Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

Typically, I just started posting here without actually introducing myself! I grew up XC and alpine skiing in the Canadian Rockies... quit alpine when I was a kid, picked up XC again when I realized there was a great little trail system on the "mountain" in downtown Montreal, got fascinated with the historic trail system in the Laurentians and switched to backcountry nordic skiing, which as we know is a gateway drug. One day you're flailing down a hillside on wholly inadequate equipment, falling every 20 feet or so and cursing the day you were born and whoever the hell nailed those markers on the trees and called it a "ski trail", the next you've got a closet full of E99s and you're farming turns, reading TTalk, and studying up on the intricacies of sidecut, one-and-a-half camber, and nordic rocker.

And the next thing you know, it seems like a totally normal weekend activity to go drive off to the middle of nowhere to try out some Norwegian skis in a farmer's field. Yes, thanks to @Nitram Tocrut I have acquired a pair of FT62s which I was able to test pretty thoroughly over the last couple days. I spend most of my time skiing on steep, narrow trails, or at Mont Alta, which is a small mountain (150m of drop) with no grooming, no chairlifts, and two skin tracks, one of which is gentle enough to climb with good grip wax. Putting on and taking off skins to go uphill for 10 minutes at a time is not my idea of fun so I wanted a light, waxable ski that would turn quickly.

Skis: Åsnes FT62 172cm, Rottefella Super Telemark (day 1), Voilé cable (day 2)
Boots: Karhu Descent
Skier: 75kg, 172cm, beginner to intermediate telemark

Day 1: Conditions were -3 to -5C, Swix VR55N. First, we went to a steep open pasture with mostly untouched snow. This winter has been atypical in Quebec, after a horrendous rain disaster in December which wiped out *all* the snow *everywhere* we've had two months of low snow but consistently cold temperatures. So there is no natural base. This is not the ideal situation for FT62s, but I found it to be a good test of my telemark technique, which I can report is still bad - basically with equal weight on both skis at all times, I would float nicely downhill, but in the transitions just a bit of extra weight was enough to sink one ski or the other, and I wobbled a bunch (but I didn't fall down). This is fine, because these conditions basically never happen here. What actually convinced me was going back down the partly snowshoed-on trail that we climbed to get to the deep snow! I was able to make "dollar signs" across the track effortlessly and stay in control all the way down. We then took them out on some trails around the farm with a couple of steep pitches, and I noticed that the kick and glide on them was surprisingly good.

This was harder than it looked:
Day 2 part 1: I bought the skis so I took them out to meet up with a group from the TDL that was skiing the Western from Sainte-Agathe to Sainte-Adèle, about 30km. It had just started to snow so the conditions were old hard-packed snow, -10C, Swix V40. This trail is known for being a bit of a "wild ride" but the section I did was fairly mellow except for two *really* steep sections with sharp turns at the bottom. I did 18km on trails, crossing 3 lakes, and confirmed that the FT62s are "fast enough" - no trouble keeping up with people on E99s and Nansens, though I would have liked lighter boots and NNN-BC. The "feeling" on trails was surprisingly similar to my nordic rockered E99s, including the flapping tip when climbing. Uphill performance was just okay until the new snow started to support the ski better. I chickened out and did 3 kick turns at the top of the first super-steep bit... but again, I had great fun "swishing" on the moderately steep parts and I was able to nail some sharp turns with ease.

They do have something like a "wax pocket" (shown here with a bit of roadside filth in it):
Day 2 part 2: On my way home the snow really started to come down and I decided I absolutely had to do at least one run at Mont Alta. This is, I gather, the "natural habitat" for these skis: hard (but uneven) base, 2cm of new snow, -7C, Blue Extra wax... paradise! I put on the cables but clipped them around the heel pieces for the climb. With the new snow they climb at least as well as my rockered E99s, maybe a bit better. Then I attached the cables, shortened my poles and headed down the intermediate run. I am not a very experienced downhill skier ... I like to turn a lot and go slow ... so I don't have much to say other than wow! They really turn *fast* and *tight*. Next time I will try them in the "needle" which is absolute hell on E99s.

