XC oriented ski for max float on dry snow

[lilcliffy]

Starting out in 40cm of fresh, heavy, soft wet snow with my 210cm Combat Nato on April 10th, 2020. Trail-breaking machine.

[Telerock]

That looks glorious! Thanks for sharing photo

[Krummholz]

Or you can just make your own.

How to make your own Altai skis.

[Chick Maldonado]

Wow - what a great problem to have. I guess you could make a pair of fat planks like that trapper from Happy People or buy a used pair of Rossignol Boreals.

[johral]

Is there anywhere to get the Combat NATO in the US?

[lowangle al]

Wow - what a great problem to have. I guess you could make a pair of fat planks like that trapper from Happy People or buy a used pair of Rossignol Boreals.

That Trapper was an inspiration to me for touring on wide skis. His statement comparing modern xc gear to his fat skis, saying that the modern gear wore him out. One energy saver with the wide skis is that because of their stability you don't need poles for balance. For the most part I find using poles is just a lot of unnecessary arm swinging and an energy waster. I still need to take poles for climbing though because my fishscales or wax don't climb as well as the trappers full coverage natural animal skins.

I think his other energy saver he is the float he gets from those wide skis. Like I stated earlier in this thread I think floatation mainly comes from surface area of the ski. I don't think it is a coincidence that my modern powder boards have about the same surface area of a 300cm Finnish touring ski.

[lilcliffy]

Boreal Nordic skiers in Finland and Asia use two very different skis for very deep dry snow-

1) Short, very wide and floaty for bushwacking (hunting, trapping, fieldwork) in the very dense boreal forest.
2) Very long "narrow" (~70mm underfoot) for travelling long distances on trails and/or "above" treeline (high latitude open taiga and tundra).

Short very wide skis are definitely more manoeuvrable than very long narrow skis, but they are NOT more efficient for covering distance.

[lilcliffy]

Is there anywhere to get the Combat NATO in the US?

Neptune used to stock it.
I bought mine from Neptune on clearance (thanks to the help of a US ski friend!) My impression is that the Combat Nato didn't sell well at Neptune...
The Norseman in Calgary always stocks the Combat Nato- good seller.
I would not hesitate to import an Asnes ski. Their warranty support is AMAZING. Asnes will ship warranty replacement direct from Norway- regardless of where you purchased.

[johral]

Thanks!

[fisheater]

I don’t think Sport Albert is the cheapest. I certainly couldn’t read the order confirmation email written in German. However my FT’s arrived in about a week via DHL. I would order from Sport Albert again, if I wanted a ski they carried.