Grass Skiing - Helpful For Snow Skiing?

[jyl]

This is an out-of-left-field question - or perhaps out-of-left-brain - but I watched some videos on “grass skiing” and wonder if it would be helpful, harmful, or neither for alpine snow skiing technique.

Examples (hope these links work)

FIS GRASS SKIING WORLD CUP 2021 Sprint Slalom 1st run men

FIS Grasski WC 2021 , Slovakia , Piešťany 5.6-6.6.2021Kategorie : Men , Women Program :Saturday 5.6.2021Sprint Slalom 13:30 1st run and 2nd Run ...

www.youtube.com

FIS GRASS SKIING WORLD CUP 2021 Slalom 2nd Run

FIS Grasski WC 2021 , Slovakia , Piešťany 5.6-6.6.2021Kategorie : Men , Women Program :Saturday 5.6.2021Sprint Slalom 13:30 1st run and 2nd Run ...

www.youtube.com

I gather grass skis were invented in the 1960s as a summer training tool for alpine snow ski racing. Whether it is used for that purpose, or has become a micro-niche sport of its own, I’m not sure. I don’t think the sport is really present in the US any more (or ever was?)

 

[jt10000]

Interesting.

I had briefly roller skis for XC skiing with large pneumatic wheels that supposedly would enable them to work on dirt trails. They were terrible at that - the surface needed to be quite smooth and not too soft and not have too many bumps or rocks. Any inconsistency and the ski would stop or slow dramatically.

In those videos it looks like with the higher speed of downhill skiing, those skis with tracks, PLUS very consistent grass w/o rocks the "glide" is good.

 

[cantunamunch]

It depends on what you want to work on.

They are relatively easy to find lateral balance on. Tipping angles are much lower than what one can do on skis. So it's not a gateway to high angle carving.

Vibration and noise has improved a LOT - but you still need essentially raked lawns otherwise you tear the belt to bits.

Forget about steeps- you're on grassy green slopes.

Jumping is bad - you can easily overstress the frames; on the old Rollkas we used to jam corks in the loop ends to stop them collapsing.

Endurance is amazingly taxed - especially with the vibration - a 90 minute session can be as exhausting as 4-6 hours on snow.

IME Grass skiing on belted grass skis is good for adventure and for training to race in terms of understanding and managing line. Of course you will wind up stepping to change line a lot.

Inline skating, even on pneumatic wheels, is significantly faster and easier to train things like lateral balance, tipping and transfer on, than a belted grass ski. Also, you don't need to travel to a hill with raked out green slopes so daily training is within reach for most.

Yes the sport was in the US. There was a Mid Atlantic racing league but that tapered off to where the only option was Bryce 2x /week, and that only because the mountain is a groomed 4season resort and the SSD was an immigrant who loved grass skiing.

 

[jyl]

Thanks!

It sounds like it'd be better to spend money on a summer ski camp on Mt Hood than use grass skis for summertime training.

OTOH, a pair of grass skis does look fun to bomb around on, independent of any snow skiing benefit. The one problem I see is finding the smooth and not-steep grassy slope with a good runout.

Cantam, I'm reading it is not possible to skid or stop on grass skis. Why is that? Also, I don't understand how they turn, what substitutes for sidecut?

 

[cantunamunch]

I'm reading it is not possible to skid or stop on grass skis. Why is that?

The lateral grip is so high that if you try to hockey stop from any speed whatsoever, your head and shoulders will be downhill of your feet in very short order. Modulation? What's that?

You *can* do a braking wedge, if you are super-delicate about it. By super-delicate I mean three things:
1 take about 3-4x the distance of a normal snowplow, or more
2 start super wide and allow the tips to approach each other, keeping the belt going forward
3 stutter-step outwards to regain the wide stance, repeat #2

Also, I don't understand how they turn, what substitutes for sidecut?

Rocker.

The one problem I see is finding the smooth and not-steep grassy slope with a good runout.

Any MTB will be far faster, but if it rocks your boat go for it.

Careful adjusting the non-release bindings, they can sometimes ride in the wrong spot on the rear boot lug and launch you anyway.

