Season Recap

In march I took a trip out west to ski with my brother and a few friends.  My friend Adam and I flew from Pittsburgh to Seattle where my brother picked us up.  From there we drove up to Revelstoke, BC.  The drive was pretty incredible as we drove through the Canadian Rockies.  We were excited to ski Revelstoke because it has the highest vertical drop in north America at 5,620 ft. When we arived it was raining at the base, but we knew this meant fresh powder in the alpine.  We skied two days at Revelstoke.

 

 

 

 

The first day we hiked a few hundred feet to get to the summit for some fresh tracks.  Unfortunately it was too foggy to drop into the steepest runs (without getting into trouble).  We did have an incredible run down the front side of the mountain in fresh powder.  The layout of Revelstoke required a lot of bootpacking and traversing.

 

 

Overall Revelstoke was pretty awesome and we enjoyed two days of fresh powder and expensive canadian food.  The final 5,620 ft vertical runs at the end of the day definately got your legs burning.  After the second day of skiing we left around 3 PM and drove 8 hours to Whitefish, MT to meet my brothers friends. Whitefish is known for great terrain, powder, and serious fog; however, we did not have any fog during our stay.  I enjoyed Whitefish more than revelstoke primarily because it was easier to access the terrain and the terrain was more variable. Even though it only snowed significanly on our first day there, we were still finding patches of fresh powder on day three.

 

 

 

I skied on the Aftermaths every day of this trip and they performed well in all conditions. They handled both the powder and the rain packed groomers at Revelstoke as well as the constantly varying terrain at whitefish.  We even did a bit of tourning (alpine) while we were at Whitefish.  We had planned to ski another day at Whitefish and then return to Seattle where we were going backcountry skiing on Mt. Rainier.  Unfortunately my Nana passed away and we had to cut the trip short to be with family.  This turn of events was still a blessing as we got to spend time with family that we would not have otherwise seen for a long time.  A video of our ski trip can be found at the link below.

 

http://youtu.be/YMORdyA9Ek4?list=PL7E627CB75A0ECB63

 

I have been busy this summer building a new deck on my house and have not worked on a new pair of skis.  However, I still have plans to build a pair before winter if I can. I also have plans to build a new sander to help with processing the skis. I am again getting excited for ski season because a family trip has been planned for Beaver Creek, CO.  I skied Beaver Creek when I was 14; which was 14 years ago.

 

Final Details and Testing

This year I decided to use the Marker Baron again which I removed from the original Aftermaths.  I plan to use these skis for a small amount of touring if the weather ever corporates.  At this point the original Aftermaths have been retired due to the stiffness being too high.  I may mount different bindings on them someday.  My friend Matt again offered to help me mount the bindings and tune the skis again this year.  The bases were fairly flat, but were slightly convex due to epoxy seeping under the edge of the tips and tails during pressing.

The finalized skis are shown below.

 

This years skis are light at 7lb 0oz for the pair (1591 grams per ski, 3181 grams total); this makes them the lightest skis I have made.  For comparison, the 177 cm long Volkl Kendo, which has a very similar width but is 9cm shorter, weighs in at 1849 grams per ski, or 3698 grams total (8lb 2.2 oz). The skis have a good flex and good torsional resistance.  Their performance on the hill was exceptional. I took them to a local resort, Blue Knob, which is known for having the best terrain in the mid-Atlantic.  I put the skis to the test: speed, agility around moguls, and impact off of a few jumps and drop-offs, and even some fresh powder.  I am looking forward to taking them out west in March.

 

Season Recap

The Aftermaths performed well this year.  I used them 4 days at Jay Peak, VT where the temperatures were -15F during the week.  The woods skiing was great at Jay despite the fact that they were in need of snow.  While at Jay, the tram was shut down due to wind so I was able to use the touring capabilities of the Aftermath.  The link below is a documentary of our trip to Jay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb0EftZJQGY

 

I was also able to use the Aftermaths for some sidecountry skiing in the suburbs of Pittsburgh.  We had some great snow this year and the Aftermaths carried me through it.  I also used them at some local resorts as well such as Blue Knob and Seven Springs.

 



 

I also had the opportunity to visit my brother and his wife in Seattle, Washington.  We spent a day skiing at Mt. Baker and another day at Crystal mountain.  I used the Panjshirs [2011] while I was out there; it was my first time on a fully rockered ski, but I adapted quickly for some of the best and steepest skiing of my life.  The video linked below documents our trip to Washington.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnFLqoM_RPw&feature=player_embedded

 

 



 

The Aftermaths performed well on powder and on groomers. My only complaint is that while the skis are the second lightest skis I have made next to the Goliaths, they are also the stiffest skis I have ever made. The only time the stiffness gave me a problem was spring skiing on groomers because they pushed back when I turned;  however, they have a lot of stability, handle speed well, and are nearly indestructible.

 

The ribbing I made for the top of the skis deviated from the original plan in that it was wider and taller.  Also, I wasn't sure how much the fiberglass would stiffen the ski when formed into the rib shape.  This combination was too much.  I was glad to prove I could make a ribbed ski, but have also proved it is unnecessary.  With some tweaking, such as thinning the core overall, the ribbed design could make a much lighter ski with the proper stiffness.

 

The total cost to build the Aftermaths was $282.29 as broken down below:

• Epoxy: 72.19
• Ski Materials: 116.23
• Wood: 59.73
• Tooling: 34.14

I spent 43 hours on the skis as broken down below:

• Design and Procurement: 11 hrs
• Ski Mold: 8 hrs
• Ski building: 24 hrs.

I plan refine the Aftermath design in 2013 to decrease the stiffness and lighten the overall weight, making them even better for touring.  Other notable changes:

• The outer core member cracked last year when I clamped the core for gluing due to the curve of the reverse side cut.  This year I split the outer member into two pieces to alleviate the stress.
• I replaced the core members left and right of center with cedar to reduce the overall weight.
• There will be no ribbing on these skis as it is not needed.
• I will again cover the base and top sheet with contact paper rather than packing tape as it worked well and pealed off relatively easily.
• I hope to use a clear base material so I can put graphics on the bottom of the ski as well as the top.
• The pre-tensioned sidewall design (curved inner core member) will be used again.
• The cap design will be used again in lieu of a vertical sidewall since it removes material that is not stressed and lightens the ski.

The core is already taking shape: