You can see in this video that the interaction of the ski with the snow is much more than just the edge of the ski. I really doubt the fine tuning of the edge matters that much.
I don’t think there is any objective way to settle this debate. I think if you enjoy tuning skis, go for it. I like sharpening knives and tools so I get it. But I don’t bother with my skis.
Edges matter a lot for racing and carving, impossible to learn and progress without tuned skis and propper angles. Like going to ice hockey practice with dull skates, it just doesn't work. Parents obsess over wax at this age but it actually only adds a bit of speed, but boots and edges are critical.
I was going to mention this too; I used to have my hockey skates sharpened regularly, but I don't recall ever needing ski edges sharpened. Waxed, yes. Sharpened, no.
Higher level ski racing uses water injection. They'll hook up the snow making water hoses to a bar that shoots water right into the snow. So it really becomes a 3D hockey rink.
> I really doubt the fine tuning of the edge matters that much.
Try it and see.. Note that when you race, you often do it on watered+salted hills where hundred people have followed the exact same track. Really icy.
It also might be a thing we're you're just not good enough to notice. I don't mean that as a slight, but seriously changing the angle of the edge of a ski is basically like racing a completely different pair. The feel of how it engages can quickly become too aggressive or lax.
Respectfully, this is incorrect. That would be like telling someone who games competitively that their GPU and CPU don't matter. Once you can tell, you can tell.
If you gave a blind test, same exact skis but varied the tuning, most serious racers would be able to tell you what changed after a few turns. Edge or base bevel angles, wax, tuned or de-tuned. I haven't raced in years and I wager I would do pretty well on that test.
It sounds entirely straightforward to do a randomized, blinded test of freshly sharpened vs unsharpened skis. (Okay, the skier can feel the edge or look closely, but a cooperative skier could just not do that for the purpose of the experiment.)
Yes! And coaches will typically pull the kids from training if they show up dull. They'll go in the race shack and tune their edges and visually improve to all after fixing them.
You could also sharpen just one edge of each ski (opposite edges across the pair), then put the skis on random feet. Then see if they can tell which edges are sharp! Most of a typical skier’s weight is supported by the inside edge of the downhill ski while carving.
Youth racers tend to ski with one set of edges on the inside for training, and the other edges inside for racing (under the theory that the inside edges take more of a beating. Who knows if that is accurate). If you ever see youth racers on slalom skis (which are chiral, since they have tips that deflect ski gates), you’ll often notice that the skis are on the “wrong” foot.
True enough at younger levels but as you move up in age and skill, the weight distribution between the downhill and uphill ski gets closer to 50/50. What you're saying has a kernel of truth and young skiers are still taught downhill ski as a fundamental but shaped skis have really changed the game on this.
No, you never weight each ski evenly. Former WC mogul skier here and even in moguls there's a slight difference in weight on each ski in a turn. Shaped hour glass skis make it easy to turn but you still need more weight on the outside downhill ski.
Also, that's awesome that you competed WC moguls. I probably saw you compete depending on when you were active, and we almost definitely know some of the same people.
Oh boy, yeah pretty old :) There is one person I know (but not very well) who you likely encountered (Canadian, in fact) but they didn't make it to the WC until 94 I believe.
In a race, my kids race edge is marked on each ski and he only has those two edges close to his big toes on his race runs. If you don't ski, your a genius if you can figure out how and why this would work I'd imagine.
I used to paint an arrow pointing to the left on one ski and the right on the other. Then I would for instance ski <--> during the day, and -><- during the race.
I don’t think there is any objective way to settle this debate. I think if you enjoy tuning skis, go for it. I like sharpening knives and tools so I get it. But I don’t bother with my skis.