The E-Skimo system is claimed to make climbing mountain slopes up to 30 percent easier and nearly twice as fast.
Ski mountaineering - aka skimo - is an epic sport in which skiers make their way up to the summit of a mountain, then downhill-ski back to the base. The E-Skimo system is designed to make the trip up easier, by putting motorized treads on the skis.
"Drawing inspiration from the ebike revolution," E-Skimo is made by Swiss startup E-Outdoor, and will be officially unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.
The electric powered tread that needs to be added to the skis for a handy boost up the slopes apparently takes just a minute to install, and the same amount of time to remove. You then just pop the gizmo in your backpack and ski back down the mountain.
According to the designers, E-Skimo allows users to ascend mountain slopes up to 80 percent faster than they would on non-powered skis, with 30 percent less effort. We're told that one charge of the batteries should be good for about three hours of runtime.
OK, you can't fit E-Skimo to any skis - but the system's special sturdy skis reportedly offer better downhill performance than the lighter-weight skis which are typically used for non-powered ski mountaineering.
Here's a video to give you a better idea of what it's all about...