How long does it take to make a ski? What are the steps, and how do we do it? Curious about Madshus, our brand, the factory and how we make the best skis in the world? Read on and discover more about the world’s oldest ski factory still in operation - and check out the video at the end of this post!
Established in 1906, Madshus is the world’s oldest ski factory still in operation. But while we have a long and proud heritage, innovation has always been the key to cutting-edge skis. And we never settle for compromises. We never have, and we never will.
The factory
- Our production process is highly automated, only about 35 people work on the factory floors.
- It takes 40 minutes to make one ski.
- It takes about 3 weeks from a ski series is ordered and scheduled for production until the finished product is in the warehouse.
- At the main plant in Biri, Norway, we produce 2,600 pairs of skis per week, a total of about 90,000 pairs per year.
- We heat up the factory by recirculating exhaust air from our machinery, and we only use electricity from green sources
Story continues below
The process of building the best skis in the world
How long does it take for a ski to be designed and approved? Highly variable!
For example, developing the Nordic Pro Classic ski took us one day and three hours.
Holy cow, that’s really fast. How can that be? Well, mostly because the Nordic Pro Classic was based on an existing model, and we had plenty of data regarding its components, and we had plenty of tests performed on its predecessors.
At the other end of the spectrum, engineering the new 2024 Redline skis is taking us about three years and thousands of hours between design, development and testing.
That said, every model on every level is constantly a work in progress. We are passionate about skiing, and constantly thinking about ways to improve our skis.
Did you know: For the 2022/23 season, Madshus is adding several new models to our flagship Redline seriesStory continues below
Research and Development
The unique production method at Madshus means that we are able to have an idea, make a test ski and test it on snow in the span of 24 hours.
From start to finish, making a ski involves about 50 different processes in the factory.
The location of the factory is another key element: We have access to natural snow in the vicinity of our factory about eight months a year, for the last four we can use nearby ski tunnels in the warmer months.
Story continues below
And: We ski a lot
Speaking of access to snow year-round: Our Racing department is on skis 12 months a year. In the summer, this means visiting snow tunnels, glaciers, New Zealand, etc.
- Madshus Racing department consists of four full-time employees and eight seasonal workers.
- We test out approximately 160 different ski bases on snow every year
- To arrive on the bases used in the current Redline skis, we have tested at more than 73 different ski destinations in 18 different countries.
- To test new race skis, we also use several different high-tech sensors for movement and speed, in addition to human parameters, such as lactate tests, heart rate, technique and so on.
- The top speed ever recorded on a Madshus ski is 103 km/h on a downhill slope