I thought I'd pass this info on to the ski builders of the world.
Over the winter at our Wednesday night race league I met another racer who is a camera man (Dave Fraser) at our local public TV station, WGBY, in Western Mass. Word got around I was racing on hand made skis (sounds better than home-made skis
). He was intrigued by the idea of making skis and didn't know it was possible, and neither did I until I came across this forum. So I showed him the skis, briefly told him the process I went through, told him about www.skibuilders.com. People are really surprised that they are made from wood! It blows their minds.So one thing lead to another and he said he works on a show called "Making It Here" that profiles local businesses, talent, artists, story's of interest, etc. He asked if I'd be interested in filming the making of a ski. I said "Hell Yeah!". So the last few weeks after work, we've been taping segments of ski building, from planing the wood core, layup process, pressing, etc. Yesterday we filmed me skiing on the latest pair. It was a blast! We have 1 more segment to shoot and that's the mounting of the bindings and then an interview part.
He's also working on a story of the history of skiing in Western Mass and may try to work a few shots of ski building into the documentary. We used to have a ton of small ski areas in the 50's, 60's and 70's.
There's no guarantee it will make the show, but he's pretty confident it will work out. They make 11 episodes a season. If the show does make the cut it will air in the fall of 2010. He said they usually post a podcast of the shows on the internet, http://www.wgby.org/localprograms/makin ... sodes.html
So, I plan on plugging skisbuilders big time, Thanks Kam! and I hope it makes the show. Thanks to everyone in the forum for all their advice and for freely posting their ski building experiences, both good and bad.
BTW- Anyone w/ TV experience? I'll try not to look/sound too dumb and keep the ums and ahs to a minimum
I'll keep you posted about the show and let you know if/when it will air.
Here are the skis we used at yesterdays shoot:
Here's the ski that got the ball rolling. I've been racing on it even though it's not a racing design, but it's fun anyway.
