Åsnes Nansen Waxless

[CwmRaider]

Large outdoor adventures without a car have proven far more feasible in Norway than they ever would have been when I lived in Wyoming or New Hampshire. Between my feet, skis, bike, and the train I manage to get around Norway pretty darn well.

I think that where you chose to live makes it much easier as well for daily trips. I spent 2 years on the east side of town (Lade) and although it was definitely sunnier, it was a definitely less easy to quickly cross the road and enter the forest to go skiing / hiking / trail running or whatever we like to do in our free time.

It is reassuring to me at this stage that you get along well with the Waxless pattern. My recent skiing has been a bit more vertical than my usual BC trips, and that may be why my initial impressions regarding grip are a bit nuanced, compared with the overall excellent impression that I have from these skis!
Cheers
Roelant

[Cannatonic]

Thanks for the pictures guys, Trondheim looks beautiful, what a great place to live, congrats.

It did occur to me that if I'd followed the Asnes weight recommendations for length the waxless pattern might work better! that would put me at 195cm instead of the 205 MT51's. You're going to love these skis btw, great companion to Nansen, covers almost everything. These skis are so much lighter than what were using just 10-15 years ago.

[CwmRaider]

Thanks for the pictures guys, Trondheim looks beautiful, what a great place to live, congrats.

I love it here, but I think that parts of the US and Canada are probably even much more impressive, wilderness wise.

Here is a little update on my impressions regarding the Åsnes waxless pattern for XC (not D):

I took my waxless Nansens to a mountain cabin this weekend, the trip was XC over 10 km each way, of which about 7 were along prepared tracks. The snow was powdery on Saturday and heavy and wet on Sunday. I went with a friend who was using waxless Rossignol touring XC skis (not BC).

Grip and glide wise, both on prepared XC tracks and in deep snow, the waxless pattern performed comparably to my friend's waxless xc skis. Meaning, good enough to get grip in not too steep sections, and also similar glide. The Nansens did float better on deep snow obviously, but required a bit more effort to keep going straight on the XC prepared tracks.

At times on Saturday I was thinking that I may have been better off with waxable skis (on that particular day). On Sunday this thought evaporated as the air temperature was around 5-7 centigrade and windy, with wet snow; conditions for which I never have been able to wax effectively. The first part of the return on Sunday involved a few km climb in slightly crusty, wet snow for which I mounted the 30mm mohair X-skins. The grip was much better than waxless and my friend had to fishbone up the steeper sections. When we reached the XC track again, I left the mohair skins on a bit to test their performance on these. Glide was OK, not terrible, but I felt it was more difficult to keep the ski going straight, and I preferred the waxless base.

Summary of my impressions of the Åsnes waxable pattern:

Grip is clearly better than double cambered, pure XC track skis with integrated skins,
Grip is comparable to some fishscale pattern XC skis, maybe also to Madshus Glittertind MGV+.
Grip is clearly less, than the Fischer Offtrack Crown pattern on the E99/E109/Traverse 78.
Grip is clearly less than well waxed, waxable skis in cold powder conditions.

Glide wise, I'd say better than Fischer Offtrack Crown and Madshus MGV+, and comparable to XC track fishscale skis, although the sidecut makes it more of an effort to go straight on compacted snow.

So, my impression is still, that whereas the Fischer Offtrack Crown pattern could be used without worrying about skins in most (but not all) terrain, the Åsnes Waxless pattern appears to be designed for more efficient use in less steep terrain, whereas short skins are desireable when it gets steeper over long sections.

It is a world of compromises regarding XC performance. This one is acceptable to me.

On a different note, the matte plastic finish on the Åsnes Nansen is superb, and is much more tolerant to scratches. This cannot be said of the dark shiny finish of the Fischers on which every scratch is visible. Also, the steel edges seem much burlier and wider.

I will be doing some xcD / norpine skiing later this week at a local ski resort, and I will update my impressions on the downhill performance subsequently.

