Skis - Downhill / Alpine, Alpine Touring / Randonee, Tele, Cross Country - What makes them different?

By John Schaefer

Skis come in a variety of forms and are designed for a variety of tasks.   Understanding their basic design can go a long way to clarify which ski is right for your next adventure.

Ski Design Basics

Ski Construction - There are endless nuances to how and what ski manufactures use to build skis but all said and done all skis have:

Core - Anything from wood to foam. Laminents, sheets of metel and graphite rods can be added to achieve the desired flex pattern of the manufactor.

Base - Can be made of a variety of materials but designed to be a smooth sliding surface for downhill travel or paterned for grip on uphill travel.

Edge - Metel or plastic for gripping snow or ice when the ski is placed on edge.

Top Sheet - Usually a plastic or acrylic top layer of the ski that holds graphics and is designed to control wear.

Dimensions - typically measured in millimeters. Tip - Waist - Tail (exp. 120-90-110)

 

Downhill or Alpine Skis

Are usually the heaviest and stiffest of all types of ski covered here. This is a result of having the largest dimensions and metal or graphite stiffeners laid over the core. Most manufacturers have mens and womens skis and are catagorized as carving (lots of shape), mid fat (all around), and fat (powder skis).

Ideal Use: Skiing around a downhill ski area, or racing.

Alpine Touring, Randonee, and Tele Skis

Share most of the characteristics of Downhill or Alpine skis but are designed with uphill use in mind, so they are lighter. The typically don't have any stiffeners over the core and come with a flat top sheet to accommodate a variety of bindings.

Ideal Use: Backcountry travel in steep terrain.

Cross Country Skis

Cross Country skis currently come in two types, traditional and skate. Traditional are designed to be kick and glided on and skate skis are designed to be skated like roller skates.

Traditional - long and skinny often with metal edges and patterned bases.

Ideal Use: Touring on either low angle terrain or flat, groomed cross country areas.

Skate - shorter, skinnier and plastic edges.

Ideal Use: Moving fast on groomed trails

Read about Ski Bindings - Downhill / Alpine, Alpine Touring / Randonee, Tele, Cross Country 3-Pin

Read about Ski Boots - Downhill / Alpine, Alpine Touring / Randonee, Tele, Cross Country 3-Pin