Nordic skate blade thickness

April 14, 2026

How does Nordic skate blade thickness affects performance?

The most common question we got during the 2025/26 season was ‘what’s the difference between your L10 and Ak1 Nordic skate?’ Occasionally customers were curious about differences in colors, laser work, or skate lengths. But almost always, what folks really wanted to know was the difference between the L10’s 1.2mm blade and the 1.6mm blade on the Ak1. Would a thicker blade be more stable? Was a 1.2mm blade OK for a beginner? Would a narrower blade turn a Nordic skate into a speed skate?

Nordic skate blade thickness in context

Across skating sports, blade thickness varies widely based on the way a skate is used. At about 4.8mm, figure skate blades are extremely thick in order to maximize stability for jumps. Hockey skate blades are optimized for agility, and come in closer to 3mm. Speed skate blades are, of course, designed purely for speed. They tend to be the thinnest out there at roughly 1.1mm.

So where does that leave Nordic skate blades? Unlike rink sports, Nordic skating doesn’t have a single agreed-upon objective (unless ‘have fun’ counts), and the user base and skating locations are immensely varied. This means that Nordic skate companies have many options when it comes to specifying blades on any particular skate. A Nordic skate optimized for speed on cold, smooth ice may benefit from a thinner speed-skate-like blade, while a Nordic skate intended to tackle bumpy late-season ice might take some design inspiration from those 4.8mm figure skate blades.

Another consideration for Nordic skate blades is the unpredictability of wild ice itself. Due to ideal man-made freezing conditions, rink ice is relatively cold, uniform, and dense. By contrast, wild ice is often warm, highly variable, and softer. Thin blades are lighter but they can sink into wild ice, slowing a skater down. Thicker blades are heavier, but have better “flotation” and may be able to glide more efficiently on the ice surface.

Nordic skating over wet ice in the Placer drainage. Wild ice ranges widely in temperature, from bone cold to just a fraction of a degree below freezing.

Enter Ermine

When Ermine launched, the Scandinavian skates that dominated the market used blades with thicknesses of 1.1 to 1.4mm. Ermine’s introductory skate, the A100, had a remarkably thick 1.57mm blade — likely the thickest in the industry. Our ultra-thick (by Nordic skate standards) blade choice was largely motivated by a desire to make a skate that could handle high forces without deflecting, thereby maximizing stability. Nordic skaters in Alaska were pushing their existing gear up to (and sometimes past) its limits, and we wanted our new skate to be able to handle this style of skating.

Secondarily, we also wanted to make sure that our debut Nordic skate could take a lot of use and abuse before we considered making lighter models, which (all other things equal) would inherently be more prone to damage. In that sense, we weren’t arguing that 1.57mm was the one ‘right’ width for a Nordic skate blade as much as it was simply the right width for an introductory product that had specific design criteria.

The 1.57mm blade on Ermine’s original A100 Nordic skate (seen here on the A100-L, our first limited edition skate)

That said, our unique 1.57mm blade was very successful — even more, perhaps, than we’d expected. Due in part to the wide blade, our A Series line quickly earned a reputation for extraordinary durability, stiffness, and stability. It also had unmatched flotation on softer, warmer ice. These skates were easy for beginners to learn on and also provided an incredibly confident ride for experts. To this day, our A series line continues to use blades between 1.57 and 1.62mm. It’s a supremely capable go-anywhere, do-anything blade thickness suitable for users of every skill level.

Ermine goes light…er

At the tail end of the 2024/25 season, we launched our first L Series skate, the L10. The ‘L’ stood for ‘lightweight,’ though ‘lighter-weight’ may have been more accurate. At 1.2mm, the blade thickness sat squarely in the middle of the range for Scandinavian Nordic skates. The blade also included internal cutouts to save weight. But the design goal was not exclusively light weight: we also brought in some of the durability-oriented features from our A Series, such as dropping the aluminum frame down low on the blade in order to stabilize it, and pinning the blade with four big spring pins. In many respects, the L could best be described as Ermine’s take on a more traditional Scandinavian Nordic skate, with a thinner blade but still very solid construction.

Our customers were initially reluctant to give the L a chance. After years of selling and promoting the 1.57mm blade on our A Series, some were concerned that a 1.2mm blade would be unstable or would be difficult for beginners. We tried to reassure folks that the L10’s 1.2mm blade was very capable, and was in no way an experts-only product, but some remained skeptical.

Sales of the L Series, both to customers and to retailers, did gradually rise throughout the season. A turning point with the L Series was when Luc Mehl posted his review of the L10. Luc had drilled the L10 and put 100 miles on them with heavy alpine touring boots and bindings. That was as good a test of our ‘lightweight’ skate as any:

In response to one question about blade thickness, Luc replied ‘I’ve been on the widest and thinnest and it makes no practical difference for me.’ Here at Ermine, we’d argue that the ‘for me,’ is a notable qualifier here, but it does get at an important point: for many users, blade thickness is less important than other factors. In his review, Luc focused on the L10’s lighter weight and the blades’ ability to hold an edge.

Nordic skate blade thickness: the bottom line

Since our founding, Ermine has made Nordic skates with blades between 1.2 and 1.62mm. We’ve also experimented with blades up to 1.94mm. Wide blades do provide stability advantages for powerful and agile skaters, but the biggest advantage that they have is the increased floatation and glide on soft ice. There is even a very narrow window of ice conditions where a 1.6mm blade can still glide well, while a 1.1mm blade sinks into the ice and struggles. Conversely, a thinner blade makes for a lighter and therefore snappier skate. There’s nothing like laying out on a big lake, riding skates that are so light you barely notice them under your feet.

My personal take, as the owner of Ermine, is that blade thickness does matter — but generally matters less than radius, blade length, edge sharpness, and proper positioning of a skater’s boot over the skate. These differences are immediately noticeable on all ice conditions. When I’m headed out the door, I generally reach for whatever skates are closest and sharpest. Any thickness of blade will work on just about any ice, and once I’ve clipped my skates on my focus turns entirely to what really matters: ‘having fun.'”

- Paxson Woelber has been a dedicated Nordic skater and advocate for wild ice skating since 2016. In 2021, he founded Ermine Skate, North America's first Nordic skate company. Today, Ermine offers a range of premium Nordic skates and Nordic skating products designed for wild ice.