Ski Builders Forum

What are your thoughts about what makes a large/small sweet spot?

I want to build a BC powder specific ski with lots of energy but still have a forgiving/large "sweet spot". My Design has a long, gently curved tip to maximize ski floatation (tip radius is about 500mm) and rises almost 95mm to make breaking trail less of a chore. I would have 16mm of camber for pop but I would keep the ski very soft to be able to flex that camber out during the turn.

My understanding of a sweet spot is how forgiving it is to having your weight either forward or back of center. Is this right? If not, please set me straight.

-looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

I think the sweet spot is a function of the stiffness of and flex pattern of the ski. My skis with the small sweet spot are very stiff and have a long mount area. I don’t have the SS here to look it up, but I think the mount area was 450 mm long. Most of the skis I have looked at have short 300 mm and less mount areas. My soft skis are very forgiving. When you get caught in the “chair” its easy to recover and get back over the ski. I think that is why everyone that has tried them has likes them. They are very easy to ski and seem to handle most of the conditions we get here really well.

If you get over to powder mountain you can give them a try your self and see the difference. Give a shout here and I’ll let you know when we’re up there. BTW, everything I have mounted at the moment are set up for tele. I plan to set up the stiffer pair with alpine this year just to see how they go.

Hafte