Alright, ghosting more than posting lately, Feb was a bit rough, sick kid, sick wife, long work drive.... But dont worry, I didn't let any of that get in between me and my 88's.
Got my inserts installed so I can switch between BC and 3 pin.
There is something simple and sleek about the Rotte ST:
Got out on them a bunch, in a few different types of terrain and conditions. They are quite great. First of all, length. These things glide like a ski half their width, they feel so nice and efficient. Aside from my twinskin's, all my skis are 189's, when I bought my first ski (Spider 62) I remember the salesman saying they should be longer, lamenting the lack of longer skis for larger skiers. In my mind as a new skier at that time, 189 seemed incredibly long! Ultimately he was right. Its nice to have the kick pocket not constantly drag. Even with skins on they glide nicely, and I really don't feel like I'm giving up any traction, though I must be.
I did a nice 13mi low angle tour one day on East Branch road over fresh snow with a little bit of snowmobile traffic. They were fine but maybe a little more ski than I needed, it was nice to have the width to float over the grooves and bumps from snowmobiles though.
Another significant thing I notice from the length is the fore/aft stability, I feel like I have all the time in the world to correct my body position when things get sketchy or I get sloppy. I have been working on lunging deep this season as a building block to a "the turn" and these feel so smooth and stable getting into and out of the low knee position, I actually have time to think and digest my weight distribution and foot pressure before things get squirrley. I'm defintely going to need the technique to drive a turn on these long sticks in dense snow.
Woods: Hit Avalanche brook trail for the first time last week on them(already had 65mm ezskins), the length made things tricky in some places, but the stability was excellent. Kept the skins on for the descent to try and check the speed a little, they still felt like rockets. It was pretty awesome, despite some emergency uphills to tree grab stops to avoid water bars and a couple wipeouts. Thats a narrow trail in places!
Went back this week with my new 98s in 189, conditions werent as good, and frankly it was pretty difficult. Thought the shorter length would be the ticket. Must master it all.
Cannatonic: Its nice to have more options, I hope its a sign that the nordic BC segment is alive and growing
