Project North Shore: RMU’s surf-inspired asymmetrical ski enters prototype phase

Project: North Shore from Freeskier Magazine on Vimeo.

Earlier this summer, Rocky Mountain Underground introduced us to its latest endeavor—Project: North Shore, a surf-inspired ski-shaping odyssey. The Breckenridge-based company is currently in the prototyping phase of designing a powder ski with surfboard roots, which will be for sale exclusively through evo and REI this fall season.

Utilizing inspiration from a surf trip to Baja, Mexico and influence from the crew at Shaper Studios in San Diego, California, RMU team athletes Ethan Swadburg and Ben Smith return back to Colorado with newfound motivation to create a ski unlike anything Rocky Mountain Underground has shaped before. Watch as the team form these asymmetrical twigs with a custom “surf channel” meant to provide an extra bit of float and enhance turning in deeper snow.

Now that first-generation models have been constructed—evolving from the seed of an idea to multiple skiable prototypes—it’s time for the crew to head to South America for even more testing on bigger, badder terrain. (So much for slush bumps at the local ski hill.) Stay tuned for one more episode of the web series, to be posted on the site later this month, in order to get the inside scoop on how Swadburg, Smith and the rest of the RMU team plan to finalize every detail of the Project: North Shore ski and ready it for production this fall.