icecarver Posted January 5, 2017 Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 Just jones-ing the idea and looking for thoughts: Mount a fat-ski (110-120mm waist) with a skwal binding setup. What do folks surmise would be the challenges/drawbacks of such a setup? Also, if this were to be done, what specs would one want in the ski donor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drschwartz Posted January 5, 2017 Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 Ski donor, or organ donor? Cuz I know it would only take about one lift ride for me to obtain a significant, possibly fatal, head injury on this device!? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted January 5, 2017 Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 29 minutes ago, icecarver said: What do folks surmise would be the challenges/drawbacks of such a setup? 20+ m sidecut... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icecarver Posted January 5, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 1 minute ago, BlueB said: 20+ m sidecut... Meh... not too hard to find a 100mm + wide ski with less than that. Surface makes some with 15.5m. A little smaller would probably work better. I'm thinking stiffness would be the limiting factor though I own a pair of Surface skis and they're pretty darn stiff. Carve real well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertAlexander Posted January 5, 2017 Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 (edited) Tried this a year or two ago, it is in my past posts, with a similar 22 mscr, got down the hill ok, but had to side slip to stay at a safe speed, bottom line is, you need of 10, 12 or 14 m scr at a minimum to be able to carve a turn to keep your speed in check, I Already know how to ride skwall, but if you are thinking of trying this, do not, and if you are thinking of trying this and learn how to ride a skwal at the same time, "forget it, It does not work" , trust me, do not waste your time, go buy a real set up. Also, I am used to riding a 9.0 mscr skwal or 10.0 mscr skwall , with 135mm waist. Just saw that you are in Maine, I am in Central NH, ride at loon mt, If you are itching to try this , I can ship my experiment to you, for meager funds. Edited January 5, 2017 by RobertAlexander 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icecarver Posted January 5, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 (edited) 6 minutes ago, RobertAlexander said: Tried this a year or two ago, it is in my past posts, with a similar 20 mscr, got down the hill ok, but had to side slip to stay at a safe speed, bottom line is, you need of 10, 12 or 14 m scr at a minimum to be able to carve a turn to keep your speed in check, I Already know how to ride skwall, but if you are thinking of trying this, do not, and if you are thinking of trying this and learn how to ride a skwal at the same time, "forget it, It does not work" , trust me, do not waste your time, go buy a real set up. Ok then... I am one to heed experience. Sounds like you've "been there, done that" and didn't like it. Guess I'll just have to keep my eyes on ebay/classifieds for an affordable setup. I've ridden alpine boards off and on over the years (first was a Burton PJ asym with rat trap bindings) and I'm a slalom water skier since I was a little tyke. I think Skwal sounds like the ticket for me. Too far into the northeast to be able to demo such a beast so I guess I'll just have to invest. Thanks for the advice. Edited January 5, 2017 by icecarver added comment 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertAlexander Posted January 5, 2017 Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 (edited) with water skiing in you, I worked with a guy with many hours of long and recent past of water skiing, and he could not break the habit of leaning back once the carve was started. He would wash out the carve every time, with water skiing you are leaning back on the rope, with alpine board or skwal you are weight forward into the turn. I would be interested in hearing of your progress. The guy I worked with never got a carve down, all day and the next. He also had the idea of skwal being close to what he knows, but with this opposite procedure, imo, you may want to think alpine board first, get it in you first, then perhaps skwal, , you can learn skwal first, it is imo, just a little bit trickier to learn, but once you get it, it is the same, just a bit different, no problem, again, imo Edited January 5, 2017 by RobertAlexander Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icecarver Posted January 5, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 1 minute ago, RobertAlexander said: with water skiing in you, I worked with a guy with many hours of long and recent past of water skiing, and he could not break the habit of leaning back once the carve was started. He would wash out the carve every time, with water skiing you are leaning back on the rope, with alpine board or skwal you are weight forward into the turn. I would be interested in hearing of your progress. The guy I worked with never got a carve down, all day and the next. He also had the idea of skwal being close to what he knows, but with this opposite procedure, imo, you may want to think alpine board first, get it in you first, then perhaps skwal, , you can learn skwal first, it is imo, just a little bit trickier to learn, but once you get it, it is the same, just a bit different, no problem, again, imo I'm interested to see how it goes as well. I certainly understand what you mean though in carving on skis and a regular alpine board I know where to keep my weight so I'm hoping that will translate over to the skwal. I can carve on an apline board so hopefully that will work for me. been a couple of years since I was on an alpine board since my kids all like to ski. But now they are independent enough that it's time for Dad to do what he wants :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertAlexander Posted January 5, 2017 Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 If you decide on a skwal, imo, you should try to get a turny one, kind of is the only way to keep your speed down, If you are going to carve down the hill. Compared to a more strait skwal that you will be skid steering down more, you can still skid steer a turny board, but it give you the option of a tighter carve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icecarver Posted January 5, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 1 minute ago, RobertAlexander said: If you decide on a skwal, imo, you should try to get a turny one, kind of is the only way to keep your speed down, If you are going to carve down the hill. Compared to a more strait skwal that you will be skid steering down more, you can still skid steer a turny board, but it give you the option of a tighter carve. Good call. I'll keep that in mind. I ride smaller mountains (hills more like) so a tighter radius would probably be best. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drschwartz Posted January 5, 2017 Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 Disregarding my earlier post??, I think you might just be happier sticking with a nice turns alpine board and relatively high stance angles, like 50-60 degrees. I would echo the concerns about weighting habits with both feet directly in line. Also, if you have limited hill space, I think the alpine board is much easier to control in tight turns, but that is just my personal preference. my other comment about the ski idea would be that skis are built for a single centered binding. I think you would massively screw up the designed carving properties of the ski. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icecarver Posted January 5, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 10 hours ago, drschwartz said: Disregarding my earlier post??, I think you might just be happier sticking with a nice turns alpine board and relatively high stance angles, like 50-60 degrees. After doing some more research I think you are probably right. That being said, I think I will post for recommendations and put the notion of a "home made" skwal to rest. Thanks all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRAZZ Posted January 5, 2017 Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 @monodude did this a while back. Think he still has one up for sale. To quote him: "... This set-up is NOT for tree ..." YMMV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Ace* Posted January 5, 2017 Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 (edited) Did you read through the Skwal Thread? You really should read through every page. Its been done before and Don "MonoDude" has some of the Nordica Yah Loves(185cm) for sale right now HERE. He is describing it as a "powder skwal". Older model of that ski can also be seen below mounted for Skwal riding. There are many skwals available on the market today. I would recommend these as they are specifically designed for skwal riding! If you are looking to demo a skwal I can possibly be of assistance. I am currently selling Ace Skwals and located in Connecticut! If you have any questions or interested in a DEMO you can PM me or email me directly, ace@figmentoriginal.com Here is a picture of Thias Balmain, skwal co-creator with his original prototype back in 1992! Edited January 5, 2017 by *Ace* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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