chris_the_wrench wrote: ↑Thu Apr 06, 2023 8:19 pm
lilcliffy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 06, 2023 2:45 pm
In addition- I note that you are using NNNBC boots- if you want to keep using your boots- this is going to potentially limit the width of the ski you might consider- though this limit is a complex of the particulat boot, the snow conditions, and the skills of the skier.
Casacades? Moisture-rich snow?
Im not happy with my boots, Im considering swapping to 3 pin anyways. East side of the Cascades, it's amazing what a few miles east of the pct will do to the moisture!
Responding to an old post so I'm sure this decision has been made long ago but it may help others.
I've been experimenting a lot with Xplore, 3-pin, and TechToe the last few years. I'm fairly new to the sport and jettisoned NNNBC rather quickly. For the conditions described I think the Xplore binding with maybe a Lundhags Abisku would be an excellent combination. While my experience with 3-pin is not extensive I know I do not care for them in deep snow, especially if the snow is sticky or wet. In my case I found it builds up under the foot and is very hard to clear. The Xplore on the other hand, with it's much greater range of motion, is almost always easy to clear with a vigorous shake of the foot.
I would recommend the Abisku over either the Alpina Alaska and the Alfa Free. The Alaska is a bit soft in the ankle for the turns you're looking for and the Free bends too far forward to provide effective control. I still use my Alaska for narrower skis, skiing in track, and light offtrack with, say, a Rossi BC80, but they aren't up to controlling a FT62 or the Voile Objective. The Abiskus do well with both of this skis though can struggle with the Objective in deep, heavy snow.
I was skiing exactly what the OP had described in the opening post yesterday. I was with a small group (wife, son, daughter in law) who had little experience XC but are decent athletes and know how to ski. They stayed for the most part on a 'groomed' area that had a few inches of new snow. (Probably just a snowmobile had been through.) Two of them were on BC80 and one was on a Voile Objective. All were Xplore+Alaska. I was on a 172cm FT62 using a 58mm Xskin, which was perfect. Off the groomed area the snow was a few feet of fresh, heavy snow. It was not powder. It was a low angle out and back; up going in, down coming out.
As the most experienced I was doing a lot off off-track and was quite surprised how well the FT62 was handling everything. It had exceptional kick and glide on the snowed over kind-of groomed track. Was not miserable on fresh snowmobile tracks. It supported me well enough in the deep snow to break trail and to climb. It floated well enough to pick up a little speed and give me some good turns on some low 20-25 degree hills.
My son on the Objective was struggling so I offered to swap. He instantly preferred the FT62, and so did I. I generally like the Objective but it was awful. Performance on the track was very poor as it would not track straight but tended to slide laterally. It broke trail well and the scales did their job nicely but downhill performance was awful with very little lateral control. It felt like it was compacting snow just under the ski and then sliding off the compacted area. I felt like a long, narrower, stiff ski would have given me much better directional control and been less prone to 'sliding off.'
Incidentally, the BC80s did really well on the snowed-over and fresh snowmobile tracks but were not wide enough or long enough to excel off track. They did climb well with the scales but proved difficult to turn coming down, though I was the only one in the group that actually knows how to Tele turn and I use 'know' very loosely here!
