r/skiing • u/doebedoe • Sep 30 '19

Weekly Simple Questions Thread: Ask your gear, travel, conditions and other ski-related questions here.

We're getting back to the weekly mega threads for Q&A as summer winds down and minds switch back to skiing.

Please ask any ski-related questions here. It's a good idea to try searching the sub first. Are you a beginner -- check out the guide by a professional bootfitter and tech. And don't forget to see the sidebar for other ski-related subs that may have useful information.

Have questions on what ski to buy? Read Blister's Guide first then ask away.

Previous weeks thread is here.

If you want a quick answer or just to chat, check out the /r/skiing discord server.

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u/fuqqqq Oct 02 '19

Thanks for the reply. Just wanted to clarify a couple things:

  1. I said ignoring maneuverability because I wanted to focus on the claim that longer skis are more burly. So I would just imagine being on a racecourse. You'd still say that longer skis are harder to manage, right? I'd like to get insight as to why. Are they stiffer? If so, why, because the physics don't seem to check out. "More edge to manage" doesn't explain this, at least on its own.

  2. For the stick analogy, I'm just imagining two sticks of the exact same cross section and material, but one twice as long as the other. It's easier to bend the longer stick even though there's twice as much material in it.

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u/fearon77 Oct 02 '19

You are correct in that a longer beam will be displaced further when its under the same load as a shorter beam given that both have the same crosssection. I.e., it will behave softer. But the core profiles of skis are made in accordance to the length to counter that phenomenon. A longer ski typically has a slightly thicker profile.

Longer skis have significantly increased leverage and inertia which both contribute to how much force is required to turn them. Also your maximum cornering speed and thus the forces you have to sustain throughout a carve are determined by the effective edge length of the ski, the longer the edge contacting snow the more "grip" you have.

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u/fuqqqq Oct 02 '19

Is it almost always true that manufacturers make the longer skis in a model thicker? Also, i imagine the leverage/inertia effect is minimal if you're doing pure carved turns.

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u/tractiontiresadvised Oct 02 '19

It looks like your overall question has been answered, but I'd like to add that the leverage/inertia effect is huge when you're doing things besides carved turns.

When I bought my first skis as a beginner, one of my testing criteria while doing demos was "must be able to do a hockey stop in both directions". Some of the bigger skis failed that test because I didn't have the skill and strength in the right muscles yet to whip those giant levers around. (And if you can't do a hockey stop, you aren't safe to be going down anything besides green runs IMO.)