Does the weight of the gear matter?

[Eleeski]

The problem with swing weight is that there are multiple swing arcs that a ski can encounter. Sometimes a ski rotates rapidly, sometimes the ski moves side to side, sometimes it is vertical movement and often a combination of all of these. Sometimes not much swings around.
Your style, the snow conditions, your strength and lots of other factors determine how important weight is to you and where the weight is most critical.
For me personally, having everything light is an advantage. I like the new technology that offers performance and light weight. So I can swing in many directions...

Eric

 

[Philpug]

Here's some thought on gear weight that I haven't seen posted/published anywhere previously.

In the golf world we have the term/measurement called swingweight. In reality swingweight tries to provide a relative measurement of the MOI (Moment of Inertia) of the club when swung. Think of the MOI as a measurement of the dynamic heft/effort required to swing the club. Similarly, there is a dynamic effort involved in turning skis; more so for those that twist their skis rather than tip them. The ski MOI also plays into the stability of a ski as it encounters uneven terrain.

So I think it would be interesting to know how the weight is distributed across the length of the ski. Measuring the MOI from the location at the boot midsole point would provide a better indicator of the effort required to pivot the skis and how stable the ski may be. Two different skis could have the same exact weight, but the ski with more weight situated toward the tips and tails is going to ski "heavier" than a ski with the weight more centered under your feet. Having the weight more evenly distributed along the length would probably yield a ski that feels more stable. Too much weight primarily in the tips and tails may adversely impact the stability by creating unwanted vibration down the length of the ski. Of course this is all conjecture on my part because it's not something I've ever measured and then correlated to actual ski performance.

The point of all this is that there is real science behind how skis ski, but the industry is woefully behind other sports, like golf, when it comes to publishing the hard numbers and educating consumers. Without a move in this direction, we must continue to rely on our own demos and subjective reviews.

I have touched on swingweight with two specific products, Volant skis and Look Pivots. Volant weren't that much heavier than most other skis of their day but they had a higher swing weight because regular skis had the mass under the foot and the Volant was spread out over the length of the ski making it ski heavier. With the Look Pivot, the mass of the heel piece being right at the heel of boot along with it's very short mounting distance gives the feel of a shorter rotational weight, even with the heavier Pivot 18.

 

[Noodler]

The problem with swing weight is that there are multiple swing arcs that a ski can encounter. Sometimes a ski rotates rapidly, sometimes the ski moves side to side, sometimes it is vertical movement and often a combination of all of these. Sometimes not much swings around.
Your style, the snow conditions, your strength and lots of other factors determine how important weight is to you and where the weight is most critical.
For me personally, having everything light is an advantage. I like the new technology that offers performance and light weight. So I can swing in many directions...

Eric

You may not even realize it, but this is basically the same argument that some people make in the golf world when it comes to swingweight and MOI. It's acknowledged that not everyone skis the same way, nor do people all swing golf clubs the same way. That's not the point of having the measurement. The point of having the data is to provide some consistent basis for comparison and help the "users" develop an understanding of what that data means to their golf game (or skiing in this case).

I know we're not talking about flex, but the same situation exists. Skis can be viewed as a "beam" in physics. As such, they have an EI profile just like golf club shafts. We would know so much more about skis if someone would start publishing EI profiles for them. Blister attempts to provide an idea of how ski flexes compare, but their methods are highly suspect along with the values they publish. What we need is someone to modify an EI profiling machine to handle skis.

 

[cantunamunch]

. What we need is someone to modify an EI profiling machine to handle skis.

Remember the guy who did friflyt.no 's flex graphs? He's building EVI skis now. I don't think the test team have been on a pair. @Philpug?