SPACE SKIS

Prior to heading off to college, I knew the time that I would be spending at my parent's house (and thereby, the ski building equipment) was going to become limited in the near future. As a capstone for my time ski building, I did something that I hadn't yet done in the several years that Alchemy had existed--built a pair of skis for my own personal use. 

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I combined everything I had learned about ski design and the ski building process to create the skis. I knew that I wanted these skis to be more "playful" and be able to rip groomed runs while also being a blast on powder days. With this in mind, I designed the side profile and silhouette around characteristics I knew I preferred after skiing for 16 years.

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For materials selection, I wanted the skis to be forgiving but still somewhat aggressive. I selected a core of white maple and poplar, then used a combination of triaxial woven 22k fiberglass and carbon fiber tow to give the skis torsional and longitudinal stiffness.

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Finally, for the graphics, I had to express my passion for astronomy and physics by using the famous Hubble image, "The Pillars of Creation" in the Eagle Nebula. I had the image custom sublimated onto a nylon sheet to include on my ski layup.

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The skis ended up being exactly what I wanted--so much so that I stopped using any other skis I owned. To this day, 8 years later, these are still my favorite skis to take on the mountain. With the moniker "Handbuilt in a Garage in Park City, UT" printed on the tails of the skis, I'll always feel proud of my accomplishments and desire to learn more whenever riding these.