclu ...
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Skwal A skwal is the main piece of equipment used for skwalling, a hybrid sport combining the carving of skiing and riding feel of snowboarding. It is similar to a snowboard or monoski in that both feet are attached to the same board. On a skwal the fe ...
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Snowboard Snowboards are boards where the user places both feet, usually secured, to the same board. The board itself is wider than most skis, with the ability to glide on snow."snowboarding." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 17 Mar ...
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Snurfer The Snurfer was the predecessor of the snowboard. It was a monoski, ridden like a snowboard, but like a skateboard or surfboard, it had no binding. According to the 1966 patent by inventor Sherman Poppen, it was wider and shorter than a pair of s ...
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Splitboard A splitboard is a snowboard that can be separated into two ski-like parts used with climbing skins to ascend slopes the same way alpine touring or telemark skis are. The main difference is that a splitboard will have an additional metal edge (d ...
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Teleboard Developed during the winter of 1996 by Martin and Erik Fey, the Teleboard consists of a long, narrow snowboard, or wide ski, with two free-heel telemark bindings arranged one in front of the other at a slight angle to the longitudinal axis. This ...
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Water ski Water skiing (also waterskiing or water-skiing) is a Surface water sports, surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a Cable skiing, cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on two skis or ...


References


External links


Physics of skiing


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