Integrated kicker skin- feeling a little underwhelmed

[lilcliffy]

Convenient that you would post this Mike.

My wonderland 3ft of snow was temporarily damaged by warm spell and freezing rain last Saturday- followed by an immediate drop in temp- it was in 25C at my place on Monday morning (-30C along the Nashwaak!!!)

So the snow has an icy crust on top, with very cold, coarse granular snow beneath. All of waxless-scaled skis are completely useless in this icy, granular concoction.

I have been out on my E-99 and E-109 with the Easy-Skin attached. The 35mm skin is virtually useless- but the 50mm skin is excellent!

The crazy thing is that the E-99 with the 50mm Easy-Skin is actually proving to be the best performer in this very difficult snow. The combination of its stiffer flex, with less sidecut, results in the ski cutting a clean track through the crust- the full length of the ski.

The E-109's fatter tip will not cut through the crust, leaving it floating and sliding around on the crust, while its waist breaks down through the crust. As an aside- my 205cm Eons were even worse- at least the stiffer flex of the E-109 gives the ski some more support.

The 50mm kicker skin has kept me skiing this week- awaiting fresh snow tomorrow!

[MikeK]

Ahh - good to know. I have a wide nylon for my Asnes.

Looking forward to soft snow...

[lilcliffy]

I find that I take back my original post of disappointment here!

I find that I am actually thrilled with the integrated kicker skins- both Fischer and Asnes. They both perform VERY well- they extend my skis onto a wider range of snow conditions.

There some important differences between the Skin-Lock and the Easy-Skin- I will post that in the Review thread.