PSA:dirt cheap Falketind xplore in Norway

[CwmRaider]

https://www.xxl.no/asnes-bc-tour-set-fa ... /1196146_b

4000 NOK / 400 USD with Xplore binding mounted.
Anyone? I dont think they send outside of Norway, but this is an incredibly cheap offer.

[Jurassien]

It might be added that they can be picked up less than 250 meters from the main entrance to Oslo Central railway station.
For those who don't know the country - XXL is a sports chain with branches in cities and towns large and small throughout Norway.
What I find odd about this offer is that the index page shows 21/22, but when you click on the detail it shows 22/23 (in the lengths 188 and 196). The same ski with BC binding (21/22) is listed in the index at NOK 5,299, but again when you open the detail it states 22/23 (also in the same lengths - 188 and 196).
I can't help wondering if the low price is just bait to draw custom. Their price reductions on the other Åsnes sets are generally only around NOK 200:

https://www.xxl.no/vintersport/langrenn ... =relevance

[TheMusher]

That's a good offer! Anyone has experience with these on frozen snow?

[randoskier]

It might be added that they can be picked up less than 250 meters from the main entrance to Oslo Central railway station.
For those who don't know the country - XXL is a sports chain with branches in cities and towns large and small throughout Norway.
What I find odd about this offer is that the index page shows 21/22, but when you click on the detail it shows 22/23 (in the lengths 188 and 196). The same ski with BC binding (21/22) is listed in the index at NOK 5,299, but again when you open the detail it states 22/23 (also in the same lengths - 188 and 196).
I can't help wondering if the low price is just bait to draw custom. Their price reductions on the other Åsnes sets are generally only around NOK 200:

https://www.xxl.no/vintersport/langrenn ... =relevance

Jura I went through their purchase thing on that site up to the pay part and the offer was real they are for sale, I didn't buy it because it is not a good touring ski, more an up and down ski norpy, not what I do. But if someone is interested they should snag it.

...then fly to Norway ...and...

...And you can get on a train in that station by the shop at 22:30 that night , have a private sleeper compartment and get off at Lønsdal (a village right on the Arctic Circle) the next day at 15;51 and ski hut to hut on the Saltfjellet. One of the nicest mountain ranges in Scandinavia, fantastic skiing and cabins (carry a lot of food though). Train is about 80 bucks, the sleeper compartment about 100 bucks it sleeps two so bring a friend and your total is 260 bucks for the sleeper train a fine way to travel and the station is in the Natl park. ski from the train station into the wilderness.

So go for it grab yer new skis and go Xplore!

[Jurassien]

So go for it grab yer new skis and go Xplore!

Got loads of skis, so I don't need any new ones. In fact, the only "quiver" I get is quivering at the thought of any more skis in the cellar.

I was merely commenting on what I suspect is a bait offer from one of the largest sport chains in Norge. If it seems too good to be true, then it probably is too good to be true. I wonder what the reply would be if you phoned them up to ask about availability - "Sorry sir/madame, we've none left at that price - but we do have other Åsnes sets on offer".

My flight to Oslo is booked for the 23rd Feb. and the following day I'm off to Telemark (the province, that is - the skiing will be bog-standard cross-country). I'll be in Rjukan for the 80th anniversary of the Vemork Sabotage and afterwards in the mountains for the whole of March. My fellow countrymen/women here think I'm nuts.

[mca80]

My fellow countrymen/women here think I'm nuts.

Why do they think that?

[randoskier]

So go for it grab yer new skis and go Xplore!

Got loads of skis, so I don't need any new ones. In fact, the only "quiver" I get is quivering at the thought of any more skis in the cellar.

I was merely commenting on what I suspect is a bait offer from one of the largest sport chains in Norge. If it seems too good to be true, then it probably is too good to be true. I wonder what the reply would be if you phoned them up to ask about availability - "Sorry sir/madame, we've none left at that price - but we do have other Åsnes sets on offer".

My flight to Oslo is booked for the 23rd Feb. and the following day I'm off to Telemark (the province, that is - the skiing will be bog-standard cross-country). I'll be in Rjukan for the 80th anniversary of the Vemork Sabotage and afterwards in the mountains for the whole of March. My fellow countrymen/women here think I'm nuts.

