Etymology and usage[edit]

The word ski comes from the Old Norse word skíð which means "cleft wood",[1] "stick of wood" or "ski".[2] In Old Norse
common phrases describing skiing were fara á skíðum (to travel, move fast on skis), renna (to move swiftly) and skríða á
skíðum (to stride on skis).[3] In modern Norwegian the word ski has largely retained the Old Norse meaning in words for
split firewood, wood building materials (such as bargeboards) and roundpole fence.[4][5][6] In Norwegian this word is usually
pronounced [ˈʂiː]. In Swedish, another language evolved from Old Norse, the word is skidor (plural, pronounced [ˈɧîːdʊr]).
English and French use the original Norwegian spelling ski, and modify the pronunciation. Prior to 1920, English usage
of skee and snow-shoe was often seen.[7] In Italian, it is pronounced similarly to Norwegian, but the spelling is modified
accordingly: sci [ˈʃi]. Portuguese and Spanish adapt the word to their linguistic rules: esqui and esquí. In German,
spellings Ski and Schi are in use, both pronounced [ˈʃiː]. In Dutch, the word is ski and the pronunciation was
originally [ˈʃiː] as in Norwegian, but since approximately the 1960s changed to [ˈskiː]. In Welsh the word is spelled sgi.
[1]
 Many languages make a verb form out of the noun, such as to ski in English, skier in French, esquiar in Spanish and
Portuguese, sciare in Italian, skiën in Dutch, or Schi laufen or Schi fahren (as above also Ski laufen or Ski fahren) in
German.[citation needed] Norwegian and Swedish do not form a verb from the noun.[6]
Finnish has its own ancient words for skis and skiing: "ski" is suksi and "skiing" is hiihtää. The word suksi goes back to
the Proto-Uralic period, with cognates such as Erzya soks, Mansi tåut and Nganasan tuta.[8] The Sami also have their own
words for "skis" and "skiing": for example, the Lule Sami word for "ski" is sabek and skis are called sabega. The Sami
use cuoigat for the verb "to ski" (the term may date back to 10,000 years before present).[9][10]

History[edit]
Further information:  History of skiing

The oldest wooden skis found were in Russia (c. 6300–5000 BCE), Sweden (c. 5200 BCE) and Norway (c. 3200 BCE)
respectively.[11]
Nordic ski technology was adapted during the early 20th century to enable skiers to turn at higher speeds. New ski
and ski binding designs, coupled with the introduction of ski lifts to carry skiers up slopes, enabled the development of
alpine skis. Meanwhile, advances in technology in the Nordic camp allowed for the development of special skis for skating
and ski jumping.

Asymmetrical skis[edit]
Asymmetrical skis used by the Danish-Norwegian army in the 18th Century, long ski for the right leg, also shown in profile (far left). [12]

This type of ski was used at least in northern Finland and Sweden until the 1930s.[9] On one leg, the skier wore a long
straight non-arching ski for sliding, and on the other a shorter ski for kicking. The bottom of the short ski was either plain
or covered with animal skin to aid this use, while the long ski supporting the weight of the skier was treated with animal fat
in similar manner to modern ski waxing. Early record of this type of skis survives in works of Olaus Magnus.[13] He
associates them to Sami people and gives Sami names of savek and golos for the plain and skinned short ski.
Finnish names for these are lyly and kalhu for long and short ski.[14]

Single long ski[edit]

Wooden skis with cable (kandahar) bindings and bamboo poles

Modern cross-country skis from synthetic materials, with poles and shoes.

Around 1850, artisans in Telemark, Norway, invented the cambered ski. This ski arches up in the middle, under the
binding, which distributes the skier's weight more evenly across the length of the ski. Earlier plank-style skis had to be
thick enough not to bow downward and sink in the snow under the skier’s weight. This new design made it possible to
build a thinner, lighter ski, that flexed more easily to absorb the shock of bumps, and that maneuvered and ran faster and
more easily.[16] The design also included a sidecut that narrowed the ski underfoot while the tip and tail remained wider.
This enabled the ski to flex and turn more easily.[16]
Skis traditionally were hand-carved out of a single piece of hardwood such as Hickory, Birch or Ash. These woods were
used because of their density and ability to handle speed and shock-resistance factors associated with ski racing.
Because of Europe’s dwindling forests, the ability to find quality plank hardwood became difficult, which led to the
invention of the laminated ski.[17] Beginning in 1891, skimakers in Norway began laminating two or more layers of wood
together to make lighter cross country running skis. These evolved into the multi-laminated high-performance skis of the
mid-1930s.[18]
A laminated ski is a ski composed of two different types of wood which are glued together. A top layer of soft wood is
glued to a thin layer under a surface of hardwood. This combination actually created skis which were much lighter and
more maneuverable than the heavy, hardwood skis that preceded them. Although lighter and stronger, laminated skis did
not wear well. The water-soluble glues used at the time failed; warping and splitting along the glue edges (delaminating)
occurred frequently and rapidly. In 1922, a Norwegian skier, Thorbjorn Nordby,[17] developed strong, waterproof glue
which stopped the problem of splitting, therefore developing a much tougher laminated ski. Research and design of
laminated skis rapidly progressed. In 1933, a new design technology was introduced involving an outer hardwood shell
completely encasing an inner layer of lighter wood, successfully eliminating spontaneously splitting glue lines. This early
design eventually evolved into an advanced laminating technique which is referred to today as single-shell casing
technology.
In 1950, Howard Head introduced the Head Standard, constructed by sandwiching aluminum alloy around
a plywood core. The design included steel edges (invented in 1928 in Austria,[16]) and the exterior surfaces were made
of phenol formaldehyde resin which could hold wax. This hugely successful ski was unique at the time, having been
designed for the recreational market rather than for racing.[19] 1962: a fibreglass ski, Kneissl's White Star, was used
by Karl Schranz to win two gold medals at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships.[19] By the late '60s fibreglass had
mostly replaced aluminum.
In 1974, Magne Myrmo became the last world champion (Falun, 15 km cross-country) using wooden skis.[20][21]
In 1975, the torsion box ski construction design is patented.[22] The patent is referenced by Kästle, Salomon, Rottefella,
and Madshus. In 1993 Elan introduced the Elan SCX model, skis with a much wider tip and tail than waist. When tipped
onto their edges, they bend into a curved shape and carve a turn. Cross-country techniques use different styles of turns;
edging is not as important, and skis have little sidecut. For many years, alpine skis were shaped similarly to cross-
country, simply shorter and wider, but the Elan SCX introduced a radial sidecut design that dramatically improved
performance. Other companies quickly followed suit, one Austrian ski designer admitting, "It turns out that everything we
thought we knew for forty years was wrong."[16] Line Skis, the first free-ski focused ski company[23] inspired
the newschool freeskiing movement with its twin-tip ski boards in 1995.[24] The first company to successfully market and
mass-produce a twin-tip ski to ski switch (skiing backwards) was the Salomon Group, with its 1080 ski in 1998.[23][25]

Geometry[edit]
Main article:  Ski geometry

Described in the direction of travel, the front of the ski, typically pointed or rounded, is the tip, the middle is the waist and
the rear is the tail. Skis have four aspects that define their basic performance: length, width, sidecut and camber. Skis
also differ in more minor ways to address certain niche roles. For instance, mogul skis are softer to absorb
shocks, powder skis are wider to provide more float and rocker skis bent upwards (reverse camber) at the tip and tail to
make it easier to turn in deep and heavy snow.