So whatever happened to the monoski?

these things seemed pretty cool. seems like they'd carve nicely, also. so what was the deal?

You think they're gone?

Oh no. Strangest thing last year. I was at Vail during the National Brotherhood of Skiers convention, which is basically when brown-skinned-folks get on the hill together. (Great fun at a place like Vail, where things are usually a little too white, and I don't mean the snow.)

Oddly, though, I saw more monoskis over the course of two days than I have seen in all the years combined since I tossed my last purple & orange jacket and in-boot stretch pants. And it was all handsome, hip, stylie-dressed young black men skiing 'em. And most of these guys ripped.

Don't know what the connection is, but that's where they've all gone--the quivers of hip, young, African-Americans who rip it up and aging French men in one-piece ski suits.

Mollmeister

Saw a guy on a mono ski Friday. Dirty Bob we call him. Canadian. He's got a couple of them. White Knuckle was the last company here in the states to make them. They went out a few years ago.

They're great in powder and bumps but are some work on hardpack and ice. I don't know if you can get one anywhere over seas anymore. Rossignol used to make one too. I always wanted my own to break out on powder days and for slush bumps.

How about teleboarding?

http://www.teleboardusa.com

These guys are from CT (of all places) and have been showing up with demos at Mt. Wachusett the last few Tuesday evenings. They look like an absolute hoot ... just haven't had the guts or inclination to try 'em

Skiing on the little toe edge is difficult - the monoski, I would guess, is great for training that technique. (OK, let's hear it for skiing on the little toe edge)

There's one guy up here I see doing it. It looks really unbalanced and unstable to me.

That would be the pinky toe Oboe, the pinky toe!

I've done it a few times. Actually unatural on groomed. Almost have to completely unweigh on your outside foot o crank out a turn.

Much easier in powder as floatation is so much easier.

Same with bumps but you have to be comfortable with speed.

Powder bumps are the most fun. Like nothing can go wrong. No tips to catch or cross.

Yes, you can !
See for instance the line up at Le vieux campeur, including american-made SnowShark mono :
http://www.au-vieux-campeur.fr/gp/as...asp?codctg=667
And Duret seems to be back into business
http://www.duretskis.com/index.php?idsousrubrique=3
As Lars, i've monoskied a few times, a looong time ago. It was unatural indeed, and quite fun. I have to try it again.
Hmmm... I think i've seen mono to rent in val d'isere this year...

The mono has a reputation for causing catastrophic spinal injuries (rotational fractures).

I once saw a guy on something called a Squawl. Maybe a Sqwal? Can't remember. It was like a cross between a snowboard and a monoski with some waterski DNA as well, and he carved turns with unbelievable body layout, chest brushing the snow. That was really impressive.:

A skwal. A french invention of the early 90's. I knew a guy who was great at it and tried to convince me, but I've never 'skwaled' myself...
http://skwalzone.org/home.php
http://aes.skwalzone.org/p/index.php

Saw one last weekend at Sunday River and must admit it looked ridiculous. Can't think of anything that wouldn't be better on a snowboard. It did make me long for the old "SNURFER" though.

Saw a couple of Skwals at Vail last Wednesday and had NO idea what I was looking at. . . interesting. . . People seem tp be dusting these things off lately.

Mollmeister

There was an article in Skiing Magazine a few months ago about Monoskiing. Jeremy Nobis went to a Mono gathering called Monopalooza at Squaw. He seemed to kinda dig it.

I dug up the article.

Here: http://www.skiingmag.com/skiing/part...110771,00.html

I think monoskis are not popular because they combine the biggest disadvantages of skiing and snow boarding and they have a couple of other disadvantages specific to monoskis.

*Your feet are locked tight together in an difficult to balance position. Snowboarders and skiiers keep a little distance between their feet because it is a much more stable position.

*To edge a monoski, you have to put most of your weight on your up hill leg. This is the weaker side of your leg. Skiers strength comes from the muscles on the inside of their legs.

*If a skier looses balance on one ski they have the other to fall back on. If a monoskier looses balance they are going down.

*Monoskiers need to wear downhill ski boots. I would rather snowboard and wear the more comfortable and cheaper boots.

*If there was a monoski competition, a good skier or snowboarder would kick ass over any monoskier.

I have talked to two people on monoskis and both said they took up monoskiing so that they could learn to ski parallel with their skis together (like Stein Erickson) which has been considered to be bad technique for decades. I suspect even Stein doesn't ski like that anymore.

dt

A monoski would be perfect for you. You should get one.

I saw a monoskier coming down underneath the Solar Coaster chair at Blackcomb on Monday. It was a perfect day to be on a monoski as they got 40CM of powder. I'd rather be on a pair of Line Prophet 130's.

I saw a monoskier at Snowbowl on Tuesday.

