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Two forces came together in the mid 90s to revolutionise skiing - snowboarding
and new technology.
In the early '90s many skiers started to take up the new, cool sport
of boarding. Snowboards - due to their shape and dimensions - provided
a carving sensation that was difficult to match on traditional skinny
skis. Consequently the ski manufacturers started to run into difficulties
and were forced to rethink ski design radically.
Ski manufacture is a never-ending search for the correct flexibility.
In the beginning, all skis were made of wood. There was a limit to the
shapes of skis you could make - too narrow and they snapped, too wide
at tip and tail and they would twist and lose their grip on the snow.
Manufacturers slowly became more adept with composites and complex internal
structures.
By the mid '90s, with the help of these new materials and improved technology,
a number of revolutionary skis emerged. These new 'shaped' skis combined
the torsional stiffness necessary for precision and good edge grip, with
the longitudinal flexibility that makes turning easier. And so 'carving
skis' were born...
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[Photo: Atomic]
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[Photo: Campbell M Cassidy ©2000]
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| Common carving terms |
Shape and sidecut Carving skis are narrow at the waist and wide
at the tip and tail, which is what gives them their shape. The sidecut
is the difference between the tip, tail and waist.
The deeper the sidecut, the quicker and easier the ski will turn. The shallower the sidecut, the
harder it is to initiate a turn and the ski will prefer longer turns.
will also be more stable, especially at higher speeds.
All skis have sidecut so that they can turn - no sidecut and the ski,
when put on its edge, will want to go in a perfectly straight line. On
carving skis, the sidecut is more pronounced.
Sidecut Radius Imagine the hourglass shape of a ski. If you then
extend that profile to form a circle, the sidecut radius would be the
of this imaginary circle.
Turn Radius This is dependent on the effort that each skier makes.
By using steering, pressure and edge control, the radius of each turn
is determined.
Still not sure? Consult our ski doctor
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