It might sound like an April Fool’s gag, but a Swiss company is very serious about its e-skis – the world’s first battery-powered skis. However, initial reactions suggest it will be an uphill battle winning over purists. “The idea came about during Covid, when the ski lifts were closed,” software and technology entrepreneur Nicola Colombo told Swiss public broadcaster SRF last year in his workshop in San Bernardino, southeastern Switzerland. “I was already going on ski tours, and some friends wanted to join me. But after the first attempt they realised they weren’t fit enough.” That’s how the idea was born to create something that, according to Colombo’s start-up E-Outdoor, would make the sport “more accessible, exhilarating and inclusive, empowering more people to explore the beauty of the mountains with ease and joy”. Colombo wanted to create for ski touring – skiing up and down unmarked or unpatrolled areas – what the e‑bike had done for mountain biking. The result is E-Skimo ...
