SkiVisions Ruby Stones 6" (150mm)

Base Structuring Decisions

What is structure on a ski base?  It is the process of roughening it to reduce surface tension.  If your base is very smooth, surface tension, simply put, is suction from a lack of air between the base and the snow, which slows its glide.  Very smooth bases tend to be very slow bases.

As a general rule, you want to use the most coarse structure to minimize surface tension, rougher surfaces have less surface tension.  However, it isn't that simple.  New snow crystals are sharp and will dig into a coarse structure causing considerable drag.  The rules need to be followed:

1.  In new, cold snow the structure needs to be finer, the newer and colder the snow, the finer the structure.

2.  As snow gets older, the crystal points start breaking down,  so you can then go to a medium structure.

3.  As snow goes through multiple freeze and thaw cycles the crystals loose their sharpness and therefore a coarse structure works best.

A simple rule to follow is to use medium stone with lighter pressure (and steel blade to back off structure if needed) to fine in early and mid-winter, medium and coarse structures in late winter and spring.