Major innovations in skis don’t come frequently. Yes every year companies release their products with some new feature or change, but major innovations, changing the way we think of and look at skis, are few and far between. But we could be looking at a serious change if M1’s aluminum skis manage to catch on.
M1 Skis are made out of aerospace-grade 7050 aluminum alloy, apparently well known for its strength, toughness, and corrosion resistance. The entire ski is built with this aluminum. The base, the top sheets, the edges, all 7050 aluminum alloy. So why is this better than the traditional ski build? According to M1, the benefits come from the dampness and predictability of the metal.
These skis are supposedly damper than traditional ski builds, offering better control and comfort than composite. While other companies add metal alloy into the layers of the skis, M1 skis are just fully built out of the metal alloy. They claim the material itself offers a perfect balance of strength, dampness, and stability.
They also argue that aluminum is more consistent than other materials, that their skis will always perform exactly how you expect them to from ski to ski. Plus, with the consistent material, they can fine-tune the design of their skis with absolute precision. They also argue that the 7050 aluminum alloy is more durable, and that the skis will have a longer lifetime than traditional builds.
As for edge and base maintenance, M1 states that the 7050 aluminum alloy skis can be maintained in a similar fashion to conventional skis. Minor scratches are polished out, but big gashes would be fixed through the normal stone grinding process. The edges would be maintained just as steel edges are.
M1 skis are currently open for reservations, with shipping set to begin in December 2024. Two options are available now, though an all-mountain option will apparently be released at some point during the 2025/26 ski season. A $500 deposit is required to make a reservation, with the skis eventually costing a total of at least $4,995.