The Ski Mojo

You may well have seen the device at one of the Ski Shows this Autumn.So is it an end to tired legs or just another gimmick?

James Cove tests the Ski Mojo out in the Swiss resort of Saas Fee.


Now according to the manufacturers the Ski Mojo will revolutionise my skiing and mean an end to tired legs. A bold claim indeed. So what is it and how does it work?

The device is simple; you put one on the outside of each leg and the bottom attaches directly to the ski boot, the top is then hooked into a large leather strap that then sits across your backside. There is a lever at the top to put it in ski mode (engaged) or walk mode (disengaged).

As I attach it to my legs I find it surprisingly easy to put on, though as I pull my trousers over it I do think I would be better in baggier trousers. With a few adjustments though I’m ready to go.

I was expecting it to feel a bit weird to begin with, as trying anything new often feels un-natural, and it did.

The manufacturers claim it acts a bit like the suspension on a car, absorbing the bumps and supporting the body. As I headed along the flat path at the top of The Allalin Express I could feel the load being taken off my legs and I didn’t have to use my thigh muscles so much.  So in a straight line and polling it seemed to be a plus and did exactly what it said on the tin.

But the crucial thing is how it performed while actually skiing.

To be honest it was awkward to begin with as I found I couldn’t extend and flex my legs as much as I wanted to as the Ski Mojo offered a small amount of resistance to the movements.

To compensate for this and make a turn I found myself using my upper body a bit, not good news.  For me making a turn is all about making minor adjustments smoothly and I found the Ski Mojo did not help this.

As I couldn’t push down so smoothly I then found myself putting my skis too much on their edges half way through the turn to get the ski to come round.  As a ski instructor I sometimes find it difficult to get clients onto to their edges so maybe this would be a help, but for me it wasn’t. In short it made the application of even pressure, crucial to most ski turns, more difficult in my opinion.

In quick turns I found it constrained my skiing by again having to push against the pressure of the device and so a bit of upper body movement crept in to compensate.

To be fair though the manufacturers main claim for the device is not to improve your ski technique, but to conserve your energy and rest your muscles.  They say this will enable you to ski for longer and faster in a day.  Perhaps with practice one could get used to it and make a correct turn but in the 2 days I used it I found it did not help my technique.

But where the device did score well was on long straight slopes.  With the ski mojo supporting my weight my thighs were able to relax more as I straight lined a slope.  The manufacturers claim that it relieves thigh burn and in this situation it certainly did.

For me skiing is also all about feeling.  I like to be able to receive information from my skis and I like to be able to give information to my skis. I found the ski mojo got in the way of this.

In summary I think it’s useful for people who suffer from tired legs or who are not so bothered about technique but just want to ski around for longer during the day.  Now many people are like this and so I think for them it could be of great help.  Equally for people who have an injury and want to keep the strain of it then the ski mojo could be useful.

It didn’t really do it for me though.