[CwmRaider]

An update.
I love the design, stability, predictability and flex pattern of the Nansens. I think they are perfect touring skis for my use and I cannot fault them.Except for the grip.
Its been steadily cold here and we got 50 cm of fresh snow the past week. When I could get time to ski I have been alternating between the waxable Falketind 62s and the waxless Nansens.
Although I got the FT62s to work good for me in the first and great in the second outing, with the Nansen Waxless I achieve good grip results only when I wax a layer of hot polar all the way to the tip and appropriate wax of the day forwards from the waxless pattern in a length of about 45 cm. I do find the waxless pattern to be relatively silent.

Here is the catch though. Isn't it silly to use a waxless to have grip when conditions are too warm to wax effectively, only to find that you're only really happy with the grip when you can complement it with wax anyways?

Some here seem happier with the grip offered by these skis than me. I noticed that they usually seem to have shorter skis ie. 185 cm for instance. The extra 20cm in my 205s is only extra glide zone and therefore there is relatively less grip zone for a heavier skier like myself. I also wonder if such a short grip zone is best on a ski with a long Nordic rocker sich that the grip zone is a higher proportion of the ski base touching the snow.

The bottom line is, I now regret selling the waxable Nansens earlier. Looking at my priorities, for the next 10 years I'll probably be touring in my back yard, or with a heavy pack, or with a Pulk or with a kid in tow. When wax is not working the glide penalty from an x skin won't be an issue.

[fisheater]

Roelant, kids are like beagles, one is great but they do better with a second !!!
Good luck

[Woodserson]

The bottom line is, I now regret selling the waxable Nansens earlier. Looking at my priorities, for the next 10 years I'll probably be touring in my back yard, or with a heavy pack, or with a Pulk or with a kid in tow. When wax is not working the glide penalty from an x skin won't be an issue.

The second rule of Asnes GAS: Don't sell the original until you try the replacement

[Nitram Tocrut]

The second rule of Asnes GAS: Don't sell the original until you try the replacement

The first being... don’t get into the Asnes GAS at all cost

[CwmRaider]

The second rule of Asnes GAS: Don't sell the original until you try the replacement

The first being... don’t get into the Asnes GAS at all cost

Honestly I think that skiing is great value for money, after spending my student years doing mountain biking and burning through the 5 relatively high end full suspension mountain bikes in 10 years. The first one was sold, the second and third broken, the fourth stolen and the fifth I sold when I moved to Norway to replace it with a cyclo-cross commuter.
By comparison my total bc ski expenses are probably half of one full suspension mtb...

[lilcliffy]

First tur today on my 205 Nansen WL-

(Snow is ridonculously late this season again- it has been a revolving door of snow-ice-rain for several weeks here in the Central Hills)

Been using my 205 E109 Crown Xtralite up until this point- first day out on the 205 Nansen WL.

I am very, very, pleased and impressed.

The Nansen is wonderfully smooth and remarkably stable- much more stable than the E109-
interestingly- despite the E109 Crown having noticeably more camber- the Nansen is signifcantly faster- perhaps due to its much longer glide zone?

I am very pleased with the grip of the Nansen WL- though certainly not as grippy as the wider E109 Crown with the most excellent Offtrack Crown.

Though there are snow and terrain contexts where the E109 Xtralite would be more fun- when all that rocker will encourage the E109 to plane- I fail to see any other context where I would prefer the E109 Xtralite over the Nansen...(And I much prefer the stability of the Ingstad, when the snow is such that planing is even relevant...)

Initial impression is that I much prefer the Nansen vs Traverse 78 as well...

If you look at the comparison photo of the E109 vs Nansen- the E109 Xtralite has a mounting point that is MUCH further forward than the Nansen (both forward at BP + shorter effective edge (due to rocker))-

Though I have yet to try any serious downhill skiing with the Nansen- I am intrigued about the effect of playing with mounting point on this non-rockered old-school fjellski...

The Nansen just screams- CARVE ME- and I am thinking it might like a more forward mounting point...

[lilcliffy]

I am thinking that I have found my dream spring touring ski for my local conditions and terrain.