We have a monoskier at Bridger that skis the moguls fairly well on one. The last monoskier I skied with is one of my son's Mt. Ashland ski partners....a dude Uncle Crud is familiar with. He mainly used his monoski as a means to get to things to jump off.

This reminds me that on our trip to Colorado this month I noticed at least five times as many non-white skiers as I saw six years ago (i.e. total about 20). Which in turn reminds me that on that previous trip I noticed quite a hot little monoski scene in Fernie (comprising mustachiod Frenchmen, not the brothers).

That's it. Thanks

Did that have no bindings, but a rope knotted onto the nose?

I got the monoski bug in 1983 when I saw a guy bomb down the valley seeking out all the untracked after a new snowfall one morning. I just had to try it. Got a Duret Mono the next week. Had a few others but when snowboards came along I liked the way they carved with all that sidecut shape so I got into them. I could not understand why skis and Moniskis didn't have the same side-cut but eventually Elan changed all that with the SCX15 and everything else is history. Still, no-one seemed interesting in doing the same thing with Monoskis. Eventually, after sizing up one of my Alpine carving snowboards the light dawned on me and I made up an adapter plate to fit my Mono bindings to the board. It was a revelation! Suddenly I could turn on packed snow and carve arcs. Works great on the powder as well!
Carving down a gentle run at Mt Hotham, Australia on my Burton Prime 171 Monoski last winter!

http://s25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...noskiCarve.flv

The Monoski lives on in small pockets around the world!

Nice ski Andrew! Welcome to Epicski and thanks for reviving this thread, I don't think I read this one before.

I've never tried a mono or skwal. I do have a Prime and a Teleboard.

I didn't realize skis could have snowboard sidecut until the Elans appeared, but I have wondered why monoskis didn't have more sidecut. My Teleboard has more side cut than the toe edge of my asym 155 Prime. Longer and narrower (180cm x 123mm waist) so easier to decamber and carve than a snowboard, harder to smear turns and harder to balance on. It's fun but I like skis and snowboards more.

When in Chamonix back in april we ran across a group of french monoskiers, must have been 30-40 of them. They were of different skill levels but some looked to be pretty good. Here's a snap:




Edit: Why is the photo resized after I post it??

i probably see upwards of 10 monoskiers over the course of a season at all the various resorts i ride at (Tahoe, Colo, Utah).

2 seasons ago when i was in Utah I saw posters for "Monopalooza" an annual gathering of mono ski fanatics. it was a 2 or 3 day "festival" with events and, what really caught my eye, was a proclaimation that anybody could show up and demo a monoski!

the only bummer is that the event was taking place the weekend after we left!

i've always wanted to try one, but it's not like they're readily available to demo.

mono boards rock

Hey Guys
As a mono board owner and lover I just had to reply to this thread.

When I take my board out (Rossignol 185) my friends, family and wife all desert me and tell me that its stupid, looks silly and is simply not cool.
But, I dont care....

You have to try, its not easy but its just different. Makes a lot of people smile and thats what skiing is all about for me.

Fun, fun, fun.

Pedro

I saw a dude last season on a PAIR of monoskis!!! They were K2's. White with red graphics....

Haha. The fact that my Teleboard has a narrower waist than some skis has not escaped my attention nor that of the occasional alert top station liftie that slows the ride thinking I've lost something. Well actually it only happened once, but I don't ski and I Teleboard even less often.

the monoski is still synonomous with "that thing gay people ski on" in a lot of pple's minds. i realize that things have changed, but that is still the view that a lot of pple have. also, the monoski is just less versatile, harder to learn, inefficent etc. than 2 skis.

Hey. If you worry too much about what narrow minded people think you will probably never take a chance and do something different. I would hate to have missed out on all the great experiences and fun I have had by trying and (mostly) mastering Telemarking, Snowboarding, Snowboarding with hard boots (gay of course!), and of course Monoskiing!

Mono's less versatile? Well in some ways. Its a bugger to traverse sometimes and pretty tricky skating along access tracks but I have to say I find it a whole lot easier to do both those things than on a snowboard. At least I have my poles to push with! It's also much more versatile in less than perfect powder and new heavy snow than skis, especially for a less experienced skier.
Harder to learn? Harder than what? If you can ski with reasonably good technique, it is very easy to learn the Monoski, especially if you take a lesson and use a modern Mono with sidecut. It is much easier for a competent skier to learn to Monoski than to start from scratch and learn to snowboard!
Ineffecient? Not in powder, crust, heavy new snow or spring slush. Definitly not the go for icy hardpack though! :-)
Having spent many years exploring the limits and finer techniques of Skiing (stereo style), Telemarking and Snowboarding, I can say with some confidence that it is definitely 'horses for courses'. "Ride the right steed and have fun indeed"!!

Hey. I'm now an old man, but I was definitely having fun here:

http://s25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...rewMonoSki.flv

Andrew, have you Teleboarded yet? I'd like to know how you think it compares to monoski.