Hi Jura that is what I commented on- it is not click bait I put them in the basket and took them right through check out to payment and then I cancelled it- they have them not bait! Not sure how much longer they will at that price though, but right now they are real.

Jura I know Rjuakn I have business connections and a project in Aalesund where Joachim Ronneberg was from, they all knew him (he only died a couple of years ago). He was only in his early 20s when he commanded that mission. I also hiked to his hide out in the Sunmore alps, it is quite hard to find (fortunately for him!) it is built into the rock at the bottom of a cliff directly on a lake, you would never see it walking by unless you had its coordinates. He went back there in the 1990s cleaned it up and put some objects in it. There is a nice bronze statue of him in front of the Aalesund municipal building. Telemark is nice- when I road my bicycle from Galway, Ireland to Stavanger we road our mountain bikes up the Telemark Canal then over a pass and down the corkscrews to the Lysefjord and took the ferry to Stavanger. A long bike trip especially on 26" wheels and I am not a bicyclist, I was often wishing for a Vespa.

We fly to Norway on 16 Feb. Skiing in Trondelag, Skjaekra, Blafjell, Vera, etc. The backcountry between Sweden and Snaasa and Steinjker and down to Meraker is really fun and nobody skis back there. Have you ever been to Gaundalen or Gjefsjo fjellgard in the Snaasa area? Have a look at them on ut. Great terrain, beautiful scenery, nice farms no roads. We have 15 days. The max temperatures are about 2 or 3 degrees higher than I would like but that's how it is. Plenty of snow and the lake ice is thick.

Later in the year we are skiing in eastern Finnmark, been there done that, but the wife has not so there we are. Down the Pasvik river on the Russian border then into Finland.

I go a lot in the summer too.

I get the "crazy" from people here too. I am one hour from the Dolomites (live in the foothills actually) and people are like- why are you always going to Norway? They don't know! We know.

[mca80]

Man if we put together all @randoskier's posts for a book what with all the names and adventures and whatnot, he would put Nansen to shame.

[CwmRaider]

@randoskier the FT62 here is a legit offer.
XXL doesn't list Alfa free online but they do have them in shop. Not at a particularly good price last time I saw them, unfortunately.
But they have Alfa Skaget Xplore for 2000 nok, so one could set up a decent combo for 6000 NOK total if one were to need a full setup. This is hard to beat even with NNN-BC.

[randoskier]

@randoskier the FT62 here is a legit offer.
XXL doesn't list Alfa free online but they do have them in shop. Not at a particularly good price last time I saw them, unfortunately.
But they have Alfa Skaget Xplore for 2000 nok, so one could set up a decent combo for 6000 NOK total if one were to need a full setup. This is hard to beat even with NNN-BC.

That was my point it IS a legit offer. My wife loves her Skagit boots which are on their second season, she was very disappointed by the Crispi Svartisen (75) boot previously, that is a seriously over-priced boot for the level of quality Crispi produces. She switched to the Xplore last year and paid a similar price for her total set up- Fischer 88 she bought in Tromso on sale, and she got a great deal on the Skagit and Xplore direct from Alfa who shipped it to Tromso for us where they mounted it. Alfa fixed the boot really quickly when the pin-failed during a tour (but was still serviceable for the balance of the tour). An early technical defect that was quickly corrected by Rotty.

The FT62 is great ski but not for what I do, distance touring on all terrains; quiver of three- Fischer 88 for most tours (wish I had bought the Traverse 78), 2006 Fischer Europa 99 210cm (old but work, I still have NNN BC Auto bindings on 'em!) for flat tours like most of Finnmark, and a pair of Madshus EON for beater/rock skis, I have 77s on them and a pair of Alico Ski March boots for that purpose.

I will probably buy the Alpina Pioneer 80 when it goes on sale later this year in nearby Slovenia (Alpina sometimes has great sales at their shop in Ljubljana, I can drive there in about 2.5hrs, and I love Slovenia and the Julian Alps), I can already buy the Xplore binding there for about 100 EUR. For Xplore boots I will have to make a choice, I ski the Alaska now in NNN BC and I love this boot, so I might go that way but I will also give the Lundhags Abisko a good look.