That's not a metaphorical or a philosophical question; have you ever wondered the materials and recipe of what’s in a ski? No? Oh … okay … Well, I have.
The innards of a ski are a varied mix of different materials, all designed to do different things. Every ski brand uses the same basic mix, but between brands, models, and even sizes within a model range, the specific recipe brings out specific benefits - and detriments - for each skier.
Skiing Unlocked breaks down what's in a ski to see what goes into the oven, to come out the other end as a fully fledged skiing machine.
Wood
No shit.
The main ingredient in skis is wood. This has been the way since the very early days of skiing, some three thousand years ago, when skiing was a method of travel rather than a sport. Until the middle of the twentieth century, however, wood was the only ingredient.
Modern skis are manufactured using long strips of wood. This method ensures strength down the length of the ski, but a huge amount of flexibility; by allowing the wood to flex but remain strong, you as a skier have brilliant control of the ski and can ensure solid contact with the snow at all times.
Different woods are used for different purposes. The standard wood is beech, abundanetly available and striking the best possible balance between power and weight. You’ll find this in your rental skis or in any type of on piste ski.
Poplar is the next most popular, often found in all mountain and freeride skis. It is lighter than beech, the trade off being the loss of some power from the core of the ski. One step even further is paulownia, a tree native to southeast asia, that is beginning to be used more and more in lightweight touring skis - the lightest of the woods mentioned so far, there is a loss of power but the strength provided is great for creating a really nice ski for going uphill and downhill.
The other way is ash - harder than beech, it is found in racing skis where weight is less of an issue and power is everything. More and more, ash is being found in on piste and all mountain skis, to replace metal plates; the stiffness of the ash is comparable to metal, and offers a massive reduction in greenhouse gas and waste emissions during the manufacturing process.
Metal
You’ll find metal in two places in the ski. The first is in the edges, steel bars running the length of the ski that give grip on harder snow, allowing the ski to turn. These don’t just exist on the outside of the ski, but can bore up to a centimetre into the core of the ski to provide strength and power transmission.
You might find something called “Titanal” in the middle of the ski. Titanal (titanal. Titanal? titanal.) is an aluminium-based alloy featuring a smattering of other metals, including titanium and vanadium. Sitting on top of the strips of wood, metal is a fabulous material if used correctly.
Metal is an incredibly powerful ingredient in skis. The metal flexes and allows for smooth power transmission into the snow. However, metal feeds back the energy you put into the ski, better than anything else. This means you can drive even harder, the metal literally pushing you out of one turn allowing you to drive hard into the next turn.
The more powerful the ski, the more metal you’ll have. Race skis feature at least one full sheet of metal, sometimes two. All mountain skis often feature a thin sheet of metal, reinforcing a lighter wood and other materials to retain power transmissions and support you in deep powder. On a personal note, I love a ski with metal in it - as a bigger skier (around 100kg on a good day), the feedback I get from a titanal “plate” allows me to fly both on and off piste.
More and more ski brands are removing metal from skis and replacing it with ash wood - with similar power and strength properties, using wood in place of titanal makes huge savings on greenhouse gas and waste emissions.
Other Materials
Wood and metal are the absolute basics you’ll find in any ski. There are then a cluster of other materials all with specific roles to play.
First of all, (almost) all skis use glue to stick all the parts together. A couple of proprietary models don’t use glue as part of sustainability measures, or are beginning to use dissolvable glue to allow the ski to be deconstructed once it is life expired.
Carbon is widely used as a middle ground between metal and wood; stiff enough to give power and stability, but without the same feedback you get from metal. You don’t really ever get this in the same sheet style as you do with metal plates, but more in strands of carbon fibre either in the core of the ski or in the tip, acting as a dampener material more than anything else.
Finally, fibreglass is often inlaid into the ski to help hold everything together. Acting as a dampening material, it helps absorbs shocks and bumps from the snow feeding back into the ski and eventually the skier.
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