Monoski

Hasn’t everything under the sun been invented already? Well, not quite everything.

For years my ski stance was shoulder-wide—a stable posture—that to onlookers looks much like riding horseback. In an ongoing effort to refine my skiing skills, I’ve been trying new techniques, exploring various ways, and progressively narrowing my parallel stance which initially seemed counterintuitive, but in fact proved to be more stable and improved my control and maneuverability. As my skiing improves and my feet come closer together, I feel I’m carving clean edges, leaving a smooth ‘S’ shape behind maneuvering down a slope. Of course, to onlookers I may still look like I’m awkwardly riding a horse.

Going up the mountain, many lifts provide a vantage point to watch skiers glide down—some tumble—in smooth, elegant, and seemingly effortless moves. Some skiers keep their feet together in a tight parallel posture as if skiing on one foot, especially on turns. Watching them has been a great source of learning for me and inspired me to try new things to narrow my stance. Some are so good at skiing in parallel, their feet never seem to part as they swoosh down a slope. Thus, begging the question “Why not ski on one, or on two but both skis joined together?” I can see it would be harder on flat cat-tracks since you can’t skate like separated skis would allow, but on the slopes, joined together, it seems they would deliver a smooth, fast, and stable ride.

Although an intuitive and obvious idea to me, it seemed farfetched since I don’t know enough about skis and thought there must be a reason it is not done this way. And so, like my many other ideas, whenever this one popped in my head—typically on ski trips—after a few contemplative moments, I would brush it off.

One afternoon during our 2026 ski trip, I went on a solo adventure to the town of Steamboat Springs, CO. Instead of taking the courtesy shuttle from our condos, I opted to use the free public bus service at the base. I wanted to meet some of the local commuters and see the town at a leisurely pace.

It was close to the end of a skiing day and the bus stop at the base was getting crowded by vacationers who stayed in town and at various places along the bus route, as well as the many seasonal foreign exchange students who work at resort and make everything go without a hitch.

Along came a young man. He stood near me with a board that was too big for his height to be a snowboard and too wide to be a ski. I wondered what it was. As he turned and spun the board on its heel, I saw my idea had come alive: a monoski. I smiled. How about that! Not a dumb idea after all, I thought to myself. We had a nice conversation. I asked him if I could take pictures; he happily obliged.

So, what is a monoski? It is a wide and single ski with both bindings mounted side-by-side, with a narrow gap in between. You would ride it facing forward (like skiing), with regular ski boots and poles. Monoski combines the carving feel of alpine ski with the surfy flow of a snowboard. It’s a niche but growing style, especially in France and parts of the U.S.—CO, UT, and CA. The young monoskier told me there is an annual event in Colorado called “Cinco da Mono”. Haha! His view was that the monoski is surprisingly stable in powder and on groomers. The downside is, as I had suspected, it’s harder at the base and on flat cat-tracks.

The engineer in me can’t help it. I see a problem and my mind goes into high gear to find a solution and, by golly, I think I got it. How about attaching a small electric motor at the back of it to help with moving forward on flat and slight elevation? I wonder if someone is toying with such an idea in a garage somewhere as I write this.

You never know.

I’ve since learned that our local ski places—Snowshoes, WV, and Wintergreen, VA—occasionally host monoski demos. I’ll be on the lookout and might give it a go next year.

Mahyar Malekpour

March 2026