Ski Trab has manufactured skis in Bormio, Italy since 1946. Trab focuses on producing efficient backcountry skis that maintain performance and durabilty while achieving significant weight savings. The 60 year old company has a history of innovation, including the first production fiberglass ski (1962), the first ski with elastic steel edges, the first carbon fiber ski (1990) and the first ski featuring an aramide honeycomb core (2004 - Aramide is the material replacing kevlar in bullet proof vests). By utilizing up to 30 different materials, each ski delivers a fine tuned, long lasting performance. Trab skis feature only the finest quality raw materials which are vigorously tested to ensure their longevity, performance attributes and compatibility with other materials and the manufacturing process.

Ski Trab has all the modern CAD/CAM equipment necessary to design and produce complex skis in addition to a complete array of testing equipment. Trab's development laboratory includes four machines designed to test durability and flex in all directions. A longitudinal flex machine locks in the waist and than bends either the tip or the tail until the ski breaks, measuring resistance along the way and the breaking point. A torsional flex machine does the same by twisting a ski until it breaks. An impact machine punches a ski with a pointed nylon hammer, where it is cut apart to see the damage. A fourth machine tests turn cycle durability by rapidly sessioning off thousands of turns. All data is transmitted to a computer system for analysis, where Trab will measure the flex characteristics of a variety of skis and then design a ski to match the average of those characteristics for a given category. For example, designing the Duo Race to match the average flex of downhill race skis or the Freeride to match the average flex of powder skis, with the overall design goal of removing weight without sacrificing performance and durability. Trab's location at the base of the 2005 FIS Alpine World Championships facilitates immediate feedback from in-the-field testing. Athletes come into the factory daily to take skis out for training & testing purposes, then report back at the end of each day their findings.

Experienced craftsmen utilize modern ski presses and vacuum molds to precisely assemble each ski one at a time. Quality is pervasive throughout the manufacturing environment, with each ski undergoing a 19 pt. quality control checklist and getting numbered, dated and labeled with the initials of the 4 persons responsible for the manufacturing of that particular ski (assembly, finishing, raw material, and quality control).

The proprietary Duo design provides additional float for the tip and a softer tail for easier turn release in addition to quicker skin attachment. Rubber lined edges with extra hard steel provide stellar edgehold and a smooth ride. Carbon fiber matched to an aramide honeycomb core makes very stiff race skis. Carbon reinforced quadraxial glass wrapped around multi-layer poplar and fir wood cores with variable sized and spaced channels forms the basis for Trab's Piuma Quadraxial construction, yielding light weigh mid-stiff touring skis. Oversized & accentuated tips provide better float and make trail breaking easier while ski mountaineering sidecuts contribute to the already great edge hold and stability in soft snow. High molecular density sintered bases provide improved glide and durability while factory tuned beveled edges result in easier turning skis. All off these features (and a few more) combine to make solid performing, highly efficient touring skis. Trab's consistent success in ski mountaineering races provides a testimonial to ski performance.

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