Eco friendly skis

I interned for an “eco friendly” ski company and they threw a lot of fiberglass, trimmings, etc. in the trash. I was shocked.

I think you can limit your impact and some companies (shoutout @FaunaSkis ) are trying to limit the amount of materials that aren’t sustainable in their production. Some companies (shoutout @season_eqpt ) are going the route of repairing skis. Both brands don’t update graphics.

These are great steps. Honestly, any steps away from what we’re doing now is a good direction.



edit: but yes, I agree with the post

**This post was edited on Feb 12th 2021 at 7:14:10pm

algae

R you trying to say wndr alpine isn't as eco friendly as we think it is??

BradFiAusNzCoCaI interned for an “eco friendly” ski company and they threw a lot of fiberglass, trimmings, etc. in the trash. I was shocked.

The fuck do you expect, a ski company to have a business in the back end of the shop making bean bag chairs with toxic fiberglass, carbon fiber and epoxy sharpened trimmings?

Anyone that tells you that they can mass produce skis sustainably is full of shit right now unless its something like this:


https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/993174/The-Making-and-Decorating-of-Traditional-Norwegian-Ash-Wood-Skis

Honestly, I didn’t have any expectation. I was younger and naive. It was just a surprise to see it.
I’m a bit more grounded now in my expectations. Also, that video reminds me of smart skis. The guy is using ipe wood for the base and no edges, if I remember correctly ha

RudyGarmischThe fuck do you expect, a ski company to have a business in the back end of the shop making bean bag chairs with toxic fiberglass, carbon fiber and epoxy sharpened trimmings?

Anyone that tells you that they can mass produce skis sustainably is full of shit right now unless its something like this:


https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/993174/The-Making-and-Decorating-of-Traditional-Norwegian-Ash-Wood-Skis

Every time a company makes an eco friendly ski a part of me dies.

capita has a pretty good setup with using excess base trimmings to make slightly differing bases on different sizes of the same model of board, would be sick to see some ski companies do this too

The big hurdle to creating more sustainable skis is the epoxy holding all the component materials together. The materials individually can be re-cycled/re-used but they largely get wasted currently because it’s not possible to easily separate them.

Sintered base material could be chopped and re-sintered

steel edges, like much of the worlds steel is widely recycled

directional glass/carbon fibre matting could be re-processed to chopped strand matting or glass fibre filler.

wood cores could easily be used for bio fuel/re-used elsewhere

which just leaves the topsheet & sidewalls, which for most companies (but not us) is plastic and so depending on its form & type (like sintered PE) it’s re-use is limited (hence why we want to normalise hardwood sidewalls & veneer topsheets)

In the near future we are going to see de-polymerisable resins, meaning composites can be treated to take the resin out of them, meaning we could see the life of ski materials increase. We’re not there yet though, and when we do get there it’ll still be expensive until there is proper competition between resin developers as they all finish developing their own de-polymerisable resin.

Until then our focus as Fauna Skis is on minimising the use of plastics and other unsustainable materials & processes, without compromising on the durability and performance, so the skis you buy, using the ultimately unsustainable materials they do, last as long as possible and help us create a brand that will willing and be in a position to take advantage of the developments in less harmful skis.

The most eco gear is the gear you already own

/thread

armchair_skierThe most eco gear is the gear you already own

armchair_skierThe most eco gear is the gear you already own

Yup. Reduce, reuse, recycle. In that order.

https://localssale.com/

/thread

Best way to buy ecofriendly skis is to just avoid Factions

**This post was edited on Feb 14th 2021 at 10:22:55pm

armchair_skierThe most eco gear is the gear you already own

I still ride a pair of 2009 ON3P Jeronimos quite a bit. Yesterday a kid asked me if they were next years.

I'm old now.

Dustin.I'm old now.

Cutting edge of retro is what I call it.