LMS Factory Racing

Some time ago my friend Tim Gomersall told me about some ski/climbing adventures he had done on Ben Nevis this spring plus plans to race some skimo races. For these kind of things you need a short, light and stable ski to be able to carry up without getting in the way and still be able to descend with a degree of confidence and control. I pondered for some time about how to go about building such a light ski. Many conversations over pies and beer resulted in the design of the first prototype. It has a balsa flax core which has a semi sidewall under the foot plate, then the whole core tapers toward the tip and tail to remove weight while still maintaining torsional rigidity. It’s a design you can actually see in very early Telemark and Downhill skis where there is almost a spine running toward the tip and tail of the ski.

The skis worked out at 930g per ski, which we're pretty happy with this for the Mark 1. The ski can now be put through a racing season and tested to see if the camber, flex and stiffness is appropriate. Further weight reduction can then be made for the 2016/17 season.