Ideal ski for a long tour in variable conditions.

[pacificnomad]

Hi all! I'm planning on doing the 31 mile circumnavigation of Crater Lake in central Oregon this upcoming Sunday. The temps are forecasted to be a low of 26F in the early am and a high of 40F sometime in the afternoon. It's been pretty cold the last few weeks with night/daytime temps being below freezing at all times and fresh snow daily. Only this Fri, Sat and Sun are forecasted to see the highs above freezing. This forecast is for the lower elevation point (the ranger station) at 6000'. Most of the tour will be above that at 6000'-8000', with some shade cover due to nearby peaks and tree cover. So probably looking at some icy snow, maybe breakable crust in the am, maybe a very slight thaw in the afternoon and then a return to more icy/breakable crust in the afternoon/evening as temps cool down.There is approx 3.5 thousand feet of gain. Most of the skiing is pretty XC oriented with a little d involved. Recently I purchased a pair of waxable Ingstads and a pair of the Asnes USGI/MT-65's. And I also have a pair of waxable TN66's and a pair of Kongsvolds. This year, I've had good luck waxing for these conditions as follows: Polar tip to tail corked in, Swix blue in the pocket in the am and Rode Viola Multigrade if it's getting soft in the afternoon. My MT-65 skis have a couple of longish strips of Rex Grip Tape in lieu of kick wax, and find that these skis are generally the fastest for kick and glide purposes. In fact the Rex Grip Tape works in ice or slush or soft deep powder, great stuff!

So Telemark people, which ski would you choose for the above route and conditions? I'm definitely not going with the Kongsvold due to it being edge-less and the amount of icy snow that I may encounter, and lack of straight glide. Nor the TN66 in case I have some deeper snow in some of the more snowy areas. That leaves me with the Ingstad or the Mt-65. Which ski would you go with? Thanks and enjoy the snow!

[The GCW]

Hope You get info.

Also consider google searching something like:

"Crater Lake telemark talk forum" to get this among others...

http://www.telemarktalk.com/viewtopic.php?t=3046
Circumnavigating Crater Lake March 10-12, 2020 on Altai Hok skis and pulk sled

[Inspiredcapers]

My vote is Ingstad. You describe varying conditions where the scales and an Xskin would shine. Its also lighter and turns better than the USGI (I own both).

That USGI is a bruiser though, it’ll punch through s**t that will toss Ingy around. Gotta try your Rex Tape idea, interesting to learn it’ll handle slush n’ ice.

[fisheater]

Since I haven’t skied all those skis I would say ski the one that turns best! I would think it would be Ingstad. I have a 200 cm USGI, I even skied it at the resort years ago when my son was skiing mostly green runs. It should be okay.

I’ve been kick waxing for a good number of years. I use klister as well. I would appreciate some more comments on the Rex Grip Tape. Is it easily scraped off a ski. Klister isn’t what I would call easy, sometimes it take two beers to clean Klister!

[fisheater]

Good luck on your tour! We all would enjoy a photo or two as well as a report.
I still would like some more details on the Rex Grip Tape. Another question, would it drag more than wax on a flatter cambered ski, something like a waxable Voile Objective.
Like I really need to add to my klister and kickwax collection LOL!

[pacificnomad]

Hope You get info.

Also consider google searching something like:

"Crater Lake telemark talk forum" to get this among others...

http://www.telemarktalk.com/viewtopic.php?t=3046
Circumnavigating Crater Lake March 10-12, 2020 on Altai Hok skis and pulk sled

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!

[pacificnomad]

My vote is Ingstad. You describe varying conditions where the scales and an Xskin would shine. Its also lighter and turns better than the USGI (I own both).

That USGI is a bruiser though, it’ll punch through s**t that will toss Ingy around. Gotta try your Rex Tape idea, interesting to learn it’ll handle slush n’ ice.

