Sporten: a new player on the nordic backcountry ski scene

[bgregoire]

Oh, and they had these for sale too!

http://www.sporten.cz/eng/catalog/nordi ... oduct.html

Anyone up for a hunt?

[bgregoire]

Oh, and they had these for sale too!

http://www.sporten.cz/eng/catalog/nordi ... oduct.html

Anyone up for a hunt?

[Rodbelan]

I think this. Winter backpacking or expeds. Shorter length and increased width for maneuverability and stability I'd assume.

To be more precise, why strong camber, larger width AND pronounced sidecut? Straighter skis with strong camber seems ok for k&g and touring in powder, but one doesn't need that kind of sidecut (like Rossis BC90)—certainly not for tracking stability. I think the brand wants to hit as many market as possible, hence making (what seems to me like) a hum, hum stupid ski...

[lilcliffy]

Well it's either the product of intelligent design...or it's just another example of the current dogma: "you need them short for easy turnin".

The wide and short part with a lot of camber may be intended to produce an expedition, xcountry ski for forest cover. Many of the traditional Fennoscandian expedition skis are designed for open tundra/alpine/polar conditions- and therefore the skis are very long.

The Finns traditionally make two kinds of "forest skis" though:
- VERY long (up to 300cm) skis for cruising on woods trails
- short and fat for bushwhacking (i.e. the Eurasian "ski-shoe")

These could be an attempt to blend the two? The stiffness and camber is obviously designed for carrying/pulling weight.

The sidecut is clearly to make them "easy-turning"- but they don't have crazy sidecut- and it's not parabolic- the tail only has 10mm of sidecut.

For the intended use I would rather have more width underfoot with a rockered tip for early tip rise and turn initiation.

Are they rockered in the tip?

[DPO777]

Hi

They may seem like a new player on the retail North America scene but apparently made in a long standing factory in Czech.

Doing some digging I have come up with some interesting info revealing that currently all the Asnes skis are made in the same factory as the Sporten line.

European fabrication – Czechia

Today, Asnes produces all their skis in an excellent fabrication facility in the Czech Republic. The factory was formerly called Sporten. It still produces skis under this brand today. The factory’s owners bought the Kastle brand in 2019 and changed the place’s name.

With access to technology that other ski plants don’t, the factory can produce most things in-house. More, they always hold a lot of fabrication material; we buy it together in advance, so that we can quickly prototype new skis and scale production at any time. The control systems, quality assurance and the careful selection of materials are overseen by our production manager – the third generation of the Asnes family engaged in the production of skis bearing that name.

The factory produces skis for many of the most well-known and established ski brands in the world. The work they do for us is second to none.

Included in the list of skis currently manufactured in the old Sporten/Kastle factory is the Sporten line and the Alpina line. So when you are looking at the Sporten and Alpina Backcountry lineup they are basically the same ski give or take labeling etc.

https://www.sporten.cz/en/products/nord ... ordic-skis

https://www.alpinasports.com/us/nordic/ ... -pm-SM5701

I would think these Sporten skis are a really good buy for a solid reliable non-flashy on high performance speed backcountry/track ski.

In the regions I think these Sporten/Alpina skis would be suited well for off track on the rolling flats and through the bush trails.

Some of the Sportens have gone on Arctic expeditions and some of their performance models have won races.

They have an interesting new 64mm ski with an integrated skin that is very reasonably priced to replace or perhaps you can make your own replacements out of cheaper skin rolls.

They may be good for days that you just want to get up and hit the trails for a few hours without messing with the what to wear wax of the hour dilemma.

Think they have a bit of a cool understated ready to go to work look.

Just have to decide if I should add to my collection or not...

https://www.sporten.cz/en/products/124-explorer-skin

[DPO777]

Hi

They may seem like a new player on the retail North America scene but apparently made in a long standing factory in Czech.

Doing some digging I have come up with some interesting info revealing that currently all the Asnes skis are made in the same factory as the Sporten line.

European fabrication – Czechia

Today, Asnes produces all their skis in an excellent fabrication facility in the Czech Republic. The factory was formerly called Sporten. It still produces skis under this brand today. The factory’s owners bought the Kastle brand in 2019 and changed the place’s name.

With access to technology that other ski plants don’t, the factory can produce most things in-house. More, they always hold a lot of fabrication material; we buy it together in advance, so that we can quickly prototype new skis and scale production at any time. The control systems, quality assurance and the careful selection of materials are overseen by our production manager – the third generation of the Asnes family engaged in the production of skis bearing that name.

The factory produces skis for many of the most well-known and established ski brands in the world. The work they do for us is second to none.

Included in the list of skis currently manufactured in the old Sporten/Kastle factory is the Sporten line and the Alpina line. So when you are looking at the Sporten and Alpina Backcountry lineup they are basically the same ski give or take labeling etc.

https://www.sporten.cz/en/products/nord ... ordic-skis

https://www.alpinasports.com/us/nordic/ ... -pm-SM5701

I would think these Sporten skis are a really good buy for a solid reliable non-flashy on high performance speed backcountry/track ski.

In the regions I think these Sporten/Alpina skis would be suited well for off track on the rolling flats and through the bush trails.

