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June, 2025

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Pow hydro-foil?

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buchanan.
Posts: 1911 - Karma: 156
has it ever been done? if not, ya think its possible?
18 years ago
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weird*cahsier
Posts: 49 - Karma: 10
i was just thinking about that today, with the right snow conditions I don't see why it couldn't be done.
18 years ago
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RudyGarmisch
Posts: 25444 - Karma: 13,856
I've toyed with the idea. Easiest way to try it would be to mount a pair of skis under two snowboards... but I dont think it would work. Hyrdofoils main advantage is speed, and honestly, the drag created by something going through powder submerged would just be beyond what you could already achieve with just normal skis. Plus, it would be a pure deep pow thing only, and any variation in snow conditions underski would be death.
18 years ago
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InitialG
Posts: 1505 - Karma: 14
that would suck so bad if you hit hardpack

probably wouldn't work as well for snow either, it just isn't the same as water
18 years ago
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buchanan.
Posts: 1911 - Karma: 156
the main thing im wondering is if pow would be thick enough to hold you up
18 years ago
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InitialG
Posts: 1505 - Karma: 14
the conditions would have to be perfect and the snow would have to be really deep, if the foil hit anything it would fuck you up so bad, plus you wouldn't be able to get started on anything but a really steep face since you basically have 2 anchors attached to your feet.
18 years ago
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RudyGarmisch
Posts: 25444 - Karma: 13,856
Well, it would depend on the surface area of the foil... but wide skis would work just fine.
18 years ago
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Pipe_Munky
Posts: 10888 - Karma: 2,185
won't work. too much air in the snow so that translates into not enough resistance under the foil



18 years ago
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twix_182
Posts: 9248 - Karma: 27
best icon ever
18 years ago
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SkiFreshPow
Posts: 233 - Karma: 335
hey snow is water
15 years ago
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PartyHon
Posts: 2019 - Karma: 425
no way!?!?!?! really??? then why is it white??



















seriously though i can see further complications in the design. but what if it could be lowered or unfolded from the base?
15 years ago
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FUUUCK
Posts: 18426 - Karma: 4,899
physically no
15 years ago
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FM3
Posts: 207 - Karma: 19
Wide open field, deep pow and a bigass sled and I bet you could make it work. Or get a sled to start you on a mtn. There's no way the snow offers enough resistance against gravity for you to get up to speed under your own power.
15 years ago
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CHARLES.BRONSON
Posts: 3123 - Karma: 231
lol
15 years ago
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Phormat
Posts: 774 - Karma: 20
What about having skis where the rockered sections would have a curved surface? That way you could still have a flat portion underneath on harder snow, but in blower conditions you are basically floating like a boat hull. Maybe the properties of snow vs. water would likely make it unnecessary. It has just been a thought of mine. I feel that it would prevent tip dive better.
15 years ago
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Phormat
Posts: 774 - Karma: 20
And by curved i mean laterally. It would be a pain in the ass to make I am sure.
15 years ago
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DrZoidberg
Posts: 5676 - Karma: 4,297
Like a planing hull type thing, or the shape of a surfboard on the bottom? Didn't some ski at some point have a very mild shape like that so it would literally roll from edge to edge? But if that were taken further I wonder how that would ski in pow. They would have to be very wide.
15 years ago
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jason...
Posts: 9006 - Karma: 780
go back to school max
15 years ago
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BodaginRep
Posts: 56 - Karma: 13
Fischer a couple years ago made a set of big big powder skis that each had a small skeg in the tail. not quite a foil, but if you had an old set of powder skis you could probably drill some water ski skeg WITH a brake/foil into the tails, kind of hard to explain, but if you water ski you know what I mean
15 years ago
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Whale
Posts: 226 - Karma: 16
Fischer is doing the boat hull design on some of their pow skis, and like he said ^ the 207 had a fin on the tails and the boat hull tips.
15 years ago
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Jibbidy
Posts: 787 - Karma: 19
If you know Physics well enough you'd probably agree with me - powder is not nearly dense enough to support a hydrofoil unless the speeds were quite fast. And yes, as soon as you "hit bottom" it would be a disaster. It's simply not feasible.
15 years ago
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jca
Posts: 4183 - Karma: 6,367
http://www.garywayneskis.com/garywayneskis.com/Home.html has been done
15 years ago
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skicowboy
Posts: 775 - Karma: 873

Absolutely impossible really. The whole purpose behind hydrofoil is that it is below the surface and creates minimal drag on the rest of whatever is above it. So you would have to have something running under the snow, which would create more drag regardless of size, it wouldn't work. You would be left with a total failure of time and money, and a device that allowed you to ride on top of something that glided on the surface of snow, so skip that middle section and just ride skis or a snowboard.

15 years ago
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Phormat
Posts: 774 - Karma: 20
Those look prett sick. I wasnt thinking of a convex base the whole length, but only on the rockered tips, that way you wouldnt compromise hard snow performance.
15 years ago
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Jibbidy
Posts: 787 - Karma: 19
Mmmm it is technically possible. It's the same principle as this diagram. However since a skier's velocity is waaay smaller than an airplane's, the wing area is gonna have to be very large. In an open bowl, with big enough wings below each ski (like an Air Chair), and enough speed, you might be able to "fly" above the snow. But if you hit bottom...shit hits the fan, so you have to be confident on the powder depth and have some way of removing the wings for hardpack.

Click for larger image
15 years ago
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T.DUDE
Posts: 1681 - Karma: 129
threads for when this ACTUALLY happens.
15 years ago
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Evilchris
Posts: 2090 - Karma: 44
i think it would work much better for ski/snow kiteboarding.
and hydro-foils are fucking crazy.

I would probably kill for a chance to sail a moth
15 years ago
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gcobs123
Posts: 105 - Karma: 10
ive seen vids of guys doing it with snowboards, should work with skis if its done right
15 years ago
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ButteredToast.
Posts: 6459 - Karma: 2,571
WOW.
15 years ago
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fatherb
Posts: 1510 - Karma: 173
haha i've thought about this before. I really cant see it working though...
15 years ago
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skicowboy
Posts: 775 - Karma: 873
I can't believe ns isn't smart enough to realize that this simply cannot work. Unless you want to make skis with the same design as two bi-deck snowskates and call that a hydro-foil (which it would not be), it cannot work. Also, the lower unit of a hydrofoil is generally smaller as the whole purpose is to reduce drag and create speed (watch the video above, see how small the fins are in relation to the rest of the sailboat?), so something that small requires a dense medium (water) to provide lift, and snow simply does not meet the requirements.
15 years ago
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