Ultralight touring powder skis that punch above their weight class…
Design
In my spare time as an intern at Parlor Skis, I researched and designed my own prototype skis. The catalyst was coming across two cutting edge materials whose properties perfectly lent themselves to lightweight yet high performance ski construction (more on that later). I designed a directional powder ski with a hybrid radius to allow for both playful short turns as well as stable large turns at high speed. To me these characteristics in combination with a lightweight yet stable and confidence inspiring construction, result is a very special ski whose capabilities far exceed what one would expect for such a wide ski.
Materials
TeXtreme / Innegra Carbon Fiber
TeXtreme is at the forefront of engineered composites and their spread tow fibers allow for the reduction in the amount of epoxy needed to solidify the fibers themselves. This creates an exceptionally light fiber. Innegra is an Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethelyne fiber with properties that promote vibration dampening and plastic failure. The combination of these two fibers results in a composite which is lighter than standard twill carbon fiber but also absorbs far more vibration and has increased resistance to failure.
B-Comp Balsa Core
Balsa wood is truly a miraculous wood to work with; it is exceedingly water use efficient yet super strong and ultra light. B-Comp a Swiss company specializing in natural composites has been producing engineered wood cores for skis for several years and they are taking the industry by storm. Their combination of directional stringers of balsa wood and flax fibers results in an ultra lightweight core which still retains all of the mechanical properties important for the function of the skis.
Layup
All of the components are cut on a CNC machine including the base, core, Titanal mounting plates etc. Sidewalls are added to the cores and they are then profiled to give the ski a specific flex pattern, pockets are also milled to allow for the flush mounting of the Titanal plates. UHMW-PE tail-blocks (for increased durability) and metal edges are now added. All of these components are then combined with alternating layers of fibers and resin. The resulting sandwich of materials is then baked in a pressurized mold to cure the resin and mold the ski. After cooling for 24 hours the extra material is trimmed and the skis go through a finishing and tuning process to give them their final shape and characteristics.
The Skis
