Wood One of the most basic building materials known to humans, wood is the foundation of skis and snowboards. This versatile, beautiful material was used for the first skis. The legendary Austrian pioneer of downhill skiing, Arnold Lund, perfected the first alpine turns with skis made of wood. The first snowboard — the Snurfer — developed by Sherman Poppen in 1966, was made of wood, and Jake Burton used wood prototypes to refine his snowboard designs, designs that would eventually give birth to one of the largest brands in action sports, Burton Snowboards.
Today, wood remains an integral part of modern ski and snowboard construction. The best skis and boards use a laminated “sandwich” construction, where vertically laminated wood is sandwiched between layers of fiberglass, epoxy and other materials, such as the plastic topsheet and bottom p-tex layer, to build the end product. And, despite experiments with manufactured materials such as foam to replace wood cores for skis and snowboards, wood remains the industry standard.
But while wood has a long and illustrious history in skiing, the material has been largely abandoned for us in the most visible part — the top — of a ski or snowboard. Modern plastics have proven extremely durable and, perhaps most importantly, inexpensive, and the vast majority of commercially available skis or snowboards feature that technology. However, over the past 10 years this has started to change as a new generation of boutique snowboard and ski manufacturers have rediscovered both the beauty and versatility of wood and have begun to incorporate the material into the topsheet of their products, creating skis and snowboards that have the rich historical patina of the skis of yesterday but perform like the modern tools that they are.
Two of the leaders of this revolution are Colorado-based brands ScottyBob and Ski Logiks. Another Colorado company, Wagner (featured in the Oct. 22, 2009, issue of Boulder Weekly), doesn’t use wood for its topsheets normally, but because the company only makes custom skis, it’s possible to order this material as an option. These brands are part of a growing trend that’s gone global. Igneous Skis, located in Jackson Hole, Wyo., has been creating custom skis
(and snowboards), many of which have wood topsheets, for a rabid local
following for more than 15 years. Igneous is joined by Arbor Snowboards,
which has focused exclusively on wood topsheets since the brand’s
inception in 1995, and Rabbit On The Roof, an obscure French company
which makes both skis and snowboards and is the brainchild of Peter
Steltzner, an American cabinetmaker and woodworker who loved skiing and
decided to see if he could create skis and snowboards (and monoskis,
too!), as well as custom cabinetry.
Rabbit
On The Roof is emblematic of the new movement towards creating wood
masterpieces that also stand up to abuse on the mountain. Steltzner
handcrafts fewer than 100 skis per year. But while his topsheets are
wood, they hide high-tech guts underneath, including Kevlar, fiberglass
and carbon. And the company’s name? Steltzner says it comes from a
rabbit that lived in the rafters of his French workshop, inspiring and
irritating the California transplant.
Launched
in 1995, Arbor Snowboards also focuses on wood. The company was an
early adopter of green construction, using koa, maple and bolivar woods,
as well as bamboo, in its board construction. Their award-winning
snowboards sparked diversification, with the company now building wood
skateboards as well. These “longboards” are available, as are the
brand’s snowboards, in Boulder at Satellite Boardshop.
Against
this backdrop, the success of Colorado brands ScottyBob and Ski Logiks
shouldn’t be surprising. Only one year old, Ski Logik is based out of
Breckenridge and is quickly gaining a reputation for manufacturing
high-quality products that perform well and look fantastic, with the
brand’s Howitzer model winning accolades from Freeskier Magazine.
“We were fortunate to get some really strong reviews that helped us,” says Jeb Marsh
concedes that it’s tempting for some to dismiss the brand, due to the
fact that all of the company’s seven models for 2010 look like pieces of
art that would best be hanging above the fireplace in a ritzy ski
lodge.
“The
artistic top brings people in,” concedes Marsh. “But once they see the
reviews and ski the ski, they realize that it’s not just a pretty face.”
Marsh
and Ski Logik co-founder David Mazzarella have deep Colorado roots.
Both have lived here for decades, and the design and construction of the
skis they make is directly influenced by the mountains. There are no
skinny race skis or carvers. All models are versatile and, like Rabbit
on The Roof, the brand uses high-tech construction and materials under
its lush wood topsheets.
“There
is more labor going into our skis than any others on the market,” says
Mazzarella. “I wanted to pursue the art of ski-making as far as
possible. There are no stains or inks on the topsheets. We hand-bend the
edges out of single pieces of steel, and we’ve also found in testing
that we have a damper ski with wood on top, so putting the wood on top
creates something magical.”
Mazzarella admits, though, that “if the skis just looked nice and didn’t perform, then we’d have nothing.”
Performance
is also at the center of the ScottyBob brand. With a focus on
asymmetrical telemark skis, ScottyBob is based in Silverton, a town that
is becoming a touchstone of Colorado ski culture in part because of
Silverton Mountain, an untamed ski area with one chairlift, no grooming
or beginner runs and some of the steepest skiing in North America. While
the company does make three different
models of alpine skis, it’s the brand’s funky telemark skis that have
served ScottyBob well. It doesn’t hurt that the skis look different, and
we’re not just talking about the rich patina of a Koa wood topsheet
(which is beautiful), but also the wild shape of ScottyBob’s
asymmetrical designs.
But
do they work? Customers who have bought them rave about the design and
performance of the skis, developed by ScottyBob Carlson in the late
’90s.
“A
mind-blowing ski,” “a revelation” and “light and nimble underfoot and
easy to turn” are a few of the accolades that have been bestowed on the
product. And, like many of the manufacturers featured here, ScottyBob
hand-crafts the skis, doing much of the work himself.
While
you have to make the trip to Silverton to try a pair of ScottyBobs (or
trust in faith and order some directly from the company via its
website), you can check out Ski Logik’s offerings locally at Golden’s
Bent Gate Mountaineering or at Boulder’s Christy Sports on 30th Street.
For brands like Igneous, you’ll have to look harder. And to try some of
Peter Steltzner’s creations, it’s best to show up in La Grave, France,
the first week of April, when Rabbit On The Roof hosts demos in
conjunction with that ski area’s legendary Derby de la Meije ski race.
But
regardless of what you end up skiing on, it’s worth listening to Ski
Logik’s Mazzarella. A veteran skier and ski designer, he has a simple
take on the new generation of skis that feature wood as the most visible
material.
“Skis
were invented thousands of years ago,” says Mazzarella. “And they have
always been carved from wood. Yeah, there are different processes and
special woods, and there’s always been a lot of hand work in the better
skis. Wood is part of the tradition, and putting wood on the top is
merely carrying on this tradition.”
Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com
Details, details
Arbor Snowboards — arborcollective.com. Available at Satellite Board Shop, 1538 28th St., Boulder.
Igneous — igneousskis.com
ScottyBob — scottybob.com
Ski Logik — skilogik.com.
Available
at Bent Gate Mountaineering, 1313 Washington Ave., Golden. and Christy
Sports, 2000 30th St., Boulder, christysports.com
Rabbit On The Roof — rabbitontheroof.com Marsh, Ski Logik’s vice president of distribution.
