XCD Skis for Midwest Terrain

[TheDeerman]

I’m also in SE Wisconsin and have been pulling my toddler in a burley with ski attachment this past week. Yesterday I was near Madison and it was maybe 15F but sunny and no wind and she was fine for about 45 minutes, some time in the trailer and some time playing in the snow. I was at Lapham peak on a warmer day and I think she could have gone longer than the hour we stayed. Mid 30s with a slight wind. She was wearing a snowsuit and the only areas that felt cold when we got in were the “seams.” Where boot meets pant, etc. On the colder day she was largely warm but fingers and toes were chilly. I didn’t have her wool socks on. Would have been too warm on the 30+ degree day, but should have had them on the 15. Wearing Kamik toddler boots. Seem warm. I had no problem making gentle turns with the burley on groomed snow, though I stepped way into the skate deck to keep it from getting caught up on the tracks.

Had some nice snow in some places near Madison. Went up and down a short winding hill path with my tn66s and it held up over a number of passes and was fun to get some stem turns in even on a tiny hill. Other areas on the same path barely had two inches.

Sounds like we had a similar couple of days! I was out towing the Chariot on some ungroomed trails and golf courses on a couple of the colder days and the one-year-old seemed to really enjoy it. Had her in a pajama onesie with a snowsuit on top and some blankets. She did especially great on that Saturday before Christmas, about 4 hours total with a lunch break in the middle. Still a little bit of cold in the toes that I’m trying to figure out a solution for, but otherwise seemed she was warm and comfortable in there. Some of my favorite days of skiing, ever.

Aside from my S-Bound 98/Voile 3-Pin/Alpina Alaska setup, I also have a Rossignol BC90/NNNBC/Rossignol BCX10 combo that worked really nice with this most recent snow that we got. I’m finding I like NNNBC quite a bit with the ups and downs of Midwest terrain. The BC90 is essentially an E88 clone (according to another poster on this forum who did a side by side analysis) and handles deeper snow really nicely. Had a good day solo touring the Kettle Moraines on those and have been enjoying the new approaches to skiing XCD after years of skate and classic.

When you were at Lapham, did you stick to the main snowmaking loops, and what kind of skis were you on? I haven’t tried skiing there with the little one yet and am curious about how towing a trailer would go when it’s a little more crowded (I imagine I would probably have to skate to keep up with the flow of traffic and not be too in-the-way). Also interested in taking on the bigger hills on the natural snow loops (esp if we can beat the groomers out there), but a little nervous those might be too steep for the Chariot.

[ezp901]

When you were at Lapham, did you stick to the main snowmaking loops, and what kind of skis were you on?

This was a few days before they got meaningful snowfall, so manmade loop only, and it wasn’t quite complete. I was on old Fischer waxless classic skis. My main concern was grip while pulling, which was not at all a problem. I didn’t feel in the way at all, with my burley (a solo from 2015 or so, like 4 inches narrower than the most common burley) there was room to pass me in the the other set of classic tracks. It was fairly busy, more or less a full parking lot, and everybody on a 1 mile route with 2 way sections, not a full loop. It was a Saturday.

The downhill portion of the woods loop was open and I felt comfortable, but I guess the worry for me is that the trailer starts push me sort off axis. An extra 40 or 50 pounds is not a huge deal for stopping and slowing ability as long as it stays behind you but if it started pushing sideways on a turn or something I could see it getting sketchy.