Asnes Mountain Tour 51

[Cannatonic]

These skis deserve their own topic! The Asnes MT51's Waxless never went on sale so I ordered a pair and got them on the snow yesterday - wow, it was love at first ski! I had some trepidation over the 205cm length, I love my waxing 210 MT51's, but 205 turned out to be perfect. They had excellent glide over 40-degree soft corn snow, and the shorter length makes it easy to maneuver through trees & twisty hiking trails.

I love what Asnes has done with the fischscales - a fairly short section of pattern make them very quiet to ski - no buzzing or scraping sounds. Huge difference between the "offtrack" pattern on Fischer these days. They went against the prevailing trend of extra-long, aggressive grip patterns. It seems they prioritized glide over grip, which is cool because you can attach kicker skins for more grip. The scales glide way better than the 30mm mohair skin, no question. The skin does grip a little better, especially on unconsolidated snow.

Never had 3/4 edge skis before but it works great, adds to the stability & control while the tips stay soft and absorb bumps well. I really like my E99's and Gamme but if the snow is consolidated the MT51 is faster and lighter and gives you a nice sense of freedom cruising around the backcountry.

[Woodserson]

Where did you go yesterday?

Can you remind us how much you weigh? Did you find yourself slipping with the WL on hills?

I too, have this ski (last year's model- got it on sale!), in WAX and use the skin exclusively. I got this ski to tour in Switzerland before I hurt my shoulder, and it never happened. I was attracted to the ability to fit in tracks but be stable enough for the times when I'm connecting groomed areas through hiking trails.

It has made my Fischer Country Wax/Crowns completely obsolete. Stiffer in the shovel, torsionally rigid, it's just a much better constructed and designed ski.

I'm 160lbs without gear, got the 205, am happy with it, but thought the 210 may be the way to go if I ever get the WL.

Also, gorgeous ski!

[Johnny]

They went against the prevailing trend of extra-long, aggressive grip patterns. It seems they prioritized glide over grip, which is cool because you can attach kicker skins for more grip. The scales glide way better than the 30mm mohair skin, no question. The skin does grip a little better, especially on unconsolidated snow.

Precisely.

The MT52WL was on my list... But it seems like it wasn't yet available when I sent my order last summer... Next season for sure for me...!

[Cannatonic]

I was skiing "Connie's Way" in Pinkham, might hit it again later this week, will be snowing for a few days - are you interested?? yes, the WL start to slide backward going up steeper hills, you have to herringbone, but they have decent grip - they went up & over the undulations on Connie's Way without slipping, but when I turned to climb up Old Jackson Rd. there was nowhere near enough grip. About what you'd expect, you need skins for OJR, I think it climbs 600 vertical feet in a mile or two. I weigh 175-180 pounds.

Agree w/ Woods' comments on these, my 210's with the 30mm mohair are awesome! excellent ratio of grip and glide, because of the stiff camber you barely feel the skins under the ski. You can make powerful strides through sloppy or loose snow. There's something different about the MT51 than the typical wider XC ski, there are subtle changes that make them feel like a BC touring ski. The people at Ragged Mountain liked the color too (if you pay to have your bindings mounted, Dennis in the shop there is the best, it's like having a surgeon do it.)

my 2011 E99's -also 205 cm - for comparison. The old Fischer pattern extends further but Asnes uses the more aggressive Kharu scale shape- the MT51 have replace these for my nordic-type tours, this vintage of E99 feels like heavy slogging in comparison, I'll save them for up & down turning stuff now

you can't see it but the MT51 tip turns up higher than E99s - that and having no edges make them absorb bumps & chunks of crud better, gives a nice smooth flow over rough terrain

[Woodserson]

So this is really interesting-- from the picture your WL have the skinlock integration, while Asnes website shows them to have no skinlock adaption. This is good news!

Glad the 205 worked out for you in the WL without excessive drag.

Connie's Way is a great trail. I would have been interested in joining but have been working most of the month.

[Cannatonic]

I got one more nice ski in there, I wish I brought my camera as the bridges over the streams had 4-5 feet of snow on them. The snow was a little icier, a layer of freezing rain had covered everything, when it warmed to 40 degrees the corn was crispy & harder and the scales didn't work as well.

A kicker skin would have been better that day, yes the snakebite is in there which is great. The warm weather has somewhat ruined things....next year! I'd like to do the OJR > Auto road > Connie's Way loop sometime.

MT51 are some of the less expensive skis out there, hopefully Neptune orders some for next year so we can avoid the $85 airfare on these.

[Cannatonic]

Been skiing the MT51's more....the fishscale section is too short on the 205's. I've been out a few times where the traction wasn't nearly good enough to ski normally....just kick & glide, not even climbing uphill. I still like the skis, but I've permanently attached the 30mm mohair skin to them. That works great & gives me the traction I need in wet or icy snow.

I suspect the scales would be sufficient in dry powder, but I use wax skis for that. The skin works great, if there are issues with the skin I have the scales for backup. But I'd like to see the waxless pattern extended on these. Especially on the Ingstad's & other wider models that would be good for telemark laps on spring snow.

[NordicWilly]

I’m eyeballing the MT51s for steel edge skinnies 50/50 track/off-track, but just wondering about the camber. Is the camber full-blown 2x like a track ski? Or reduced to 1.5?

I would prefer a reduced camber for some of the steeper downhills that I face (defintely not my strength ). By comparison, I currently ski Madshus Birkebeiner for track and Excursion 88s for off-track.

[Woodserson]

I’m eyeballing the MT51s for steel edge skinnies 50/50 track/off-track, but just wondering about the camber. Is the camber full-blown 2x like a track ski? Or reduced to 1.5?

I would prefer a reduced camber for some of the steeper downhills that I face (defintely not my strength ). By comparison, I currently ski Madshus Birkebeiner for track and Excursion 88s for off-track.

The MT51's are not optimized for turning. They have less camber than my dedicated track skis, if comparing space between base-to-base, but squeezing them together I can get them as close as the track skis... or not close, depending on your perspective. They are tuned for skiing distances off track... so in that way they have less obvious initial camber, but hard secondary camber.

... that being said... I don't think the Excursion flex/camber is tuned to turning either, it turns because of shape + rocker, not its camber. So if you can handle the Excursion I'd say you can handle the MT51. But without the shape or the rocker. If you want rocker, Ousland.

The MT51 is a traditional Cross Country Ski, for skiing ungroomed/groomed XC terrain in the most traditional sense. It's heavier than my track skis which gives it OOOMPH to get through the shit. If I want to turn, it's a step turn waddle-waddle all the way.

I love my MT51's. They are just the nutz.

[NordicWilly]

Many thanks @Woodserson for the detailed feedback on what the MT51s are best suited for. I’m still learning the finer points on shape, rocker, etc.

Even with the step waddle-waddle turns , do you find the MT51s are generally more stable on the downhills than your tracks skis because of the extra burliness, width and/or steel edges? Or about the same?

Last winter, the family and I were out-of-state and the only skis I could rent were some wide beginner skis with lower camber. They were sluggish for K&G, but I couldn’t believe how much easier they made the downhills. Got me thinking about the trade-offs between K&G and downhill/stability.