You can barely make it out, but there is a tip logo on these skis. And it is KARHU, the beast of Finland! Helsinki-based Karhu (Finnish for "bear") has equipped skiers ranging from the Finnish army to World Champions such as Harri Kirvesniemi. They focus more now on footwear and apparel; the former still bearing the "M" striping that refers to "mestari", the Finnish word for champion. Fun fact: in the 50s Karhu used a three-stripes branding on its footwear, but sold it to a fledgling German sports equipment maker.
These are solid wood skis, but narrow and light. It's possible that they were intended for racing. When we acquired them, the bindings were missing and the foot plates were all but gone. We didn't have any vintage Finnish bindings lying around, so we decided to give the skis a scrub down and leave them as is. NOTE: the foot plates were basically old stair tread (true story) affixed to the skis with small nails. These nails are still on the skis, so be careful when you take them out of the box!
Great for display, but if you take them out in the snow you'll get extra love from the snow gods. Look very close and you will notice the beautiful etched lines that run on the tops of the skis from tips to tails.
