Why The Laminates In Your Ski Are Important

Parlor Laminates from parlorskis on Vimeo.

The laminates are the main structural component of the ski. We use triaxial fiberglass and carbon fiber in various combinations in order to provide our skis with a damp and stable feeling on the hill.

What Makes Parlor Laminates Special

The Glass: 

We begin each build with Vectoryply E-Glass, this industry leading product is the perfect combination of strong, forgiving and resilience. Triaxial means three axis. 0 deg is the long way down the ski, 45 deg to the right and 45 deg to the left are the other two axis, the long weave gives you longitudinal stiffness to the ski, the two 45 deg weaves give you torsional stability, or the resistance to twisting, it's the one that makes sure your edge stays engaged once you get it set.

The Weights: 

Fiberglass is measured in Ounces per Square Yard, the higher the number the more glass, and therefor more rigidity. We use 17oz and 22oz glass in various combinations based on the build of the skier for each ski and ski length. In general as a ski gets shorter it gets stiffer, (because, physics) so in order to keep the flex consistent between lengths we use a lighter glass on some of the shorter models. We can also vary this combinations to match the force put into a ski by each individual skier.

Carbon: 

Everyone loves carbon, it is light, stiff and looks amazing. If you like to do a little skinning, touring, earning your turns - we drop one of those layers of triax and we add two layers of a carbon fiber scrim. It's industry leading, we're one of the few companies who is actually using the scrim technology for that. If you want a slightly more drive-y frontside ski, we can actually add a frontside lay up which gives the ski even more longitudinal stiffness and drive down the hill. It's one of the elements that we can use to make sure that we have the ski balanced exactly right for how you're going to attack the mountain.