Grey skis on a gray day:
I didn't foresee using them on trails but I think there are a few in the neighbourhood (notably the "Rapide Blanc" which is a punishing sequence of short, steep hills) where they would really shine. Now I have to get rid of some skis to justify the purchase, anybody want some, er, slightly used (actually very used) 195cm E99s?

Thumbs up!

YES!
Excellent, excellent report/review of this ski!
@dhdaines Thank you!
Gareth

Thanks! I should mention the one big question I have about these skis is durability. They are extremely light for their width, the tip seems a bit flimsy, and the people at the local shop think the construction of Fischer skis is much better. It doesn't help that the people I was skiing with on Day 2 kept talking about breaking their skis (to be fair, both Åsnes and Fischer) and one had the tip of his Nansen held together with duct tape as it was delaminating! On the other hand he also seemed to be going out of his way to *try* to break them

I am not an aggressive skier and unlikely to take these where I don't know what lurks beneath the (absence of) snow so I should be okay.

Fischer skis also have durability problems. Delaminating / breaking edges, "air channels" where the bindings should be mounted, etc. I have good personal warranty experience with Fischer and have heard good stories about Åsnes as well, that they stand by their product.
But yea, I think many agree that the "extralite" (tm) construction is sometimes pushing it too far.

Just need to rectify one thing from David awesome review of the FT62... he was not in the middle of nowhere but on the hill just next to my family farm where I grew up I was already an avid XC skier at that time and my neighbor big hill was a bit frightening for me and my friends. We did go a couple of times down the hill on some “crazy carpet” just to do some face plant just before getting to the fence! If I had known at that time the joy of XCD I would probably still not struggle with my telemark technique

So David, I challenge you to get me out of my middle of nowhere farm and bring me to a better XCD spot in your “ center of the world” Laurentians I will tell Denis, the owner of the hill, what you sais about his farm on this world renown forum... if I was you I would never go there again

Now that I have completed my “rant” I must say that I am so happy that the FT62 now belongs to David. I could have sold them with the bindings at a better price almost 2 weeks ago but I really felt they were not the skis the potential buyer was looking for. I actually helped him thinking himself out of buying them. Meanwhile I had a better candidate waiting for an answer and by the time I got back to him he had found other skis.

It would be also really pleasant to read about David’s journey back to his home with his electric car and how he could escape being fined for breaking the 8:00 curfew by more than 3 hours

Just protecting your secret stash given the spectacular view from the top of that hill I can see how you might think that it is the centre of the world!

Could sure use a fast charging station between Montebello and Mont-Tremblant somewhere though... "car trouble" is apparently a valid excuse for breaking the curfew but not one I really want to have to use.

Have now used these a bunch over the last month and I can comment a bit more on their strengths and weaknesses. Probably a fair amount of confirmation bias here since I read a lot before getting them, but anyway:

• They are not XC skis, so if the base is soft or non-existent, the waist of the ski is going to sink a bit. Going uphill or downhill this isn't actually a problem, and that's what these skis are for. It just looks a little odd if you're used to skiing on E99s...
• They are light and fairly narrow, so obviously not too stable in deep powder, mashed potatoes, etc. I don't have a point of comparison to know if it's the skis or the skier, but I faceplant pretty consistently in these conditions with them.
• They hold grip wax really quite well, especially with base klister or base binder, BUT...
• Using them with klister alone was a miserable experience. Probably because of the low single camber, they iced up instantly when climbing and I spent all my time scraping snowballs off my feet. Perhaps I'll try again this weekend when the snow is truly and completely transformed.
• I like the race skin attachment point. Climbing with full skins makes me feel like a skimo hero. BUT...
• I'm not sure full skins are all that useful, because of the rockered tip which doesn't seem to sit on the snow. I am interested to try the wide X-Skins to see if I could climb just as well with them, and I think the narrow ones could just be left on all the time for trail skiing (thus eliminating the need for klister)

What they are good for is, well, exactly what I got them for: narrow trails that constantly go uphill and downhill, heavily skied-in but ungroomed slopes, spring skiing in the "gros sel".

dhdaines wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 16, 2021 12:26 pm

What they are good for is, well, exactly what I got them for: narrow trails that constantly go uphill and downhill, heavily skied-in but ungroomed slopes, spring skiing in the "gros sel".

Nailed it!

Add: 1-5" of snow on top of firm base