Alpine Skiing Recommendation Tool and Performance Prediction

Selecting appropriate skis remains a difficult task for many customers due to the lack of information provided on the bending and torsional stiffnesses of these products. This work investigates how these mechanical properties influence the on-snow ski performance and how an individual skier profile is related to its preferred mechanical properties. To do so, twelve skis were manufactured to exhibit large variations in stiffnesses. Twenty-three skiers provided on-snow feedback and skier profiles through a questionnaire. Simple and multivariable linear correlation analyses were carried out between the skier profile data, their evaluations of the skis and the stiffnesses of the skis. Strong relationships were found between the properties of the skis and some performance criteria, and between the profile of the skiers and the properties of their favourite skis. With further testing, these relationships could be used to design personalized recommendation tools or to guide the design of custom skis