I agree and disagree. I agree that some skis "ski longer" or "ski shorter" than their overall length, but I don't agree that you can measure that in any way other than skiing them. Certainly, length of running surface gives some indication when you are on hard snow. For example, 4-5 years ago Head changed their all-mountain skis to have a shorter upturned section in the shovel. This caused a given length to have a running surface a centimeter or two longer.
However, when you are off the trail (on in soft snow even if you are on the trail), the entire length of the ski may be in contact with the snow. Especially the Lotus design (to the extent that Michael can make me understand it), the entire length of the ski is in contact with the powder, and in fact the upturned tip and tail facilitate turns on soft snow by creating the camber associated with a turning ski (while the center section provides the normal decambered section that helps create grip on hard snow).
As far as determining flotation, Michael has posted formula's from Physics Man over on Epic that help calculate ski surface and therefore helps calculate relative flotation for different size skis and skiers and weights. In those formulas, the running length is probably the more accurate number even though the contact surface on hard snow is quite a bit less.
Home
Login
Register