Parabolic Ski History and Design
Parabolic skis or shaped skis became popular in the 1990’s and 2000’s and are growing in popularity. Prior to parabolic skis, most Alpine skis were manufactured with straight sides. Parabolic skis are shaped with a rounded leading edge, broader ski face in the fore foot of the ski, a narrower middle portion, and a fatter back area. Imagine the shape of an hour glass elongated and set horizontally to create the shape of the ski; broad, skinny, broad. Alpine skis are those skis which are most commonly associated with downhill skiing. Downhill skiing is the practice or sport that is common at most U.S. ski resorts where in a ski lift transports skiers to the top of a ski slope and the skiers ski down. Other types of skiing that commonly take place in winter sports areas include cross country skiing, snowboarding and snow shoeing. For the purpose of this article, we will concentrate exclusively on downhill or Alpine skiing as that is the segment of the sport where parabolic ski designs have grown in popularity.
The parabolic design innovation is credited primarily to one ski manufacturer, Elan. Elan, a Slovenian company, has been in the ski manufacturing industry since its founding in 1948. It gained notoriety in the 1970’s when Ingemar Stemark, a Swedish skier won three consecutive Alpine skiing World Cups using Elan manufactured skis. The shaped ski has now become so dominant in the skiing world that finding a new pair of Alpine skis that is not shaped is difficult. Straight skis for cross country skiing and mogul skiing still can be found, but these are specialized. The predominance of the parabolic shaped skis is rising with each passing season and has almost completely saturated the market.
What is the reason for this popularity? Parabolic skis are incredibly easy to use. Parabolic skis, being thinner in the middle, allow skiers the ability to turn more fluidly and naturally than straight skis. One of the hardest aspects of skiing for most new skiers was making that jump from the bunny slopes to the harder blue and black level slopes. Steeper slopes required a firm foundation and capability in the fundamentals of skiing, the ability to take tight turns quickly and effectively, and capability to expertly avoid both man-made and natural obstacles. Parabolic skis are able to aid new skiers reach this next level in skiing much quicker than straight skis. Beginner skiers of that past would have to take several seasons to become proficient. Conversely, since the advent of parabolic skis, what may have taken several seasons then takes just one now. Turning radii can be tighter and allow skiers the ability to link turns together with more ease. The curve shape of a parabolic ski allows energy to be stored and released with each successive turn in a manner that allows for greater turning ease.
When skier of old used straight skis, the pivot point of the skis when turning rested at the toe of the foot on the downhill ski. When executing a right turn, with the right ski on the downhill side of the slope, skiers would pivot their right foot downhill and switch the weight of their body from the right to the left food. With parabolic skis, the distance required to execute the same turn is shortened. The pivot point and the dynamics of the turn are the same, but the distance traveled around that pivot is lessened considerably due to the shape of the ski. In short, parabolic skis aid skiers in turning and making tighter turns allowing less experienced skies the ability to tackle more challenging slopes.
This shortened learning curve has revolutionized the sport. There is an increasing popularity in using skis for downhill skiing. In the 19990’s when snow boards were coming into popularity, traditional downhill snow skiing seemed to be on the ropes. However the introduction of parabolic skis, more beginners and novice skiers have found avenues into the sport that would not have been available to them before.
