being glued to the core (essentially replacing metal sheets). The result was a torsion box, which made the ski much stronger. The VR7, and its more famous follow-on VR17, was the first fibreglass ski that could be used for men's racing, and quickly took over that market. Over time, materials for both the core and torsion box have changed, with wood, various plastic foams, fibreglass, kevlar and carbon fiber all being used in different designs. Torsion box designs continue to dominate cross-country ski designs, but is less common for alpine and ski touring. Monocoque or cap During the 1980s, Bucky Kashiwa developed a new construction technique using a rolled stainless steel sheet forming three sides of a torsion box over a wooden core, with the base of the ski forming the bottom. Introduced in 1989, the Volant skis proved expensive to produce, and in spite of numerous positive reviews, the company never became profitable. In 1990, the Salomon S9000 took the same basic concept but replaced the steel with plastics, producing a design they called "monocoque". Now referred to as the "cap ski" design, the concept eliminates the need to wrap the core and replaces this with a single-step process that is much less expensive to produce. Cap ski construction dominates alpine ski construction today. Historical The classical wooden ski consists of a single long piece of suitable wood that is hand-carved to the required shape. Early designs were generally rectangular in cross-section, with the tip bent up through application of steam. Over time the designs changed, and skis were thinned out to the sides, or had prominent ridges down the center. Notable manufacturers K2 is a major US-based ski manufacturing company. In 1961 they were one of the first companies to begin producing and distributing fiberglass skis. Today K2 is primarily renowned for its wide variety of torsion-box ski designs. They sponsor several professional skiers and ski teams. Rossignol is a French company established in 1907. Rossignol introduced its first fiberglass ski in 1964. Today the company offers a wide range of ski designs and produces over 500,000 pairs of skis per year. Rossignol also manufactures boots, bindings, and poles. Elan is a Slovenian company, located in Begunje, notable in ski manufacturing for inventing shaped skis, also called parabolic skis, which made carve turns possible at low speeds and with short turn radius. Types In the history of skiing