Voile Objective BC... I think I love you

[12gaugesage]

So... How was your Valentine day?

Just a quickie in the back woods today

[John_XCD]

Good fun on my objectives this week in great soft conditions. NNNBC + Alfa Guard on these is far from versatile and bordering on silly but it's fun to feel the snow under your toes on the right day! Scales are super functional (yet not terribly drag inducing). Set a mellow up track breaking trail with a kicker skin on the first lap and subsequently was able to climb with just the scales.

Photo is a long meadow rolling over to short 25-30 degree pitch at the bottom.

[12gaugesage]

Good fun on my objectives this week in great soft conditions. NNNBC + Alfa Guard on these is far from versatile and bordering on silly but it's fun to feel the snow under your toes on the right day! Scales are super functional (yet not terribly drag inducing). Set a mellow up track breaking trail with a kicker skin on the first lap and subsequently was able to climb with just the scales.

Photo is a long meadow rolling over to short 25-30 degree pitch at the bottom.

Nice stuff John! Im intrigued by your running nnnbc on the Objective's. Whats your overall take?

Ive been considering swapping my s98s over to nnnbc, mostly just to know how it feels on a big ski.
Now that I have the Objectives, it kind of creates an overlap in my quiver, nnnbc might change what I do with the 98s

[John_XCD]

I ski in Utah and generally ski powder, corn, or packed powder on snowmachine or skin track. I can avoid most "bad" snow without too much trouble (ie breakable crust, ice, etc). I also approached XCD from the XC side of things, and I don't XCD with pins or plastic.

My reading of the NNNBC vs pin debate here is that they are very similar and the difference is more in the boot (ie Alaska will ski the same in either binding, can't get plastic in NNNBC).

So.... I think objective is not really "underpowered" with a NNNBC alaska or guard in great soft powder. Not an XC ski but flies past with skimo crowd up a gradual approach. It's light enough that any issues with tracking don't bug me much. Hard pack is basically terrible. I can ski in control skiing out a mellow approach that's packed down but it's not really "fun".

I also have S98 on NNNBC. I think this is on the wider end of a ski well matched to soft boots-- but I think you would generally be missing the point of this one if in plastic boots. Can handle most conditions I encounter reasonably well, though there are much faster XC skis for gradual terrain. Similar boots in NNNBC vs 3P probably doesn't matter too much, but very happy on NNNBC here.

[fisheater]

To go one step further than what John states. I have both Alaska BC and Alaska 75 boots. However they are used on completely different skis, a Gamme 54 and a Falketind 62. So while I can’t compare turning power exactly, I can state that kick and glide performance are comparable. Now here is the kicker. The Gamme at 210 cm and fairly a fairly stiff double cambered ski has just a touch of rocker. I have found myself using a lot of rotation of a flatter ski in my turning on my twisty trails. I’m certainly not going to bend a stiff double cambered ski into tight trail turns, but with the solid NNN-BC rail interface the amount of rotation I can implement in my turns is quite surprising. I highly doubt, put a six pack on it highly doubt, that the duckbill/3-pin only interface would be nearly as powerful. So I hypothesize, that without a cable, in a soft thermomolded 75 mm boot sole, that NNN-BC is a more powerful interface than 75 mm. Now I also believe that the addition of a cable or a Norwegian welted sole completely changes that paradigm.

[fisheater]

However, despite what I stated above I would mount an Objective 75 mm. I mounted my Tindan 86 3- pin HW. I can ski it in my Alaska in ideal conditions, or a little tougher conditions in my leather Ski March boot. For more serious unknown mountain terrain the T-4 boot. 75 mm tech offers more boot options with a versatile ski like the Objective

[John_XCD]

75 mm tech offers more boot options with a versatile ski like the Objective

This is the probably the consensus on this forum and is a much more sensible approach to maximize the ski if you have (or want to have) a few 75mm boots. For me, I didn't really want to venture into acquiring a fleet of 75mm boots, so fit the ski as the fat end of my NNNBC gear where it can only be used in favorable conditions.

[fisheater]

Not everyone @John_XCD the attached photo is Johnny on Objectives mounted NNN-BC. I was so impressed I saved the photo.

[AlaskaNordic]

Thank you, not for the review but for your last comment, I wanted to post a similar " rant" about the Annums and X2s but then I thought I would be a nerd. I felt the same way, where have you been? What was I thinking? What was I doing? Whats more is seeing your post made me really re-think pullin the trigger on a set of Voiles, I just thought at my level of skiing ability maybe not a great choice, at least yet. But that price on eBay? Time will tell now im looking at a new kayak for the summer so another set of skis will have to wait. But thanks for sharing.

[12gaugesage]

Thank you, not for the review but for your last comment, I wanted to post a similar " rant" about the Annums and X2s but then I thought I would be a nerd. I felt the same way, where have you been? What was I thinking? What was I doing? Whats more is seeing your post made me really re-think pullin the trigger on a set of Voiles, I just thought at my level of skiing ability maybe not a great choice, at least yet. But that price on eBay? Time will tell now im looking at a new kayak for the summer so another set of skis will have to wait. But thanks for sharing.

Yeah I hear ya, I sometimes shy away from posting, but I figure these guys (this site) sorta taught me how to ski, and what to ski, and I was excited and had a beer so.... we're nerds.
I also hear you on what a difference different equipment makes. I almost feel guilty, its like technology doping. A few have remarked here about the turnabilty of the madshus xcd skis compared to Fischers offerings. Horses for courses as they say.