My Footprint series - Shaping a New Relationship to Skiing

Series intro: The “My Footprint” series shares the stories of Patagonia friends and employees who have been inspired by The Footprint Chronicles, and whose inspiring lives help fuel the vision of what we can do as a company.

Their stories are offered here, glimpses of individual footprints spotted along the path toward positive change. We invite you to enjoy these personal accounts, and share your own in the Comments section included with these posts.
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There's a side to skiing in the United States that many American skiers would just as soon not talk about. For all of its inspiring outdoor elements, the industry as we know it is uniquely dependent upon increasingly limited resources. All too often, those resources tie this mountain-inspired population back to petroleum dependence.

With the vast majority of the U.S.'s destination resorts located in remote areas under-served by mass transit, very few of us are fortunate enough to be able to reach a ski resort without use of a combustion engine. Those who choose to ski in the backcountry may be able to claim independence from the energy needed to keep the lifts turning, but just like resort skiers, the earn-your-turns crowd relies (for the most part) on vehicles to reach their chosen destinations.

[All photos: Miyazaki/Greenhall collection]

A few years ago, Patagonia employee Yoshiko Miyazaki decided to live a little closer to her dreams. She chose a town where she could live within walking distance of some of the world's best skiing, thereby eliminating the single greatest impact of the sport, the incessant driving to and from the hill. Chamonix's unique topography contributes to another carbon-reducing bonus - the terrain and proximity of amenities (like those fabulous full-service huts sprinkled liberally throughout the stunning alpine terrain) tempts countless skiers to leave lift lines behind.

Having eliminated two of the largest negative impacts from skiing, Yoshiko's mind was free to contemplate new things. She took note of the waste being generated by the restaurant where she worked. Soon, the used cooking oil was going home with her to be converted for use in a friend's car. Next, the pallets upon which the restaurant's deliveries arrived followed her back to her small apartment, the wood with which they were built facing an exciting second life.

With the help of her friend, Tom Greenhall (founder of Idris Skis), Yoshiko explored the process of using reclaimed wood to shape custom boards. The skis' versatile all-mountain design has already laid claim to impressive results. At a time when factory-made skis from large manufacturers are being built to last a total of 50 - 60 skier days, Yoshiko's proud to note that the skis she built in her kitchen from reclaimed materials have absorbed 350 days of use with no discernible reduction in performance.

 

Gathering raw materials for the next round of locally made powder boards.

Idris founder Tom Greenhall gets ready to haul away another load of reclaimed source material.


Like any project using reclaimed materials, a major part of the labor involved goes toward making sure the wood is as clean as possible and free of cracks or defects.


Once laminated and planed, the wood core is shaped and readied for bending of the tips. Here, Yoshiko's balcony in Chamonix provides a welcome alternative to the kitchen workshop.


And it's back to the kitchen for the finer cuts once the cores have been laid up with the top sheet and base materials.


Almost there . . . back out to the balcony for critical edge work.

At last. Deep pow is made all the more enjoyable when savored with hand-crafted goodness.

UPDATE: Yoshiko's currently away taking an AMGA exam, but we managed to get a hold of a couple more photos of the skis being put to use - these shots provide a better idea of what the finished product looks like. Yoshiko's also provided this link to an online photo gallery.

Comments

[Billy]

This is GREAT! Took a piece of driftwood from Pierpont, mounted a set of trucks with low-duro wheels, slapped on some grip tape and carved 20 minutes down Old San Marcos Pass in Santa Barbara (2,225ft) using a SPORTING-SAIL. “Resourcing to remade” is both rewarding and fun!

Keep up the good work!

[twosevens]

how do the skis ride? vibration?

[JB]

Fantastic. What did you use for a ski press? That is always the thing that stops me from taking on this project. Is there a simple alternative to the fire hose method? Love it!

[tom linton]

Most excellent indeed. Might get Patagonia ski adventuress, Alison Gannet, to weigh in on this matter. She could really put those kitchen boards through some paces. Alison?

[CM]

uhm,dudes-dudettes, that is pretty amazing. I'm blown away that they are making SKIs...I guess back in the day they were made by hand. Amazing how we loose touch with working with our hands. Love the DIY ethos. Inspiring and punk as f...!

[Scott]

pretty sweet...not only living in cham to ski, but using recycled materials to build your gear. as for the driving, that's why us backcountry skiers have it (ethically) good!

[TW]

hand made skis! That is truly amazing. Any future plans to build some boards?

It's nice to see somebody taking a conscious approach to the habit of skiing. Too often we forget that the majority of runs are produced by tearing down thousands and thousands of trees so terrain can be accessed below tree lines.

[Brendan Donczyk]

see: skibuilders dot com. A good buddy from Boseman has had great results and now understands his skis and skiing at a much deeper level. Takes some skill... maybe not a good first d.i.y. project (he is a consummate maker), but for those who have worked with their hands... I've not tried it myself... but we used to strip, reshape and re-glass surfboards all the time as kids, so I understand the joy of riding the product of your own hands. Cheers to including reclaimed/diverted materials!

[Yannick]

Nice skis!

I found 333skis.com last week, sounds crazy as well (information on this website have to be confirmed by local crew)...

Have fun, hope to meet you around Chamonix.

[Yoshiko]

Hello everyone. The skis have worked well and had fun runs in some big and short back country tours. One has mentioned what Alison thinks of the skis. She likes it, and enjoyed the ride on the one's I've built 3 seasons ago, and like to try some more in the future. I'm yet to try the replacement wide ski I made the season gone past, and my partner will see how the telemark ski I made will work out this season coming. People are still skiing and the most challenging line has been done recently in Chamonix (CHX). but I'll be on rock, snow and ice now climbing.

Another mentioned what to use other than a fire hose method. You could use a vacuum method and make sure there are no leaks, simply put, but more information is available on the posts myself and Tom have put up in the past on Skibuilders.com. The main guy behind skibuilders is based in Reno and has our equipment as far as I know, if interested to see. Easy to make the set up and little space taken up.

Many people around the world build and experiment making their own skis and boards. It's all a very rewarding experience and appreciate the skis and ride more.

As for the ride of the ski, due to being lightweight, it gets jittery in high speed and hard underfoot. On glacier, it takes a bit of getting used to. On alpine ski tours, or big days out, the weight is great.
You can make it stiffer by making the core thicker, than putting more glass in making it more expensive, and heavier (it absorbs more resin). We're experimenting on Hemp material. I'm hoping to make an approach ski and put on bindings to take mountaineering boots. It should come in handy in CHX. Hand made skis are a series of trial and error. You make different skis to suite different conditions in particular, but you can still ski anything happily once you get to know the skis. Riding commercial beefy skis (metal in it etc.) will feel easy and pretty cool too. You can push your limits a little more and charge as well. DIY skis feels earthy, and can still take them on challenging runs, and charge with friends. It's just different.

High pressure is in after some so-so to bad weather in CHX, so I would be out in the mountains for a few days.

All the best and thanks for all the comments!

Y