The effect of load and binding position on the friction of cross-country skis

This study investigates the effect of moving the binding and adjusting the normal load on friction for a modern cross-country ski. The binding was moved 10 cm forward and backward from the normal position. The results showed that moving the binding backward on the ski reduced the friction at cold (−10 °C) and warm air temperatures (+5 °C). At intermediate temperatures (−2 °C), neither changes to the binding position nor the total load affected the friction coefficient. Measurement of pressure zone profiles revealed that moving the binding backward reduced the apparent contact area, increased the average contact pressure, increased the peak pressure in the rear zone and increased the spacing between the front and rear contact zones of the ski. •The friction reduced when the binding was moved backward for the coldest and warmest temperatures.•The friction coefficient was load dependent only for warm and wet snow conditions.•Ski contact properties changed with load and load application point.•A non-linear correlation between the applied normal load and the apparent contact area was found.