I have only been skiing for about 3years now and I fell in love with backcountry skiing the winter before last and ever since then it has been my passion. I've sort of become obsessed with advancing not only my skill on my skis but also my technical knowledge, less than a year ago I learned how to wax skis for the first time and now I'm building them. This has been an amazing experience.
The goal for this pair of skis was to make something that I could slash through the trees in pow and ride switch through deep snow as well. I have a pair of prophet 130's but over the course of this last season I just couldn't come to love. They were too cumbersome, they didnt turn or flex like I wanted and they didn't ski switch well. I'm also convinced that for the snow here in alaska you don't need a ski that fat because the snow is pretty dense. I came up with a symmetrical design with rocker at the tip and tails. I tried to implement a little bit of reverse sidecut at the tip and tails as well. Its a little bit out there for a first design but I figured why not, its what I want to ski so It's what I'll try to make first. They will be called the Dirty Dogs.
The core is made of ash, I wasn't quite ready to mix and match woods yet so I went with ash.
The press was made of 1.5inch square tubing 1/8in wall thickness, first thing I've ever welded, I was shown how to do it and then let loose in the shop to work on my own, again I've learned so much from this project.
I bought some discharge house from a supply store in town that is supposedly good for up to 70psi, its kind of awkwardly too large so its cumbersome when uninflated.
The sandwhich is pretty standard:
Base
Edges
VDS Rubber
19oz triaxial fiberglass
Ash Core
19oz triaxial fiberglass
Graphic
Clear ptex topsheet
Gonna use QCM epoxy/hardener. Stuff was stupid expensive to get shipped to Alaska, hoping to find a cheaper source of epoxy once I use all of this stuff.
We tried to do a dry run today and a few things went wrong that I posted about in the equipment forum:
viewtopic.php?t=2478
Hopefully I can get it sorted out and lay these skis up before I have to go back to school soon, time will be hard to come by then.
Here's some pics of me from valdez this past winter and of what I hope to be doing with the Dirty Dogs this winter.
