Waterskiing with no rope?

[454SS]

I was just really bored today and typed in waterskiing in wikipedia. At the bottom of the page there was a link to related sports I noticed one that I had never come across, skwal. It was invented a while ago I guess but its basically a wider snow ski with bindings mounted like a waterski. Was wondering if maybe anyone had heard of this before?

 

I found a video on Youtube for anyone interested

*Disclaimer really annoying music

 

[RichardDoane]

You're correct, that is annoying music, but that guy carves some pretty good turns.

[lagdawg]

Actually it's not just a hard boot snow board (alpine board). It is completely different and the boots are in a different orientation the same as on a slalom ski. Plus the board/ski itself is much narrower than even a standard alpine snowboard.

 

http://www.skwal.org

 

The site is in French or some other language but there are pictures that show the position of the boots etc.

[454SS]

Brent I did know of carving boards but being a softboot snowboarder myself never really paid attention to the binding setup carving boards and therefore didn't realize that their stance differed from a more traditional snowboard stance. However as lagdawg suggested above I think that they are using even narrower boards than a carving board. And several pictures I have seen of the binding setup makes them seem different than what a carving board would be. You can call it whatever you want to I just call it cool because its probably the closest you can get to water skiing without the water or the rope.

[auskier]

anyone know of the snow sport that is like slalom but instead of gates and poles they use a small semi circle (similar to a buoy) type shape on the snow?

i saw it in a euro ski mag a few years ago. looked very waterski like also.

[Hayden]

Yes, if you go to a site that sells the Skwal you will see that the bindings are placed one in front of the other in a straight line exactly like a water ski, the carving boards are basically a longer snow board with the bindings canted like a snow board just not as much as a short snowboard

[Thomas Wayne]

A small point: this sport is not "water skiing without the water".  There's water, it's just really cold water.

TW<---- willing to become combative on this water/no water issue

[Hayden]

A skwal is the main piece of equipment used for skwalling, a hybrid sport combining the carving of Skiing and riding feel of snowboarding. It is similar to a snowboard or monoski in that both feet are attached to the same board. On a skwal the feet are one in front of the other, in line with the direction the skwal is pointing in. This differs from snowboards (in which the feet are side-on to the direction of the board) and monoskis (in which the feet point in the direction of the board, but are side-by-side).

The skwal was invented by two French ski-school instructors Patrick "Thias" Balmain and Manuel Jammes, with the first prototype appearing in 1992. They envisaged it as a way to offer different sensations to what skiing and snowboarding could offer, at a time when 'carving' skis were only just starting to take off. A French company called Lacroix took an interest, recruited Patrick Balmain, and started producing skwals. A few years later, Patrick left Lacroix and started his own skwal-making company. There are now several other makers of skwals, though the sport has never gained the widespread popularity its creators predicted - possibly due to the perceived difficulty of the sport. The sport is nonetheless gathering a few more adepts every year.

[lagdawg]

Brent,

 

As a lifelong snowskier, snowboarder, telemark skier who just happens to water ski in the summer, yes I have seen plenty of alpine boards. Not once have I ever seen them with their bindings oriented so that their feet are both facing straight forward on the board. Only one of the boards on the site that you listed even has a width less than 19cm (18.8cm). The Skwal boards on the other hand are all between 11.2 - 12.5 cm with the exception of one wide board at 14.7cm. I doubt any of these boards would even accommadate the bindings turned from center without causing drag from the boots. While I'm sure they are probably using a hardboot binding and boot setup the board itself is quite a bit narrower than any alpine board I have every seen. More like a wide powder ski with more side cut than an alpine board.

[eleeski]

Groomers - Phhttt. Where is the powder? Or the cliff hucking? Or the fast race turns? Or for real fun big steep bumps!

Note that the photographer seemed to be on two skis.

I mounted my first snowboard trick ski style. Maybe that's why I can't snowboard very well now.

BTW, Goode makes some excellent snow skis! Sweet for powder and bumps. And mine have held up reasonably well - three seasons of Squaw valley bumps which is better than my K2s used to go. The velcro bindings are a bit of a pain....

Eric

TW, what's your take on the methane lakes on Titan? Skiable?

[Thomas Wayne]

Methane lakes on Titan?  Totally skiable... just be sure to take your O2 supply and remember, no smoking.

TW

[Bill Gladding]

Convert your MPI motor to run on methane and you'll save a bunch on gas although I think the payback is going to be out on the horizon a ways after the rocket ride charges show up on your credit card!

[ski6jones]

Forget your ski and shape the bottom of your sequence plate.  Gravity at 1/10th earth you'll have a hard time turning on a 68".  Maybe a dry suit able to withstand 5+ atmospheres will make up for lower skier weight.

On the other hand, Dude, you'd make a totally awesome (methane) spray!!!! (I think)

[thager]

MS already does that on this planet!!!