Asnes skin failure!
Posted: Tue May 09, 2023 8:56 pm
Hey all,
I took my green Gammes to the Brooks Range for a caribou hunt this spring. Highs of 29F and 18 hours of sunlight made the snow ice in the morning and quite wet by the end of the day. I used a pulk to haul all my gear in and skied around with it in search of caribou. For these reasons I decided to take my Asnes nylon and mohair skins. The nylon provided great grip on the wet snow and surprisingly good glide (as much as I could hope for pulling a load). However, they failed on day one of the trip. First the heel showed signs of separating from the ski then before I knew it I had lost the skin altogether in the tundra. Thankfully I brought the second pair of mohair skins. They stayed on the ski but they eventually were saturated. I'd lay my skis skin up on the snow while waiting for bou to approach, which seemed to dry them out well enough to get back to camp.
I put a lot of miles on the skins over three days but I was hoping for a lot better. What went wrong? The skins were purchased about a year ago and used only for the first time on this hunt.
The incident has me thinking maybe I need to add a waxless Amundsen to my quiver of skis. Not sure.
By the way, I posted asking for advice on Finnmarks earlier this year. I skied my Finnmarks (210 cm) all winter long with dogs, with a pulk, you name it. I love those skis. They're absolutely wonderful.
So what do you all think about the skins? Waxless Amundsens?
Hope you all had a good and long ski season.
I took my green Gammes to the Brooks Range for a caribou hunt this spring. Highs of 29F and 18 hours of sunlight made the snow ice in the morning and quite wet by the end of the day. I used a pulk to haul all my gear in and skied around with it in search of caribou. For these reasons I decided to take my Asnes nylon and mohair skins. The nylon provided great grip on the wet snow and surprisingly good glide (as much as I could hope for pulling a load). However, they failed on day one of the trip. First the heel showed signs of separating from the ski then before I knew it I had lost the skin altogether in the tundra. Thankfully I brought the second pair of mohair skins. They stayed on the ski but they eventually were saturated. I'd lay my skis skin up on the snow while waiting for bou to approach, which seemed to dry them out well enough to get back to camp.
I put a lot of miles on the skins over three days but I was hoping for a lot better. What went wrong? The skins were purchased about a year ago and used only for the first time on this hunt.
The incident has me thinking maybe I need to add a waxless Amundsen to my quiver of skis. Not sure.
By the way, I posted asking for advice on Finnmarks earlier this year. I skied my Finnmarks (210 cm) all winter long with dogs, with a pulk, you name it. I love those skis. They're absolutely wonderful.
So what do you all think about the skins? Waxless Amundsens?
Hope you all had a good and long ski season.