Instinct Advantage Hero Header Image - Big Mountain Skiing

The INSTINCT Advantage

Our Skis Top to Bottom
We’re a bit obsessive about the details that go into our skis. Each aspect of the design and construction is there for a reason and we think it makes our skis pretty damn good. Every idea, technology, or piece of the design that goes into making our skis is there because it fills a need and delivers a particular aspect of what we demand and want from, Killer Skis. 😉
The Instinct Advantage | BFTT - Big Fat Tip Technology
The Instinct Advantage | BFTT - Big Fat Tip Technology - Icon

BFTT

Big Fat Tip Technology
Our Big Fat Tips are there to provide you with that little extra “gas pedal”. The overall surface area combined with the early rise profile create a platform that simultaneously allows you to keep your tips up and float in the powder and drive your weight and energy forward on to them creating speed. This combination makes it easy to initiate turns in ALL conditions and the honeycomb fabric in the tips keeps the swing weight down allowing the skis to be highly maneuverable and easy skiing. Plus they set a great skin track, if you’re into that kind of thing like we are.
The Instinct Advantage | BDLX - Burrito Deluxe Construction
The Instinct Advantage | BDLX - Burrito Deluxe Construction

BDLX

Burrito Deluxe Construction
Ask yourself, do I want a simple (but tasty) bean and cheese burrito, or...do I want the 8 layer Deluxe Burrito with all the special ingredients? We go for the Deluxe...everytime. This is the essence of our composite fabric layup strategy. By utilizing more layers of unique fabrics in a particular sequence we can create skis with exceptional strength, resilience, and minimal weight. Our fabrics stretch from edge to edge and build a solid connection from the top to the bottom of the ski. By placing various different weaves with different properties and angles we create a composite structure that out-performs and out-lasts the more simple and traditional construction recipes ensuring that our skis perform great on day one as well as day 100.

Burrito Deluxe Construction Recipes

The Instinct Advantage | T2SW - Trees to Skis Wood Core
The Instinct Advantage | T2SW - Trees to Skis Wood Core - Icon

T2SW

Trees to Skis Wood Core
It all starts with Good Wood. We have a lifelong passion for woodworking and see the wood as the soul of the ski, we take great care and love with our cores. All our wood is harvested locally, a great portion of it fallen by our own hands right here on the property. We mill the wood ourselves with our sawmill on site and it is all carefully dried and inspected for the particular characteristics we feel are most important for great skis. We choose to use wood that is locally available and take great pride in selecting the best pieces. All the pieces are quarter-sawn (look it up :)), hand-arranged for matching quality and performance and laminated into blocks. These blocks are then cut down again into sections and kept together in matching pairs, ensuring the left ski performs just like the right ski. Lastly the core blanks are then CNC milled into the final core profiles that go into the ski.
The Instinct Advantage | TBCD - Torsion Blade Cap Design
The Instinct Advantage | TBCD - Torsion Blade Cap Design - Icon

TBCD

Torsion Blade Cap Design
The “sidewall” profile of our skis is a little unconventional, quite intentionally. We like to make big deep arcing turns and the Torsion Blade Cap Design allows us to do just that. Unlike traditional sandwich-sidewall or the standard cap designs, we do not have a 90°(ish) angle of materials built up over our edges. We have a much sharper angle akin to a “blade” which cuts deeper into the snow with less effort. The torsional rigidity we gain from our composite fabric layup (which we explain in the next section) combined with the blade-like profile allows for deep penetration into the snow providing a solid base to lean it over and ride out those turns like you are on rails.
The Instinct Advantage | BELT - Base Edge Lock Technology
The Instinct Advantage | BELT - Base Edge Lock Technology - Icon

BELT

Base Edge Lock Technology
The BELT physically integrates the different parts of the ski together in a mechanical way that is not reliant solely on the powerful adhesives that we use to bond the parts together. The BELT connects the edges and the base to the ET2T (Eagle-Tail Tip Technology) components creating a puzzle-piece-like locking connection. The edges are held in place at the points where they meet the ET2T at matched 45° angles, holding them together in a metal to metal design that locks them in place. The ET2T also mates with base in a “dovetail” style design that aligns the pieces and allows all parts to fit together perfectly, and then we add the crazy-strong (technical term) adhesives to the mix.
The Instinct Advantage | ET2T - Eagle-Tail Tip Technology
The Instinct Advantage | ET2T - Eagle-Tail Tip Technology - Icon

ET2T

Eagle-Tail Tip Technology
These babies are cool twice over. The “Eagle-tails” are a nod to our woodworking roots and employ the same concept as dovetailing in the seam between the base and the tip and tail pieces. It’s also a little homage to our founder Al, (Eagleton...see what we did there?). Inside the ski, the ET2T is also machined with a flow-through pattern to allow the resin (crazy-strong adhesive) that bonds the layers together to surround the components increasing the structural connection of the various materials. All this while adding to the durability of the ski, and they look pretty badass.
The Instinct Advantage | SCRB - Super Carbon Race Base
The Instinct Advantage | SCRB - Super Carbon Race Base - Icon

SCRB

Super Carbon Race Base
This one is easy, skis should go fast. That’s why your skis should have the fastest base material you can get, and then make sure that they are impregnated with carbon, you know...to make them that little bit faster.
The Instinct Advantage | GLSS - Goldi-locks Scaled Sizing
The Instinct Advantage | GLSS - Goldi-Locks Scaled Sizing - Icon

GLSS

Goldi-Locks Scaled Sizing
Let’s face it, “One-Size” does not fit all. We set out to create a ski...personality(?), not a waist size. We don’t make a “105 in 4 lengths". When we started designing and testing our first skis it became evident pretty quickly that a 193cm ski with a 105mm waist did not feel the same as the 159cm ski with that same 105mm waist width. How could it? The proportions and other dimensions of the ski were all different, how could it ski the same...it couldn’t. So, we decided to design our skis around a feeling, a personality of how we wanted that ski to perform and then scaled every aspect of the ski proportionately to match that feeling. That way every skier, no matter their size or ability, could experience the personality of that ski design. Not too big, not too small, just right.
Any one of these technologies improves the quality of a ski, together they create what we like to call “The Instinct Advantage”. We hope it does as much for you as it does for us, because, ultimately, we make our skis so that you can have as much fun and enjoyment as possible, on a pair of skis.