The narrowest class of XCD Skis

[anrothar]

Bumping this thread to the top, since this class of ski has proven to be the type I use most often. I've been on Madshus Pellestovas(62/52/57) for several years now, and am awaiting the arrival of a pair of Asnes Mountain Race 48 from SportAlbert in Europe. Based on what I've read and seen of the MR48, it should have a much stiffer second camber than the Pellestova, which should make it much better for multiday skiing on snowmobile trails and crust, since the wax should last longer and they should glide a little bit faster. With the Pellestovas in 210, even when they were new, the wax pocket isn't able to support my weight with a backpack. Despite the narrower profile, the MR48 might actually float better, especially on slightly breakable crust(last weekend). With the Pellestova, when I do break through crust, it's the waist of the ski that breaks through. If the MR48 keeps the waist off the snow unless purposely compressed, that means my weight will be supported by the 60mm tip/53mm tail rather than the 52mm waist. At least in theory....


I feel this class of ski serves a different purpose than the Glittertind class of ski. Much more appropriate for on trail use and better at skating on crust, wide trails or ice. I use them most for ungroomed on trail touring where race skis would be too unstable, too narrow, too weak and dangerous due to no metal edges. The Glittertind class of skis outperform this class in deeper snow and off trail in most situations. I have a pair of the old 65/55/60 e99 and even those behave differently than the Pellestovas, even though they both should hover somewhere in between the ~68mm tip skis and ~60mm tip skis. I define the class of skis in question here as 'Fast, on trail touring skis', and the e99/Glittertind/Gamme 54 as 'Fast off trail touring skis(on firm conditions)'. Nansen, Ingstad, Eon, S78 I think of as 'Fast deep snow touring skis'.

[athabascae]

Great input. Interesting stuff. I agree with your summations, and I also use an e89 class ski most often as well.

I was humming-and-hawing about a pair of Asnes Mountain Race 48 in 210 cm from Sport Albert as well, but decided I'll hold off for now. I spent too much $$ on equipment this year. Next winter...

Tom

[anrothar]

I had the chance to briefly fondle a set of Race 48's while spectating at the start of this years Iditarod Trail Invitational. One of the two ski racers was on them, with NNNBC Magnums and Alaskas. I didn't bother flexing them as I didn't want to risk messing up his wax or whatever random calamity could potentially occur while flexing someone else's skis right before they take off on a 300 mile race.

[anrothar]

Rossignol appears to be listing a waxable(and a fishscaled) BC59 for the US market for 2016! This is good news for us unfortunate non-Canadian North Americans. Not as true of a double camber as the Holmenkollen/MR48, but similar to the e89, but maybe a little better turning if I read google's translation of UTE's test correctly.

http://www.rossignol.com/US/US/bc-59--2 ... ml?b=31760

[satsuma]

For a long time, my only ski, primarily used for track skiing, was the Madshus Northcape (ancestor to Voss). These were orginally mounted with SNS-Profil bindings, which may have been a mistake. They had some off-track capability, but the stability was less than I liked for this purpose, partially due to the light boots/bindings. In 2012 I switched to half and half track and off-track skiing, the off-track skiing typically on skied in icy-trails. For the latter purpose, I bought Alpina Discovery (68-60-65) skiis (mounted with NNN-BC bindings. The Alpina skis were, as expected, better for off-track use, but were surprisingly fast and, for me, faster than the Madshus skis on tracks with relatively large elevation changes. This was primarily due to the excellent climbing/uphill capability of the Alpina skis (annd my age/physical capability). The Northcapes have a 3/4 metal edge and the Alpinas have a full metal edge. The only disadvantage of the Alpina skis I have found is that they are too stiff to get around some corners in tracks. I dan't say whether than turn better or worse than other skis, turning is not a major concern for me.

I have a friend who fount that the Alpina Control Edge (64-52-60) also had a better uphill capability than his previous skis, older Fischer E99's..

[anrothar]

Got back from a 5 day work trip last night to find a pink slip from the post office letting me know to come pick up my skis from Sport Albert. They arrived in Alaska 14 days after I placed the order. I received an order confirmation, but no notification of shipment. Here are some photos of unboxing them, and some initial in-hand impressions. I might get to ski them this coming weekend.

Box arrived pretty beat up. I was slightly worried about the conditions of the skis.

They were fine though, even the tips, which had clearly abraded the corner fo the box where they resided.

Gorgeous skis.

Asnes' Skinlock system. The metal bracket protrudes from the ski quite a bit, almost as much as the Black Diamond bracket, but not as wide and should be held tighter to the ski. I'm certain it will drag in the snow. The Fischer attachment should be faster, assuming similar second camber stiffness. The Madshus Intelligrip skins should continue to be the kings of speed in difficult waxing conditions. I'll probably carry both. The Madshus skins climb about as well as an average fishscale pattern. I'm guessing the Asnes Skinlock system will climb almost as well as the Black Diamond kicker skins, but be a little quicker and a lot lighter. I trust the two slots in line with the edges more than I would trust a slot across the ski, like Fischer does.

[anrothar]

Second camber. I'm no strongman, but I swing a hammer for a living, so fairly strong grip. For reference: I can't close my classic race skis one handed. With a lot of effort I can close my old e99's one handed. I can close my Pellestovas one handed with a fair amount of effort. My USGI Asnes skis I can close pretty easily one handed.

Most of the ski flattens out pretty easily, but I can not close that last little bit with one hand. It's about a foot long and the gap is maybe 1/8".

[MikeK]

Whoa - nice skis!

[connyro]

Wow. Great looking skis. The skinlock system looks pretty cool! Thanks for the info and the pics. I look forward to hearing how they ski...maybe next season or do you still have snow up there?

[anrothar]

Thanks! I can back up what others say about them simply having a high quality 'feel' to their finish.

I might be able to ski them this weekend. We had a very warm and low snow winter, so it's disappearing fast. There's none in town and very little in the mountains above town. Normally we would still be out ski touring valleys till Memorial Day.