ESTC - handbook

The Edinburgh Ski Touring Club

Ski equipment

Ski Camber

To understand what we mean by camber, hold the skis with their bottoms facing and tips and tails touching at the centre there will be a gap of between 2 to 3 cms. Single camber ski will describe a simple arc from tail to toe and should be resistant to being compressed. When edged in a turn compressing the ski forces the edge of the ski into the shape of the arc and promotes carving the turn.

Now picture double camber skis as having a second shorter more curved arc super-imposed onto the larger arc, the second arc starting just in front of the boot and ending just behind it. With this type of ski, the idea is that in normal skiing the skier's weight is distributed on both skis and the long arc is compressed occasionally to aid turning but the short, or second, arc is not. In other words, the base of the ski under the skier's boot is not pressed against the snow firmly in normal descent. However, when the skier is climbing, all their weight is placed on first one ski and then the other in the classic kick glide motion. With all the weight on one ski the ski base the second camber under the skier's boot is compressed firmly against the snow. Sometimes called the "wax pocket" this area of the base is where a skier who wants to climb will apply sticky climbing wax. If it's a waxless ski, this area is where the fish scale texture will be. The second camber, therefore, generally keeps the waxed or fishscales area off the snow and promotes gliding except when the ski is fully weighted as when climbing and then it brings the gripping area into full contact with the snow to promote adhesion. The double camber preserves the life of climbing waxes by keeping them out of contact with the snow except when essential.

Double cambered skis are bad news to the dedicated telemarker who would prefer to skin more directly to the down slopes, single cambered skis mean more work for the Nordic tourer when trying to gain traction across rolling terrain.