Today’s HomeboySki.Com guest blogger is Jouni Aro, an enthusiastic skier from Finland whom I met when I was working in Switzerland. Now Jouni is one of our frequent readers with whom we have lately discussed via comments. Jouni read my yesterday’s article of monoskiing in the 80s and wanted share a few words about his experience with monoskiing. Read below for more about Jouni’s monoskiing experience in the Alps in 1980s.

Hey Marko, funny that you now wrote about monoskiing - I seem to have something to comment to all of your stories.

My first monoskiing experience

I tried monoskiing in Kitzbühel, Austria during my first skiing trip to the Alps - in 1988. Me and another guy of the same travel group rented monoskis for one day while the others kept their own skis. The beginning was hard: the bindings were set for >100kg while I was <70kg - additionally the adjustment screw was stuck, so if I fell the bindings would never open! And I fell - and I fell!!! The first slope took at least half an hour for me to get down while the rest of the group just went ahead…

Finally I got the idea and started to enjoy: it was actually very superb. I had not really been off-piste before but with the monoski it was just fantastic. The hard part was getting to the lift and skiing those narrow connecting slopes. Turning the ski requires a “huge effort” and some speed. Well, it is quite similar to snowboarding (I will tell you about my snowboarding experience some other time, but the technique is entirely different, more similar to skiing with two skis).

During those days it was cool to ski with your legs as close together as possible, and the monoski leaves you no other options. You cannot use your outer ski for turning, because you have no outer ski! So you have to learn to turn exactly the way you are not allowed with two skis. On the other hand you can only ski on either one of the edges, so it is practically not possible to ski directly forward in a straight line. Believe me, I have tried.

I just remember that after that day I was really very tired - but extremely happy. Unfortunately, I never got another chance to try a monoski.

How did I end up in a ski magazine with my monoski?

This story has an epilogue as well: after 10 years my traveling companion called me to tell that he had seen a picture of me in Skimbaaja (a Finnish skiing magazine) where I was adjusting (or trying to) the bindings of a monoski in Kitzbühel with our travel guide!!! I requested a copy of the magazine from the editors (explaining that they had used the picture without my permission I still have the magazine (3/1998) and in the photo I have a cyan coat with bright yellow lines on shoulders. The Finnmatkat guide has a neon-green/pink suit! The picture is labeled: “Ski travels from Finland to the Alps began already in 1970s. Ski guides on the other hand started appearing at the beginning of 1980s. Some of the guides were experienced skiers who introduced their clients to more special skiing types as well.”

Thank you Jouni for sharing your monoskiing experience! I feel like I desperately want to find a monoski for this season and go ride one again, after 20 years of break..

Foto.