Skis - Some Of The Terms Explained » Snowboard and Skiing

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Skis - Some Of The Terms Explained

Thursday, January 24th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed

The design of skis has changed greatly over the past 20 years. The most radical innovation is the shaped or carving ski. The carving ski has made turning easier for people of all levels to the extent that most skis that you see on the slopes will be this type.

Some of the terms you might hear when people are talking about this type of ski are the tip and tail. Obviously the tip is the front of the ski. The tail is the back of the ski. The waist is the middle of the ski. carving skis are differentiated from others by having a sidecut. The sidecut is the arc or curve that is traced from the waist to the tip and tail on the edge of the ski. The longer the sidecut the greater ability the ski will have to carve out turns (or turn easier).

The width of the waist determines how the ski will perform. A thin waist is better on hard snow whilst a thicker waist is better in soft snow.

The flex of the ski is another indicator of performance. By bending the ski from tip to tail you get an indication of the flex in the ski. If the skis are hard to flex then the are generally considered to be better in harder or tightly pack snow. If they are easy to flex they are thought to be better in soft snow conditions.

The binding is placed on top of the ski at the waist. The ski boot fits into the binding. bindings have also come a long way in design. The most important innovation is the release binding. This allows the boot to be released from the ski in the case of a fall. Before the release binding the boot wouldn’t release and this could lead to knee and ankle injuries. The release tension is adjusted by the DIN settings at the front of the binding.

At the back of the binding is the ski brake. When the boot is in the binding the brake points in the air. If the binding is broken the brakes flick down so that the ski sticks in the snow. This is useful, as without a brake the ski may go flying down the mountain which may be dangerous for others skiers and really annoying for you.

NEW 2008 Atomic Nomad Blue Moon Skis 162cm with binding