Some notes on ski/snow camping

Yeah, what you guys said makes sense. I've been able to do a parallel turn (complete with hockey stop when needed) on skis without metal edges. I've also been able to do a nice telemark turn with the same skis. In both cases, I was on a ski resort, where they had groomed it (not track grooming, but snow cat grooming). In sloppier snow, I have to just point and go (even snow plowing can be difficult).

I think Bob makes an excellent point, though. Folks design skis for different markets. The market I'm interested in is relatively small (the lift market is huge, and the groomed cross country market dwarfs the touring cross country market). As a result, I don't think they make skis that carve well without adding metal edges (whether you want them or not). I think it is possible to make such a ski, but I don't think anyone has done it. In general, the ski market is fairly conservative — folks knew about the importance of side cut for hundreds of years, but it wasn't until recently (the early 80s) that companies starting incorporating really big side cut. I think snowboarding drove a lot of that (although there was some simultaneous experimenting going on). I know little about snow boarding, but I'm pretty sure the early models didn't have metal edges. It seems to me that it wouldn't be that hard to make skis in a similar manner. Of course, I'm not sure how much weight would be saved by skipping the metal edges, I just assume it would be significant.

I can't say much about Cascades snow, but Sierra Nevada snow has a reputation for being anything except for powder. Most of us who do backcountry skiing in the Sierra Nevada would never think about taking a plastic edge ski deep into the backcountry. Segmented metal edges are the norm. They will bend easier as you carve a turn as compared to a solid metal edge. I generally take a straight file to my edges about once every 15 years whether they need it or not.

In the late spring snow when skiers are starting to play Connect The Dots they will leave their edged skis in the vehicle and go fool around with their so-called rock skis. Those are typically the skis that they retired ten years previously.
–B.G.–

Thanks Bob, very interesting. Spring snow in the Sierras sounds like Winter snow in the Cascades. :)

OK, once in a while we get good snow, but not often enough. It may be that Cascade snow is not that different than Sierra snow (lots of variety). I'm surprised you say that you don't get much powder, though. I would have assumed that much of the Sierras were high enough to get good, dry snow. Maybe, like the Cascades, this occurs only in pockets on the East Side (or on rare days).

Oh, and I hadn't heard the term "Connect the Dots" to describe the skiing I often do. Quite a good term.

For an interesting perspective, that is now very dated, check out page 56 here: http://tinyurl.com/ydnvh77 (you can get directly to the article by selecting "Contents" and then selecting the "Adventure Skis" article). In the article, the metal edged skis are very similar (in sidecut) to the metal edged ones. Not any more, of course. I wonder what ski has the biggest sidecut, but no metal edges? I've tried Googling for the answer to this question, but haven't any luck (although I've found some very interesting articles).