 

[jyl]

Ah, thank you. I'm looking at Grasski.net and see the plastic pads ("elements") on the belt have ridges that, I guess, dig into the grass and provide the lateral grip? Looks like the ridges are at 90 degrees to the belt surface - i.e. they stick straight down to engage the grass when the ski is flat.

I wonder what would happen if the ridges were at a smaller angle or even at 0 degrees to the belt surface, so that they don't get much engagement with the grass until the ski is tipped at say 45 deg. At 0 deg or flat ski, the angled ridges would have little engagement with the grass, allowing the ski to sideslip. In theory?

 

[cantunamunch]

Eh. Maybe?

The tearaway energy of grass is much greater than that of snow, and the surface is very much not self flattening.

All of which is to say that the window between full on and full off is hella narrow.

 

[oldschoolskier]

I remember when they first came out and saw one two in use, wanted a set back then (still young and stupid enough to try anything).

They sorta vanished from the market and made a come back some years ago and vanished again.

Here is a link for you.

Homepage - Grass ski Producer - Shop - Competitors - Grasski.net

Discover high-quality Grasski products and accessories by top manufacturer, learn valuable skiing techniques, and stay updated on race events and standings at our one-stop online destination. Shop now for the ultimate grass skiing experience!

www.grasski.net

 

[oldschoolskier]

I'm going to add my feeling in North America unless one of the main competitors is directly involved as a resort manager given the current market environment, the resort(s) will not invest for a relatively small handful of grass skiers to run the lifts and prep the slope(s).

 

[crgildart]

The terrain needs to be really well manicured like a golf course or it's not a lot of fun.. If it's dirt and rocks you're not going to have a good time.. And it hurts a LOT more to fall than it does on snow..

Modern dry land turf slopes with regular skis are a lot better.. But still hurts like hell to fall.. rug burns at 30 mph..

 

[jyl]

I see that there are summer ski camps in my area (PNW) all the way through August! Hmm makes grass skis seem unnecessary. After all I need some time for biking and fishing.

 

[cantunamunch]

The terrain needs to be really well manicured like a golf course or it's not a lot of fun.. If it's dirt and rocks you're not going to have a good time..

Why aren't you on a mountainboard up at Whitegrass? Or whatever meadow happens to be near you?

Wear enduro kit if you need to.

 

[johnnyvw]

The terrain needs to be really well manicured like a golf course or it's not a lot of fun.. If it's dirt and rocks you're not going to have a good time.. And it hurts a LOT more to fall than it does on snow..

Modern dry land turf slopes with regular skis are a lot better.. But still hurts like hell to fall.. rug burns at 30 mph..

I was going to make a comment to this effect. Tried them once at Camelback in the Poconos. I was just learning to parallel ski at that time, and there was NO skidding turns with these. You either carved or did step turns. And you definetly became aware of any rock poking up through the grass...straightline them like you were on ice LOL
Im not sure the caretakers of any local parks would be happy with these things being used...

 

[johnnyvw]

I see that there are summer ski camps in my area (PNW) all the way through August! Hmm makes grass skis seem unnecessary. After all I need some time for biking and fishing.

The only times I ever skied at Timberline were just before July 4th and just after Labor Day

 

[jyl]

The only times I ever skied at Timberline were just before July 4th and just after Labor Day

What is the snow like then? I know seasons differ, but generally?

 

[crgildart]

Why aren't you on a mountainboard up at Whitegrass? Or whatever meadow happens to be near you?

Wear enduro kit if you need to.

Ya nah... Not going to wear leathers when it's hot. I'm at the beach surfing.. Fk that spit.

Been there, done that.. gave that death trap away..

 

[johnnyvw]

What is the snow like then? I know seasons differ, but generally?

Well, this is going back the better part of 20 years ago, so I don't know how climate change may have effected things. It was up on the Palmer snowfield above the lodge. First thing in the morning was hardpack, gradually softening and then pretty mushy by lunchtime. At that point I headed back to town (Portland area) and hung out at the pool at the hotel I was staying at. Made for a pretty nice day

 

[jt10000]

Just noticed that this video has music by Madonna (with samples of Abba) so that's a bonus.