New Electric Skis Make Carving In the Summer a Reality
As the biking world reckons with the fact that, yes, e-bikes are pretty cool, electronic assists are starting to show up in all kinds of products aimed at skiers.
One new one, the aptly-named Skwheel, doesn’t involve snow. Instead, it’s all about the off-season. The product, basically, is a Onewheel split in two, with wheels and motors for each foot. You could think of it as motorized roller blades, too.
Here’s a look at the Skwheel at work featuring pro skier Owen Leeper. Tap or click below to watch.
On Indiegogo, a crowdfunding platform like Kickstarter, the Skwheel’s already pulled in €405,334, a much higher total than the original goal of €50,000.
The page also broke down how the Skwheel works. It comes equipped with a handheld remote that controls acceleration and braking. The remote also shows speed on a display. Part of the sales pitch is that the Skwheel mimics one of skiing’s best feelings, carving.
“The SKWHEEL steering system isn’t borrowed from any other sport,” reads a blurb on the IndieGogo page. “It was designed from the ground up to replicate the exact mechanics of ski carving: leaning your body initiates the turn, and the trajectory flows naturally.”
The team behind the Skwheel also kept another key part of skiing in mind with their product: ski boots. Rigid boots make downhill skiing possible. They’re stiff and supportive, letting you transfer power to your skis without, well, falling on your face.
To capture that side of the on-snow experience, the Skwheel features a “patented calf-lock system” that wraps around the lower leg. This, according to Skwheel, delivers “the same resistance and feedback, without restrictive rigidity.”
It’s not the only electrified ski-style gizmo on the market.
The E-skimo hews much closer to the e-bike model, with an underfoot track that makes alpine touring uphill descents require less effort. Then, there’s the E-XC, which has treads mounted on the back of the skis and cruises along through rolling, snowy terrain as fast as 20 miles per hour.
In short, if you’ve ever wondered what would happen if you stuck a motor on a pair of skis, you don’t need to wonder anymore.
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Related: A “Remarkable” Ski Season: How Banff Beat the Odds and Saw Powder Days Aplenty
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