Smart Shopping for Monoskis

If you can't decide whether you'd like to get into snowboarding or skiing, then monoskiing could be your answer, since it captures the essence of both sports. There are actually three types of monoskiing and all involve skiing on either water or snow using a single ski. While "slalom water skiing" can technically be considered a form of monoskiing, the traditional sense of the word deals with winter sports. Most monoskiing is enjoyed as a recreational alternative to snowboarding or alpine skiing. Unlike either of the alternatives, monoskiing uses a specific type of snow ski that allows both feet to be secured into step-in bindings, side by side using traditional alpine ski boots.
Another form of monoskiing is practice by disabled skiers. The monoski used by paraplegics and double amputees is actually a chair that is custom fitted to the athlete's body and spring-mounted 12 to 18 inches off of the snow on a narrow ski. Monoskiing is currently practiced in many different types of skiing events such as the slalom, giant slalom and downhill.

What to Look for

Monoskis are specialized types of skis and must be wide enough to accommodate two pairs of alpine ski boot bindings secured to the top surface of the ski, side by side instead or fore and aft as in snowboards or water skis. Monoskis are available in a variety of lengths and ski widths and the wider and longer the ski, the better it "floats" through powder and untracked snow. Narrower, shorter models of monoskis are also available for carving high speed turns on packed-powder and groomed runs. Similar to traditional alpine skis, monoskis are made in a variety of flex patterns and side cuts. Despite the fact that monoskis are relatively hard to find, there are a number of manufacturers that still make them. Some of the more popular are Aluflex, Blackburne, Duret, Fat, Lunar, SwellPanik, Transonic and Yama.

Common Pitfalls

Since the introduction of the snowboard in the mid-1980s, monoskiing has experienced some tough competition. Although there are similarities, monoskiing is more expensive and more difficult to learn than snowboarding. And since most monoski manufacturers have since gone out of business, equipment is difficult to find and rarely found during ski sales. If you need repairs done to your monoski, there are fewer technicians trained to do the work, so be sure to ask them if they've worked on monoskis before.