Thanks for the input! I think based on forecasted temps (it's now forecasted to be a bit warmer on Sun at 29/45F) I'm probably going with the USGI's. I haven't skied them more than a few miles since I recently got them, but they felt real really efficient when going straight. And the Rex Grip Tape seems to work on frozen crust and afternoon slush, so I won't have to spend time having to get the wax right on the Ingstad.

[pacificnomad]

Since I haven’t skied all those skis I would say ski the one that turns best! I would think it would be Ingstad. I have a 200 cm USGI, I even skied it at the resort years ago when my son was skiing mostly green runs. It should be okay.

I’ve been kick waxing for a good number of years. I use klister as well. I would appreciate some more comments on the Rex Grip Tape. Is it easily scraped off a ski. Klister isn’t what I would call easy, sometimes it take two beers to clean Klister!

I think I'm going with the USGI's tomorrow! Having scoured the Youtube depths and watching most vids on the Crater lake circumnavigation, I've come to the conclusion that straight efficiency is probably more important than turning ease. I'm pretty okay with making the ez miles click by and creaking thru some turns and going slow where it's steep and technical.
As far as the Rex Grip Tape goes, I've only ever applied it once to a ski (the USGI's) and skied for maybe a total of 5 miles on two different outing, so I don't have a huge sample size. One outing was frozen crust and the other was warm afternoon snow (like klister temps). And the tape worked really well. I chose the USGI ski for the tape due to it's higher camber than the Ingstad. The tape grips and glides well. I haven't used klister yet (or ever). I think the Rex Grip Tape is probably a chore to remove; I'd go at it with base cleaner and a beveled putty knife. If I were to put it on a modern BC XC with their camber and a half geometry, I'd place the tape directly under the mid-foot to the front of the bindings and then supplement with kick wax further up the ski for optimal grip/glide. Thanks!

[randoskier]

Hi all! I'm planning on doing the 31 mile circumnavigation of Crater Lake in central Oregon this upcoming Sunday. The temps are forecasted to be a low of 26F in the early am and a high of 40F sometime in the afternoon. It's been pretty cold the last few weeks with night/daytime temps being below freezing at all times and fresh snow daily. Only this Fri, Sat and Sun are forecasted to see the highs above freezing. This forecast is for the lower elevation point (the ranger station) at 6000'. Most of the tour will be above that at 6000'-8000', with some shade cover due to nearby peaks and tree cover. So probably looking at some icy snow, maybe breakable crust in the am, maybe a very slight thaw in the afternoon and then a return to more icy/breakable crust in the afternoon/evening as temps cool down.There is approx 3.5 thousand feet of gain. Most of the skiing is pretty XC oriented with a little d involved. Recently I purchased a pair of waxable Ingstads and a pair of the Asnes USGI/MT-65's. And I also have a pair of waxable TN66's and a pair of Kongsvolds. This year, I've had good luck waxing for these conditions as follows: Polar tip to tail corked in, Swix blue in the pocket in the am and Rode Viola Multigrade if it's getting soft in the afternoon. My MT-65 skis have a couple of longish strips of Rex Grip Tape in lieu of kick wax, and find that these skis are generally the fastest for kick and glide purposes. In fact the Rex Grip Tape works in ice or slush or soft deep powder, great stuff!

So Telemark people, which ski would you choose for the above route and conditions? I'm definitely not going with the Kongsvold due to it being edge-less and the amount of icy snow that I may encounter, and lack of straight glide. Nor the TN66 in case I have some deeper snow in some of the more snowy areas. That leaves me with the Ingstad or the Mt-65. Which ski would you go with? Thanks and enjoy the snow!

Make candles out of all that wax and strap on pair of Fischer Excursion 88s, bingo.

[fisheater]

@randoskier while I respect your touring knowledge, this tour can easily be completed on waxable skis. Some of us don’t care for the glide of waxless skis.
I have recently purchased a couple pair of waxless skis, because waxless skis have their place. Some of us truly enjoy the kick and glide of a waxed ski.