A ski is a thin, flat-bottomed device attached by means of bindings to the skier's boots, with a slightly upturned, pointed front end to avoid digging into the snow.
Several types of skis exist, all designed for use different situations.
- Downhill ski[?]. The skis are svaged to promote easy turning. The ski binding anchors the foot firmly to the ski at heel and toe. It is spring-loaded, detaching the ski from the foot in case excessive force is applied..
- Alpine skitouring ski[?]. This type of ski is ususally a light-weight downhill ski with a alpine touring binding.
- Telemark ski. A downhill ski, where the binding attaches only at the toe.
- Cross-country ski. These skis are very light and narrow, and usually with quite straight edges. The bindings attach at the toes only. They are usually coated with wax to reduce friction during forward motion, but also adhesion. Some models may have patterns on the bottom to increase the friction when the ski slides backward.
- Skis for Cross-country free range skiing[?] which are designed for skiing on unbroken snow, where an established track is lacking. These are characteristically wery wide, and with cable bindings to better extract ones foot from deep snowbanks, when it is impossible to reach the bindings by hand. This is also the model used by military forces trained to fight in winter conditions.
- Skis for ski jumping. Long and wide skis, which bindings attaching at the toe.
See also: Alpine skiing, Ski jumping, Slalom skiing, List of ski areas
Ski is also a town in Norway, see
Ski, Norway