The most influential skis were snowboards 
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Sponsored 11 Most Influential Skis of All Time
- Thread starter SkiEssentials
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You have to be kidding, but since you are a skateboard guy I guess you are not.The most influential skis were snowboards
One thing to consider about influential skis is what ski has helped skiers become skiers. So maybe one ski that helped skiers and the industry itself is the Elan GLM rental ski from the 1970's. It combined with the Cliff Taylor training of starting with 100 CM and progressively moving up to 150 CM. Those Elan GLM skis got more people skiing and they did it faster than any other ski. That is more influential than most of the skis on the list.
Andy Mink
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There's something to be said about this. Would we have the shapes we have today without snowboards? Or would we be 15-20 years behind where we are now?The most influential skis were snowboards
I think one of the original Elan designers of the shaped ski mentioned exactly this on a podcast I listened to.
Yes, from 1950-1970 several important skis and designs came along which paved the way for some of the skis of today.
I believe you really have to start with the Head Standard aluminum sandwich (pressure bonded aluminum with a plywood core) (at one point in the '60s it held over 50% of the US ski market.) '67s Head 360, based on the competition ski; but with a flex suitable for a recreational skier was one of the best selling skis ever (my elder siblings skied them.) The Rossignol Strato 102, fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP construction) brough home Olympic Gold in '68. The Dynamic VR17 of Jean-Claude Killy fame with torsion-box construction. The multi-world champion winning Dynastar MV2, with the infamous Omeglass rib construction that was utilized in various ways in future Dynastar skis. K2 with the wet wrap fiberglass construction ski (it is the foundation of todays Triaxial technology) was a game changer. Founded in '62, the company became K2 in '67 and had the successful Holiday ski-the first successful mass produced fiberglass ski, and in '69 Marilyn Cochran became the first American to win a World Cup title, and it was done on a pair of K2 racing skis. Kneissl-the first to use sandwich construction in 1960, also first in colored skis. Hexcel (the Comp in 200cm is one of my all-time favorite skis-I still own a pair of the Primer Cord [195]) The ski company formed in '71 using aircraft technology aluminum honeycomb core were also quickly making race quality skis. I'm sure there are some others; but these skis/ski companies take you through some of the major innovations in construction from the 1950s to the end of the 1970s.
Things like type of wood used, direction of laminations, tip and tail rocker, ski width, ski length newer materials like Titanal alloy, carbon, Kevlar, and other high strength materials, cap construction, cracked edges (used on some of the skis listed) sidewall construction and materials, variations in sidecut changes-shaped skis, PTEX bases, sintered bases, have played a part in the various innovations of the last 50 years.
I was out of skiing from the late 1990's until 2014. In the '80s and '90s I was quite happy with my Hexel Comps (200) and then my Dynastar Omeglass II Equipe (203) skis, I was not in a financial position to purchase new technology, and besides, these skis were wicked good! I was oblivious to advancements like the Elan SCX parabolic design, the Salomon Teneighty twin tip, the Volant Spatula with rocker, (all skis I still really know nothing about beyond the introduction of these elements of tech-sidecut, twin tip and rocker) and other brilliant new bits of the puzzle.
In 2014 a buddy got me out on a pair of Rossignol S7's, after an embarrassing learning curve I started to get the hang of things by later in the day. I purchased a pair of Nordica Enforcer 100 demo skis, and am back in the game again, so will leave it to others to spell out some of the major tech changes I have missed from 1980 to 2015.
Maybe article is too old, list on link seems to be missing.
That is a good summary of the improvement from the 60's - 80's. I owned a pair of Hexcel Comps in 200 CM back in the mid 70's and loved that ski. I never had the opportunity to ski the Dynastar skis but I knew a few guys that skied the GS model and I had difficulty keeping up with those speeds but probably because I was on a SL ski and they were on GS skis. The Head 360 was a fine ski, soft enough to enjoy. I did own a Rossi 102 but it wasn't my favorite skis because it was stiffer than I like but still a good ski. The Dynamic VR 17 was a great ski and I still owe a VR 27 SL in a 195 CM. Some of the others I don't have much knowledge of because I was not able to ski them and the shops I worked didn't sell them.
