Left & Right Skis

In my short skiing career I've owned about 15 pairs of skis and never noticed any differences within a pair (other than obvious damage to one ski). The one thing that might cause a difference is some variation in the wood cores, but a great deal of care is normally taken to match the wood in each pair. The flex of a ski does deteriorate with use and it might be possible that if ski were consistently used as left and right, the flex would take on some asymmetric properties. But would that be a good thing? I would guess that the ski would retain it's skiing qualities better if that loss of flex properties were symmetric through changing the side the ski is used on.

Some alpine race snowboards which are otherwise symmetric in outward appearance, have been made with an asymmetric flex pattern to work with the different application of pressure from heel side to toe side on a snowboard. I could see that there might be some advantage having a similar construction on skis, and I'm sure someone, somewhere is making them. Then of course there are those Dupraz skis with a different side cut radius on each side.

Far Q, get your canting checked on your boots before worrying about the skis matey.

:D

I'm not overly worried about this, I just wanted to follow the subject on from the comments in the other thread, and expand any knowledge which could be gleaned from the matter.

I'm happy to just name my skis Harry and Debbie )

Far Queue wrote: :D

I'm not overly worried about this, I just wanted to follow the subject on from the comments in the other thread, and expand any knowledge which could be gleaned from the matter.

I'm happy to just name my skis Harry and Debbie )

I used to have a massive crush on Blondie

Tony_H wrote:

I used to have a massive crush on Blondie

Indeed, I think I had all the posters. And as the skis are Atomic, I had to go for it :-o

Far Queue wrote:

Tony_H wrote:

I used to have a massive crush on Blondie

Indeed, I think I had all the posters. And as the skis are Atomic, I had to go for it :-o

I like your style.

Mine are, sadly, called Scott (left) and Neo (right)

Trencher wrote:In my short skiing career I've owned about 15 pairs of skis and never noticed any differences within a pair (other than obvious damage to one ski). The one thing that might cause a difference is some variation in the wood cores, but a great deal of care is normally taken to match the wood in each pair. The flex of a ski does deteriorate with use and it might be possible that if ski were consistently used as left and right, the flex would take on some asymmetric properties. But would that be a good thing? I would guess that the ski would retain it's skiing qualities better if that loss of flex properties were symmetric through changing the side the ski is used on.

Thats a powerful point, Trencher.

I know a fair amount about manufacturing, enough to know that "precision" is only relatative, and is unprecise. However, I don't know enough about ski manufacture to know if the wood care is the main variant. If I was testing a batch of skis, I would test the individual skis, and match variants within the range.
Terrific point about both flex variants taking on self-propagating asymmetric properties.

On the other hand, consider the proposition that there is a significant properties differential at first use. How would we, as users, know?

Dave Mac wrote:

On the other hand, consider the proposition that there is a significant properties differential at first use. How would we, as users, know?

There are many stories of the top world cup skiers and the ski selection process; where seeming identical pairs of skis prove to have differences that can be measured on a timed course.

I was talking to a US team grunt (his word meaning very junior) coach, who was at the last Olympics. On the DH, because the conditions were constantly changing, the top skiers had several pairs of skis at the start. Only after hearing from coaches stationed along the course would a last minute decision be made as to which skis to use. For most of us, the differences between those skis might have been hard to tell.

One reason skis might feel different and apparently make better turns when switched around is when snow has been packed on the bottom of the heel of a boot. This might effectively cause canting. Switch skis, and in the process dislodge the snow et voila, the skis make better turns. This happens more often than people realise.