Ski mountaineering – aka skimo – is an epic sport in which skiers make their way up to the summit of a mountain, then downhill-ski back to the base. The E-Skimo system is designed to make the trip up easier, by putting motorized treads on the skis.
"Drawing inspiration from the ebike revolution," E-Skimo is made by Swiss startup E-Outdoor. The system will be officially unveiled next month at CES.
Each of the two skis in the setup features a removable 20-Nm (15-lb-ft) gearless hub motor, a 220-Wh lithium battery, and a splittable snowmobile-like rubber tread which is threaded through the body of the ski. The motor units are each equipped with a 6-axis motion-sensing IMU (inertial measurement unit) and a GPS module.
As the user skis up to the summit, the IMUs continuously monitor the position of each ski and the weight/angle of the user's heel. This data is used to automatically activate each motor as the ski slides forward, boosting the user's muscle power. If the skier falls and lets go of either of the poles, a sensor in the hand grip of that pole triggers the motors to stop.
According to the designers, E-Skimo allows users to ascend mountain slopes up to 80% faster than they would on non-powered skis, with 30% less effort. We're told that one charge of the batteries should be good for about three hours of runtime, depending on factors such as snow conditions.
Once the skier reaches the summit, they remove the assistive components and put them in an included backpack. Doing so is claimed to take less than one minute. The user then simply skis back down the mountain, just like they would on normal downhill skis.
What's more, the sturdy skis reportedly offer better downhill performance than the lighter-weight skis which are typically used for non-powered ski mountaineering.
Instead of selling direct to consumers, E-Outdoor plans on partnering with existing ski manufacturers who will offer the technology in some of their products.
You can see the system in use, in the video below.
Source: E-Skimo