Some of the Sportens have gone on Arctic expeditions and some of their performance models have won races.

They have an interesting new 64mm ski with an integrated skin that is very reasonably priced to replace or perhaps you can make your own replacements out of cheaper skin rolls.

They may be good for days that you just want to get up and hit the trails for a few hours without messing with the what to wear wax of the hour dilemma.

Think they have a bit of a cool understated ready to go to work look.

Just have to decide if I should add to my collection or not...

https://www.sporten.cz/en/products/124-explorer-skin

So yes added the Sporten Explorer Skin 64 175 to the collection for my better half. Mounted the BC manuals. Core solid grab on screws. For some reason the back heel screw on a lot of the new skis seem to hit a soft spot in core. Except the Asnes Gammie 54s. Very tough top layer. The 175s are too short for me but wanted to test drive them. First run out was a laugh as the skins stopped dead in the tracks like a deere in the headlights. Turned around and got the e99s out to rethink the Sporten wax. Went out later after changing wax and putting some skin wax on them and quite a bit of difference second time out. Good glide considering too short and mountain goated up a hill without slipping or herringbone.

Deep snow off track was manageable. So I could see that if these were 195s they would have been a good performing ski. I did manage to take a shovel out with them and fill in a creek ravine with packed snow and the short length made them like a work ski LOL

Appear to be a good all around ski for outback and don't look half bad either.

Regular price was $300 CAD but got a sale at under $200 CAD

Will have to see what better half thinks of them next weekend up in Arrowhead.

[randoskier]

Hi

They may seem like a new player on the retail North America scene but apparently made in a long standing factory in Czech.

Doing some digging I have come up with some interesting info revealing that currently all the Asnes skis are made in the same factory as the Sporten line.

European fabrication – Czechia

Today, Asnes produces all their skis in an excellent fabrication facility in the Czech Republic. The factory was formerly called Sporten. It still produces skis under this brand today. The factory’s owners bought the Kastle brand in 2019 and changed the place’s name.

With access to technology that other ski plants don’t, the factory can produce most things in-house. More, they always hold a lot of fabrication material; we buy it together in advance, so that we can quickly prototype new skis and scale production at any time. The control systems, quality assurance and the careful selection of materials are overseen by our production manager – the third generation of the Asnes family engaged in the production of skis bearing that name.

The factory produces skis for many of the most well-known and established ski brands in the world. The work they do for us is second to none.

Included in the list of skis currently manufactured in the old Sporten/Kastle factory is the Sporten line and the Alpina line. So when you are looking at the Sporten and Alpina Backcountry lineup they are basically the same ski give or take labeling etc.

https://www.sporten.cz/en/products/nord ... ordic-skis

https://www.alpinasports.com/us/nordic/ ... -pm-SM5701

I would think these Sporten skis are a really good buy for a solid reliable non-flashy on high performance speed backcountry/track ski.

In the regions I think these Sporten/Alpina skis would be suited well for off track on the rolling flats and through the bush trails.

Some of the Sportens have gone on Arctic expeditions and some of their performance models have won races.

They have an interesting new 64mm ski with an integrated skin that is very reasonably priced to replace or perhaps you can make your own replacements out of cheaper skin rolls.

They may be good for days that you just want to get up and hit the trails for a few hours without messing with the what to wear wax of the hour dilemma.

Think they have a bit of a cool understated ready to go to work look.

Just have to decide if I should add to my collection or not...

https://www.sporten.cz/en/products/124-explorer-skin

So yes added the Sporten Explorer Skin 64 175 to the collection for my better half. Mounted the BC manuals. Core solid grab on screws. For some reason the back heel screw on a lot of the new skis seem to hit a soft spot in core. Except the Asnes Gammie 54s. Very tough top layer. The 175s are too short for me but wanted to test drive them. First run out was a laugh as the skins stopped dead in the tracks like a deere in the headlights. Turned around and got the e99s out to rethink the Sporten wax. Went out later after changing wax and putting some skin wax on them and quite a bit of difference second time out. Good glide considering too short and mountain goated up a hill without slipping or herringbone.

Deep snow off track was manageable. So I could see that if these were 195s they would have been a good performing ski. I did manage to take a shovel out with them and fill in a creek ravine with packed snow and the short length made them like a work ski LOL

Appear to be a good all around ski for outback and don't look half bad either.

Regular price was $300 CAD but got a sale at under $200 CAD

Will have to see what better half thinks of them next weekend up in Arrowhead.

I ran all that info down on here about Kastle-Sporten and their ownership in a post about three or four months ago, They are an old established brand who sell well in Eastern Europe- the Sporten factory also builds all of the Asnes skis, they built some of Fischers' when their Ukraine Fischer factory burnt down. This is ten years ago- they have recently modernized it, and the workers no longer sport mullets.

[DPO777]

Yes I saw the newer video looks like they spent a pile of dough on the new machines. Gotta love the old video with the locals making the skis in there summer clothes and no PPE anywhere in sight.

Even though the earlier YouTube video was posted 10 years ago as well I think the actual original video is older that by the looks of things

It looks like they started about 10 years or more ago on the updates.