Asnes Tindan 86 Ski Review

[fisheater]

[quote="Johnny"]Be careful what you wish for Fisheater, better be very precise with your requests... What if Father Christmas brings you those cheap, Chinese made G3 FINDrs with a 86mm waist?











Well it should be obvious, Father Christmas resides in the snow blessed north. He has a love of the glisse. If one cannot believe in the charity of Father Christmas, then that person must lack a certain joy in their own heart.

[Johnny]

Turn your Tindan 86 into a climbing machine with the new 100mm Access Skins!

[Nitram Tocrut]

I would like to hear about the XC performance of the Tindan. I am looking to buy skis that I could use in resort as well as to get to a near hill (about 6 km on mostly flat terrain).

Also, what are the performance of those skis on groomed powder? I would like to use them when I ski with my family that all are on alpine skis in resort.

Thank’s!

Martin

[Johnny]

My verdict after one season: The Tindan is freaking awesome. The most sensual and passionate ski for everything powder.

Groomed powder? What the heck is that?

From an alpine and modern tele perspective, the Tindan is a nice all-mountain ski. But from the XCD perspective, the Tindan is a pure powder ski. It really depends on your point of view.

The XC performance is not so great, this is not what this ski was designed for. I gave them a 30/100 XC rating (But a 100/100 Downhill one!) But on the other hand, it's a great approach ski. It travels very well, as long as speed and efficiency is not the main focus. It's a ski made for mountains, not for fields...

"I would like to use them when I ski with my family that all are on alpine skis in resort."

I would highly recommend the Rabb 68 or The Nosi 76 for that purpose. Or the Falketind 62 for even more power...

[Nitram Tocrut]

Groomed powder? What the heck is that?

Have I just been bullied by the master of Ttalk?

What an honour that is

Seriously I used the wrong words

I meant groomers like it is written by Asnes to describe what the Tindan 86 are good for. But it sure does sound funny to say "Groomed powder" but theoretically ii not it what they do in resort when they groom the slopes after a snow fall? If not I count on M. Johnny to make fun of me again

Mais comme on dit en français : Si on ne vaut pas une risée on ne vaut pas grand chose!

[Nitram Tocrut]

My verdict after one season: The Tindan is freaking awesome. The most sensual and passionate ski for everything powder.

From an alpine and modern tele perspective, the Tindan is a nice all-mountain ski. But from the XCD perspective, the Tindan is a pure powder ski. It really depends on your point of view.

The XC performance is not so great, this is not what this ski was designed for. I gave them a 30/100 XC rating (But a 100/100 Downhill one!) But on the other hand, it's a great approach ski. It travels very well, as long as speed and efficiency is not the main focus. It's a ski made for mountains, not for fields...

"I would like to use them when I ski with my family that all are on alpine skis in resort."

I would highly recommend the Rabb 68 or The Nosi 76 for that purpose. Or the Falketind 62 for even more power...

I would like to know what are the main differences between the Raab 68 and the Falketind? They have similar dimensions although the Raab is wider. What are the differences in term of use and performance? Also how do they compare to Ingstad on the downhill, because with my limited telemark experience those skis have a pretty narrow spectrum as for good snow. I hesitate to buy the Raab or the Falketind as I am not sure I have the technical abilities to run them... but I might be wrong. I don't really consider the Nosi 76 only because they seem too short (maximum length 180) for me at 6 foot and over 200 pounds.

In the reply to my question on the Tindan, Johnny wrote that it really depends on my point of view... the thing is that is hard for me to have a precise point of view as I am still in my introductory class of Talk online classes I know I like to Tele on the Ingstad and I can even make my old 99 to turn on perfect snow. And I ski with leather boots... so I guess I don't qualify as a modern telemarker. As for alpine, I want to sell my alpine gear but I still like the alpine qualities that the Tindan seems to have. I want a ski I can easily switch to alpine because I know that will happen a lot considering my skills. I know I want to do some telemark in resort but only using the chairlift for the first few times to gain experience faster. But after I will focus on touring but probably a lot at Tremblant as it is so close. I know the Tindan are not XCM oriented but if they can take me to hills around my house with a slowly and steady pace that would be great... I exercice to help me evacuate stress so there is no rush

Thank's all for so generously sharing your knowledge with me.

[fisheater]

I have been resort skiing with my son on my Falketind 62 exclusively. Sometimes I am a little stubborn, and skiing groomed blues and blacks should be pretty easy stuff. However I now realize while the Falketind 62 is a really fun ski to ski on groomed snow. If that snow is has a bottom that is boilerplate ice, and the rest of the "snow" is tilled up snow cone. In those conditions a skinny, light ski, gets kicked around. Now you could be like me, point them downhill, heck I have touch. Well, I also caught a tip bounced the butt of my pole off my cheekbone for a couple of stitches and then ripped my ear open for a couple more stitches. I didn't let that stop me, no! I caught an edge a month later and relocated a couple ribs. I now have mounted my old alpine midfats from 2000 with some Vice bindings. I guess I will even use plastic boots in those conditions.
For what it's worth, the Falketind 62 is a lot of fun in 30 cm of dry powder. I want the Tindan for deeper approaches, but also for when that backcountry snow isn't perfect new dry powder.
Good luck!

[Johnny]

TINDAN 86
At last, those dream skis: the ones you can use both for long hikes in the pristine
spring snow and exhilarating arcs on the groomed powder.

Oooooops! Sorry, I didn't notice that! I like my powder untouched, I had absolutely no idea that people were actually skiing groomed powder... Woaaaah, I'm in shock!

As much as I am in love with the Tindan, I would not recommended it for what you want to do. Any wide ski like the Tindan will require a perfect telemark technique, only very advanced skiers will be able to drive them with leather shoes on anything else than powder. The amount of energy and perfect balance required to ski them XCD-style at the resort will actually kill the fun out of it for beginners. (Remember, I only want you to have fun... ) But hey, if you ever try them with plastics, it would be a totally different story...

But again, I would totally recommend the younger members of the Tind family instead...
More or the RABB/FT62 difference soon...!

Bob, did you get the chance to try your Tindans?

[fisheater]

Johnny, I told Nitram the long story, but no I have not been on the Tindan. I mounted them at balance point. Quite a way back from Asnes' recommendation. I look forward to skiing these and my Gamme.
My backcountry skiing was only on my USGI this season. I put 3x the gouges in them then I did the last 3 years combined. I like the Alaska boots and NNN BC, but I will still be skiing 75 mm also. I am impressed how those soft boots and that bar can turn a ski as long as you stand on top of them.

[w8n4snow]

Curious if anyone has mounted these with tech bindings and been in the Alpine with them. Steep neve or ice? How is the edge hold on hard snow? Torsional rigidity? Lots of sidecut makes me a bit wary, but it doesn’t tell the whole story I reckon.

Looking for a new mountaineering ski for the big peaks. Long, tedious approaches with heavy loads on crust, bottomless sugar, gravel, willows, ice, or slush. Ideally they would disappear for the climb, then offer tools for salvation on the somewhat controlled plunge around, above, and through various causes of death that decorate the peaks that we love.