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Peek inside a factory

Muleski

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Thanks for posting and sharing.
Hope people find that informative. When some of us talk about European “race rooms”, this is part of what we mean. They are purpose building skis, all the time, for a handful of the best, and it trickles down from there.
The effort and expense that goes into this varies by company as well.

Good video. Thanks, again, Swede!
 

pete

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cost per pair must be staggering ... but very cool vid and makes one appreciate why skis aren't dirt cheap when we buy ours.
 

Viking9

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Boy I hope Jacques doesn’t see this video.
That looked to me like a Wintersteiger MACHINE, not a Spaniard.
 

pliny the elder

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We got to tour that facility a few years ago. We had to leave our phones/cameras out front. So we didn't get to make a movie.Although that is generally true of most similar places. All of the race rooms and factories are very security conscious. Even though I haven't really seen anything in one that was much different than the others.
We were told they build 5000 pairs a year there and they all go to athletes or are prototypes. Race skis and big mountain skis. Other than whole carts full of skis for a single athlete, the coolest thing was a mold with adjustable sidewalls. With this they can build any shape you can imagine as long as it is a 185cm and a sandwich construction.
They can go from drawing board concept to on snow in a few days. I know of people who have one off skis from this.
Overall, I've been told that building was the only good thing to come out of the whole Quicksilver debacle.

pliny the elder
 
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Swede

Swede

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Yes, Rossi and Dynastar same ski. When my daughter raced on Rossi, we got Dynastars when we quickly needed to replace a pair of GS skis mid season (Rossi top sheet model wasn't available right away). So they're "the same". With that said, skis vary a bit from pair to pair inme, even with the same top sheet :). And when we come to the absolute top of skiers (the ones who have pairs made for them), brand per se doesn't mean much (resources do of course). But what I mean is that what's on one athletes feet might be very diffrent from the model his/her stable mate skis on.
 

Primoz

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With that said, skis vary a bit from pair to pair inme, even with the same top sheet
The way skis are still made (technology from 50 years ago), there's simply no chance to produce two exactly same skis, even less two exactly same pairs. That's reason why you want to stick with good pair you found as long as it goes, as it's simply not possible to reproduce exactly same ski, even for xc skis, where materials are a bit more advanced and therefore easier to control then some wood is.
 

Philpug

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Rossi and Dynastar are same skis, just different topsheet. Same goes for Lange and Rossi boots... just different color but exactly same boot.
For clarification, Rossignol and Dynastar RACE skis are the same skis. Lange and Rossignol RACE boots are the sane boots. Once you get to the recreational collections is where they go their own ways with designs.
 

pliny the elder

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It is also worth noting that the skis are not built in pairs, they are built one at a time and matched after finishing. Additionally, despite the humidity, temperature controlled environment and amazing levels of precision, some skis are simply faster than others.
And even the people who build them cannot explain why.
At the factory in the video, there were stacks of top sheets and bases with both brands graphics and they could switch back and forth very quickly.
In Salanche, just outside of Chamonix, there is a very large Dynastar factory where they build both brands as well but there they build consumer skis in very large numbers. Much more automation and a massive operation.
Having worked in a small ski factory for a few summers, it is really impressive to see it on a big scale, but even there so many steps are done by hand and were quite familiar.

pliny the elder
 

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