Outsider Naming Convention

If you've looked at ski specs from other brands, you might notice we do things a bit differently.

Length First, Not Waist Width

Most ski brands name their models with the waist width — the measurement at the ski's narrowest point underfoot. You'll see names like QST 106, where the number tells you how wide the ski is in millimeters.

We flip that.

At Outsider, the number in our ski name tells you the length in centimeters, not the waist width.

So when you see Nest 172, that's a 172cm ski. Nest 188 is 188cm.

The Size Run

The Nest comes in four lengths, stepping 8cm at a time:

- Nest 164 — 138-104-117, 16m radius - Nest 172 — 143-105-120, 17m radius - Nest 180 — 143-106-120, 18.1m radius - Nest 188 — 143-106-120, 20.4m radius

Two things in that table look like typos and aren't. The 180 and the 188 share the same sidecut exactly, and their radii still differ — radius falls out of the running length, which grows with the size. And the 164 isn't a scaled-down 172: it's 5mm narrower at the tip and 3mm at the tail, drawn that way to keep its turn radius short rather than inherited from the longer sizes.

Waist Width Lives in the Product Name

Instead of putting waist width in the model number, we express it through the product name itself.

Right now, we only have one model: the Nest. It runs 104–106mm underfoot depending on length, and it's designed as a hybrid all-mountain ski that adapts from camber to rocker.

When we release future models with different waist widths — say, a narrower carving ski or a wider powder ski — those will get their own product names. The length will still be the number.

Why We Do It This Way

Length is the first thing you need to know when choosing a ski. It affects how the ski handles, how much surface area you have underfoot, and whether it fits your height and style.

Waist width matters too, but it's a characteristic of the ski's design, not the primary identifier. By naming the product (Nest, and future models) based on its intended use and profile, and using the number for length, we think it's clearer and more intuitive.