What radius turns can I carve on a ski with a given sidecut?
Let S be the sidecut radius of the ski. Then, assuming that the ski is bent fully into reverse camber, the turn radius R is, to a reasonable approximation:
R ≈ S cos θ
where θ is the edge angle between the base of the ski and the snow. [The gory details of this calculation will appear <here> at some point.]
Here are some calculated values for a 17m sidecut ski:
| θ (degrees) | turn radius (metres) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 17 |
| 10 | 16.7 |
| 20 | 16 |
| 30 | 14.7 |
| 40 | 13 |
| 50 | 10.9 |
| 60 | 8.5 |
| 70 | 5.8 |
If you are making turns with a radius less than the table suggests, then you must be:
- skidding or
- using a big initial steering angle