Skis · Analysis

0 of 69: no ski 100 mm or wider in our sample turns under 14 m

Wider skis turn bigger arcs. We wanted to see how that looks on a map, and what part of the map is empty.

November 2026

What we did

We took waist width and turn radius for 224 skis from 12 brands, from one retailer's product pages (Ski Essentials, checked 2026-10-31). Turn radius is how wide an arc the ski carves when you tilt it onto its edges, in meters. Each radius is listed at one ski length, and we did not rescale it. Volkl is left out: its skis list four radii per length, so there is no single value to use. Then we checked 25 skis against the makers' own pages: 17 matched, 4 matched on radius but the maker shows width only at one length, and 4 had wrong values on the retailer page. We corrected those 4 and re-ran every number.

What we found

Width and radius move together: radius = 2.87 + 0.149 x width (r = 0.71, r squared = 0.51). That is about 1.5 m more radius for every 10 mm of waist. Width explains only about half of the spread; 171 of 224 skis (76%) sit within 2 m of the line.

The corner with wide skis and tight turns is empty. Of the 69 skis 100 mm or wider, none has a radius under 14 m. The tightest one we confirmed with its maker is the K2 Reckoner 102 W at 14.3 m (163 cm); the Line Sakana lists about 14.7 m at 174 cm. So at least 2 reach 15 m or less. At the other end, 18 of the 69 wide skis (26%) turn 20 m or more, against 6 of 155 skis under 100 mm (4%).

Group	Skis	Radius 20 m or more	Share
Under 100 mm	155	6	4%
100 mm and wider	69	18	26%

Caveats

This is a retailer sample of 12 brands, not every ski, so read "none" as "none in our sample", not "nobody makes". Wide skis are listed in longer lengths (median 180 cm against 173 cm), and longer skis turn wider, so part of the gap is length. Of the 224 values, 25 were checked against makers; the rest rest on one retailer page. It is a pattern, not proof.

Sources

Ski Essentials, 2026 ski test brand pages, 12 brands, checked 2026-10-31.
Maker product pages for the 25 spot-checked skis (Armada, Atomic, K2, Line, Head, Nordica, Fischer), 2026-10-31; per-ski list in confirm.csv.
Analysis ours: analysis.py, analysis.txt.

The slides

Cover: "0 of 69 skis 100 mm or wider turn under 14 m." We mapped 224 skis by waist width and turn radius. One corner is empty.

Scatter chart of 224 skis, waist width in mm (60 to 130) against turn radius in m (10 to 25). Dots rise to the right; a dashed line shows +1.5 m per +10 mm. Two highlighted dots near 102 and 105 mm at 14 to 15 m mark the tightest confirmed skis of 100 mm or more.

Bar chart: 4% of skis under 100 mm (6 of 155) have a radius of 20 m or more, against 26% of skis 100 mm or wider (18 of 69).

Big number "0 of 69": skis 100 mm or wider with a radius under 14 m. At least 2 reach 15 m or less.

Caveats: 224 skis, 12 brands, Volkl excluded; radius is at one length per ski and wide skis are listed longer; 25 skis checked against makers, 4 corrected.