Twin-tip ski

A modified version of their alpine counterparts, twin-tip skis are designed to enable a skier to take off and land backward while jumping and to ski backwards (switch) down a slope.

While most alpine skis have a defined, curved-up front end (or "tip") as well as a flat rear end (or "tail"), twin-tip skis have a curved-up tip and tail.

Early photographic evidence, of a purpose built twin tip ski, is discernible in director Arnold Fanck’s 1931 film The White Ecstasy.

In a comedic scene, while wearing twin tip skis, actor Walter Riml plays a novice skier inadvertently performing a series of 360s on snow, all the while reading a book on how to ski.

[1] The first mass produced twin-tip ski (modest rise in the tail) was the Olin Mark IV Comp introduced in 1974.