KARVER
I'm going to keep beating this horse. Before the Olin Mark IV Comp how many mainstream mass produced skis were 70mm or wider under foot?
Twin, and much wider than previous offerings..
Oh, it most certainly was. Heck, there's a pair of Olin Extreme Comps sitting next to my desk and a Mark IV just around the corner. The Mark IV, however, didn't kick-start mass-produced twin tip skis like the 1080 did. There were some borderline angry employees over not including Olin!
I'm going to keep beating this horse. Before the Olin Mark IV Comp how many mainstream mass produced skis were 70mm or wider under foot?
Twin, and much wider than previous offerings..
After all it is April 1.KARVER
It surprised me too but the VR17 that I skied were softer than the 102's I skied. Now ski flex does vary some , but the 102's were probably the stiffest ski I have ever skied.
They're planks.... frigg'in stiff as heck.
Yes, I had a 200CM and I was 155 LBS. Not heavy enough to get them to flex as they should.
There could be huge stiffness differences between skis of the same model on a ski wall. The flex ratings on the old VR's were about the only one that I can remember even being marked. It was not unusual for a manufacturer to build a racing ski that crossed over several different disciplines and they would leave it to the buyer to choose the pair of choice by length and stiffness.
Spent many an hour flexing skis and looking for the right matched pair. Did it make a difference? Who knows? That was how it was done though.
Bases on low cost wood skis in the 60's were so bad and not durable, that I bought a pair of Harts with an aluminum oxide base. Didn't realize until later that they wouldn't hold wax, especially a problem in the spring.
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They might have been ok for sand skiing.
Do a paper test?
Hard to say; but excellent question Andy, if the "shaped skis" of the 90's starting with the Salomon 1080 would have been a thing w/o snowboard tech. I mean 60 years ago they already knew about different sidecuts for SL and GS skis, and just how much difference it made. Twin tip, well my Olin Mark IV had a slightly turned up tail and no base groove to facilitate skiing backwards, spinning and doing ballet moves more easily. Then in '76 Hart made the Ballet which also had a twin-tip and no base groove, and many more companies followed suit shortly after. The Miller Soft was "wide" at 82 under foot considerably wider than the 66-68 standard of the day. The Miller was designed as a powder specific ski, it had a very soft flex pattern compared to the other recreational skis around. The Hexcel HDS-1 was a split tail, many of the short freestyle skis (160-180) of the mid-70's had slightly wider widths (70-77) and deeper side cuts than was the norm on other recreational and racing platforms. They were playing around with length, sidecut, flex patterns, weight and much more.
I'm not saying things haven't changed dramatically, nor that snowboard tech didn't have an effect on ski tech. I'm pointing out that much of the current tech has been fiddled with some before with success, and this was long before anyone had heard of a snowboard.
Did those "wide" short skis "freestyle of the 70's handle like todays "narrow", short carving skis of similar sizing. No. They were made for different purposes, had completely different flex patterns. Racing (carving skis) back then were often stiff and skied in lengths typically 200-210 cm. A 190-195, although available in most major brands, were considered short for a SL or GS cut ski. There were always new innovations, materials, construction methods etc.
Actually, yeah it did. Most were marketed as "Ballet" skis though. By 1976 along with Olin there were the Atomic Trick, Hart Ballet, K2 244 Ballet, Rossignol Ballet, Sarner Daffy to name a few.Oh, it most certainly was. Heck, there's a pair of Olin Extreme Comps sitting next to my desk and a Mark IV just around the corner. The Mark IV, however, didn't kick-start mass-produced twin tip skis like the 1080 did. There were some borderline angry employees over not including Olin!