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Woodists and skiers will enjoy this. Several types of wood are mentioned and it looks as if there's quite a variety. I'd love to make a pair but I haven't got the machinery and the steam press, which makes such precision possible. You don't really need to understand the commentary to see what he's doing. I wonder how they ski in comparison to a pair of modern synthetic skis, after fifty years of technical evolution?
Almost all skis have wooden cores, with various woods giving differing characteristics. It's just that giving them a top sheet or cap, protects the wood from chips, water ingress I guess.
Have fancied a pair of these for a few years, however don't know how I'd feel, after paying £1,250 for them, when/if I scraped them on a rock.
https://www.lonelymountain.ski/product/sneachda/
I reckon they'll ski pretty much exactly the same as 'modern' ski's, the bottom layer looks like it was a standard, modern plastic and metal, off the shelf base. The remaining layers were wood but they mostly just control the flex in the skis, if you know what you are doing I'm sure wood is just as good at that as any of the other materials you might use, you just choose the right wood and grain direction to get the behaviour you want, they are very pretty, but they aren't 'traditional' ski's. Might want to get in early if you want a set though, before his terrifying use of the tablesaw takes his fingers off him...
...or he loses an eye to a flying splinter.
I suppose you can always service them with some sandpaper and a can of polyurethane varnish!
Is that Idris skis? I almost bought a couple of pairs recently but having only just purchased skis, I couldn't justify two more apairs
I prefer the ones made with the Tunnock wrappers posted here recently.
That's why I love Arbor snowboards. I ended up buying one that has more colour on it but you can still see the wood grain through it.
That's Rabbit on the Roof in Chamonix in the vid. 10 mins walk from my house.
I kind of fancy a pair but the guy seems a bit bonkers. He rides around town on a fixie which has a carved, curved, wooden handlebar.
There is also https://www.ski-bois-tardy.fr/ in nearby St Gervais.
He must have bought or inherited that old chalet with the fully-equipped workshop. I wonder what they made there before?
It was originally a water mill. Still has the mill race going past it.
There was a fire there in 2016: https://www.leetchi.com/c/solidarite-de-peter-et-anati-de-rabbit-on-the-roof
They have been rebuilding it.
I've got some Rossignol Medaille de Bronze wooden skis with Look GT bindings from the 60s. Screwed on edges and a blue polythene base. They're very heavy and very hard work, but surprisingly fast. I don't use them very often, my knees don't like them. They should really be used for decoration rather than skiing.
What length? About 210 cms, I bet!
200cms
I ride with the guy from Lonely Mountain - I know cock all about skis but they're lovely looking things. So nice we got him to build us some side tables. He does refurbish them and I think he also has some metal tips for them if you're worried about rocks.
Great until some ****er runs over them whilst you're queuing for the lift!
I wonder how the torsional stiffness is.
Almost all skis have wooden cores, with various woods giving differing characteristics. It’s just that giving them a top sheet or cap, protects the wood from chips, water ingress I guess.
Yep, mine have the wood visible from the top, just protected by some titanium strips and the lacquer finish.
I’ve got some - made by a Swiss company called AK. They’ve also got symmetrical sandwich construction so the top sheet is exactly the same material as the base, to keep the flex in materials consistent. Apparently.
All I know is they’re great on the piste, very stiff but the top sheet scuffs like a bugger
Nice. As soon as I get good enough at skiing to justify the expense I want to get some wood topsheet skis...
For now, I'm happy with wooden snowboards
This is my old board
This is my current board
Salomon and atomik went down the foam core route for a while with some of their skis. Realised the error of their ways when it was evident they didn't last very long.
If I remember rightly my old Dynastar Verticals have a foam core and some versions of the current ones still do.
I ride with the guy from Lonely Mountain
I met Jamie from Lonely Mountain at the Edinburgh Art Fair in 2018. He was a lovely guy. We were there to support a mutual friend who sometimes does terrific artwork on his skis.
I met Jamie from Lonely Mountain at the Edinburgh Art Fair in 2018. He was a lovely guy. We were there to support a mutual friend who sometimes does terrific artwork on his skis.
Opened this thread to see if it was his stuff being discussed; Jamie's a top bloke.
I've got a pair of Sneachda's from Lonely Mountain, they're brilliant skis, and I have managed to scrape them on a rock! That hurt. Thankfully they got well repaired.
Love the looks, love the way they ski, they reward hard charging pretty stiff. My other skis are Faction Agents so pretty floppy compared to the LMS. Jamie's great with the support too.
Something really nice about owning something thats been hand made with a bit of passion. They're always a treat to ski!
Glencoe Shark strike!
https://imgur.com/Ie3Huds
Would love a pair of Lonely Planet skis. Would love to have a bash at making some myself too.