What ski design would be optimal for skiing summer gravel pits?

[swissiphic]

Just getting started on my summer season of skiing gravel pits and brainstorming optimal ski rocker/camber profile for skiing gravel.

Gonna bend some old beat up 178cm rossignol b3 bandits into different shapes to see what works best...in stock form i found them a bit unwieldy for skiing non snow surfaces...gonna have to bend them to reduce contact surface and make em looser.

have some old solly rental bindings on em, so i can move boot center point fore and aft...don't know how many 'moves' i can make before all the sand and rock bits bung up the system though.

a few lines of thinking....

1. pretty hefty tip rocker/splay contact point close to toepiece with flat tail for optimum ball of foot pivoting and ski center skidding turns with tail support

or

2. good amount of tip and tail rocker with flat camber underfoot just fore and aft of binding for a more centered feel and jump turn stable platform feel

or

3. ????????? open to suggestions. have a bit of gravel skiing experience but not enough to have a good feel on what ski length, width, rocker/camber, sidecut would be optimal.

I do suspect a shorter length really fat ski would be mo betta but I don't have any really fat ski junker pairs to experiment with.

[smooth operator]

Whatever you do make sure to post video.

[UTpowder]

Just get some red ones

[El Chupacabra]

Rax on rox?

[mall walker]

I'm thinking none of the stock shapes available these days will suffice, you'll probably have to mod on some sort of plexiglass wings, mess with the rocker profile (maybe double mustache reverse camber?), possibly add some speed holes to the tips and tails

[swissiphic]

Rax on rox?

Thinking the ski name would be more along the lines of

DIRT DIGGLER

[Ottime]

Dunno, but let us know when you figure it out. My son and I drove by some sand dunes the other day and discussed which of his skis would work best on sand. So then he asks what ski design is best for the Great Wall of China. Told him is was less the design, and more being Candide. But maybe I’m wrong. Design does matter.

[TAFKALVS]

I would recommend DPS Lotus 120 Spoons, with the spooned portion de-spooned.

[swissiphic]

Pics of progress

options of skis to wreck




options of holes to drill into



bonus tech tip #1: pic of awesome ghetto ski bench with recess for ski brakes



rossi bandit b3s before bending



bending tip, tail and mid section rocker. tip rocker contact point 18 inches from boot center, tail rocker about 20 inches from boot center, center of ski camber eliminated to basically flat/slightly reverse.



after bending... red arrows indicate contact points before bending a hair of reverse camber into mid section of ski

[XXX-er]

Back before Sandblast got shut down everybody who was into the event just ran a dedicated pair of sandblast skis they didnt give a shit about, the hot setup was a slather of Molycote and a pair of coveralls both liberated from the Canfor mill

[swissiphic]

Bending the tip rocker.

[east or bust]

all I know is you're fuct without properly installed outriggers

[::: :::]

subscribed for the carnage, not the tech talk

[El Chupacabra]

Don't you need a couple different skis for your gravel quiver? I can't imagine that the same ski works well on DG as on pea gravel, 1/2" tuff, 3/4" volcanic, etc, etc.

[abraham]

Thinking the ski name would be more along the lines of

DIRT DIGGLER

With that name? 2x6s
You can carve whatever profile you want with a plane.

subscribed for the carnage, not the tech talk

This. Please share pictures

[1000-oaks]

Oldie but a goodie, for inspiration. Wearing shorts is key.

[swissiphic]

Think i bent a pretty good shape into the skis. They performed as well as a guy could hope for. Intuitive, loose, just enough tail support and easy to skid sideways and felt very balance tip to tail while skidding sideways. No hook or weirdness. Took a few easy conservative runs and hit few micro spines. 35 degree gravel pit steepness felt optimal for controlled windshield wiper turns and a few jump turns on some non slidey wet compact sand. Pretty stoked; felt like real skiing.

[detrusor]

We used to ski the sand bank on the west above the little Spokane river. Always delivered.

I saw a pair of metal bottomed dynastars back in the day. Perfect sand ski. Anybody holding?


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[Core Shot]

Snowblades
Handle of whiskey
And a saucer on your back

[turnfarmer]

Junkboards
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvBhto8Hfk8

[swissiphic]

Video edit of ground breaking ceremonies.

[mall walker]

lol loving the ridgeline pole mod. surprisingly little base damage it looked like too?

[SumJongGuy]

What ski design would be optimal for skiing summer gravel pits?

Rentals!

[turnfarmer]

Props

[Orthoski]

Shaking my head and in awe at the same time - "Shawed"?