folding skis

I've seen these for sale somewhere online I think. The search is on...

Kam,

I'm seeing something that uses more of an internal spline (mortise and tennon...and not a hinge, maybee with a locking pin that goes thru the sidewall???

Pin'

I saw a "mountaineer woman" on SaintHellens...full crampon set up/Harness...no rope..and alone.  She was on these funny little "Big Feet".  Man could she turn them.  I thought at the time that   there would be now way I could squeeze my but cheeks for 4000'/for that long.   She was like the energizer bunny...I could'nt shaker her.  She wasn't doing much high marking but she was really turning these.  swear they were no longer than small snow shoes with P-Tex on the bottom and some sort of Ramer looking binder......way out there...but she was "skiing".

Here's a photo from my brother Carl's collection. It shows Nelson Jay descending Mt St Helens in 1992 on a pair of figls. Figls (short for "firn gliders," I think) appeared before Big Feet. I bought a couple pairs in Europe in 1990. They actually ski quite well in the right conditions and they used to race them in Europe.

Big Feet are lighter than racing figls, so better for backcountry use. The square tail of the figl can be handy though. It provides a "third edge" for tackling steep mushy snow. I haven't used my figls much recently, but I've still got several pairs in my basement.

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Edited to convert full-size photo to a thumbnail. Oops!

What about something like this antique folding ruler? i saw one years ago, and the edges and base were perfectly flush; maybe even machine sections of the hinge out of teflon stock?

www.acclaimimages.com/_gallery/_pages/0015-0501-1007-2913.html

I'd suspect a folding bike (Bike Friday, etc) would have far more serious design constraints than a "simple" ski, but who knows?

The 99cm short skis are a riot -- I have a pair that I yanked the stock bindings off and mounted some 3Pins on -- you don't need much boot either -- so it makes for a light setup for long summer approaches.

They are a ton of fun on groomed runs, in the terrain park and on summer snows.

I once made the mistake of running off the side of a groomed run -- big mistake -- in soft snow they submarine.

http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/snowshack_1958_24375701

With the included bindings they should work fine with any AT boot or mountaineering boot designed to for step-in crampons.