Patent ID: 7017695

Claim:
An elongated vehicle snow ski for attachment to a snow vehicle steering mechanism, said ski comprising: opposite top and bottom surfaces; opposite first and second sides; opposite front and rear ends, said ski defining a longitudinal axis extending between said front and rear ends; a pivot joint member attached to said top surface for pivotally attaching the ski to the steering mechanism for allowing pivotal displacement of said ski about a transversal axis extending between said first and second sides and intersecting said longitudinal axis, said ski further being pivotable about a steering axis that extends transversely to and that intersects said longitudinal and transversal axes; a pair of spaced-apart, elongated, longitudinally-oriented lateral keels integrally projecting from said bottom surface; an elongated longitudinally-oriented central keel integrally projecting from said bottom surface, said central keel being longitudinally offset relative to said lateral keels and being located between said pair of lateral keels along said transversal axis; and a pair of elongate depressions positioned along opposite outside edges of said bottom surface on either side of said central keel; wherein said ski is movable between a straight line position in which a ground plane that intersects a lowermost surface of said lateral and central keels is defined, and a turn-carving position in which said ski is pivoted about its steering, longitudinal and transversal axes relative to said straight line position and is inclined laterally so that only said central keel and a single one of said pair of lateral keels intersect said ground plane and the other one of said lateral keels is raised above said ground plane, said depressions defining a ground clearance in the vicinity of said central keel allowing said ski bottom surface to remain spaced from said ground plane in said turn-carving position of said ski.